Referees’ bosses have been told to improve their ‘lazy’ standards after Anthony Taylor fell for a dive during Nottingham Forest’s 3-2 win over Southampton.
Former referee Mark Clattenburg told Mail Sport he has noticed a decline in referees’ positioning and believes that complacency is a consequence of knowing VAR is there to back them up.
Forest were penalised when Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes threw himself to the floor with Morgan Gibbs-White a yard away. They also had a Nikola Milenkovic goal ruled out for a subjective offside.
Clattenburg said: ‘Laziness has crept into refereeing. When I was reffing, we didn’t have the luxury of VAR to save us. It was on us and us alone to be as perfect as possible, including our positioning. We’ve seen a decline in standards.
‘Anthony Taylor is supposed to be the PGMOL’s best referee, but he fell for one of the worst dives you’ll see in the Premier League. Taylor could have helped himself by getting into a much better position. That was only one example of the referee guessing in that game.
‘Graham Scott was the VAR and that was his fourth game in six days at Stockley Park. His working week alone tells you what a shortage the PGMOL are suffering from.’
Mark Clattenburg explained to Mail Sport that he has noticed a decline in refereeing standards
Nottingham Forest were penalised on Sunday when Southampton midfielder Mateus Fernandes (centre) threw himself to the floor with Morgan Gibbs-White (right) a yard away
Graham Scott was the VAR during the match – his fourth game in six days at Stockley Park
