Sheffield United’s manager suggests a pivotal decision was influenced by Nottingham Forest’s recent VAR issue.
In light of Nottingham Forest’s recent controversy surrounding VAR, Chris Wilder suggested that the match officials made the “easy decision” to allow the team’s crucial second goal in their 3-1 victory over Sheffield United this afternoon. Following what they believed to be VAR’s inability to award them at least one
penalty in their crucial matchup with Everton, Forest recently voiced their displeasure to the public.
The manager of Nottingham Forest, Nuno Espírito Santo, acknowledged that his team was “much better” than Sheffield United in the first half at Bramall Lane this afternoon, but another disappointing afternoon saw them lose 3-1. The Blades took the lead thanks to a penalty from Ben Brereton Diaz, and they could have gone ahead by four or five goals at halftime with better finishing, as Cameron Archer wasted two excellent opportunities and Brereton Diaz also squandered. However, United paid the price when Callum Hudson-Odoi equalized with goals from Ryan Yates, and Hudson-Odoi again in the second half sealed a significant win for Forest and saw United break the 100-goal mark for the season—the first time it has happened in a 38-game Premier League season.
We had a lot more opportunities than Sheffield, but Matz [Sels, the Forest goalkeeper] kept us in the game. The second half was far better; we were more in control, moved more, and had opportunities to score even more goals. We are incredibly grateful to the fans for their support, but we still need to keep moving forward.
Although it’s a significant step, we still have two games left. Sincerely, Matz’s saves and one-on-one play [against Archer in the first half] kept us in the game. This is what we need from our goalie, to keep the squad in the contest.