Mike Dean says he believes referee Paul Tierney made a ‘monumental error’ in the build-up to Darwin Nunez’s 99th-minute goal after Liverpool ran out controversial 1-0 winners over Nottingham Forest.
Forest’s players – and owner Evangelos Marinakis – surrounded Tierney after the full-time whistle in Saturday’s dramatic Premier League clash, enraged by the decision to hand Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher the ball following Ibrahima Konate’s head injury.
Replays showed the hosts had possession when play stopped and therefore should have regained with the ball as the action restarted at the City Ground. Just moments later, Nunez headed past Matz Sels to seal the Reds a fourth straight victory in the top flight.
The result meant Forest remained just four points above the relegation zone, while Liverpool restored their four-point lead over second-placed Manchester City at the top of the table with the win.
Speaking after the match, former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg said Liverpool had benefitted from a huge error and ex-referee Dean agrees that Tierney made a ‘bad mistake’ in the build-up to Nunez’s goal.
‘Yeah, unfortunately for Paul it is a mistake and it’s a bad one as well. Obviously it leads to a goal eventually,’ Dean told Sky Sports.
‘The law states that whoever has the ball last when the play does stop, the ball goes back to them.
‘[Callum] Hudson-Odoi clearly had the ball and the ball should have been dropped to Nottingham Forest on the wing.
‘I know they went and scored Liverpool. It wasn’t directly straight from the dropped-ball, it’s closing on two minutes afterwards, so there is a big timescale in between.’
Asked if the decision would have been correct had Tierney blown his whistle a second earlier, Dean replied: ‘Yeah, I mean then obviously Mac Allister would have touched the ball last, Liverpool would have touched the ball last, so the ball would have gone back to Liverpool then.
‘Obviously the whistle went a second too late maybe unfortunately for Paul, it should have gone back to Forest and it’s just one of those things that transpires.
‘It’s dropped to Liverpool wrongly, they go and score two minutes later after a throw-in and a corner and a chance to clear by Forest, but it’s just one of those things unfortunately.’
According to Dean, Forest have every right to feel aggrieved and Tierney will be aware that he has made an enormous mistake.
‘There’s been a big fallout and rightly so. It’s a big error by the match referee, but it’s just something they’re going to have to live and learn from,’ he added.
‘It’s a mistake, we all know it’s a mistake. It does need someone to come out at the end the game straightaway and say it was a mistake.
‘The chairman was on the pitch and we don’t want to see things like that happen when you see what happened in Turkey a couple of months ago where a referee got assaulted. We don’t need scenes like that after the game.
‘Obviously Nottingham Forest are upset. I would have been upset if I’d have been involved with Nottingham Forest as well.
‘Unfortunately for the referee, he’s made a monumental error. I think he’ll know that today that he’s made a mistake and hopefully he can rectify it in the future.’
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