Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool: Referee analyst Mark Clattenburg criticises officiating for Darwin Nunez winner

Nottingham Forest referee analyst Mark Clattenburg criticised the officiating in the build-up to Liverpool's dramatic winner at the City Ground on Saturday.

Clattenburg added he was not allowed into the referees' dressing room to speak to Paul Tierney after the game.

Forest players surrounded Tierney after full-time, fuming at the decision to give Liverpool the ball following a head injury to Ibrahima Konate.

The home side had possession when play was stopped.

However, Tierney restarted the game with the ball at the feet of Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

Darwin Nunez then scored the winning goal one minute and 50 seconds later.

"[Forest] should have had the ball back," Clattenburg, who took up his new role at the City Ground last month, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"If the referee stops the game, he has to give the ball back to the team in possession. That was Forest."

Forest coach Steven Reid was shown a red card for remonstrating with Tierney after the full-time whistle.

Clattenburg currently stars on BBC TV show Gladiators and in his role at Forest was spotted with Howard Webb - head of referees' body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) - during Forest's FA Cup defeat by Manchester United on Wednesday. He officiated in the Premier League for 13 years between 2004 and 2017.

BBC Radio 5 live football reporter Rob Schofield described "furious scenes" at full-time with Reid and Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis pursuing the officials all the way to the referee's office.

"[Marinakis] was yelling 'respect the players, this happens every week'," Schofield reported, before the Forest owner was ushered away.

As per International Football Association Board (Ifab) rules, the former official was right in that the game should have restarted with a Forest ball.

The decision did not lead directly to the goal, however, with Forest regaining possession before Nunez eventually scored the winner.

"When [the ball was] given to the keeper, with Liverpool scoring afterwards, you can see why [Forest] are aggrieved," Clattenburg continued.

"I haven't spoken to the referee - I'll leave that to the club. I went to go into the referee's dressing room [after the game] but he wouldn't allow it."

The result leaves Forest in 17th place, four points above the relegation zone, having played a game more. They have been charged by the Premier League for an alleged breach of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) in their 2022-23 accounts, which could lead to a points deduction before the end of the campaign.

Speaking on Match of the Day, former Premier League striker Alan Shearer said the referee had dropped a "big clanger".

"He's got it totally wrong," he said. "Hudson-Odoi has the ball and then he blows. He then gives the ball back, unchallenged to the [Liverpool] goalkeeper, which is totally wrong.

"It should be a Forest ball on the wing where it was touched. I get the time point - one minute and 50 seconds - to a certain degree. But if you drop it to where Forest should have had it, everything changes."

Fellow MOTD pundit Jermaine Jenas added: "I think it is a shocking decision. Forest have got Liverpool under pressure, Hudson-Odoi might get anther corner, there might be another shot on goal. And to release that pressure in that moment, at that point of that game, is massive. It's a big one for Forest to have to take and move on from."

'A monumental error' - Mike Dean

In August, Forest lodged a complaint with referees' body the PGMOL over the performance of the officials in their 3-2 defeat at Manchester United.

Clattenburg said it was too early to decide if they would be making an official complaint to PGMOL.

Manager Nuno Espirito Santo was also furious with the decision to allow two of Brentford's goals in the Bees' triumph over Forest in January, while he also felt his team should have been awarded a "clear penalty" for a foul on Taiwo Awoniyi in last month's defeat by Newcastle.

"Forest have felt a lot of decisions have gone against them," Clattenburg said. "Everyone is upset and sad that they've lost this way.

"We need to hope the club's luck changes in the future."

Former Premier League referee Mike Dean told Sky Sports on Sunday that Tierney had made a "monumental error".

He criticised Forest owner Marinakis for being on the pitch at full-time, saying "we don't want scenes like that at the end of the game".

Dean said: "Unfortunately for Paul [Tierney], it is a mistake and it is a bad one. It leads to a goal, eventually.

"There has been a big fallout and rightly so - it's a big error.

"Paul will be devastated because a goal came from it. He will sit down and assess - with his team - what they could have done differently.

"I was surprised the chairman came down I've never seen that before in the Premier League."

On his former colleague Clattenburg speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live about the refereeing performance, Dean added: "Mark's got a job to do for Nottingham Forest, he's allowed to do that, but not to go and see the ref. And the ref has the power to say: 'I don't want to see anyone.'"

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