Mark Clattenburg has suggested that Nottingham Forest should’ve done one thing differently in their controversial defeat at home to Liverpool this season.
Darwin Nunez sent the away end into raptures with a 99th-minute winner at the City Ground, but the goal was overshadowed by Garibaldi protestations that, just before the decisive strike, possession should’ve been returned to them once play recommenced after a stoppage for a head injury.
The match ended with numerous Forest players and even club owner Evangelos Marinakis surrounding referee Paul Tierney over his error, as the home side had the ball when the play was stopped.
FOLLOW Empire of the Kop on Instagram (@empireofthekop) HERE
Clattenburg was working as a referee analyst for the Midlands outfit at the time, and speaking on the Ben Heath Podcast, he’s now shared what he told City Ground officials in the wake of that contentious incident.
The 49-year-old said: “The advice I gave to Forest after the drop ball incident was in future make sure you hold the ball, so that when the referee looks around to find where the ball is, you’ve got it.
“That was a sporting edge for Forest and something I was able to advise on, but at the minute I just don’t think many clubs will go down that route as there is too much backlash from the media.”
READ MORE: Liverpool could aim to repeat Andy Robertson masterclass with potential £20m summer swoop
It’s telling that, while Tierney did mess up by not giving Forest possession from the restart, Clattenburg hasn’t absolved their team from blame either.
Had someone from the home side held the ball when the referee went to resume the match, the official would likely have allowed them to have the play and maintain the spell of pressure they had at the time.
In addition to that moment of naivety, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team had a couple of opportunites to clear their lines after Liverpool went on the attack prior to Nunez’s winning goal, so they have to be honest with themselves in that regard too.
Clattenburg has since stepped away from his role at the City Ground following an unforgiving condemnation of the officials on duty for Forest’s defeat to Everton in April, after which the Midlands club issued a damning statement in a furious reaction to three clear penalties not being given to them that day.
What’s undeniable from our win against the Garibaldi in early March is that LFC are blameless in this situation. Tierney is primarily culpable for not restarting play in the correct manner and bears the most responsibility for what happened, while Nuno’s side need to be more streetwise, as a club employee pointed out to them.
We can only hope that next season’s Premier League isn’t overshadowed by a litany of such controversies which were all too rife during the 2023/24 campaign.