Nottingham Forest Head Coach Nuno Espirito Santo says that striker Taiwo Awoniyi is recovering well after urgent belly surgery.
The forest attack suffered a torn intestine after clashing with a goal post in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Leicester.
Awoniyi received a long treatment after the injury, but then tried to play even though they were in clear discomfort.
He was taken to the hospital on Monday evening after further investigation by the medical staff of Forest revealed how serious his condition was.
The state of the striker then deteriorated, which led him to be operated on Monday, after which he was placed in an induced coma to limit his movement and regulate his heartbeat.
“He went to an operation and the operation went well, thank goodness,” Nuno said at a press conference on Friday prior to Forest's trip to West Ham on Sunday.
“He is now on observation. He recovers. We still have to wait until the doctors allow visits. His family are there. We are worried, but we are positive.
“It was very difficult for us and for everyone. The concern about the injury he had, the situation he went through. It was difficult for us.”
The club has been told that Awoniyi will be held in the hospital for at least five days under observation, after which Nuno hopes that he will be able to return to the training area to see Forest's players and staff.
“The information we have is that he must be on observation for at least five days, [to check] That everything goes well, “he added.
“I will try to visit him as soon as possible, but he is in good hands and his family is there, what he really needs, the support of his family.
“The players constantly talk to the groups. We know it's good, he just needs time.
“I hope he can come to us next week and be in the area. He is a great boy. This season has been so hard for him that we are so unfortunate.”
Bose owner Evangelos Marinakis came to the field to talk to Nuno after Leicester's game and the club later explained that it was because of frustrations that Awoniyi could play.
In a highly formulated explanation, Forest said: “The truth is that there was no confrontation with Nuno or with others, either on the field or in the stadium.
“There was only shared frustration between all of us that the medical team should never have let the player continue.”
The offside controversy around Awoniyi
The Awoniyi incident has innovated the debate about the offside rules of football, because Anthony Elanga – who gave the pass strive to reach at the rear post – was clearly in a offside position, but was not marked to stop a stop.
Assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis held down her flag because of an IFAB rule that states that postponing the flag is only permitted in a very clear attacking situation when a player is about to score a goal or a clear approach to/in the direction of the opponent's penalty area.
PGMOL – who is responsible for the Referee Laws of the Premier League and the Directive of IFAB uses when it comes to the VAR protocol – is of the opinion that the assistant can increase the flag if they are 100 percent believing that a player is offside. But if there is an element of doubt, they will keep the flag low.
Dermot Gallagher analyzed the incident on Sky Sports' Ref -watch and said: “You see her [Massey-Ellis] explain to the [Leicester] Goalkeeper because even he asks why she was not marked.
“You can clearly see that she says:” He is not far enough offside, I have to hold my flag. “It's not the law – it's a guideline.
“The law is offside, but the guideline for the assistants is because we have VAR, don't put your flags on early. If he places it in the net, you can go back and check.”
One of the benefits of that policy is to prevent valid goals from being wrongly excluded by an early flag and helping to relieve human mistakes. It has been in the Premier League since 2021 and although incidents such as Awoniyi's are rare, the injury of the forest attack caused a conversation about this statement.
There have been calls around the Premier League for postponing the flag in obvious offside conditions to be deleted.
Stephen Warnock said on ref Watch: “Certainly, common sense must be in acceleration at a certain moment.
“Common Sense tells you: three or four meters, get your flag up and stop these things to happen. I didn't try at Sian Massey-elis, I'm talking about the regulators in general.
“If it's two or three meters [offside] And something in your head thinks: 'Is it offside or not? I'm not so sure here. ” Then keep your flag low, I understand that.
“But that? Just put on your flag.”
In December 2023, the defender of Manchester City John Stones took an injury during a playing phase that was later excluded for offside, which led to an angry reaction from Pep Guardiola.
He said: “I don't understand. It is so clear, the offside, and now he is injured. They say:” You are right Pep, you are right “… but it's late. [the officials]The rules come from the big bosses. But I don't understand. “
During the opening weekend of this season, when Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson went through on goal while he was clearly offside, Guardiola was confronted with the fourth civil servant. Gary Neville spoke about co-commentary the process of sidelined him, lasted “14 days”.
Again, speaking at Ref Watch this week, Warnock added: “We look at [the Awoniyi incident] And go, “is that what we've been waiting for? To make something happen to change the rules? '
“Because we have all been saying it for years where there could be a collision and the assistant referee says:” That was offside. “We all knew it was, why didn't you make that decision?”
Nuno: We cannot blame the referees
Nuno insisted that the officials only followed the guidelines by allowing the game to continue after the offside of Elanga, but said that the guidance had to be changed before the following season.
He said: “The law is so. We cannot blame the referees for that. They have followed the guidance. It is clearly offside, everyone knew it. But the players and the referees have the instructions to play to the whistle, so unfortunately it happened.
“Since this law there was immediately some worries about this aspect that could happen serious things. If there is a red card after an offside, how can you control it?
“But they are aware of it. The law cannot change now, so more than anything about the guidance for the referees.
“If it is so clear, let's try to avoid it.”