Nottingham Forest loanee Lewis O’Brien was in action for Middlesbrough last night as they defeated Birmingham 1-0 in the Championship.
After the game, his performance was assessed by Teesside Live.
So, what did the local media have to say about Forest-owned O’Brien during his latest outing? Let’s take a closer look…
Lewis O’Brien plays as Middlesbrough claim big three points
Well, at times this one was hard work for Michael Carrick’s men and perhaps the 1-0 scoreline did flatter Birmingham a little bit.
O’Brien has been forced to bounce back from a fractured leg during his latest loan spell away from Forest.
Right now, however, he does appear to have started holding a place down in the Boro team once again with the team just five points off the play-offs.
Last night, O’Brien did make a couple of tackles, according to Who Scored and completed 82.6% of his 46 attempted passes.
Teesside Live gave him a steady six out of 10 and after the game, they did have some positive words on the Forest player.
They wrote: “Full of energy for Boro and making some important defensive contributions, but ultimately unable to do much going in the other direction, with Boro ultimately not ruthless enough to kill this game off and make it far more comfortable than it ought to have been.”
O’Brien could have Forest future
This is going to be a very interesting one and if Forest do get relegated there is a strong possibility that O’Brien will get a reprieve.
In the man signed from Huddersfield, Forest have a £10 million midfielder on their books who is a master in the Championship.
As a result, it would be very naive to cash in on that and he’d likely become integral if Forest dropped back into the second tier.
O’Brien has made 14 appearances for Forest during his career and the club handed him a contract until 2026 when he signed in 2022.
The player’s mindset right now will be trying to help Middlesbrough gatecrash the play-offs in the Championship.
However, in our view, his future long-term might just lie with Forest.
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