‘Awful’ – Ex-PGMOL boss rages after analysing Liverpool-Nottingham Forest controversy
The PGMOL can implement a new law to avoid similar situations to Nottingham Forest’s disallowed goal against Liverpool.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that Igor Jesus should not have seen his goal ruled out at Anfield on Saturday, 22 November.
Arne Slot is under pressure from Liverpool supporters after an eighth loss in 11 matches across all competitions, and it could have been even worse for the Reds against Sean Dyche‘s side.
Ryan Gravenberch was fortunate not to be sent off before goals from Murillo, Nicolo Savona, and Morgan Gibbs-White saw the Tricky Trees escape Merseyside with an unexpected three points.
Igor Jesus sees his goal wrongly disallowed in Nottingham Forest win
Forest were adamant that they should have scored a fourth goal at Anfield, as Jesus latched onto a cross before slotting past a returning Alisson, but the goal was controversially ruled out.
Andy Madley had decided to blow up for a handball decision against the Brazilian striker, even without a proper view of the incident, and VAR refused to intervene despite a lengthy check.
Replays showed no clear signs of a handball infringement, with Forest supporters absolutely livid about the decision, and there might have been even more uproar had they gone on to lose the game.
Hackett was absolutely livid with the decision, and upon reviewing the footage further, he called for retrospective action to be taken by Howard Webb on how the referees can be helped.
Howard Webb can make an easy change to avoid further controversy
Hackett spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the controversial decision, saying: “This was an awful decision. I get concerned by how VAR is operating.
“In Scotland, the head of referees, Willie Collum, operates on the basis that in these situations, where there’s a degree of subjectivity, he wants the referee involved.
“In this situation, I think the referee should have been called over [to the pitch-side monitor] because the ball actually hit the upper shoulder.
“Handball is the hand and arm level to the underside of the armpit – this was above that. It’s a poor decision, really poor. I don’t like goals being disallowed.
“The difficulty for referees, and also players facing these decisions, is that natural movement means you move your arms. You raise your arms when jumping.
“It’s pretty obvious that the ball didn’t hit the area that would have been a handball. It was incorrectly disallowed.”