‘Lack conviction’: 31-year-old Forest loanee criticised after poor debut, called ‘lightweight’

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Nottingham Forest-owned player Hwang Ui-jo started his first game for Norwich City on Saturday. The Canaries were hit for six by Plymouth who won 6-2 during the contest.

Forest allowed the South Korean international to join the EFL outfit on transfer deadline day. The 31-year-old got invaluable minutes during pre-season and the Reds managed to get him a team in England.

Hwang will now hope to settle at Norwich and score plenty of goals during his time in the Championship. Right now, however, the Canaries are struggling for results on the pitch.

David Wagner’s team have lost three of their last four games and they need to get back on track. Hwang has been added from Forest to try and improve their fortunes but on Saturday his efforts went in vain.

Hwang makes first start since leaving

The man with 17 goals in 56 appearances for South Korea will have taken great confidence from being handed a start. After the game, he was marked a 4/10 by the Pink Un.

The publication wrote: “One or two tidy moments in possession but lightweight. Slower than Scarr to react when Hardie’s shot cannoned off Gunn’s bar. Best chance was from Sara’s roll in behind, but the effort lacked conviction.”

Hwang was hauled off at half-time and didn’t emerge for the second half. As a result, he will hope to improve on this showing and settle quickly at his new club.

Does Hwang have a Forest future?

It’s hard to imagine that he does. The player signed from Bordeaux in the summer of 2022 and was immediately loaned to Olympiacos where he failed to score in 12 appearances.

After failing to make the grade in Greece, Hwang was loaned from Forest to FC Seoul for the second half of the campaign. There he scored four goals and claimed two assists from 18 outings.

Performing in England is a different matter altogether though. With Forest in the Premier League, regular game time was always going to be tough for Hwang.

Now, his priorities lie in the Championship. His latest showing might not help him start the next game but the Forest-owned player will hope to improve with the more football he plays.