Liverpool might not have fully deserved three points at Anfield on Saturday in their 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest. The visitors might even have felt hard done by to not have come away from Merseyside with maximum points.
But Forest's second goal was laden with controversy after Nico Williams won a penalty for Oliver Glasner's side in the 70th minute. This was dispatched by Morgan Gibbs-White, but there was a lot going on off the pitch before the penalty was given.
Additionally, opinions were split over whether goalkeeper Alisson Becker made enough contact with Williams to even warrant a penalty. The Welsh defender had already flicked the ball towards goal before clashing into the Brazilian shot-stopper.
There were also suspicions that Liam Delap might've taken an illegal throw in the buildup to the incident. However, that was all after some confusion on the sidelines as Ryan Gravenberch, Kostas Tsimikas, and Rio Ngumoah were waiting to enter proceedings.
Technology Malfunction, User Error, Or Both?
Prior to the sequence that led to referee Samuel Barrott awarding Forest a penalty, Andoni Iraola had been trying to sub on Gravenberch, Tsimikas, and Ngumoha for several minutes. There were several stoppages that could have allowed those three subs to take place before the penalty incident, but the fourth official took a significant amount of time trying to fix the electronic board.
There was noticeable frustration lodged towards the fourth official from Iraola and his substitutes eagerly awaiting to make their way onto the pitch, and the bitter reality for Liverpool is that if the board had been sorted and working properly, the result could have been different in their favor. The Reds had most of the momentum in the second half, highlighted by lovely goals from Alexander Isak and new signing Víctor Muñoz.
Do The Boards Need Updating?
Following Liverpool's draw, former Premier League referee Graham Scott took to his X account to express his concern about the electronic boards officials use, saying they're not fit for purpose:
"The subs boards are not fit for purpose. Each number has to be entered manually, and they only count up one at a time. Entering number 38 on its own could take several seconds and there are six numbers to plug in here."
He added that the boards only count upwards once, which can complicate things for players who have double-digit numbers on their kits, applying to Liverpool's Graveberch (38), Tsimikas (21) and Ngumoah (73).
Scott also added that contacts from within the league have informed him that clubs are technically responsible for inputting their own subs into the board and that the fourth official just holds it up when the subs need to be made. That presents several different questions for the context of Liverpool trying to make their changes on Saturday before Forest's penalty.
Did Liverpool's staff properly play their part in inputting the substitutes? Were there malfunctions with the board? Did the fourth official make an error, or simply trying to correct an error made by Liverpool's staff?
Either way, Iraola was justifiably frustrated after the match, but perhaps the incident sheds some light on a call for league-wide clarity on just what, exactly, the rules are. Do all clubs in the league know the official ruling? Additionally, is there a need for better training for the roles and responsibilities of fourth officials during league matches?
There are questions with potential answers, but the main takeaway, as Scott alluded to, is that there are rules in place; it's just a matter of whether they're followed and understood collectively.
