If anyone was in doubt, this match provided compelling evidence that there are simply too many flaws in football’s ever-evolving laws. Nottingham Forest made a formal complaint about the referee, Robert Jones, after a contentious defeat at Manchester United in August and his decision to give Willy Boly a second yellow card for a tackle on Adam Smith 24 minutes into this contest, despite Boly cleanly winning the ball, left Forest dumbfounded, wiping Professional Game Match Officials Limited off the Christmas card list. Under the rules VAR was powerless to intervene. One can only wonder what the officials at Stockley Park must have been thinking.
Forest will point to that decision, leaving them to play with 10 men for more than 70 minutes, as a major factor in a crushing defeat at home to Bournemouth. It seemed as though Forest had successfully rallied to earn a point but Dominic Solanke completed his hat-trick deep in second-half stoppage time, looping a header from Smith’s cross into the far corner, to leave Nuno Espírito Santo sick. Only Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah have scored more top-flight goals than Solanke this season. Has Nuno, who last managed in Saudi Arabia, really missed the Premier League?
