4th Official Delayed Substitutions Before Forest Penalty – Iraola

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has hit out at the officiating crew following Liverpool’s frustrating 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest at Anfield. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

Stressing that a technical mishap prevented him from making crucial tactical changes moments before a pivotal penalty decision, Iraola stated that he was forced to delay the substitution because the fourth official was struggling with an electronic board failure.

To add to his frustration, the Italian added that play was allowed to resume quickly on the third stoppage, leading directly to the throw-in from which Forest won the penalty to retake the lead.

His words, “With the penalty, the situation has already finished when the contact appears. And it’s not an aggressive contact. But more than this we complained about the subs. We had to wait about three minutes.

He was having an issue with the board, I don’t know if it was not working, but we definitely wanted to do the subs the last two or three stoppages before the goal. It wasn’t just that reason but everything helps.

A professional fourth official cannot take three minutes. We’d already given him the subs two or three minutes before. I was already angry because in the previous stoppage we couldn’t make the subs and then before throw-in I thought we could do it. I don’t know, they will have to explain it. But it has taken ages.”

Gerrard added, “You can understand the frustration – in this day and age, with all the technology, it can’t be taking three minutes to make a triple substitution. But I think it’s a small problem in the overall problem because it’s a goal that can be avoided.”