Nottingham Forest must drop flop who had fewer touches than Ortega

Nottingham Forest slipped to their 13th Premier League loss of the season to date away at Leeds United on Friday night.

After picking up wins against West Ham United and Brentford last month, the Tricky Trees would have backed themselves to collect a positive result on their travels to Elland Road, to try and further push away from relegation danger.

Unfortunately for Sean Dyche, he had to contend with a much-changed Forest defence for the away trip, which was far too error-strewn throughout, with Leeds never looking back after racing into a two-goal lead in the first 45 minutes.

As per the words of TalkSPORT journalist Max Scott, the 3-1 defeat exposed Forest’s “inept supporting cast”, with Zach Abbott sticking as just one alteration among many who struggled to get going against Daniel Farke’s energetic hosts.

Notable Forest underperformers vs Leeds

Before delving deeper into the 19-year-old’s underwhelming full senior debut in the Premier League, other, far more seasoned individuals let the side down badly in West Yorkshire.

Stefan Ortega, in particular, didn’t look comfortable in between the sticks, making his debut in place of an injured Matz Sels, with the former Manchester City goalkeeper only making a feeble two saves throughout, as he proved to be too weak to stop the likes of Jayden Bogle running riot.

Ilia Gruev’s ball over the top should have been better dealt with; however, with the makeshift centre-back pairing of Nikola Milenković and Morato also struggling to settle, with regular Murillo out of the side through injury. As Dyche lamented at the final whistle, the goal was an “awful” one to leak.

Alongside those already named at the back, Abbott further looked out of his depth at Elland Road on Friday night, with the left-back spot depleted due to Neco Williams’ suspension.

It was a men’s debut to forget for the wide-eyed number 44, who will have plenty more opportunities to showcase what he’s about down the line, away from only managing to complete 18 of his passes and win 50% of his duels versus the superior Whites.

Still, you just knew it wasn’t going to be Forest’s evening when Elliot Anderson, who is usually so calm and controlled on the ball, haphazardly surrendered possession 25 times, as very few red shirts could trudge off at the end proud of their individual performance.

Dyche might well ring the changes, therefore, for Forest’s next league match versus Wolverhampton Wanderers, with one flop potentially axed who barely found himself in the contest.

The Forest flop who had fewer touches than Ortega

Leeds comfortably secured the three points by being devastatingly clinical in front of goal, as the away side’s 16 shots on Karl Darlow’s net – next to the hosts’ lesser 14 – largely passed the Tricky Trees by.

Igor Jesus was nowhere near his deadly best, as the Brazilian cut an isolated figure throughout, when he has otherwise shone as Forest’s main attacking focal point in other clashes this season.

Indeed, the hit-and-miss number 19 does have 11 strikes next to his name this season in all competitions. Remarkably, though, only two of those have fallen in the bread and butter of Premier League action, with this barren patch of form in the top-flight plaguing him once more against Farke’s determined hosts.

From his lacklustre 54-minute spell on the pitch, the up-and-down 24-year-old would only manage to register one weak on-target effort at Darlow’s goal, from his forgettable 16 touches of the ball. Even Ortega would manage more touches of the ball as Dyche’s stand-in stopper, with the experienced ‘keeper amassing 29 touches.

Moreover, Jesus would fail to assert himself into the lively affair as a dominant centre-forward presence, when winning only four of his 11 duels, leading to Dyche testing out brand-new signing Lorenzo Lucca for the latter stages of the one-sided match, in his place.

Lucca could well fancy his chances of a Premier League starting spot ahead of the ex-Botafogo star, with this late header gifting Forest a consolation effort, to at least raise some smiles in a despondent away end.

TNT Sports commentator Adam Summerton would rightly hail Lucca’s debut goal as a craking effort, with Dyche now assessing what centre-forward option to go with against Rob Edwards’ men mid-week.

Forest still has a weighty points advantage in their favour, as they sit six points above the drop-zone, but more performances like the one offered up at Elland Road will sound the alarm bells that the Tricky Trees could be disastrously falling back down to the Championship.