Voltar
Morgan Gibbs-White played the full 90 minutes as Nottingham Forest ended a run of three straight defeats with a 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town.
Neco Williams fired Forest into the lead with a brilliant goal after Daniel Munoz’s hard work on the right-hand side. However, a Nikola Milenkovic error led to Julio Enciso restoring parity for the home side and once again the Reds are left to rue multiple missed chances.
In the second half there was another VAR flashpoint. Forest have endured some rotten luck with technology this season, and Lee Hendrie felt James McAtee was unlucky when Issa Diop fouled him as he raced clean through on goal.
After the game, Gibbs-White made an interesting point about the intervention of the technology, and he feels some ownership on the pitch is required.
Gibbs-White was asked about the decision not to send Issa Diop off the pitch following his tackle. However, he didn’t bemoan the fact it wasn’t a red card but instead thought power has to go back to the on-field officials.
Bramall waves play on despite the entire ground seemingly convinced that it was a foul on McAtee, with the goal pretty much at his mercy.
Replays did show that Leif Davis might have been getting back to cover the goal and that a yellow card was the right call. However, Gibbs-White wants referees and assistants to start making more decisions themselves.
The Forest captain told Sky Sports: “I think it’s difficult to say because you don’t know if he’s going to get there.
“My only question is why does that have to go to VAR when the referee and linesman are standing there? That shouldn’t be going to VAR; they should be giving that.
“There needs to be some ownership on the pitch for me; the referee and linesman can see that. It is what is, that’s not the reason we didn’t win the game. We have to own the chances we’ve missed.”
Gibbs-White is absolutely spot on. Forest can’t bemoan the officials in this instance, and it’s a mystery why Bramall didn’t give the decision in the first place despite everyone believing it to be a foul.
VAR has made some referees lazy. Instead of giving the big calls, they’re far too happy to let the technology bail them out, and hopefully that can stop in the near future.
Forest have to take ownership of their own form – as Gibbs-White suggests. Missing chances isn’t on referees or Oliver Glasner, and it’s time the players sharpened up in front of the goal.