Nuno slams and criticize match officials for Nottingham Forest defeat to Newcastle United

Nuno is blaming the match officials for Newcastle United’s defeat on Saturday night.

The Nottingham Forest manager is trying to shift the blame for this loss from his own and his players’ shortcomings to the alleged misconduct of the match officials.

Nuno asserting that his team should have been awarded a “clear” penalty in the second half and that he is baffled as to why the VAR did not step in.

TV viewers witnessed the same incident as the VAR, and that was an instance in which Forest forward Taiwo Awoniyi ought to have received a booking for his absurd attempt to trick the referees into awarding a penalty when he theatrically fell to the ground after purposefully making contact with Martin Dubravka.

To put it another way, that was even worse than the penalty call at Anfield, where Jota hurled himself to the ground as he rounded Dubravka and realized he had pushed the ball too wide to score.

Coincidentally, Anthony Taylor, the referee for the match at Liverpool, called both games, although even he found this one to be absurd.

Although Forest’s performance improved slightly in the second half, Nuno should be more worried by the fact that they failed to score after the interval.

Perhaps Nuno should consider his key attacking concept for this game—Moussa Niakhate repeatedly making long throws into the Newcastle box from both sides of the pitch—instead of blaming the referees.

Nuno speaking to BBC Sport:

“I repeatedly witnessed that, and in my opinion, there is an obvious consequence.

“As the incident happened from behind, I believe Anthony Taylor may not have had a clear view of it, but when VAR had a chance to examine it, I believe it was so obvious that I couldn’t understand the decision.”

Nuno speaking to journalists about the ‘penalty’ incident:

“Yes, I have repeatedly witnessed that it was unquestionably a penalty.
“I’ve viewed the replay numerous times.
“It’s so evident when you have VAR that I fail to see why it wouldn’t work.

“It’s evident.”

Nuno speaking to Sky Sports:

An excellent performance.

We made many wise decisions and some poor decisions that truly hurt us.
Though we performed well generally, we didn’t do a good job of defending the corner for the third goal.

“The boys fight, and there were opportunities for us to intervene.”

“We played well, generated a lot of opportunities, and controlled the game in the second half. We must pay attention to the details and remain focused.

“The ultimate choice was wise. We faced the goalie one-on-one.

“We are locating the ideal area, but our finishing still needs work.

“The boys are dedicated, and we have been working really hard.”

“The goal is to turn periods of strong football into wins, and we need to strengthen our defense.”