- Nottingham Forest is looking for an explanation for Ivan Toney’s free kick
- The Brentford star moved the ball before scoring against Forest on Saturday
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Gary Neville has criticized Nottingham Forest’s decision to write to the Premier League and refereeing body PGMOL on Saturday asking for an explanation over Ivan Toney’s controversial free-kick for Brentford, but blamed Arsenal and Liverpool for creating the precedent.
Toney marked his first return to the pitch in eight months against Forest when he got Brentford level with a curling set-piece from the edge of the penalty area.
However, replays showed that Toney had moved the ball from the referee’s designated mark, placed it to the right of its original spot, and swept the disappearing spray already on the field around the ball in its new position.
Forest’s players were rightly angry that the goal should not have stood, but the wall they had erected to defend the free-kick also gave space for Toney to shoot into. However, the IFAB protocol states that VAR can only intervene in ‘serious missed incidents’ in four match-changing situations: goals, penalty decisions, direct red card incidents and mistaken identity.
Brentford went on to win the match 3-2, while Forest remained four points above the relegation zone and the club have now written to the relevant authorities asking for an explanation as to whether Toney’s actions amounted to foul play.
Nottingham Forest asked the Premier League and PGMOL for clarification on Saturday about Ivan Toney’s goal
Toney leveled Brentford in the match with a free kick, but replays showed he had moved the ball outside the restricted area
Gary Neville has criticized clubs for writing to the relevant bodies and blamed Arsenal and Liverpool for starting what he describes as ‘nonsense’.
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Commenting on Forest’s decision to seek clarification, Neville said of X: ‘Clubs writing to the PGMOL are shameful! Liverpool and Arsenal started it and set the precedent for this nonsense.
‘The referees should perform better and are currently under enormous pressure. It is in the interests of the clubs to work with them to improve them.
‘This public attitude is unnecessary. Talk to them and email them to get clarification privately, but they don’t have to ‘announce’…’.
Arsenal and Liverpool have both written to the Premier League and PGMOL this season over controversial decisions in matches that have sparked outrage within the ranks of both clubs.
Both clubs have received apologies this season, with Forest becoming the latest team to ask for more details after Toney’s goal was awarded.
Toney moved the ball to the right twice to get a better angle at the Forest goal
Nuno dismissed Toney’s claim after the match, adding: ‘The law is clear: any situation leading to a goal must be controlled. It’s not even a matter of centimeters, it’s almost a meter.’
Toney’s goal was his first since returning from an eight-month gambling ban and helped Thomas Frank’s men leapfrog their opponents at the Premier League table.
Explaining his decision to move the ball outside the position indicated by the referee, Toney said after Saturday’s match: ‘Yes, I saw the hole.
“Sometimes you have a gap no matter what and I bent the ball around the wall and was so happy when I saw it go in.”