Another week, another incident involving a match official operating VAR and now it’s impacted Nottingham Forest. Darren England has been replaced as the fourth official for today’s game between the Reds and Brentford.
The Sheffield-based referee was in the firing line last night as Tottenham faced Liverpool. He incorrectly failed to look at the incident involving Luis Diaz who was clearly onside but ruled off by the assistant referee on the field
He advised the referee that the check was complete when in fact it’d not taken place in the first instance. England and the AVAR on last night’s game, Dan Cook were both due to be involved on the Forest game today but have now been removed.
England removed from role on Forest v Brentford
The PGMOL have taken England out of the firing line given that the game is to be broadcast live on Sky Sports. He will be replaced by another Sheffield-based referee in Craig Pawson who will now be the fourth man on the gam
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That said, he was also in the firing line yesterday. He chose not to show a second yellow card to Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan after he committed what looked like a wreckless tackle on Manchester City star Kyle Walker.
With Steve Cooper and Thomas Frank known to be passionate on the sidelines, he could be kept busy. With the Sky cameras watching on, it looks as though the decision that has been made will prove to be a correct one.
Forest can’t focus on match officials today
Too much can be made of who is doing the decision-making when it comes to the laws of the game. VAR might not be fit for purpose but Forest have to produce a performance today that leaves nothing controversial to discuss.
The fourth man’s responsibilities certainly shouldn’t be impacting anything on the pitch. Pawson is also a top match official who has been refereeing in the Premier League for many years and is probably better than England.
Forest will hope for another big three points today. Beating Sheffield United and drawing with Burnley provides a decent platform at home but to beat Brentford they simply have to be at their best this afternoon.
