Nottingham Forest are seeking answers from Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the referees’ body, after being left incensed by the buildup to Darwin Núñez’s 99th-minute winner for Liverpool, resulting in ugly scenes that could trigger punishment by the Football Association.
Paul Tierney wrongly handed Liverpool’s goalkeeper, Caoimhín Kelleher, the ball to restart play from a drop ball less than two minutes before Núñez headed in to extend Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to four points. The fourth official, Graham Scott, indicated eight added minutes, which expired 36 seconds before Núñez struck, though the figure held up is a minimum.
Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner, stormed to the side of the pitch and was reportedly removed from the tunnel by security after asking for an explanation from Tierney, who wrongly allowed Liverpool to restart play after a collision between two of their players when Forest had possession outside the visitors’ penalty area. Steven Reid, the Forest first-team coach, was sent off and Mark Clattenburg, Forest’s referees’ analyst, was blocked from entering the officials’ dressing room. In the aftermath of the goal a supporter encroached on to the pitch and had to be removed by stewards.
Afterwards Forest took the unusual step of making Clattenburg, a former Premier League referee, available for interview. He said: “The law states that, if the referee is going to stop the game – which he is entitled to for a head injury – the ball has to go back to the team that has possession. Nottingham Forest clearly had possession. The laws of the game clearly state that, when the referee blows his whistle, the team that has possession should get possession when the game is started again. What we will be doing is speaking to the PGMOL, with my relationships that I have with the PGMOL and the Premier League, and we will discuss what happened on the field of play, and we will look at the course of action in the future. I will sit down with the board and the owners to explain what has happened.”
He said of Marinakis: “The owner is quite upset because, of course, he has invested a lot of money in the club. He wants to see results and he feels that another decision has gone against the club.”
Jürgen Klopp sympathised with Forest but made clear that Tierney made an identical decision against his side earlier in the half when a Harvey Elliott shot cannoned off Ryan Yates. The referee restarted by giving the ball to Forest’s goalkeeper, Matz Sels – it being outside Forest’s area and at Alexis Mac Allister’s feet when play stopped.
Klopp expressed his delight at Núñez’s winner and warned opposing supporters against taunting the Uruguay striker. Forest fans sang: “You’re just a shit Andy Carroll,” after Núñez replaced Bobby Clark, making his first Premier League start, on the hour. Carroll flopped at Liverpool after a £35m move from Newcastle.
“I would not sing a song like that,” the Liverpool manager said. “I would not try to wind Darwin up. People are singing that song more often and that’s the best way to calm it immediately down … they can sing it if Darwin responds like he did today. I think he understands it. His reaction is the best answer.”
Nuno Espírito Santo, the Forest manager, was left crestfallen by the fraught finale, three days after an 89th-minute defeat to Manchester United. “We played a very good game, we limited Liverpool, a very good team with a good manager,” said the Portuguese. “They had chances, we had chances. It was a good game of football. It has been repeating this situation, [losing] in the last action of the game. It has been a tough week. It is tough to take.”
