Forest request VAR audio, Premier League news conferences and football latest – BBC
Forest request VAR audio in defeat to Everton is made public
Q&A with chief football writer Phil McNulty – get your questions in
Premier League news conferences ahead of mid-week fixtures
Cole Palmer unwell ahead of Chelsea's trip to Arsenal on Tuesday
Arteta – 'Chelsea squad quality is great'
Reaction to Manchester United reaching FA Cup final and Liverpool moving up to second in Premier League
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Craig Nelson and Sam Drury
Thanks for joining on what has been a fairly eventful day with Nottingham Forest and Barcelona both demanding answers after perceived injustices yesterday.
We've also heard from Mikel Arteta, Mauricio Pochettino and Chris Wilder ahead of a busy midweek of Premier League action.
We'll be back bright and early tomorrow with plenty more build-up to those games, starting with Arsenal v Chelsea tomorrow.
Until then, here are a stories from the football world worth a few minutes of your time…
Join us again tomorrow!
Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter
Forest’s demand for the officials’ audio from Sunday’sdefeat at Everton to be released comes as no surprise.
The frustration and anger from their social media post, just minutes after the 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park on Sunday, only served to highlight the depth of feeling further.
They are well within their rights to ask for the audio to be released, following their frustration at having three penalty claims rejected.
It is something Liverpool did after Luis Diaz’s goal was wrongly disallowed in their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham in September, and it puts PGMOL chief Howard Webb’s desire and pledge for transparency at the centre of the VAR debate again.
Though, the nature and tone of Sunday's post on X will be, legitimately, debated and it is hard to see how Forest will avoid a charge from the Football Association.
It called into question the integrity of VAR official Stuart Attwell, despite not directly naming him, and the FA are likely to take a very dim view.
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I would rather the call be correct than not. Even if it takes VAR 10 mins to be honest.
Felix, New York
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Ronnie from Cardiff: Hi Phil. So we have all seen the lines drawn by VAR for offside but there doesn't seem to be much attention paid to which moment in time they choose – ie when the player kicking the ball forward actually touches the ball. Do they use sound or is it a visual thing? As getting this slightly wrong can make a difference to where the attacking players position is when the lines are drawn. Hope this makes sense. Thanks.
Hi Ronnie. I have always assumed they use visual rather than sound because that would be incredibly hard to pick up and judge in a packed stadium. It will be from the moment the ball is struck.
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Adrian, Sheffield: FAO Phil McNulty; the Forest VAR issues and accusations aren't good for football. I suspect the VAR official was professional and didn't use bias, but wouldn't it have been simpler if he'd just asked not to be involved in this match as a conflict of interest could be perceived (even though I'm sure none was used in his judgements)?
It may have been simpler, Adrian, but where would it all end? You could have officials excusing them for all sorts of reasons, looking at the league table for potential ramifications etc. I totally accept officials make mistakes but do not believe for a moment they deserve to have their integrity questioned.
Forest’s Tweet on social media after the Everton game does not do them or the game any good whatsoever.
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VAR gives the data, it is a system, it does not make the decisions. If a decision is deemed to be wrong then it is due to human error after been presented with the data. Stop blaming VAR as some kind of mythical creature, the errors are still being made by the human officiating team.
Mark, Hull
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Anon: Hi Phil. In all the noise about United, has it been overlooked that they started – by my calculation – their EIGHTH-choice centre-back, and in so doing lost their most experienced midfielder from the centre of the park? It's not hard to imagine they'd have seen out the game in a little more comfort without an injury situation that is almost without precedent.
I agree they have struggled with injuries but if those Manchester United players had presented anything like a functioning and organised unit yesterday they would have closed out the win in comfort from 3-0 up with 19 minutes left against a Championship side, albeit a very decent one. Instead, they almost lost it.
It was not the first time this season that United have suddenly been reduced to chaos from comfort. It shows lack of character and belief, as well as chaos. I was at Newport County in the FA Cup fourth round when they lost a two-goal lead before going on to beat the lowly League Two side.
Injuries are a mitigation not a reason for what happened yesterday. It was that most rare of things, an embarrassing FA Cup semi-final win.
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Russ: What are the chances of some common sense being brought to the handball rule? Defenders are still being forced into the ridiculous situation of trying to defend with their hands behind their backs – as unnatural a position as you can get. The whole "body silhouette/natural position" thing is clearly not fit for purpose.
Afternoon, Russ. I am at a loss with the whole thing to be brutally honest. I’m not sure common sense is found in lots of places these days. I agree with you completely but not sure it will be sorted satisfactorily.
Real Madrid 3-2 Barcelona
Earlier, we brought you the reaction of Barcelona coach Xavi describing the lack of goalline technology in La Liga as 'a disgrace', following his side's 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid on Sunday.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has now released a lengthy statement in which he says the club will consider requesting a replay if analysis proves Lamine Yamal's disallowed goal crossed the line.
He added that Barca would not rule out taking "any necessary legal action".
Laporta's statement read: "As president of FC Barcelona, I would like to put across my dissatisfaction the day after the improper use of a tool such as VAR in one of the most important matches in the global schedule is marking our calendar.
"What I am in favour of is that, now that we have it, we always use to avoid errors that can lead to unfair decisions.
"As a club we want to be sure about what happened, and it is for that reason that from FCB we will make an immediate request to the Technical Refereeing Committee at the Spanish Football Federation for a comprehensive collection of footage and audio from the incident.
"If once this documentation has been analysed, the club understands that an error was made in the revision of the incident, we will take all available measure to reverse the situation, without discounting, obviously, any necessary legal action.
"If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, we will move ahead and we do not discount requesting that the game be replayed."
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Alan: Phil, for a while now I believe the Manchester Utd players have given up on Ten Hag's methods. Do you agree? Are they still playing for him as there's little evidence? I think they want him out as quick as possible.
Hello, Alan. Manchester United are just a very strange team – which in itself leads you to question Ten Hag’s methodology and future. They play in moments but rarely for full matches. Yesterday was the perfect example.
I’m not sure they play as they do because they want the manager out. I think they play as they do because they’re not actually very good, which itself is ominous for Ten Hag as co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe builds a new structure at the club.
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Chris The Hopeful Toffee: Really simple question Phil, are Everton now safe from relegation?
Chris, you know I’d never commit to saying Everton are totally safe just yet but there is no doubt they are a lot closer after yesterday’s win against Nottingham Forest. That was so important, as was Brentford thrashing Luton Town on Saturday.
The trip to Luton on Friday week could also be decisive.
I did say earlier in the season that Everton would stay up even if they were deducted 12 points so I stand by that. There you go!
Chelsea say they will ban any individual found to have racially abused striker Nicolas Jackson on social media following Saturday's FA Cup semi-final defeat by Manchester City.
A club statement read: "Chelsea Football Club is disgusted by the racial abuse directed towards Nicolas Jackson via social media, following Saturday evening's game.
"There is no place in society for any form of discrimination and we operate a zero-tolerance approach to any incident of this nature.
"The club will support any criminal prosecutions and take the strongest possible action, including bans, against any individual who is found to be a season ticket holder or member."
RS Berkane's kit also featured the extended map of Morocco when they played in the Caf Super Cup in 2022
The first leg of the Caf Confederation Cup semi-final between USM Alger and Renaissance Berkane did not take place on Sunday because of a row over the visiting side's shirt.
Berkane's strip features an extended map of Morocco, which includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Algeria sees the map, which is displayed in the centre of the shirt, as a provocation and customs officials confiscated the kit when the Moroccan club arrived in the country on Friday.
But Berkane have used the same jersey throughout this season's competition – as well as a similar design in previous continental campaigns – and the Confederation of African Football (Caf) upheld their right to wear it in Algiers after a hastily-convened meeting of its inter-clubs committee.
Both sides travelled to the stadium for the match and USM Alger came out for kick-off, but the visitors remained in their dressing room.
Read more here.
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest have submitted a formal request to the PGMOL asking for the audio recordings between officials during their defeat by Everton to be made public.
A club statement went on to say: "The club has requested this be shared for three key match incidents – Ashley Young’s challenge on Giovanni Reyna (24th minute), Ashley Young’s handball (44th minute) and Ashley Young’s challenge on Callum Hudson-Odoi (56th minute).
"We firmly advocate for the broader football community and supporters to have access to the audio and transcript for full transparency, ensuring the integrity of our sport is upheld."
Manchester United v Sheffield United (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Sheffield United
Lastly, Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder commented on Nottingham Forest's statement on X about the standard of refereeing in their defeat to Everton: "I've really not got a lot to say about it, with my past track record and where it could lead to! I would rather let all the other experts and pundits comment on it.
"Obviously it is a big statement that is doing the rounds and we will sort of debate it right the way through the world of the Premier League and English football."
On whether he has had any issues with refereeing decisions in the past, Wilder said: "I think there was one when we played Manchester City where John Fleck played a one-two off the referee and put Kevin de Bruyne on goal. That is if you're of a Sheffield United persuasion, and it was a referee from Manchester.
"But listen, there's no issue or talk from us as a football club regarding those sorts of situations."
Manchester United v Sheffield United (Wed, 20:00 BST)Sheffield United
More from Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder on picking his players up after the Burnley loss: "They had a recovery day today and the feel around the club, and around the ground, was quite down after that. Possibly as negative as it has been because we had the opportunity over the last two games to pick up some points, and we haven't. That has affected our league position greatly."
On whether Ivo Grbic will still be his first choice goalkeeper going forward: "I haven't spoken to him. He's done a recovery day away from here. Myself and the coaches have had our heads down today in terms of a game plan and selection. As you can imagine, there is going to be some big decisions on a lot of key positions.
"Regarding Ivo, there was talk of making a substitution at half-time by certain sections of the support. I could have substituted some more players as well, but I thought I would give them the opportunity to make it right. I don't like making those sort of decisions, I will and I have done before, but I like to give the players to opportunity to get back into the game."
Manchester United v Sheffield United (Wed, 20:00 BST)Sheffield United
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder confirmed that there won't be any players making a return from injury against Manchester United: "No. I have seen Jack Robinson hobbling about, putting his hand up to play, which doesn't surprise me. I think we all understand and recognise that. The supporters sing Jack's name and there is a reason they sing that Jack Robinson song."
Wilder admitted that it is "difficult at the minute" because he has a group players that are "injured" or "out of contract and possibly know their fate" or "loan players that possibly know they are going back to their parent club" or "young players who are trying to find their feet in the Premier League".
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With Cannavaro named the Udinese head coach, it got me thinking about which of the greatest players made the greatest managers? Zidane, Cruyff and Pep immediately come to mind.
Mitchell
Manchester United v Sheffield United (Wed, 20:00 BST)Sheffield United
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder on taking on Manchester United after they were pushed all the way in their FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City: "Listen, they won't be too bothered internally. They are through to a cup final yet again, so that is twice in two years that they have reached the final, which is a great achievement.
"People will talk about Manchester United negatively, but it is a huge football club and a fabulous group of players that they have got. No matter what happens, no matter what team they put out, we have to be at our very best to get a good result."
On looking forward to seeing what the Blades can do "in front of a full-house" at Old Trafford: "We will expect Manchester United to put out their strongest side and put on a top performance. We are looking to recover from the real disappointment of Saturday afternoon. There is no hiding place – the only way to do that is to get yourself out there and put a proper man performance in."
Manchester United v Sheffield United (Wed, 20:00 BST)Sheffield United
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder on a quick turnaround following their 4-1 defeat by Burnley: "It's the rearranged game because of Manchester United's progression in FA Cup – so it is what it is.
"Whether it is a good thing or not, whether we would have preferred a week of preparation leading up to the Newcastle game, or whether we will get back on the bike – we will only know off the back of that on late Wednesday evening.
"It is still a fabulous place to go and play football, for the players and for the club. This is the reason we got promoted to the Premier League, for days and nights like this playing at Old Trafford. Regardless of our situation, we should go and grab that opportunity and maximise it."
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Last Updated 15th May 2024 at 21:56
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