Refereeing decisions won’t be concerning Nottingham Forest fans on Saturday after their 7-0 win over Brighton, but Richard Keys spotted one error that VAR made in the game.
Evangelos Marinakis was spotted celebrating with the Forest players at full-time after the remarkable Premier League victory, one that brings Forest level on points with Arsenal in the race for Champions League football.
It’s difficult to pick out a star performance at the City Ground, with Chris Wood’s hattrick potentially overshadowed by Anthony Elanga’s three assists in the game.
Manchester United fans were frustrated watching Elanga after they let him leave Old Trafford, adding an extra bit of joy to Forest fans who will be feeling particularly and understandably smug on Saturday.
One potential downside to the game was Murillo having to go off injured but Forest fans spotted Murillo moving freely in the changing room amongst the celebrations.
The negativity was left to the football pundits, then, with Keys taking to social media to voice his displeasure at one VAR decision in the match.
Richard Keys criticises VAR interference in Chris Wood goal
Arguably, the most important goal of the game was the third as Wood latched on to a perfect Elanga cross to head home at the back post.
However, the celebrations were at the whim of VAR as a lengthy check to see if Wood was offside ensued. Despite the replays showing the Kiwi forward was comfortably onside, the check went on for a number of minutes before a decision was eventually revealed to fans in the stadium.
Keys clearly took issue with this, tweeting a picture of the graph shown on TV and saying: “This isn’t even accurate. The line goes through Dunk’s boot. He’s even more ‘on’ than this.”
The decision ended up having no impact on the result to the relief of Marinakis and the Forest manager, but the general frustrations surrounding the efficiency of VAR could’ve been a bigger story than it eventually was.
Forest have had a number of irritating interactions with VAR throughout the season, with Keys’ frustrations being just the latest in a string of angry reactions.
Nottingham Forest have a difficult relationship with VAR
As recently as Forest’s 3-2 win over Southampton, Espirito Santo would’ve been frustrated by two decisions that brought the interference, or lack thereof, of VAR.
Firstly, Flynn Downes could’ve been sent off against Forest for two quick yellow card-worthy challenges that referee Anthony Taylor missed, but VAR did not intervene in the incident that would’ve helped the game end up significantly more comfortable for the Forest squad.
Before this, Marinakis went on an explosive VAR rant describing how he doesn’t see how it has improved the game given the continuous errors with the system.
Most famously, though, was Forest’s VAR statement after the loss to Everton last season amidst the controversy surrounding three penalties that could’ve been given in Espirito Santo’s side’s favour, an outburst that eventually saw the club fined for their statement.
In the case of Saturday, any potential VAR errors were of no relevance to a brilliant display against Brighton but on another day, Keys’ frustrations could’ve been a more widely felt opinion.
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