Ex-Premier League referee has theory that justifies Liverpool fury from Forest
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has admitted that Paul Tierney made a mistake in the lead-up to Liverpool's dramatic late winner at Nottingham Forest.
Darwin Nunez popped up off the bench to score a 99th minute winner at the City Ground to move the Reds four points clear at the top of the Premier League. However, the goal did not come without controversy as Forest felt Liverpool should not have had the ball in the first place.
Callum Hudson-Odoi had possession on the left-hand side when Tierney stopped play after Ibrahima Konate went down with a head injury. But once play restarted, Tierney gave an uncontested drop ball to Forest - despite the fact Forest had the ball when the game was temporarily paused.
Jurgen Klopp's side went up the other end and scored as Nunez headed home his 14th goal of the season. That sparked fury among the Forest players, staff and even owner Evangelos Marinakis, who confronted Tierney down the tunnel and told him to 'respect the players' after the full-time whistle.
Delivering his assessment of the controversial incident, Gallagher believes that Tierney made the wrong decision, but acknowledged that it didn't directly contribute to the goal. Liverpool scored one minute and 50 seconds after the incident that saw the Reds given the drop ball.
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"Kelleher hits Konate and then if you run it on, watch the referee," he told Premier League Productions. "If you stop the pictures now, this is when the referee is whistling. He whistled when Hudson-Odoi had the ball.
"Now, the law states, if he [Tierney] had stopped it when Konate got hit by Kelleher, the ball would have to be dropped in the penalty area and it would be dropped to Kelleher. Not a problem. But the ball has been cleared from the box, Paul Tierney hadn’t whistled and he should give the ball back to Hudson-Odoi, who would then have the ball uncontested. He didn’t do it, for whatever reason, Paul Tierney didn't do that.
Nottingham Forest were furious following Liverpool's winner at the City Ground (Getty Images)"All it is is an incorrect restart in law. The fact that Liverpool scored is a bit of a red herring myself because it was one minute 50 seconds [later], which is an entirety on the pitch. The ball comes forward, it goes back, goes forward and even goes out for a throw-in. It’s just an incorrect restart in law, for me, it doesn’t directly attribute to a goal."
Meanwhile, Klopp spoke about the decision in his post-match press conference and he didn't see a problem it. He said: "It happened exactly the same in the first half didn't it? Exactly the same, just the other way round.
"I accepted it would happen like that because it happened in the first half. If it didn’t happen in the first half, I would have asked the question as well. I would assume that's the rule, I don't know. But because it happened twice and got handled exactly the same, I don't really see their reasons for a discussion."
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