Jeff Stelling explodes after horrible Wolves vs Nottingham Forest incident

01/07/2025 04:30 PM

Jeff Stelling has been left outraged after watching “horribly wrong” officiating decisions in the match between Wolves and Nottingham Forest.

Nottingham Forest beat Wolves 3-0 away from home on Monday Night Football and refereeing decisions were a major talking point.

Forest were leading 1-0 and got in behind the Wolves defensive line when a cross was blocked by the outstretched arm of Rayan Ait-Nouri.

The decision was looked at by VAR before referee Peter Bankes was advised not to give a penalty.

Live on talkSPORT, Jeff Stelling interviewed former Premier League referee Mark Halsey about the incident and VAR as a whole and said: “Look I have to ask you, because I was sitting there raging at the outstretched arm of Ait-Nouri which stops the cross. Outstretched arm of Ait-Nouri! Bankes doesn’t see it, what's the VAR Alex Chilowicz and his assistant Neil Davies looking at to not overturn that?”

Halsey: “Well, I’ll have to agree with you, I thought it was an absolutely nailed on penalty because when you look at it, he wasn’t at close proximity and he moves his arm out towards the ball and makes himself bigger. We're seeing it week in, week out, assistant referees just do not get involved in big decision making.”

“I was an advocate for VAR, but the way it's being used at the moment is just not right, the protocols have all gone out of the window and it's so inconsistent and I think with VAR, we've still got a lot of work to do. I think with the training and education, more needs to be done with the leadership and education, it's all over the place.”

Stelling then finished by saying: “Its not fit for purpose at the moment, I have to be honest I don’t think that VAR and the PGMOL are fit for purpose because last night, the referee got it horribly wrong they had the chance to put it right but then they compound it by not putting it right and you know, you lose all faith.”

Nottingham Forest are in a title race

Football Insider opinion

There aren’t many Forest fans who would have believed you if you had told them at the start of the season that they would be six points off the top of the table after 20 games, and yet here they are.

The Garibaldi’s are the most in form team in the league right now having won six on the bounce and look set for European football at a minimum.

Former Tottenham Hotspur and Wolves manager, Nuno Espirito Santo has taken a team that was expected to finish near the relegation zone, into a genuine title challenger.

Many fans and pundits are comparing this run to Leicester City’s improbably title victory in 2016 [The Sun], but the Portuguese boss will know that knocking Liverpool off the top spot will be a tall order.

Top-scorer Chris Wood has been instrumental in their success with 12 goals in the Premier League and Morgan Gibbs-White, who has been linked with a move to Liverpool, has been a revelation since signing from Wolves in 2022.

Forest could potentially halve the lead that the Scouse side have on them when the two teams meet on 14 January at the City Ground in Nottingham.

In other news, Callum Hudson-Odoi shared this big message with Forest fans.

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