Nottingham Forest defender Moussa Niakhate was hard done by on Sunday, according to Steve Sutton. The Reds centre-back was sent off after collecting a second yellow card inside the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Forest did fight back despite being a man down to claim a share of the spoils from the Bees. Nicolas Dominguez scored his first goal for the club to cancel out Christian Norgaard’s opening goal.
Niakhate will now have to sit out the trip to Crystal Palace this weekend. He will only serve a one-match suspension, however, and that is good news for Forest.
Sutton discusses Forest man Niakhate after sending off
This is a tricky one. On one hand, Niakhate was a little bit clumsy but perhaps from Sutton’s point of view, he feels that some other decisions that were much worse went unpunished.
He felt sorry for Niakhate on Sunday and said on BBC Radio Nottingham during the game: “I think he’s really unlucky. There’s no malice at all. The second half will certainly be a lot tougher now.”
Niakhate was playing in an unfamiliar role as a left-sided full-back. It’s not a role that he’s played in for Forest before and it might not be one he features in again.
Niakhate will hope to learn from this episode
It wasn’t a particularly good game by Niakhate on Sunday. He was rash for his first yellow card and then needlessly got in a tangle with Yoane Wissa for his second caution.
In fairness to the Senegal international, he hasn’t had many bad appearances since he signed for Forest. Now, he will hope to learn from this incident and come back with a vengeance.
Niakhate is very important to Forest this season. As a left-footed central defender, he’s worth his weight in gold and hopefully, he can roar back with a bang after the international break.
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