Steve Hodge slammed Nottingham Forest captain Joe Worrall live on BBC Radio Nottingham yesterday. The 26-year-old was guilty of giving away a penalty in the first half which allowed Harry Kane to score another goal against the Reds.
Worrall has struggled to adapt to the Premier League. He has been guilty of making mistakes and ultimately not learning from them on several occasions this season.
The defender was named the club captain for the 2022/23 campaign. It’s a role that he takes a great deal of pride in but right now he’s struggling to capture any real form.
Worrall has actually been dropped on three separate occasions by Steve Cooper. He was out of the side recently as Willy Boly and Scott McKenna became first choice but injuries to those players have forced Cooper’s arm.
The player who has come through the Forest academy wasn’t at his best yesterday. His decision to dive in on Richarlison was a really poor one and it gave Harry Kane the chance to double his tally from the spot.
Hodge didn’t hold back on BBC Radio Nottingham. He said: “Joe Worrall has made a howler there, a really poor decision. He’s never going to get there, it’s a clear penalty and Kane does what he does.”
Worrall slammed by Hodge after disastrous performance
The player went on a bit of a blocking spree on Twitter after yesterday’s game. Plenty were quick to critique his performance against Tottenham and it really was a poor showing.
The penalty he gave away was just the icing on the cake. He was largely poor throughput and struggled to get to grips with Richarlison and Kane all afternoon in North London.
Worrall has to start learning from his errors and quickly. Forest will keep conceding soft goals with their captain in this sort of form and quite simply it’s unacceptable at the moment.
Hodge is right to lay some blame at the door fo Worrall. For a vastly experienced defender, his decision to go ground when Richarlison was going away from goal looks an amateurish one at best.