Nuno Espirito Santo: Nottingham Forest boss criticises referee for ‘bad day’

Nuno Espirito Santo criticised the standard of refereeing after his Nottingham Forest side lost to Fulham – despite saying that he wants to give officials “peace”.

Fulham won 1-0 through a Raul Jimenez penalty, awarded when a lengthy check by the video assistant referee (VAR) prompted referee Josh Smith to view the pitchside monitor.

Smith deemed Forest defender Murillo to have dragged his studs on the calf of Fulham’s Andreas Pereira after he watched replays of the incident.

Before the first game of the season, Nuno had promised to stop moaning about referees and vowed to trust them.

Earlier this week, the 50-year-old was handed a charge by the Football Association after being sent off during Forest’s 2-2 draw at Brighton last Sunday.

However, the decision to award Fulham the spot-kick, as Forest’s unbeaten start to the season was ended in a tight encounter at the City Ground, prompted Nuno to speak out against the officials.

“We all want peace and to continue well and don’t want to come here to speak about the referees. But it was bad wasn’t it?” Nuno said at a news conference.

“I try to give referees peace. They are trying to improve, but today was not the best day. Today he didn’t do a good job, so I hope that he improves.”