Forest fringe players told – your chance will come
HUGHTON URGES THOSE OUT OF REDS LINE-UP TO BE READY FOR WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS:
AFTER strengthening his squad in the January transfer window, Nottingham Forest boss Chris Hughton has options across the pitch.
But he has told those players struggling for game time, there is always a route back into the starting XI.
Be it through form or selection decisions, there are a number in the Reds squad who have found opportunities tough to come by at various stages this season.
The likes of Joe Lolley, Harry Arter, Tyler Blackett and Loic Mbe Soh, for instance, along with others, have sometimes found themselves down the pecking order when fit.
Hughton, though, says it is about grabbing a chance whenever it comes along.
“There’s always an opportunity,” he told the Nottingham Post.
“What I’m always telling players is, the moment you think something is not going to happen, for whatever reason, it can happen.
“We know on a lot of occasions it might just be down to an injury.
“We’ve spoken about Cafu, who wasn’t very involved and was a little bit frustrated, then he gets in the team and has been a mainstay ever since.
“There are always those opportunities, whether that’s down to a little bit of rotation, form or, as we have seen particularly with us, injuries, like we have had.”
Tobias Figueiredo is one such example of someone who has got a chance through Forest being hit by injuries.
The Portuguese has had an inconsistent campaign, having come in for criticism for some individual errors.
With Scott Mckenna facing a number of weeks on the sidelines, however, he finds himself back involved – and has looked solid alongside Joe Worrall in the last two games.
“He has had a good season overall,” Hughton said of Figueiredo.
“As with every player, they are going to have difficult moments and difficult games. I think with Toby, he has.
“He’s had a couple of games where it hasn’t really gone for him and his level of performance wasn’t what his general standard has been.
“But overall, he’s been really good for us.
“It’s an area where we’ve got good options; even with a Michael Dawson, who hasn’t been involved in any of the games, we’ve got real good competition in that department and really good quality.”