Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo admitted Nottingham Forest had missed the suspended Morgan Gibbs-White as they fell to their first Premier League defeat of the season. A controversial Raul Jimenez penalty proved to be the difference as the Reds lost 1-0 to Fulham at the City Ground on Saturday. Overall, it was a flat performance from the hosts, and their five-match unbeaten run in the league came to an end. Forest managed just one shot on target in the England international’s absence on a below-par afternoon. Decisions from the match officials added to the Reds’ frustrations. Murillo was deemed to have fouled Andreas Pereira for Fulham’s spot-kick, but challenges on Taiwo Awoniyi and Anthony Elanga went unpunished by referee Josh Smith. After the final whistle, Nuno Espirito Santo shared his thoughts on several topics:
On the Penalty Calls
“We all want peace and for things to continue well; to not have to speak about the referees. But it was bad, wasn’t it? In Fulham’s box, we had the situations with T (Taiwo Awoniyi) and Anthony (Elanga). They (the officials) checked and looked, but they don’t have the same opinion as we do. We just have to hope that for the next game we are not talking about referees. Let’s try to avoid talking about officials and give the referees peace. I think they are trying to improve, but today was not the best day. We don’t want to talk about it (referee decisions). Nobody wants to talk about it. But today he didn’t do a good job, so let’s hope he improves – like we have to do also.”
On Whether VAR Is Improving the Game
“That’s what we wanted. We can discuss if it’s soft or not, but we just want things to work well.”
On Whether Gibbs-White Was Missed
“Of course, we missed Morgan. He is a very special player for us. But we have solutions in the squad. We started with one, then we changed. This is what we have to find through the season. We are going to have many situations with absences and we have to find solutions. No doubt Morgan is a very special player for us.”
On the Performance
“We are disappointed with the result, disappointed with the game also, and disappointed with the incidents that happened in the game. There were things we didn’t do well. The first half, the game was balanced. It didn’t flow for both teams. The second half started with the penalty incident. We conceded, the game stretched and was open. We made some subs and tried to push until the end. It was not our best performance, definitely. The game was very tight. I think we managed the game well. We wanted our midfield to associate a little bit more, but Fulham were aggressive and didn’t give us much space. This is what we have to do – prepare the team and look at the options we have. We regroup, react and try to bounce back against Chelsea.”
On the 30,000-plus City Ground Crowd
“This is what frustrates us the most, that even though we started the season really well we have not achieved the home win that our fans deserve.”
Despite the setback, Nuno remains hopeful about future performances and emphasized the importance of focusing on upcoming matches.
