Premier League boss sums up Nottingham Forest argument with 'cheating' claim

Ivan Toney scores for Brentford against Nottingham Forest

Sean Dyche has hit out at Brentford’s Ivan Toney for “cheating” with his free-kick antics against Nottingham Forest last month.

The Reds were left fuming after their 3-2 defeat at the Gtech Community Stadium. After taking the lead through Danilo, they were pegged back by a controversial Toney goal.

The Bees man equalised when he moved the ball for a free-kick, as well as the foam indicating where it should have been taken from, to gain an advantage. Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo called it “clear ball displacement”, and now Everton boss Dyche has weighed in on the issue.

The former Forest youth player told The Times (via the Daily Star): “I don’t have a problem with gamesmanship, where a player is clipped and they go down. That has always happened. But how is it right that someone goes down without any contact at all?

“How is it right that a player brushes another player’s head and they collapse as if they have been assaulted? That is black and white cheating.

“In a way, it’s wrong to single out any one player because it happens all the time, but let me give one example. A couple of weeks ago, Ivan Toney moved the ball on a free-kick when the ref wasn’t looking and scored.

“And you know what? The pundits said, ‘Oh, that was clever; that was smart.’ He was lauded. That is what’s wrong with football, right there. A billion kids are watching and thinking that it is clever to cheat, because that is what they are hearing from the people on TV.”

Forest wrote to referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Board Limited (PGMOL) and the Premier League after the incident. However, they were told VAR did not have the power to intervene in such a scenario.

“We have received a response from the incident. It is clear that the law says VAR cannot do anything about ball displacement,” Nuno said at the time.

“I think that is something they should look at because it changes the reality of the game. But at the same time we also have responsibility because we should have said something and avoided the free-kick to be taken.

“Too bad that the referee didn’t spot it or the linesman. They just mentioned that in this moment the law says VAR cannot do anything about it. It is our responsibility also, but the referee should have seen it because there is a mark and there is clear ball displacement.”

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