Nottingham Forest manager was left extremely frustrated after his team lost 2-1 to Manchester City, but it wasn’t because of his team’s performance
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has criticized those involved after his team lost 2-1 to Manchester City, claiming they were the ones who decided the match.
At the City Ground, Tijani Lijnders opened the scoring in the 48th minute, and Omari Hutchinson equalized six minutes later. It looked like this would secure a share of the spoils for the home side, but Rayan Cherki scored with seven minutes remaining.
However, the France star’s goal came after Forest were furious at referee Rob Jones’ decision not to award a free-kick. And when Dyche was told after the game that perhaps some decisions might not have gone in his team’s favor, he took aim.
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“A couple? Maybe! I don’t think anything about it,” the forest boss declared. “Obviously, we’ve all seen it over and over again.
“It’s awful when you’re playing this well and you have to go in and talk about the referees influencing the game, but obviously they did that. Everyone in the stadium and everyone watching at home saw that.”
“In my opinion, it was a very easy game for the referee and the VAR decision was very easy. Sometimes it’s hard to understand how football is going.”
“I’m a big fan of VAR, but I don’t understand why you can’t get it right. Morgan Gibbs-White is obviously pushed to the floor and then the same player is involved in blocking the ball. But he can’t block it because as he jumps up, the ball goes through the part of his body that he was supposed to be blocking. Whichever way you look at it, this is a foul.”
“Then they’ll say, ‘Oh, the ball wasn’t near him,’ and you’ll say, ‘Okay, so if the ball isn’t near the keeper and you push him to the floor, is that a foul?’ We all know that. I don’t understand that. And they score from there. It’s a double whammy.”
“A player in the first half kicks the ball out. When I was playing in the 1980s, if you kicked the ball out, you got a warning. He kicked the ball out into the crowd and then apparently fell to the floor injured. How was it? Nothing happened?
“The same player brought down Igor (Jesus) in the second half. They say it was an accident. We all know what happens when you run in front of goal and you get a red card. So why isn’t he given a yellow card when it’s an accident?”
“I think it’s strange, I really do. And I think these are easy things for the referee. I don’t think it’s difficult. Just give him the second yellow and that’s it, that’s it.”
“I’m really surprised. I’m a big fan of referees and I think they do a really hard job and they do it really well. But why would I get in trouble (for speaking out)?”
Dyche was pleased with what he saw from his team, adding: “I’m very proud of the team today. We limited them to low-level chances and created some big moments for ourselves.”
“There were so many great performances. It’s a shame that I have to talk about other things. It means nothing to me.”
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