Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche attended the post-match press conference following his side's 1-2 Premier League defeat to Manchester City.
I think you might be dissatisfied with some of the decisions, and for me, that call in the second half really sticks in my craw. I looked at the way your player positioned himself and thought it was definitely a foul.
Yes, there's no two ways about it. Obviously, we've all seen the replays.
It's terrible when you play so well but have to talk about referees influencing the game, yet they clearly did. I think everyone at the stadium, and everyone watching at home, could see it. In my opinion, this should have been an easy game for the referee to officiate.
It should have been an easy one for VAR too. Sometimes I really don't understand what football is thinking when it comes to VAR. I'm a big fan of VAR, but I just can't figure out why they get things like this wrong.
Gibbs-White was clearly pushed to the ground. Then the same player tried to block the ball again, but he failed because when he jumped up, part of his body got in the way of the ball. No matter how you look at it, it was a foul.
Then they'll say, yes, but the ball was far away from him, and you're like, well, if the ball was far away from the goalkeeper, you still pushed the goalkeeper to the ground. Is that a foul? Because we all know it is.
I don't get it. Then they scored a goal, which just added insult to injury. That player kicked the ball away in the first half.
I thought that was a rule from my playing days back in the 1980s. You kick the ball away, you get a yellow card. Remember that?
It's like swearing at the referee—kick the ball away and you get booked. He booted the ball into the stands and then went down like he was injured. We were just thinking, how is that possible?
Nothing happened to him. The same player took down Igor in the second half and called it an accident. You just think, if that was an accident, what would have happened if he'd crashed into the goal?
We all know what would have happened—he would have been sent off with a red card. So why is it an accident when he doesn't get a yellow card? I really find that strange, honestly.
I think these decisions are easy to make. I don't see this as a difficult game for the referee to handle. What's the problem here?
Give them a bit of time. Yellow card, yellow card, just a yellow card, that's it, get on with the game. I'm absolutely baffled.
I have a lot of respect for referees. I think they have a really tough job and they do it well most of the time. I don't know why, when you make a mistake, I just think, why did I make that mistake? How did I get that wrong?
Look at the footage and just say, okay, that was a bad decision. I can't comment any further. But the team was brilliant today, because you're up against a top team in great form.
We limited their chances to a level lower than what they usually create, and we also created some opportunities ourselves, especially that one early in the first half, which was probably the best chance of the game, but unfortunately we couldn't take it.
The goal we scored was a fantastic one, and I was really pleased with the players' counter-attacking display. A lot of players put in great performances today. After the game, I just couldn't figure out why we didn't get a point. It's a shame that I have to talk about things that have nothing to do with either team, but we just have to move on.
I'm not questioning them, but I am questioning them. They're a great team, they play really good football, and they have an excellent manager, so I have no doubts about that, absolutely none. I just can't believe what I saw out there today. It's unbelievable to me.
I mean, I like the way you put so much pressure on the opposition to keep possession. Anderson doesn't do that very often. Your tactical setup worked really well for most of the game.
On the other hand, I think all the players performed really well. And the challenge, as I just told them, is that we have to keep this up. With all due respect, the competition at this level is fierce, but they are undoubtedly one of the top teams, and they proved that today.
So no matter who we're up against, we have to maintain this level of performance and not take anything for granted. That's our next challenge, and it's the consistency I've been emphasizing all along. But I think our recent form has shown a lot of positive signs, and today's game was a perfect example of that.
How is Chris Wood doing? Is he definitely going to be available to play again this season?
I don't like to give specific timelines because the recovery process can be disrupted by all sorts of things. We're hoping he'll make a full recovery, but sometimes things don't go as planned. So we'll just have to wait and see.
(Talking about the passing of a Nottingham Forest legend) Is it rare to see both of Man City's centre-backs struggling to catch their breath like that today?
I don't know what happened out there. Everyone else saw it. I've never seen centre-backs in the Premier League tug opponents down so often and get away with it without getting booked, and commit all sorts of fouls that go unpunished.
(Dyche then spoke to the reporters amid some inaudible moments, as he was clearly emotional)
I think Igor Jesus is improving rapidly and doing really well. You know him better than I do. What qualities have you seen in him, and how has he coped with the challenges here?
I think for us, especially on the counter-attack, it's really important to use our wide players effectively, because they tend to dominate the midfield area. Just like Man City do, they always pop up in dangerous areas and wait for their chance, so we knew we had to come up with a game plan to deal with that, and I think both of our wingers did a great job. Dylan only played for a few minutes, so we'll have to see how he performs going forward.
