Nottingham Forest’s performance against Manchester United was an improvement on previous away games. But then the bar had been set pretty low.
Capitulations at Arsenal, Leicester City and Manchester City had made it an easy one to clear. Nobody is under any illusions that the Reds need to make much more significant strides across all areas, if they are to have more joy on the road.
There was one player who stood out for the visitors, though. Ryan Yates was head and shoulders above his teammates in Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
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He has picked up from where he left off before the World Cup break. And he has quickly become one of Forest’s most important players.
Yates has come on leaps and bounds under Steve Cooper. In the past year, he has gone from regularly receiving flak to having his own chant as he has changed the minds of many of his critics.
He has also adapted well to the challenges of the Premier League, being the Reds’ most consistent player so far. He was the one who tried to take the game by the scruff of the neck against United and could well have got on the scoresheet - not just with the header which was ruled out for deflecting off the offside Willy Boly.
Forest will target another midfielder in January, not least because of the long-term injury to Cheikhou Kouyate. But it will take some doing to push Yates out of the starting XI. If this season is going to end with top-flight status retained, he will have a lot to do with it.
What losing to United also highlighted, however, is how sorely Morgan Gibbs-White will be missed while he is sidelined with a calf injury. Cooper said his recovery timeline is currently “inconclusive” but he is expected to be out of action for “a little while”.
The club record signing had been central to the Reds’ turnaround in fortunes before the hiatus. He had found his form and found the net in successive league games.
Like Yates, Gibbs-White is a key figure in this side. Being without him for any length of time is a big blow. And it also affected what Cooper could do from off the bench at Old Trafford. He brought on Sam Surridge and Emmanuel Dennis, but otherwise, attacking options were limited - with midfielder Lewis O’Brien initially pushed forward when he was brought on.
It was already clear where Forest need to strengthen in January. Defeat to United only brought that into sharper focus.
The forward steps taken before the break haven’t been erased by that one result, just as everything had not suddenly become rosy before the season paused. This is going to be a scrap to the end - and if there’s one player the Reds can count on as being at the heart of that, it is Yates.
What have you made of Yates so far this season? Have your say in the comments below
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