Brighton and Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi said he meant no disrespect towards Steve Cooper, by failing to shake hands with the Nottingham Forest head coach before launching himself into jubilant celebrations at the City Ground.
De Zerbi admitted that he and his Brighton players had celebrated as if they had won the Champions League as the final whistle blew to mark their 3-2 success.
But he insisted that he had not intended it to be a snub to his opposite number, following an incident-packed game that saw two penalties awarded and Brighton’s Lewis Dunk shown a red card in the 73rd minute.
“I want to explain my celebration – it was not disrespect for the opponent,” said De Zerbi. “We are suffering a lot. We have lost so many players to injury. We lost two more players in the first half. We suffered a red card.
“We lost two points in our last game with Sheffield. We lost two points against Fulham. The last win in the Premier League for us was at the end of September. This was one of the toughest moments in my career. Not just in the Premier League, but in my career. It was a big, big celebration.
“Nottingham have a big stadium, a big atmosphere and incredible fans. But I was really proud of the character and attitude we showed.
“We celebrated like we had won the final of the Champions League. We did not win the Premier League. But the way we won the game, with ten players missing, without our captain, with players playing out of position…”
Cooper confirmed that De Zerbi had not shaken his hand, but played down the situation.
“I do not want to get into that too much, to be fair. If you ask me, I am a British coach and I have always been brought up to shake hands after games and show respect. You try to win or lose with dignity,” said Cooper. “I am not saying he has not done that. But if you ask me what I would do, I would always shake hands.
“But I understand that could be different elsewhere.”
Brighton lost Tariq Lamptey and Ansu Fati to injury during a first half that saw the visitors bounce back to take a 2-1 lead after Anthony Elanga had initially given Forest a third-minute advantage, thanks to goals from Evan Ferguson and Joao Pedro.
Cooper was unhappy with Brighton’s third goal, which came after referee Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty after judging that Chris Wood had been guilty of pulling back Pedro.
Forest were subsequently awarded a penalty of their own, after Callum Hudson-Odoi had been pulled down, but only after VAR had intervened.
“The decision for the penalty is one where, for me, if that is a penalty then you are going to give so many. In the international break you have time to think things through, and I’m really trying to think about how I want to be in the camp of supporting referees and helping the process,” said Cooper.
“I’m trying to say to myself, let’s not jump on the bandwagon, let’s try to be rational with how we think and our comments. But then we see that from Anthony, one of the top ones, and it’s hard to hold back.
“To think he’s given that penalty and then missed the one which got overturned, caused the animosity on the pitch and in the stadium.
“We didn’t play well enough in the first half and that was a massive factor in why we didn’t get the result. The penalty decision was also a big factor. We’ve got to reflect on why we didn’t do as well as we should have done in the first half.
“He is such a calm and composed referee, not just in our country but in the other games he referees outside of the Premier League… did he lose control? He must have.”Cooper expects to have a conversation with Howard Webb, the head of refereeing at the PGMOL.
“I am sure I will be on the phone to Howard. I am sure he will want to call me,” said Cooper. “I will speak to him. I will tell him how I feel. I will not rant and rave. But it is clear what has happened. It was not just that decision, it was the lack of control.
“It was not as if there were a load of experienced players out there, trying to dictate the referee’s mind. There were a lot of young players on the pitch.
“We will try to help but we have to stand up for our club as well, because we cannot have more decisions like that. It will be interesting to see what he does next week, when there is a little bit of contact on the box.”
Brighton finished the game with ten men after Lewis Dunk was shown a straight red card for foul and abusive language, seconds after he had been shown a yellow card for going over to the VAR monitor when Taylor was assessing Forest’s penalty.
But De Zerbi said he would not be fining the defender. “I am not a policeman, I am a coach,” he said. “He said he was sorry. He understood he had made a mistake.”
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