The latest Nottingham Forest news from Nottinghamshire Live as the Reds face a crucial Premier League game against Aston Villa this weekend
Nottingham Forest legend Garry Birtles has urged Steve Cooper to start Taiwo Awoniyi against Aston Villa if he is available.
Awoniyi missed two games through injury before returning ahead of schedule when he was on the bench against Liverpool, coming on for the final 21 minutes. After the match, head coach Cooper admitted he had fielded Awoniyi for slightly longer than advised, but with Chris Wood and Divock Origi injured Forest were without a recognised striker to start at Anfield.
With three goals and two assists to his name this season, Awoniyi is a key player for the Reds and club legend Garry Birtles hopes he starts against Villa at the City Ground on Sunday as Forest look for a first win in seven games.
“The lack of attacking options – what do we do? Who do we play? Do you chance Taiwo against Villa and give him 60 minutes? I’d rather do that than chance bringing him on later to try and save the game,” he told the Garibaldi Red podcast.
“When I played I wanted to start rather than come on. You can give everything for an hour and come off if you’re shattered. You might have done something in that time that transforms a game. Being asked to transform it by coming on is always more difficult.
“My one big worry earlier in the season was what if Taiwo got injured? Chris came in and did a good job but now he’s injured. We can struggle now. That’s how important strikers are at any level.
“If you lose them you’ll struggle. I watched Tottenham and thought we’re missing Brennan when he set up Son (against Crystal Palace). It’s a concern for Forest with big games coming up.
“We’ve got two difficult games coming up. We should have beaten Palace and we should have beaten Luton of course. It shouldn’t have happened against Luton but it did. It’s put pressure on the next games.”
