Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis must now make a brutal call on set-piece coach Simon Rusk.
The frailties of the Reds from dead-ball situations came to light once again last night against Manchester United.
Nuno Espirito Santo desperately needs a run of victories and the Forest owner must now make a big call.
Nottingham Forest must axe Simon Rusk
Well, it has to be said that this whole situation is just baffling, to say the very least.
Rusk was appointed by Steve Cooper around a week before the former manager was sacked.
He had never worked as a set piece coach before and had previously been in charge of the England under-19s.
Now, The Athletic claims that Rusk has had a minimal role to play since Nuno Espirito Santo came to the club.
Which ultimately begs the question of, why?
What is the point in Forest keeping Rusk at the club as a specialist set-piece coach, if Espirito Santo isn’t counting on him?
It makes zero sense and Marinakis must now pull the plug on his employment with the club.
Forest defending from set-pieces is sending them down
Appointing Rusk looked like a doomed idea from the outset.
It was claimed that Marinakis was keen to appoint Gianni Vio who worked under Antonio Conte – but Cooper turned that one down.
Instead, he wanted his mate Rusk to come to the club and it’s a move that simply hasn’t worked out.
Forest have conceded 16 goals from corners and free kicks this season, with Burnley the next worst on 14 in the Premier League.
It’s frankly getting ridiculous and the fact that the team is incapable of defending set pieces will send the team down.
If Rusk isn’t being used by Espirito Santo, it says that the head coach is happy to trust is own staff.
If that is the case, Marinakis needs to act and ensure Rusk is no longer taking a wage from the football club.
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