NOTTINGHAM :Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis entered the pitch and expressed his frustrations after Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Leicester City as he could not understand why the injured Taiwo Awoniyi was not substituted, manager Nuno Espirito Santo said.
The draw left Forest in seventh with their Champions League hopes slipping away and although they secured a return to Europe for the first time in 30 years, Marinakis was fuming when he remonstrated with the manager after the fulltime whistle.
Awoniyi had come on as a late substitute as Forest searched for a winner but the 27-year-old forward needed treatment when he clattered into the far post on a quick counter-attack.
Although he rejoined the game minutes later, he was limping around as Forest failed to find the goal needed to move up to fifth.
“It was due to the situation. There was a confusion over the situation of (Awoniyi). There was frustration to play 10 minutes with a player that had so much confidence and being positive that he’s going to score,” Espirito Santo told Sky Sports.
“We made the sub, then played with one man less. That causes frustration, it’s obvious… When there’s a player down, you get information about them. We got information he was okay to keep going. Unfortunately, we didn’t have another stoppage to change him and he was not able to continue to help the team. We’re all frustrated.”
Although Forest will play in Europe next season, the draw felt like a defeat with their Champions League dreams no longer in their hands. Forest have won only one of their last six Premier League games and the Portuguese manager was unable to explain their sudden drop-off.
“I don’t know the reason. We can easily say it’s because of anxiety or nerves, but the players don’t transmit that,” he said. “We feel it is about us, it was in our hands and it isn’t now. We’ll try to manage the situation but we’re not playing good.”
Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White said their inexperience was clearly showing on the home stretch.
“None of us have been in this situation before. We handled it well at first, but as it’s started to come away from us we haven’t handled it so well,” he said.
“It’s down to experience, maybe, in these positions but we’re new to it. We’re still building as a team and a club.”
Marinakis later issued a statement congratulating the team for qualifying for Europe and explaining his actions.
“This is natural, this is a demonstration of the passion we feel for our club,” he said of his outburst.
“Today is a day for celebration, because after 30 years Nottingham Forest is now guaranteed to be competing on the European stage once again, a promise I made to our supporters when we achieved promotion!”
