Willy Boly’s dismissal against Bournemouth was the ‘worst decision of the season’ and exposed VAR’s ‘shambolic inadequacies’, Ian Ladyman argued on It’s All Kicking Off. 

The Nottingham Forest defender was sent off with a second yellow card after a clean tackle on Adam Smith early into the 3-2 loss at the City Ground. 

Replay footage showed Boly clearly winning the ball with his slide tackle before he and Smith collided in the follow-through. 

‘If there’s one thing that underlines the shambolic inadequacies of VAR, then it’s probably what happened to Willy Boly at Nottingham Forest against Bournemouth,’ claimed Ladyman, Mail Sport’s Football Editor. 

Ian Ladyman felt Willy Boly’s sending-off against Bournemouth was the ‘worst decision of the season’ 

Boly was dismissed with a second booking 23 minutes in for a clean tackle on Adam Smith, but VAR was helpless to intervene as it cannot interfere with yellow card decisions

‘I think it was the worst decision of the season and it exposed the limitations of VAR like perhaps nothing had done previously this campaign. Human errors are supposed to be cleaned up by VAR, that’s the point of it now. 

‘We talk about referees and they do make mistakes but we and they are being let down by the technology and by the rules.

‘Willy Boly’s tackle would have been deemed fair but VAR can’t intervene on yellow cards. The regulations don’t allow it. That’s a nonsense. 

‘Now that it’s here [VAR], let’s not tie it up in knots courtesy of ambiguous and inconsistent laws and inadequate technology. It’s here, it doesn’t work, let’s make it work. Is that too difficult to do? Is that too difficult to understand? Give us a system that works. 

‘On Match of the Day, when Willy Boly makes the tackle at the City Ground, Robyn Cowen, the matchday commentator, her instinct was to describe it straight away as: “that’s a really good tackle.” I think she I think she said: “that’s a really well-timed tackle.” 

‘That was her instinct and that was everybody’s instinct. she was absolutely right, so the referee then makes a mistake which nobody can see coming or understands but he’s a human and human being make errors.

‘So for VAR to be then rendered irrelevant, impotent, useless by a law that says you can’t intervene on yellow cards, what a load of nonsense.

Ladyman argued that referees are being ‘let down by the technology and by the rules’ 

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Boly’s dismissal did not help Nuno Espirito Santo, who lost his first game in charge at Forest

‘Let not the referees and the VAR officials be tied up in knots by laws and by regulations and by practices which are stupid and just need to be fixed. 

‘We’ve said before, fix the handball law and let’s fix a nonsense like the one that saw Willy Boly walk off the field after 20 minutes.’

Boly was given his marching orders at 0-0 just 23 minutes into Nuno Espirito Santo’s first match in charge of Nottingham Forest after the sacking of Steve Cooper.

It forced Forest to play most of the game with ten men and they would eventually succumb to Dominic Solanke’s 94th minute winner, as the striker completed a first career hat-trick.

Forest have reportedly demanded referee Rob Jones be banned from taking charge of their matches following the error, after subjected a second complaint of the season about the official to Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL). 

Ladyman also took issue with other talking points from this weekend. 

He highlighted the fact that handball would have been given against Martin Odegaard at Anfield had he been a scorer, as well as how VAR couldn’t help tell whether Forest deserved a penalty due to insufficient cameras, as other examples of ‘nonsense’. 

Chris Sutton thought that if anything, there was a foul from Bournemouth’s Adam Smith

Chris Sutton, former Premier League winner and Ladyman’s podcast co-host, agreed.

He said: ‘I think we saw a big mistake with the refereeing and that whole decision. Willy Boly won the ball, he then followed through in a natural movement. 

‘But it actually wasn’t a foul from Willy Boly, it was the other way if anything. And it was a second yellow card – it was a very strange decision. 

‘But because VAR at that moment then can’t intervene because it was a second yellow, Willy Boly got sent off and I think Nottingham Forest were hard done by in that respect.

‘I thought the Odegaard decision was really strange. It was actually a really good save from Martin Odegaard. I think Onana at Manchester United would have been proud of that one!’