Nottingham Forest man Ryan Yates has been named as the Championship’s best player for the month of March. He has made the Who Scored Team of the Month along with Djed Spence and James Garner.
Yates has enjoyed a magnificent month. He scored against Sheffield United, Reading, QPR and in the FA Cup against Huddersfield. Teammates Spence and Garner have also been in superb form for the Reds.
The 24-year-old actually has the highest average rating of any player in the Team of the Month. His rating of 8.01 was rivalled closely by Spence who finished with 8.0 for the month.
Yates now has eight goals to his name for 2021/22. He’s been given a new lease of life by Steve Cooper and he’s struck up a wonderful partnership with Garner.
The academy graduate scored the winning goal in the FA Cup clash against Huddersfield in March. That header set up a memorable night on Trentside against Liverpool and he should be given praise for that.
Yates has really started to kick on under Cooper. Under previous managers, he had been inconsistent and that led to some supporters throwing some stick in his direction.
Now, he’s integral and he could be a big player for Forest between now and the end of the current campaign as they chase a play-off place.
Yates deserves credit for Forest revival
The Forest midfielder never hides. Even when things aren’t going his way he always wants the ball and he’s learnt that sometimes not everything he tries will come off.
For some time, the maestro was very reserved. He’d often play an easy ball backwards and then point for a centre-back to pass the ball where he should have sent it in the first place.
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Now, that has stopped. One of Cooper’s biggest feathers in his cap is the tune he’s managed to get out of the academy graduate.
The challenge for Yates is to continue on this rich vein of form. If he can do that, Forest might just find themselves booking a play-off place this season.