Leon Osman delivers verdict on whether Nikola Milenkovic goal should have stood for Nottingham Forest
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Nottingham Forest held on to defeat Southampton 3-2 at the City Ground, despite allowing the Saints to come back into the game and almost snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.
Forest held a half-time advantage thanks to goals from Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood but were pinned back when Jan Bednarek and Paul Onuachu made the finish somewhat nervy.
Hudson-Odoi limped off in the game and the hope will be that he can make the trip to Bournemouth next weekend with the player starting to showcase some truly fine form.
The game saw a VAR controversy come to light. Anthony Taylor was refereeing this contest so it’s absolutely no surprise that things felt somewhat chaotic during times in the contest.
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Leon Osman shares whether Nikola Milenkovic goal should have stood
This was a hot topic of discussion and the incident would have put Forest 4-1 to the good. Milenkovic headed home after Aaron Ramsdale had fumbled his header into the goal but an offside check took place for Wood’s involvement.
After an on-field review, Taylor adjudged Wood to be impacting Onuachu’s ability to clear the ball with his head, with replays dividing opinions among the fan base and experts alike.
Osman thought the referee made the right call. He believes that the law is the law and to the letter of it, the match officials got the decision right in the end.
He said on Match of the Day 2: “I do, to be honest, Milenkovic has scored but Chris Wood is in an offside position but he’s impacting Onuachu, he’s definitely impacting. He’s interfering with him and if he’s not there he could be heading that ball.”
Forest must make official complaint about Anthony Taylor
Taking this decision aside, Taylor was absurd yesterday. The number one fundamental of refereeing is to protect the safety of players and frankly, the match official didn’t do that yesterday.
Flynn Downes fetched Gibbs-White down in the middle of the park in the first half for quite possibly the most obvious yellow card that will be seen all season – yet Taylor was unmoved.
Later on, Downes produced a forearm smash to the face of Gibbs-White, and although he was cautioned this time, it was a challenge that might have been a red card on its own in isolation.
Taylor gave some alarming decisions all day. Forest players did well to keep their cool given the incidents that took place earlier in the season when the Reds played Brighton and Taylor was the fourth man who advised the referee to send off Gibbs-White.
Frankly, Osman might be right. This decision – in law – might have been correct. But, that doesn’t take away from how laughable the performance of Taylor was yesterday and Forest have to act.
