He has yet to appear for the Reds in 2024.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s tenure at Nottingham Forest has been up-and-down, with the club still facing relegation.
The former Wolves manager took over from Steve Cooper on December 20th, last year, and Nuno made an immediate impression, winning two of his first three Premier League games against Newcastle United and Manchester United.
Those two triumphs were certainly the pinnacle of his tenure thus far, with the Reds’ play deteriorating as 2024 approached.
Forest have only won one league game this year, a 2-0 home success against West Ham United in February, and have subsequently suffered back-to-back defeats.
Nuno will be looking for a response to last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Liverpool when they travel to Brighton this afternoon, with the Reds’ head coach expected to unleash one member of the Forest team.
Why Ryan Yates should be dropped against Brighton.
Ryan Yates, a 26-year-old midfielder, came up through the Forest youth and has been a regular in the Reds’ squad this season.
He assumed the captain’s armband for last weekend’s game against Jürgen Klopp’s team and provided much-needed physical presence in the midfield. However, his sloppy playstyle resulted in four fouls during the 90 minutes, with Yates frequently overstepping the line with his aggressive attitude.
Yates did not win a single tackle against Liverpool and was ineffective in possession, completing only 20 passes with a success percentage of 69%.
He’s a solid player to have in games against teams that like to retain possession, but with one Forest player returning, he should be replaced and moved to the substitutes’ bench.
The man who will replace Yates this afternoon
Ibrahim Sangare, a Forest midfielder, joined the Reds for £35 million from PSV last summer. His time at the City Ground has been stop-start, with Sangare getting off to a promising start, but his progress was hampered when the Ivorian joined his country for the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
His last game for Nuno’s side was an away win over Newcastle on Boxing Day, and the 26-year-old was given extra time off following the Elephants’ success last month. He has yet to play since his comeback, but his ball-winning ability could make the difference in what could be another difficult away journey for the Reds.
Despite his up-and-down start with the Reds, Sangare has showed glimpses of what he’s capable of outside of control, with the midfielder excelling at regaining possession, as evidenced by his 3.5 tackles per 90, which places him in the top 4% of midfielders in Europe this season.
The former Toulouse player, who the Dutch journalist Roger Schmidt dubbed the “unstoppable” midfielder, cost the Reds a lot of money in the summer. The Forest supporters haven’t seen the best of him yet, so the trip to Brighton is a fantastic chance for him to launch his career on Trentside.
