Jamie Carragher believes the Premier League and Football Association will have to punish Nottingham Forest for their hard-hitting criticism of the PGMOL following their 2-0 Premier League defeat to Everton.
The Reds suffered a huge blow in their hopes of retaining their top flight status on Sunday as the Toffees moved four points clear of them. The defeat leaves Nuno Espirito Santo's men just one point above the relegation zone with four games remaining.
However, the outcome of the clash at Goodison Park could have been different had a number of refereeing decisions gone their way. Forest were denied three penalties for challenges on Giovanni Reyna and Callum Hudson-Odoi as well as an Ashley Young handball.
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The decision left the Reds furious after the full-time whistle and released an angry statement on social media. They wrote: "Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.
"We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn't change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options."
The statement has split opinion in the football world with Gary Neville urging Mark Clattenburg to resign from his consultant role as referee analyst at the club. Carragher has insisted that the Football Association and Premier League have to punish Forest for their words.
"I think the FA and the Premier League have got to come down really hard on Forest and stamp this out because as you (Neville) said there was something with Liverpool at the start of the season, something with Arsenal at Newcastle and it feels like it is building," he explained on Sky Sports.
"Clattenburg being involved at Forest, that’s just a tactic to almost put pressure on officials in some way. This should not get away from the fact that Anthony Taylor and Stuart Attwell have had a really poor day.
"I don't criticise officials too much, I think we try and stay away from that, but I don’t think it has been great this season. Lots of clubs have problems but this needs stamping out.
"In terms of people asking Webb for an apology, talking about ‘all options’. There aren’t any options and I do think there needs to be a really big sanction on Forest today after that tweet."
