Nuno Espirito Santo reacts to Nottingham Forest statement after club denied three penalties

Nuno Espirito Santo gave a stunning response to Nottingham Forest’s dramatic statement in the wake of their defeat to Everton.

Nuno admitted to talkSPORT that he was aware that Forest had questioned the appointment of Stuart Attwell, the VAR for their contentious 2-0 defeat, ahead of kick-off.

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The ‘Tricky Trees’ had three penalty appeals at Goodison Park waved away by on-field official Anthony Taylor, with his decisions endorsed by Attwell at Stockley Park.

After the game, Forest released a statement saying they are ‘considering their options’ over ‘extremely poor’ refereeing decisions.

The club also revealed they’d warned PGMOL over bias by accusing Attwell of being a Luton Town fan, with the Hatters only one point behind Forest in the relegation zone.

During a post-match interview with talkSPORT, Nuno said: “I can explain my position, I was aware of that complaint.

“It’s a formal complaint. Every club is entitled to do it if they feel that they are not comfortable. The PGMOL decide the other way.

“If Stuart Attwell is not a fan of Luton, that doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter in the end of the day. That doesn’t matter. He’s there to do his job.

“In starting with Anthony Taylor today, he did a bad job and VAR did a bad job because the decisions are bad.

“I’m telling you after we lose a game everybody will say, ‘Okay look at the manager, look he’s getting excuses’ – No it’s not an excuse, it’s the reality.

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“We don’t know what can happen with that decision but they are bad decisions – they are penalties and VAR should help the referee. I saw it.”

Forest’s statement was their latest act of grievance against VAR and officials’ decisions throughout the season.

Forest complained about referee Attwell and his fellow officials in their 3-2 defeat against Manchester United in August.

Willy Boly’s sending-off against Bournemouth in December saw PGMOL head Howard Webb confirm that an error was made.

Forest also wrote a letter of complaint to the Premier League after Ivan Toney‘s controversial free-kick goal on his return from his betting breach ban in Brentford’s 3-2 win earlier this year.

The Midlands outfit even hired former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg as their referees’ analyst to offer advice on specific issues while acting as an expert conduit between them and the PGMOL.

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Forest boss Nuno admitted claimed he understood the club’s frustrations after a catalogue of continuous decisions since his arrival.

The ex-Tottenham manager referenced Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis storming the pitch at the end of the 1-0 loss to Liverpool.

Forest were unhappy they had forfeited possession in added time when play was stopped for an apparent head injury to Ibrahima Konate – with Darwin Nunez going onto bag a last-gasp winner.

Nuno added to talkSPORT: “I would rather speak about other things. I’d rather speak about the need that we have in these four games.

“I’d rather speak about the performance and the standards of the players, but this has been going on so long.

“Since I arrived I have this feeling growing and growing so you must understand the reaction of the club.

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“We owe this to our fans. 1,000 people or more, 2,000/3,000 people travel. They are in this ground, they need to be respected.

“The referees must know and assess that they are [making] bad decisions against us. Decisions that are costing us points, not only penalties.

“Just remember the final minute, 30 seconds to go in the game against Liverpool. You know what I mean? So, you must understand that we react like that.”

“Look if we were in another country, we will start speaking about conspiracy. You know what I mean?”

But when asked to clarify if there’s any suggestion of a conspiracy or anything untoward, Nuno responded: “No, I don’t. No. I’m not talking about that.

“But why always this, and then comes the answer from the final panel that they have one week after saying, ‘No, you were right, you’re entitled to a penalty bah, bah, bah’, what’s the point?

“Seems like they are playing with us.”