Nottingham Forest are flying in the Premier League this season and Nuno Espirito Santo looks to have found a winning formula.
The Reds beat Leicester City last Friday to go with another win secured a few days before against Crystal Palace at the City Ground.
Gary Neville hailed Elliot Anderson for his performance on Friday, whilst Alan Shearer lavished some praise on Chris Wood – the scorer of seven goals in nine games this season.
A number of Forest players have starred this season and it’s also worth noting that Espirito Santo deserves a lot of praise too.
Jamie O’Hara praised the Forest head coach after a 1-1 draw with Chelsea and Forest have been magnificent on the road this season under Espirito Santo.
The foundations laid have been superb from a Forest perspective and now there is a real sense that a relegation battle can finally be avoided in the Premier League this season.
Paul Robinson raves about Nottingham Forest star Matz Sels
There was a big topic of conversation among the fan base in the summer over who would keep the goal this season for Forest.
Carlos Miguel was signed for £4 million from Corinthians and Forest were also linked with Caoimhin Kelleher from Liverpool.
Quietly going about his business in the background was Sels, who helped Forest remain in the Premier League last season.
After Sels received criticism from Shay Given and Joe Hart, he’s now proved his credentials with some fine form over the last month or so.
Paul Robinson is also impressed and believes alongside two other players, the Reds have really firmed up at the back.
He told the Football Daily podcast: “Sels in goal has actually been excellent this season. His communication with Milenkovic and Murillo – and all of the back four, the organisation in set plays.
“It’s very easy to walk through set plays on the training pitch but once you’re on the pitch you need leaders – Sels has shown that.”
Sels is now established as the Forest number one
It’s taken some time for him to win over all of the Forest fan base but now nobody can argue that he’s not the Forest number one.
Sels almost registered an assist on Friday as his brilliant kick left Wout Faes in a pickle and allowed Wood to pounce for a second goal.
His distribution is solid as a goalkeeper – a mandatory requisite in the modern game – whilst he commands his area well too.
Sels is 32 now and he’s hardly considered a long-term option between the sticks for Forest.
However, his form of late means that Forest can relax ahead of January and cross the bridge of signing a younger first-choice goalkeeper next summer when it should be easier to achieve success in the market.
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