Chris Sutton has explained he can’t understand the fume surrounding the performance of referee Paul Tierney at the weekend.
The 43-year-old was the man in the middle as Liverpool defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground thanks to Darwin Nunez’s 99th minute winner but has received huge criticism for a controversial incident just two minutes before the Reds’ late winner.
Tierney stopped play while Forest’s Callum Hudson-Odoi was in possession of the ball on the left flank after Liverpool defender Ibou Konate remained grounded and holding his head following a collision inside the area.
When play resumed shortly after, the ball was handed to Caoimhin Kelleher instead of the hosts, but Sutton believes Nuno Espirito Santo’s side can’t blame the referee for their late loss.
“The whole attack on Paul Tierney, I think he left himself open to it and I’m not disputing that but the whole owner coming on the pitch and some of the forest coaches getting involved and the anger… I hope they showed the same type of anger towards those two Forest players who could have cleared the ball and they didn’t,” Sutton said on It’s All Kicking Off podcast (via The Boot Room). “So don’t blame Paul Tierney, a minute and 52 seconds after. Had they gone straight up and scored then maybe I’d have understood things a bit more than I am right now.”
We understand that the ball should’ve been handed to Forest at the restart but it’s worth nothing that the exact same thing happened to Liverpool in the first half and just shy of two minutes of play happened in between the restart and our late goal.
Santo’s side had numerous chances to clear the ball before our No.9 latched onto the end of Alexis Mac Allister’s pinpoint cross.
Tierney has not been appointed to referee a Premier League fixture this weekend but it remains unclear as to whether that is a result of what happened at the City Ground.
The official has been appointed as VAR for Brentford’s trip to the Emirates on Saturday, however.
Jurgen Klopp and the 42-year-old do not have the greatest of relationships with plenty of controversial incidents down the years but to see one go our way was a surprise!
So no Red Card for Ryan Yates who nearly took off Konate’s head. Mr. Sutton, other so called ex-referees and pundits alike all forget this “little” detail, focusing on the dropped ball faux pas. They also forget that earlier on in the match, the boot was on the other foot. SELECTIVE MEMORIES YOU BUNCH OF SPHINCTER MUSCLES.