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'Bad day wasn't it?' - Nuno criticises referee again

Nuno Espirito Santo criticised the standard of refereeing after his Nottingham Forest side lost to Fulham - despite saying that he wants to give officials "peace".

Fulham won 1-0 through a Raul Jimenez penalty, awarded when a lengthy check by the video assistant referee (VAR) prompted referee Josh Smith to view the pitchside monitor.

Smith deemed Forest defender Murillo to have dragged his studs on the calf of Fulham's Andreas Pereira after he watched replays of the incident.

Before the first game of the season, Nuno had promised to stop moaning about referees and vowed to trust them.

Earlier this week, the 50-year-old was handed a charge by the Football Association after being sent off during Forest's 2-2 draw at Brighton last Sunday.

However, the decision to award Fulham the spot-kick, as Forest's unbeaten start to the season was ended in a tight encounter at the City Ground, prompted Nuno to speak out against the officials.

"We all want peace and to continue well and don't want to come here to speak about the referees. But it was bad wasn't it?" Nuno said at a news conference.

"I try to give referees peace. They are trying to improve, but today was not the best day. Today he didn't do a good job, so I hope that he improves."

Nuno was set to be banned from the touchline for the match against Fulham for his red card against Brighton.

But Forest were given more time to submit their observations after Nuno and Morgan Gibbs-White were charged by the FA.

They initially had until Friday but requested an extension and now have until Wednesday, 2 October.

Nuno already has a suspended one-match ban hanging over him for criticising match officials after his side's defeat at Everton last season.

The Portuguese felt aggrieved that his side were not awarded penalties of their own against Fulham.

"They looked, but they don't have the same opinion as we do. Let's just hope for the next one that we are not talking about the referees," Nuno added.

"We don't want to talk about [referees]. Nobody wants to talk about it. When we come to the game, we don't think about the referees.

"We just want to compete and play the game and hope the referee gets things right."