“Fortunately I was in my [technical] area, so I was where I had to be,” said Maresca. “These things can happen. In terms of emotion, the team is fighting all together and I don’t think some of them lose their heads. They were, all of them, in the game. I was happy with that. I am OK, thank you.”
On Jackson getting involved from the substitutes’ bench, Maresca added: “In that moment, I think not only Nicolas was inside the pitch. If you look, more players from the bench were inside the pitch. If you ask me if I prefer when something like that happens, players from outside involved or not, I like the spirit of the team. I like the spirit of our team. I don’t see any problem.
“Someone tried to kick me there. When I fell down, I was there like this, and someone arrived. For sure, there are things that we can control and do better, for sure no doubt, and probably this is one of the things. But if you ask me about the team spirit, the way they are fighting together, the way they are doing things together, I’m very happy.”
Madueke appeared to get hurt in the late melee, while Colwill was also forced off near the end, but Maresca was hopeful the duo had not suffered significant injuries and will be able to report for duty with England.
Morgan Gibbs-White was forced off with an injury for Forest, which prompted head coach Nuno Espirito Santo to be booked for his resulting protests.
“I cannot judge the yellow card for James Ward-Prowse,” said Nuno. “He did it for the team. It was one-versus-one.
“What I am trying to say is please referees understand that we that are there on the touchline and on the pitch, it is very emotional. There are so many things happening, so many thoughts, so many circumstances. I must apologise for my behaviour, but I didn’t do anything that another manager wouldn’t. I must analyse each one [yellow card] for a proper judgment.”
On the bust-up, Nuno added: “I was there also. I went there to try to calm it down. It is very hard for the players to control their emotions. Very hard for us as managers to do that. So many responsibilities. We need the referees to understand.”