The World Cup break is finally over, and Nottingham Forest made exactly the kind of return to action they were hoping for in midweek.
Blackburn Rovers were thumped 4-1 at Ewood Park as the Reds progressed to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. It was a good way to ease themselves back in, but the schedule gets considerably tougher from here.
Next up is a trip to face Manchester United on Tuesday night, followed by a meeting with Chelsea at the City Ground on New Year’s Day. Ahead of the Premier League’s return, here’s our look at the latest goings-on.
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Card clarity
When Joe Worrall was shown a yellow card in the 55th minute against Rovers, it led to a few questions over whether that would rule the defender out of the game at Old Trafford. The midweek booking was the Forest captain’s fifth of the season.
In the league, five bookings in the first 19 matches earns a one-match ban, and there was some confusion over whether yellow cards in cup competitions count towards that. The good news, from Worrall’s perspective, is they don’t.
The Premier League state: “Any player earning five bookings from their side's first 19 Premier League matches serves a one-match ban in the competition. Yellow cards are not carried over to the EFL Cup or FA Cup.”
Worrall, Steve Cook and Scott McKenna remain one booking away from a suspension. The cut-off point will be the match at home to Leicester City on January 14.
Perhaps confusingly, red cards do carry over to and from domestic cup competitions. Hence why Orel Mangala was not available to face Crystal Palace in the league but could play at Ewood Park, having been sent off against Tottenham Hotspur in the previous round of the League Cup.
Bit of history
The Reds’ match away to Southampton in the new year will feature a little bit of history. Bhupinder Singh Gill will become the first Sikh-Punjabi to take on the role of assistant referee in a Premier League game when Forest visit St Mary’s on Wednesday, January 4.
Referee for the clash will be Thomas Bramall, with Marc Perry joining Singh Gill as assistant. Fourth official will be John Brooks, while Lee Mason has been appointed match VAR, with Darren Cann his assistant.
Singh Gill also has a past connection with the Reds. He and brother Sunny were the first pair of British South Asian match officials to be appointed to work on a Championship match for a fixture between Forest and Bristol City at Ashton Gate last year.
VAR call
There is plenty of prestige which comes with dining at the top table of English football. But there is a big drawback, too - having to contend with VAR.
Having picked up a Football Association fine last month, following comments about referee Bramall (yes, the one listed above) after his team’s 1-0 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers, head coach Steve Cooper has, understandably, remained diplomatic on the subject when quizzed since.
But there will no doubt have been a few eyebrows raised at the City Ground when news emerged that VAR is said to have made six incorrect interventions in Premier League games this season. According to the BBC, Premier League video assistant referees also missed another six incidents when they should have stepped in. Given Forest’s experience, it is tempting to ask, is that all?!
There have been 48 VAR interventions so far this term, with 42 decisions deemed to have been correct. This season, a five-person independent panel was introduced to oversee a weekly review of Key Match Incidents (KMI) for all top-flight matches.
The BBC report the panel has sifted through hundreds of incidents and identified 48 situations when VAR needed to get involved, with 42 correct decisions made. Six incidents were missed completely and on another six occasions, VAR overturned on-field decisions that had initially been right. The individual decisions are not known, so it is unclear if any calls involving Forest were among those identified as mistakes. It would be easy to start a list, however…
Ones to watch
Given the way they linked up at Ewood Park, it comes as no surprise that Welsh duo Brennan Johnson and Neco Williams have been tipped for bright futures. Their experience at the World Cup perhaps didn’t end how they would have hoped, but the pair have much to look forward to - both with Forest and their national team.
The Hundred have compiled their 2023 watchlist of the “most exciting” young talents “in the world”. Johnson and Williams have been picked out for Wales. USA’s Yunus Musah, who the Reds are said to have made a bid for in the summer, is also included.
Meanwhile, big things are also expected of Brandon Aguilera, who joined Forest in the summer before immediately heading out on loan. He has been praised by Bryan Ruiz, who has been a legend for Costa Rica across almost 150 caps and has now hung up his boots.
Asked if Aguilera could be the “next Ruiz”, the former Fulham man said: “Each player is going to create his profile, his things and his responsibility. Brandon is going to do the same and it is not that he is the new Bryan Ruíz, it is that he is going to take responsibility at some point, he is still very young.
“He has to keep working and he knows it, but the good thing is that Brandon has a very strong head. He is quite professional and listens to what he does, hopefully he can do very well and he can have a very successful career.”
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