Goals will come, vows Ryan
YATES DETERMINED TO PUT NAME ON FOREST SCORESHEET MORE OFTEN
RYAN Yates jokes if he’d put all his chances away, Nottingham Forest could have been much higher up the table this season.
But on a serious note, the midfielder is putting in the work to help him become more ruthless in front of goal – particularly when it comes to headers.
Yates has scored twice in 35 appearances this term. Barely a game has gone by though, where he hasn’t got into a good position in the area and been left with his head in his hands as an opportunity has gone begging.
Incredibly self-aware and selfcritical, the 23-year-old constantly analyses his own performances and admits that is one area he needs to improve on.
“The games I go through and I don’t have the chances, they’re the ones where I look back and think, ‘hmm, that’s not good enough,’” said Yates.
“But the goals are going to come. I’m consistently putting myself in the right areas and am getting closer and closer.
“The main thing for me is just not to overthink it. I just need to arrive in the box and do my thing.
“I scored against Millwall, then the next week I got injured and was out for a month. But I’m sure once I score one, the goals will come.
“Every single day I keep trying to improve. I look back at the games and see where I can improve – where should I have
been and what could I have done better?
“The goals are going to come, I’m sure of that.”
He added: “This season we’ve done a lot of work on heading.
“Paul Trollope (assistant manager) has been brilliant with me, James (Garner), Cafu, Filip (Krovinovic) and all the midfielders, with him having been a midfielder himself.
“He’s analysing my clips and says I’m getting in the box too early, so I’m getting under the ball. We’re working on that timing, making sure I arrive at the right time and then it should take care of itself.
“Blooming heck, we’d probably be near the playoffs if I’d taken a few of my chances this year!
“I’m just going to keep putting myself in the right areas, and eventually they’re going to come, I’m sure of it.”
Yates is by no means the only one who has struggled to find the net this season. Forest as a team have been particularly goal-shy.
That has left them struggling at the bottom end of the Championship table, with safety only completely secured with two games remaining.
A campaign which started with Sabri Lamouchi in charge and aiming to build on going close to the play-offs in 2020, saw the Frenchman replaced by Chris Hughton in October. The ship has been steadied but Yates knows much better is needed next term.
“As a team, it’s been extremely disappointing. You see that a lot, when a team misses out on something – like us not getting in the play-offs,” he said. “But we’ve spoken about this so many times. “It’s difficult to bounce back. We had a really bad start, a change of manager, new players and new system. It was always going to be difficult. “You get to that stage where you’re near the bottom of the table and you’re thinking, ‘relegation is a possibility.’ “We knew we had the quality to get us out of it and luckily we have. “On a personal level, it’s probably been my best season in professional football.
“It’s probably the one where I’ve had the most minutes on the pitch, especially at Championship level.
“I’ve still got so much more to improve on.”