Brice Samba: Ex-Fifa official issues ‘100 per cent’ verdict on Nottingham Forest controversy
Referee Leigh Doughty could have prevented Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba’s red card offence on Saturday.
That is according to ex-Fifa and Premier League official Keith Hackett, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the controversial incident at the City Ground.
As captured by Sky Sports (12 February), Samba was sent off after lashing out at Stoke City striker Steven Fletcher 85 minutes into Saturday’s 2-2 draw between the two sides.
Speaking to the BBC after the game (12 February), Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper said his goalkeeper made “a huge error.”
Hackett claimed referee Leigh Doughty could have prevented the altercation.
“It’s a red card, 100 per cent,” he told Football Insider. “The referee has taken the right course of action.
“As a referee, if you see a forward challenging a goalkeeper in that situation, instead of running away to take up a position at the halfway line you run towards the potential incident.
“What happened with Brice Samba could have perhaps been avoided. That’s the question – could you avoid it? The answer is yes, it was avoidable. If the referee had better managed the situation he could have prevented it.
“We would all like a policeman on traffic duty to allow us to do a speed of 32mph and not punish us. It is as simple as that. Refereeing is about having a degree of flexibility. The laws allow that.
“What the referee did was correct but it is easy to be wise after the event. Could he learn something from it? Yes. Look at preventing it.”
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