Brice Samba was one Nottingham Forest player singled out by Sabri Lamouchi during his BBC Radio Nottingham interview, following a 2-0 win against Leeds United on Saturday.
Goals from Sammy Ameobi and Tyler Walker were enough to secure the Reds all three points against one of their direct rivals for automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Having received criticism for some of his performances in the last few weeks, most notably against Birmingham City, Samba picked up his tenth clean sheet of the season.
The 25-year-old goalkeeper made a sublime save to deny Liam Cooper from finding the back of the net in the second-half.
“He’s back,” Lamouchi joked with BBC Radio Nottingham when asked about his goalkeeper’s contribution.
“We lost him (Samba) for many weeks. No I am joking, but I told him that because I am joking with him.
“He is part of us and is a key player. When he is focussed like that, he is very important for the club and the team.”
Verdict
It took a while for the Reds to seal the three points against Leeds, but it’s clear that the manager was leaving the City Ground pleased with what the players had produced.
It’s important that the Reds are able to withstand periods of pressure, which is certainly what they did in the final 20 minutes of the game before Tyler Walker sealed the points in stoppage time.
Samba arguably hasn’t looked himself in recent weeks, but this performance against one of the bests sides in the division is sure to give him a lot of confidence.
That’s his tenth clean sheet of the season and he’ll be hoping to add many more over the next few months. Ironically, only Kiko Casilla has kept more clean sheets in the Championship.
Given the criticism that Casilla has come under, it’s clear which goalkeeper Leeds supporters would’ve rather had in their starting line-up on Saturday.
Samba will be hoping to pick up his eleventh clean sheet of the season against Charlton Athletic on Tuesday.
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