While Nottingham Forest were soundly beaten by Norwich City in midweek, one of the few positives from the night was Tyler Blackett at left back.
The former Manchester United and Reading man was thrown into a baptism of fire of sorts, but looked largely solid in that left back position.
Blackett was turned for the first goal when he was dragged into the centre back position, but his play down the left was impressive.
The 26-year-old was constantly a presence going forward and his delivery was excellent, while he also looked to close down the cross, which has been a problem for Forest in recent weeks.
It hasn’t been the easiest move for Blackett since he signed in the summer, with the start against Norwich just his fourth start of the season – and first under manager Chris Hughton.
He has had injury problems, but he also didn’t endear himself to Forest fans with a nightmare start, performing extremely poorly in the 1-0 loss away at Huddersfield Town and the 2-1 home defeat to Bristol City.
Blackett got injured after that Bristol City game and was on the sidelines for several months, but some fans took that as Hughton wanting him out as it was never specified what the injury was.
However, to the surprise of everyone, in recent weeks Blackett has been used as a substitute to help Forest see games out – normally coming on to give Gaetan Bong some extra cover.
This in itself has been a concern as it further highlights that some of Bong’s biggest weaknesses are that he is a) showing signs that his legs have gone and b) far too slow to close the cross down.
It was notable in the 2-1 win away at Coventry City how much Blackett was needed, as Bong was constantly getting nowhere near the winger and cross after cross and chance after chance was happening.
As we all know in football, stop the cross and you stop the goal – so it did make a welcome change seeing Blackett actively try and force both Kieran Dowell and Max Aarons into recycling it centrally and potentially risk losing the ball, rather than pick out Teemu Pukki.
Much like Yuri Ribeiro though, Blackett linked up well with the winger ahead of him – on this instance, Luke Freeman – and was always quick to find his feet, even in tight areas.
It’s no secret that Forest will probably be looking for a new left back in the summer – it’s still uncertain as to whether Ribeiro will be offered a new deal, while it’s clear that Bong isn’t at the level required anymore.
However, in Blackett they potentially have a cross between the two and while it’s difficult to read too much into one game, he did show enough to suggest he could be a useful option.
Maybe with a new manager in Hughton, Blackett’s career might finally take off after all and it’ll be interesting to see how much game time he gets over the coming weeks.
Would you start Tyler Blackett at left back for Nottingham Forest?
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