Nottingham Forest boss Chris Hughton has told Nottinghamshire Live that Lewis Grabban needs a goal – with the talisman guilty of a glaring miss during a 1-1 draw with Rotherham United.
The Forest striker is yet to bag this season and is clearly suffering from a confidence crisis right now.
Grabban became the first Forest striker for almost 20 years to score 20 goals in a single campaign during 2019/20.
Right now, however, he is looking like a man shy on composure and Hughton has backed his talisman to get it right.
He told Nottinghamshire Live: “He needs a goal.
“Somebody like Lewis has been around a while. It’s different when you’re a young striker.
“Lewis will have good periods and bad periods.
“I don’t think he’s the type of individual who will be affected by a period of not scoring.
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“I’m quite sure that he will always be putting himself in a position on every occasion, to make sure he’s trying to score the next one.”
Grabban has found the net on 37 occasions since signing for the Reds from Bournemouth in 2018 for £6 million.
The 32-year-old didn’t actually score for eight matches at the start of the 2018/10 campaign but after his first goal managed 10 from 11 outings.
Some of the criticism of Grabban has been somewhat untoward and the Reds performer is fighting desperately to regain his confidence.
Good goalscorers don’t become bad ones overnight and with Forest creating plenty of chances right now, a goal will surely come.
Competition
The beauty about Forest’s squad right now is that they have some quality backup for Grabban in Lyle Taylor.
Taking the Reds’ main man out of the firing line might squeeze even more confidence out of Grabban and perhaps Hughton will look to utilise both of his strikers.
Forest had Grabban to thank for a win over Derby in the Championship last season and how he could do with another notch on Friday to restore some order.
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