Gary Neville disagrees with Liverpool ‘monumental error’ claim as ‘upset’ Nottm Forest ‘can’t complain’
Gary Neville has responded to Mike Dean’s claim that referee Paul Tierney made a “monumental error” during Liverpool’s win over Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool looked set to draw against Forest at the weekend but striker Darwin Nunez came off the bench to score a 99th-minute winner for his side.
This goal sparked huge controversy as in the build-up, a Forest attack was halted by Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate going down with a head injury.
Rules state that Forest should have been given a non-contested drop-ball, but Tierney instead opted to give the ball straight to Liverpool stand-in goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Liverpool subsequently went up the other end of the pitch to steal all three points. Forest’s players and coaching staff were fuming after the final whistle and it was claimed that owner Evangelos Marinakis had to be ‘removed by security after chasing referee Tierney down the tunnel’.
Speaking post-match, Forest referee analyst Mark Clattenburg said: “The law states that, if the referee is going to stop the game – which he is entitled to for a head injury – the ball has to go back to the team that has possession. Nottingham Forest clearly had possession.
“The laws of the game clearly state that, when the referee blows his whistle, the team that has possession should get possession when the game is started again.”
He added: “When Liverpool were given possession, they went on the attack and eventually scored from it.
“It is another decision that has gone against Nottingham Forest… We just need to hope that this luck changes.”
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Former Premier League referee Dean is in agreement with Clattenburg as Tierney “made a monumental error”.
“Obviously Nottingham Forest are upset, I would have been upset if I was involved with Nottingham Forest as well, but unfortunately for the referee he’s made a monumental error,” Dean told Sky Sports.
“I think he’ll know this morning that he’s made a mistake and hopefully he can rectify that in the future. Unfortunately for Paul it is a mistake and it’s a bad one as well, it obviously leads to a goal eventually.
“The law states that whoever has the ball when the play does stop, the ball goes back to them. Hudson-Odoi clearly had the ball and the ball and the ball should have been dropped to Nottingham Forest on the wing.
“I know they went and scored Liverpool, it wasn’t directly from the drop ball, it’s close enough two minutes afterwards so it’s a big timescale in between.”
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Neville meanwhile has suggested that Forest “can’t complain” as nearly two minutes passed between the incident and Nunez’s goal.
“I saw Mike’s (Dean) interview before the game today where he described it as a ‘monumental error’,” he said via the Gary Neville podcast.
“You can’t complain about a refereeing decision that was one minute 50 before (the goal), one-minute-fifty (seconds), if it was five or 10 seconds after you’d be fuming.”
