Mark Clattenburg Identifies Error in Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool

Highlights

• Paul Tierney’s decision-making has been criticised by former referee Mark Clattenburg during Nottingham Forest’s loss to Liverpool.
• A referee error favored Liverpool, leading to Darwin Nunez’s last-minute winning goal.
• Clattenburg is now working as a referee analyst at Forest, advising the club on refereeing matters.

Nottingham Forest referee analyst and former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg has criticised Paul Tierney’s decision-making in the build-up to Liverpool and Darwin Nunez’s last-ditch winner, all while claiming owner Evangelos Marinakis is ‘very upset’.

The Forest players surrounded Tierney upon the full-time whistle and were joined by Marinakis and first team coach Steven Reid. Enraged by the official’s decision to give Liverpool possession of the ball following a head injury to Ibrahima Konate, the pair chased Tierney down the tunnel shouting “Protect the players!”.

Clattenburg, now employed by the club, stated that Wigan-born Tierney made a controversial decision at a crucial moment in the game. When play was stopped, the home side had possession – but when play resumed, Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher kicked things off.

Clattenburg bemoans Tierney’s poor decision-making

‘Forest should have had the ball back’

After admitting that Tierney had every reason to issue a halt in play, Clattenburg claimed that thanks to Forest having possession of the ball, play should have restarted with the home side and not Liverpool. When play was stopped in the 96th minute by Tierney after Konate went down in the Liverpool box with a head injury, it was Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi in possession of the ball.

But, when play resumed, Luiz Diaz kicked the ball back toward the Liverpool goal in what has been deemed as a wrong decision by Tierney.

“The ball has to go back to the team that has the possession and Nottingham Forest clearly had that possession. He did exactly the same in the first half. However, it was a different situation as it was closer to the penalty area where the Nottingham Forest one is more towards the corner flag.

What’s particularly unjust from a Forest perspective is that Nunez’s goal, which keeps them just four points above the relegation spots, prevented them from picking up any of the points in a hotly contested fixture. It took the Uruguayan talisman just one minute and 50 seconds to score after the restart.

“Nottingham Forest should have had the ball back and, therefore, possession of the ball and the game is completely different. When you give the ball back to the goalkeeper in that situation, Liverpool have then gone on the attack and scored from it.”

Inside Clattenburg’s role at Nottingham Forest

Clattenburg was a Premier League referee for 13 years

When quizzed what his role is and what he is doing on behalf of the club in this situation, he admitted that he is solely employed to give his long line of advice in the world of refereeing. Clattenburg also added that he was not allowed into the referees’ dressing room to speak to Tierney after the loss to Liverpool and that will be in the hands of the team’s higher-ups, most notably Marinakis, who has invested heaps of money into the club since his arrival.

“I’m here to advise the club and certainly because, for example, this is a matter of law. So, therefore, I can explain the matter of law, so that’s what I’m there for: to advise the board, the football club. I haven’t spoken to the referee.

“I haven’t spoken to the referee – I’ll leave that to the officials of Nottingham Forest to do. I went to go into the referee’s dressing room [after the game] but he wouldn’t allow it. The owner’s quite upset because they fought. He’s invested a lot of money into the football club, and he wants to see results.”

In accordance with the International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules, the former Premier League official – a key figure for 13 years between 2004 and 2017 – was factually correct in that Forest should have been given the ball upon the restart. Per Sky Sports, IFAB law 8.2 states “the referee drops the ball for one player of the team that last touched the ball at the position where it last touched a player.”