Gibbs-White lambasts Premier League officiating after controversial referee VAR decision

Morgan Gibbs-White has questioned why referee Thomas Bramall did not make an on-field decision about whether to send off Issa Diop. Nottingham Forest were only awarded a free-kick after a review by video assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis and their assistant, James Mainwaring.

They determined that the Ipswich Town defender did not deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity because James McAtee took a heavy touch away from goal before being fouled. Diop was thus issued a yellow card, not a red card.

Despite agreeing with the decision, Gibbs-White took issue with how they reached it. The England international explained his stance afterwards.

Gibbs-White spoke in a Sky Sports interview about whether Diop should have been dismissed, saying: "It is difficult to say because you don't know if he's going to get there. My only question is: why did that have to go to VAR when both the referee and linesman are standing there watching?

"It should be an on-field decision right then and there. I do agree with the decision because we don't know if he was going to get there."

He added: "I think there needs to be a little bit of ownership on the pitch; it's as simple as that.

"The referee and the linesman can both see exactly what's happened, and I think we wait for VAR to intervene all the time instead of making actual decisions there and then on the pitch and keeping the game natural."

Diop also spoke to Sky Sports about the incident afterwards, and expressed his confidence about not being sent off, saying: "I don't think it's a red; I went to tackle because I saw Leif Davies covering. He [James McAtee] put the ball wide, and Leif was there to cover.

"I don't think it's a red. I was quite confident about that."

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Forest head coach Oliver Glasner said afterwards: "It doesn't make sense [to speak to the referee] because it is what he decided. And we have to accept it.

"It looks like the VAR was not from the East Midlands today. It felt like it was a red card, but we couldn't have played a more dominant game than we did in the second half.

"Not to blame the referee; we will keep analysing and practising. Maybe I am wrong, or I don't know if the referee was a former football player; he won't change it anymore, so we accept it."