Iraola blames delayed Liverpool substitutions for Nottingham Forest penalty

Nottingham Forest manager Andoni Iraola believes a delay to Liverpool’s substitutions contributed to the penalty which Morgan Gibbs-White converted in his side’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

Liverpool were ready to bring on Ryan Gravenberch, Kostas Tsimikas and Rio Ngumoha when the ball went out of play, but the changes were not made immediately.

Fourth official Tim Robinson appeared to experience difficulties with the electronic substitution board. Liverpool waited for approximately three minutes, despite the ball leaving the field of play on three separate occasions.

The third stoppage led to a decisive moment in the match. Nottingham Forest restarted quickly through Liam Delap, who released Neco Williams behind the Liverpool defence.

Alisson came out and brought down the wing-back as Williams tried to get a shot away. Referee Samuel Barrott pointed to the spot, and Gibbs-White converted the penalty in the 70th minute.

Iraola questioned why Liverpool’s substitutions had not been completed before Forest were able to restart play.

“Definitely he was having some problems with the board or something,” Iraola said. “It definitely would have stopped because I wanted to sub, but it didn’t happen.

“There was a quick throw-in because we were waiting for the sub.”

The Forest manager was particularly critical of the amount of time taken to process the changes.

He added: “A professional fourth official cannot take three minutes. We’d already given him the subs two or three minutes before.”

Liverpool eventually salvaged a point when Victor Munoz equalised in the 82nd minute. However, Iraola remained frustrated that Forest had once again been unable to turn a strong position into victory.

The result leaves Liverpool with two points from their opening two league matches.

Iraola admitted Forest had struggled during the opening period, before improving significantly after the interval.

“The first half has been poor from our side. We haven’t been good enough, we haven’t controlled the game,” Iraola said.

“We improved a lot in the second half. We were much more intense, much quicker on the ball, had more sense of urgency, much better, but it hasn’t been good enough to win the game.”

Liverpool’s preparations for their triple substitution had already been under way when the ball first went out, but the technical issue meant the changes could not be carried out during the repeated stoppages.

That left Forest with the opportunity to take the third restart quickly. Williams’ run created the opening which resulted in the penalty, giving Gibbs-White the chance to put Forest ahead from 12 yards.

Liverpool’s late equaliser denied Forest the win, while the draw extended their failure to convert a comeback into three points.