Head coach Steve Cooper singled out Nottingham Forest debutant Keylor Navas for praise, after a man of the match performance against Leeds United.
The deadline day signing played a crucial role as the Reds triumphed 1-0 at the City Ground courtesy of Brennan Johnson’s brilliant strike in the 14th minute. Navas had to make some superb saves in the first half to keep the visitors at bay as they applied the pressure, but it wasn’t just his stops which caught the eye of Cooper.
The PSG loanee has the potential to make a big difference for Forest in the second half of the season. Victory made it five Premier League games unbeaten for Cooper’s side, leaving them in 13th spot, six points clear of the relegation zone.
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“You don’t need me to tell you about his experience and the success he has had in his career,” the Welshman said. “But he will still have wanted to do well in his first game for the club - and he did. He was outstanding in the first half.
“The obvious talking points are his saves - and rightly so, he deserves all the credit for that. But I loved his composure in the game as well; his game-management and his decision-making.
“I’m delighted he’s got up and running. It was something which helped us win the game, for sure. We’ve had a good few days with him, where all he’s shown is a good work ethic, a humility and a desire to jump on board.
“We’re really pleased he’s here. We’re really looking forward to working with him now.
“We had to work for the win. The first half, for us, was about some really important individual performances which ended up being pivotal - Keylor’s saves and Brennan’s finish for the goal - because we didn’t hit the heights of what we are, both with and without the ball, in our performance. We’ll need to look at that and learn from it.”
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