Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has expressed his outrage at the referee's decision to award Manchester United a corner kick in the build-up to the visitors' opener, describing it as "farcical". The incident occurred on Saturday when Nicolo Savona's clearance from Bryan Mbeumo's delivery was heading out of play, but the Italian full-back chased after his own header and appeared to stop the whole ball from crossing the byeline.
However, linesman Akil Howson signalled that the ball had gone out of play, prompting referee Darren England to award the corner - from which Casemiro put Ruben Amorim's side in front in a game which ended 2-2.
Dyche believes there should have been an override on this decision as the corner kick led to a goal. "There has to be someone who overrides this decision, because it's gone and they've put it straight in the goal," he said.
The incident has raised questions about VAR (Video Assistant Referee) decisions, particularly those that result in awarding corners instead of goal kicks. Under current laws, the VAR cannot review such decisions, even if they lead to a goal.
Dyche's frustration was compounded by the fact that assistant referee Howson had signaled for a goal kick from 75 yards away behind the goal, which seemed an implausible distance to see the ball clearly crossing the line. The Forest manager argued that it is "really disappointing" and questioned how Howson could have seen the ball hanging over the line so clearly.
Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer sympathised with Dyche and agreed that the officials got it wrong, stating "Sean Dyche has got a point... I wouldn't like to get VAR involved as it is stopping and starting as it is. I wouldn't encourage that, but I would encourage the officials to do their job properly and get it right, not guess."
However, linesman Akil Howson signalled that the ball had gone out of play, prompting referee Darren England to award the corner - from which Casemiro put Ruben Amorim's side in front in a game which ended 2-2.
Dyche believes there should have been an override on this decision as the corner kick led to a goal. "There has to be someone who overrides this decision, because it's gone and they've put it straight in the goal," he said.
The incident has raised questions about VAR (Video Assistant Referee) decisions, particularly those that result in awarding corners instead of goal kicks. Under current laws, the VAR cannot review such decisions, even if they lead to a goal.
Dyche's frustration was compounded by the fact that assistant referee Howson had signaled for a goal kick from 75 yards away behind the goal, which seemed an implausible distance to see the ball clearly crossing the line. The Forest manager argued that it is "really disappointing" and questioned how Howson could have seen the ball hanging over the line so clearly.
Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer sympathised with Dyche and agreed that the officials got it wrong, stating "Sean Dyche has got a point... I wouldn't like to get VAR involved as it is stopping and starting as it is. I wouldn't encourage that, but I would encourage the officials to do their job properly and get it right, not guess."
Oh man, what's with these refs lately? It seems like they're just guessing all over the place! 
The corner kick decision was straight outta crazy town. I mean, Akil Howson signaling for a goal kick from 75 yards away behind the goal? 
Come on, mate! That's not even possible. And then the VAR doesn't even get to review it because of the laws? 
It's all just so frustrating.
It's not like it's rocket science or anything. Just do your job properly and get it right! 
The Forest manager made some good points about this. VAR needs to step in and help out the refs when they mess up like that. We need to see more accuracy and consistency from our referees. 
i was watchin the match with my kid last wknd & we were both goin crazy when that corner kick was awarded. we were like "WHAT R U GUYS TALKIN ABOUT?! THAT BALL WAS CLEARLY OVER THE LINE!!!". my kid even asked me why the ref didnt just throw it back in. 
anyway, gotta agree with sean dyche on this one... VAR needs to review some of these calls esp corners instead of goal kicks 
sean dyche is totally right!! the refs clearly messed up and didnt see what was happening on the field. akil howson's signal from 75 yards away behind the goal is just crazy talk lol. and to top it off, no var can review that decision? are they serious?! 
I'm all for improving VAR, but sometimes you just gotta trust the officials to get it right. And Alan Shearer is totally on point with his "get it right, not guess" vibes 
this corner kick decision is just wild i mean i get why dyche's upset but it does make you wonder how much technology we actually need in football the ref and linesman seemed pretty certain that ball was out of play so what more evidence do they need anyway? 
, can we just accept that refs are gonna make dodgy calls? It's like they're trying to stir up drama 
️. I mean, if VAR can't even review those kinds of decisions, what's the point of even having it? Let the refs just get on with their job and stop making excuses 
. VAR shouldn't be in situations where officials can get it so wrong. It's like, let them make their own calls and trust them to do the right thing 
. Don't need to overrule decisions, that's just gonna cause more drama 
. Just a weird ref call and it's got everyone talking...
he's just trying to make sense of what happened on the pitch & his point about var is valid we need some sorta override system in place to prevent these kinda mistakes especially when it comes to clear & obvious offside decisions 
. And what's with the VAR laws saying they can't review corner kick decisions? It's just not fair to the teams playing out there 
It's like VAR isn't doing its job properly in this case... the system is supposed to review those kinds of decisions and make sure they're correct, but it looks like it just got a free pass here 
.
. And now I'm thinking, maybe they should just have a override button for those kinds of decisions... like, if it's clear as day what happened, just make the call and move on 
. Less chance of messing things up like this 
i mean wot r they even doin over there? akil howson signals 4 goal kick but ref darren england is all "nah corner kick" 
And that linesman, Akil Howson, must've had X-ray vision to spot the ball crossing that far out from 75 yards away 
My partner was screaming at the TV like we were in there with him