Nuno Espirito Santo says he is fed up of complaining about referees after Nottingham Forest were defeated 1-0 by Fulham.
Raul Jimenez’s penalty in the 51st minute was the only goal of the game with Nuno stating after the game that it was a “bad decision” to award the spot kick.
Referee Josh Smith awarded the penalty after a VAR check was recommended following a challenge by Forest defender Murillo on Fulham’s Andreas Pereira.
There was some contact between Murillo and Pereira, with the Forest defender having had two hands on the back of his opponent, while also seeming to clip his heels.
But Nuno felt that, if that was where the bar was set for a penalty to be awarded, then Taiwo Awoniyi might have had one in first half injury time, while there was a stronger claim in the second half, when Calvin Bassey tripped sub Anthony Elanga.
“We do not want to talk about it,” Nuno said after the match. “When we come to the game, we do not want to think about the referee. We just want to compete, play the game and hope that the referee gets things right.
“Today he did not do a good job. Let us hope that he improves, just as we have to as well, because we did not play a good game.
“If you look at the three incidents…we all want peace; we all want not to come here and speak about referees. But it was bad (the decision). There was the situations with Awoniyi and Elanga as well.
“They check, they look and they do not have the same opinion as we do. Let us hope that in the next one, we are not talking about referees. Let us try to avoid this and give the referees some peace. They are trying to improve. But today was not the best day.”
Raul Jimenez’s penalty clinched Fulham’s 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Nuno is already facing an FA charge after being shown a red card at Brighton last weekend, after reacting angrily to seeing referee Rob Jones show Morgan Gibbs-White a second yellow card on the south coast.
Forest have until next Wednesday to submit their observations over that incident, before discovering whether their head coach will serve a touchline ban. The key match incidents panel ruled 3-2 that Gibbs-White should not have been sent off.
Nuno already has a suspended ban hanging over him after being critical of match officials during the controversial 2-0 defeat at Everton in April, when they had three penalty claims, none of which were given.
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When asked if he is a fan of VAR and if it is improving the game, Nuno added: “That is what we wanted, with all the help they now have, being able to freeze images and look at things.
“But then you look back and ask why one is given in one box and not in the other. You can discuss whether it is soft or not… we just want things to work well.”
Forest return to action on October 6 with a trip to Chelsea in the Premier League.
(Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
