Nuno Espirito Santo believes VAR in its current form is ruining football and claimed numerous poor decisions are close to breaking the spirit of his Nottingham Forest players.
Forest have been in the eye of the storm this week after appearing to question the integrity of VAR Stuart Attwell in an extraordinary post on X, after three penalty appeals were turned down as Forest lost 2-0 to fellow strugglers Everton last weekend.
Nuno called the use of video technology ‘a mess’ and urged referees to take greater responsibility for their on-field decisions.
‘I was supportive of VAR when it came in but maybe one day not too far in the future we will say football is better without VAR because it’s been a mess,’ said Nuno, whose side face Manchester City on Sunday.
‘My feeling is about referees not taking decisions on the pitch. They did before and they should do it again, with VAR coming after that. The other way around is a huge mistake for the game.
Nuno Espirito Santo has branded VAR a ‘mess’ and claimed decisions seem to be ‘always against’ Nottingham Forest
Forest were aggrieved after three penalty shouts went against them in a 2-0 loss to Everton
Forest posted a tweet after defeat to Everton questioning the integrity of VAR Stuart Attwell
‘I still can’t believe how the decisions went against us, the more I see it. It has a big impact, not only on the points total. There is frustration and disappointment and the sense we feel like it’s always against us.
‘It’s difficult to control those emotions and it’s affecting us a lot. How can we defend ourselves when we see something so wrong and we can’t understand?
‘We don’t want things to be personal or abusive to the referees, this is what we don’t want. But how can you feel after a game like that, so frustrated and disappointed?
‘We don’t want things to go much further. We want to focus on the game and issues we can control but so many things keep happening. That’s why we feel so much anger.
‘We speak about this every day. The payers on the pitch feel the disappointment of trying and like there is always something against us. It’s very hard and I understand the frustration we are feeling. I respect our players so much because it’s not easy.’
Along with Nuno, defender Neco Williams faces a possible punishment for his comments after the defeat at Everton. Nuno said he had yet to hear the audio recordings of the officials’ conversations and that he had not heard from the PGMOL.
The FA has launched an investigation after Forest called the integrity of Attwell into question
Reports had suggested Forest, owned by Evangelos Marinakis, were mulling a lawsuit but are now expected to face questions from the Football Association over the post
Nuno agreed with the statement but did not speak to referee Anthony Taylor
The main source of anger against Forest is for bringing Attwell – who was the VAR official at Everton – directly into the discussion, but Nuno insisted: ‘We have had a lot of different VAR officials who have made the same mistakes so it’s nothing personal.
‘It has nothing to do with Stuart Attwell. It’s the process by itself. What we want is for things to work out in football.’
