A contentious VAR decision to rule out a Nottingham Forest goal for handball was the defining moment of a drab goalless draw with Tottenham Hotspur at the City Ground, leaving both Premier League clubs still searching for their first win of the season.
The flashpoint arrived midway through the second half when Morgan Gibbs-White's deflected effort looped goalward after being played through on goal. Sandro Tonali attempted to hack the ball clear on the line but missed his kick, allowing Neco Williams to throw himself at the ball and force it home. Television replays showed Williams covering his face with his hands as Tonali's boot came flying in, and after a lengthy check, VAR official Peter Bankes advised referee Craig Pawson that the Wales international had made contact with the ball via his arm.
Pawson subsequently overturned his initial decision to award the goal, informing the crowd over the stadium microphone: "After review, the ball touches the hand of Nottingham Forest's No 3 before the goal is scored. The final decision is a direct free-kick for Spurs." The ruling was met with loud jeers from the home supporters.
Forest head coach Oliver Glasner was scathing in his post-match assessment, insisting the officials had failed to meet the elevated bar set for VAR intervention this season. "I don't think VAR can intervene when he's guessing," Glasner said. "It was not clear and obvious. We had a briefing before the season that the threshold for VAR intervention should be very high and this is why it was a wrong intervention for me."
The Austrian coach explained he had reviewed multiple camera angles with his analyst before reaching his conclusion. "I've watched five or six different angles and to be fair, from one angle you can guess that the ball touched the arm because the shirt moves a little bit, but it's not clear whether it's the ball or Tonali on the goalline," he said, adding that decisions like this undermine confidence in match officials. "We are told to support the referee, to keep the threshold for VAR intervention very high, to strengthen the referee's decision and they didn't do that today. With these kinds of situations, you weaken the referees."
Williams, who penned a new four-year contract with the club this week, was adamant he had done nothing wrong. "I headed it in between my arms," he said. "If you're going to pause it, it's going to look like it hit my arm but it didn't. I have seen all the images and at not one moment can you tell that has clearly hit my arms because it never. I knew straight away I'd headed it down in between my arms."
Beyond the controversy, the match itself offered little in the way of quality. Tottenham failed to register a single shot on target, extending their goalless run in the league to three matches, with Dominic Solanke's header onto the roof of the net late on their closest effort. Omar Marmoush also blazed a chance wide on the counter-attack after missing an earlier opportunity created by Pedro Porro.
Spurs handed a first competitive appearance in 645 days to Mykhailo Mudryk following his doping suspension, though the Ukrainian struggled to make an impact after coming off the bench. New signing Savio also featured on his Premier League debut but was withdrawn on medical advice after an hour, alongside Destiny Udogie.
Roberto De Zerbi conceded his side lacked the necessary sharpness in the final third. "We have to make better decisions, to keep more calm when we are very close to do something important," the Italian said, while acknowledging the scale of rebuilding still required despite Tottenham's heavy summer investment. "We bought very, very good players but you can't just build the team with the names like in Football Manager."
Both clubs remain without a win this season heading into pivotal upcoming fixtures, with Tottenham hosting Everton and Forest travelling to Aston Villa.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football, Standard Football, and Independent Football.