Matt Le Tissier demands radical change to ensure Nottingham Forest controversy is not repeated
The Premier League need to look at changing the rules of goal-line technology so referees will know whether a ball is out-of-play on the byline as well as in the goalmouth.
That is according to Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier, who has exclusively told Football Insider that incidents like the one that saw Nottingham Forest concede from a wrongly-given corner against Man United would not happen if rules around the ball going out-of-play were changed.
Nottingham Forest faced Man United at the City Ground on Saturday (1 November) with the visitors aiming to continue their hot streak in Sean Dyche‘s first home league game in charge of the hosts.
The Red Devils took the lead in the first-half after a controversial corner was awarded by linesman Akil Howson and Casemiro pounced to head home.
Morgan Gibbs-White and Nicolo Savona quickly put Forest in front early in the second-half, but Amad rescued a point for Ruben Amorim’s side with a fine volley late on.
Nicolo Savona kept the ball in before the corner was awarded and led to opener
The game was locked at 0-0 in the 33rd minute when Bryan Mbeumo crossed the ball from the right-wing and saw his delivery headed away from danger by Forest full-back Savona.
The Italian defender nodded the ball wide rather than up the pitch, but chased after it and kept it from going off the field of play by the corner flag as he tripped over his own feet slightly.
Linesman Howson, who was over on the other side of the pitch, instantly signalled for a corner-kick to be taken as he felt the ball had gone out, much to the annoyance of the home players and fans.
Their anger increased tenfold moments later as Casemiro leapt to head home from Bruno Fernandes‘ delivery to put his side into the lead, with that goal eventually helping them earn a point.
Reds boss Dyche criticised the decision and called for change going forward, saying: “I just can’t understand it. You’re an assistant referee, you’re 70 yards away, you’ve got a goal and a net in the way, but apparently you can see.
“I’ve got a better view and I’m not in the right position, so that has got to be wrong in the current climate. I’m a big fan of VAR. Someone has got to be able to overrule these decisions, just really quickly. That’s five seconds, that’s in play.“
Le Tissier calls on Premier League to extend goal-line technology to the byline
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former England and Southampton striker Le Tissier urged the Premier League and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to review their use of goal-line technology and extend it to stop incidents like the one at the City Ground.
He said: “I’m not sure about the technology that’s used, but obviously there is the goal-line technology that’s in use and the referee will get a buzzer to tell him that the ball’s gone over the line.
“Now, if you can do that for the goal line in between the posts, how much of a stretch and how much of a cost is it to just extend that to the perimeter of the field?
“And then there can be no questions, as you can have a lot higher degree of accuracy. I think that’s perhaps something that might need looking into for these kind of situations rather than it to go to VAR.
“Just have that technology around the perimeter of the pitch and then the referee will get a buzzer every time the ball goes outside those lines.“