28 August 2023 , 20:31
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Nottingham Forest have made a written complaint to the body in charge of Premier League refereeing after being left angry with the officiating in their defeat by Manchester United.
Forest surrendered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at Old Trafford on Saturday in a match impacted by refereeing decisions. United’s comeback was aided by Stuart Attwell’s call to send off Joe Worrall for a last-man foul and to award a penalty for Danilo’s foul on Marcus Rashford.
VAR official Robert Jones did not overturn either of the calls, or ask Attwell to watch the incidents at the pitchside monitor. Forest manager Steve Cooper resisted the temptation to heavily criticise Attwell’s performance in his post-match press conference.
But The Telegraph says the club have expressed their fury in an email to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Their move came after Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis encouraged the club to take their concerns to PGMOL chief Howard Webb.
Attwell was officiating a Forest game for the first time since May 2022. Forest are understood to believe Worrall’s red card was harsh because Willy Boly was nearby and may have prevented Bruno Fernandes from being through on goal.
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“You need things to go your way. I’m biting my tongue to be honest in terms of what I really feel because they are defining moments,” Cooper said in his post-match press conference.
“There were other things as well. I was surprised at how quickly decisions were made. You tend to see referees take a bit more time, particularly at the top level. Of course there was a decision to be made, I was just surprised how quickly the officials… it was split-second stuff.
Stuart Attwell's decisions have angered Nottingham Forest (Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images) HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of Stuart Attwell's performance on Saturday? Comment below.
“Everyone has talked to me about the decisions and how it should’ve been different but I have to look at the moments we got ourselves in good positions and could’ve done a little bit better.”
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown was among those to question the match-winning penalty decision after Rashford went down against Danilo. He said: "I wondered whether it is a moment where you think: 'Did they actually see it?' I cannot believe that the officials have come to that decision and awarded a penalty.
“I look forward to the day where the officials can communicate their decisions to us, and explain their workings out in the VAR room."
Ex-Blackburn striker Chris Sutton agreed, writing for the Daily Mail : “You might call it clever. I call it cheating. Rashford dived, referee Stuart Attwell fell for it, VAR Robert Jones did not intervene, Bruno Fernandes scored and Forest lost.
“Had this been the other way around, would the visitors have been awarded a penalty? Steve Cooper does not seem to think so. When a United player drops down in the box, the threshold for a penalty never seems to be as high as it is for their opponents.”