Frank 'annoyed talking about VAR' again after his side denied a 'clear penalty'

After watching his team finish on the wrong end of three penalty calls on Sunday, Thomas Frank spoke for football fans across the country. ‘I’m just so annoyed talking about VAR,’ said the Brentford boss.

His team’s failure to win at the City Ground after taking the lead and playing 47 minutes against 10 men will have contributed to Frank’s frustration.

Despite Moussa Niakhate’s red card early in the second half, Forest managed to equalise through Nicolas Dominguez after Christian Norgaard had put Brentford in front.

Frank accepted two marginal decisions — when the ball clipped the hands of Dominguez and Willy Boly in first-half stoppage time — going against Brentford.

Yet he was baffled that Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner was not penalised for lunging at Yoane Wissa after the Brentford forward had stolen the ball.

‘With the handball situations, some managers will say “penalty” but I won’t,’ said Frank. ‘I would really hate it if that is given against my team.

‘But on the flipside the Wissa one is a clear penalty. You can’t go through the man. Unfortunately that’s a mistake from VAR as it’s clear and obvious.

‘Maybe our players are too honest. Maybe they need to be more nasty, but I’ll never say that to them. I like honest players.’

Dominguez and Boly were not punished because their hands were deemed close enough to their sides, and Turner’s lunge at Wissa was checked and cleared.

However, it is evident that a system introduced to eliminate controversy has actually increased it, with this time Brentford feeling they had had a raw deal.

The controversy at Tottenham on Saturday, when Liverpool were denied a goal even though Luis Diaz was onside when he scored, meant VAR Darren England was replaced by Craig Pawson as fourth official