Sean Dyche hit out at the performance of the match officials after Nottingham Forest's loss to Manchester City
15:07, 28 Dec 2025
Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche reacts on the touchline during defeat to Manchester City
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Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche reacts on the touchline during defeat to Manchester City(Image: Getty)
Pundit Richard Keys has claimed referees are ‘scared’ of Manchester City after some controversial decisions in Nottingham Forest’s defeat to Pep Guardiola’s side.
Head coach Sean Dyche hit out at the performance of the match officials following the Reds’ 2-1 loss to City at the City Ground on Saturday. He was scathing in his assessment of referee Rob Jones and felt VAR should have ruled out the visitors’ late winner.
Dyche argued Morgan Gibbs-White was fouled in the build-up to Rayan Cherki’s decisive strike and he was also of the view Ruben Diaz deserved a second yellow card for a challenge on Igor Jesus. Keys is in agreement with Dyche and has accused City of being ‘masters of the dark arts’.
He posted on X: “I agree with Sean Dyche @NFFC Guardiola’s teams have always been masters of the dark arts. Apart from anything else Dias should go. He knew exactly what he was doing. Refs are scared.”
To support his argument that City can sometimes get off lightly in comparison to other teams, Keys made reference to the charges against the club for alleged breaches of financial rules - amid the ongoing wait for a verdict in the case. In a tongue-in-cheek comment, he namechecked Everton, who - like Forest - have previously been hit with a points deduction for falling foul of the regulations.
He added in his social media post: “Oh - anyone heard about the 135 charges? Nothing? Everton are waiting to take a points deduction.”
In his post-match press conference, Dyche said he had been left ‘absolutely stunned’ by the decisions that had gone against his team. Asked if he thought a couple of calls had not gone Forest’s way, he quipped: “A couple? Possibly! There’s no thought (about it). Obviously, we've all seen it back.
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“It’s an awful thing when you have played so well to have to come in and talk about the officials affecting the game. But they clearly did; everyone in the stadium and everyone watching at home would have seen that.
“It was such an easy game to referee, in my opinion, and such an easy decision for VAR. I can't work out where football is with that sometimes.”
Former striker Wayne Rooney, however, has said it was right for Cherki’s goal to stand. He has argued it was a foul by Gibbs-White on City’s Nico O’Reilly, rather than the other way around.
“I actually think it’s a foul on O’Reilly,” he said on Match of the Day. “If you look at Gibbs-White, he grabs his arm. He grabs O’Reilly’s arm and then he locks his leg in, into O’Reilly, and actually pulls O’Reilly down. I’ve got no complaints.
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“He locks his arm in and then just with his left leg also, he locks his left leg in and then he pulls O’Reilly down to the ground. I think that’s a good goal; I think the goal should have stood.”
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