‘Referees these days’: Mark Halsey says he saw a big error during Wolves vs Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest have a bit of a chequered history when it comes to being on the wrong end of VAR calls.

Last season was farcical with a number of high-profile errors going against Forest over the course of the campaign.

This season, Nuno Espirito Santo has served a three-match touchline ban following a sending-off for Morgan Gibbs-White in the game against Brighton.

Last night there was another big call that went against Forest with the Premier League releasing a statement at half-time of the game.


A cross from Ola Aina was clearly handled by Rayan Ait-Nouri but the VAR didn’t deem that the referee had made a clear and obvious error.

Mark Halsey delivers verdict on big decision in Nottingham Forest win

Naturally, it didn’t cost Forest the result so we’re not too bothered but once again the grey areas of the handball law reared its ugly head.

Ait-Nouri quite clearly stopped the ball and he had plenty of time to react from Aina crossing the ball into the box.

Halsey was a Premier League referee when the officials didn’t have the fallback of a VAR and he can’t believe what he saw last night.

He said live on TalkSPORT: “Well, I have to agree, I thought it was a nailed-on penalty, the cross is far away and he moves his arm out to make himself bigger.

“We see it every week but the VAR has to come in there and help out. Listen, there will be no fuss because it’s 1-0 already and they’ve won 3-0.

“Referees these days don’t know what’s deliberate and what’s not.”

VAR decisions not costing Forest so far this season

It’s a refreshing change to see Forest not relying on match officials and letting their brand of football do the talking this season.

Wolves were comfortably despatched last night and thankfully this error didn’t prove costly.

In another situation, however, it might have done and the handball law really does need brushing up on.

Jeff Stelling couldn’t believe that Forest didn’t get a penalty and as supporters, it’s tricky to understand why it wasn’t given.

Things have been slightly better on the VAR front this season for Forest but sadly every now and again we get a stark reminder that the whole concept still throws up far more questions than answers.

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