'That's nonsense' — Jamie Carragher slams 'embarrassing' Nottingham Forest statement following Everton loss

Nottingham Forest have been left seething following their defeat to Everton at Goodison Park. The Reds travelled to Merseyside hoping for a boost in their relegation survival battle but they remain just one point above the drop zone with a handful of games left.

The Toffees struck two goals through Idrissa Gueye and Dwight McNeil to add a crucial three points to their own tally, putting a welcome five points worth of daylight between them and Luton Town, who currently occupy 18th place in the Premier League table.

On three occasions during their clash with Everton, Forest claimed for a penalty, with Ashley Young the main man having fingers pointed at him. Each call was waved away by referee Anthony Taylor, and VAR backed up the on-field decisions on each occasion. The most glaring appeal was when the ball struck Young’s arm in the first half, but it was deemed to be in a 'natural position for the movement he was making'.

Jamie Carragher disagreed with the call, discussing it at half-time on Sky Sports: “You can talk about close proximity, but VAR haven't mentioned that. His arm's out from his body, he's making himself bigger, and the ball's just falling there to Chris Wood in the six-yard box.”

However, despite believing Forest should have been given the spot-kick, the ex-defender has strongly condemned the club’s follow up social media post. After the match, the official Nottingham Forest Twitter account wrote: “Three extremely poor decisions — three penalties not given — which we simply cannot accept. “We warned the PGMOL that the VAR [Stuart Attwell] is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”

Carragher slammed the club’s decision to post the statement and branded it an ‘embarrassing’ move at full-time on Sky Sports’ coverage.

“Stuart Attwell and Anthony Taylor have had a horrific day today and they should be rightly criticised for that. I get the frustration but that, what I’ve just read on social media, that’s like a fan in a pub. That is embarrassing from Nottingham Forest. That rubbish about the VAR being a Luton fan, they can’t get involved in that.

“You’ve got to show a little bit of class if you’re a football club. I get the frustration, the officials had an awful day, terrible, but you can’t get involved in that. That’s nonsense.”