Roy Keane wanted Nottingham Forest star’s wages docked in September but now he’s ‘crucial’ to Nuno

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Roy Keane is a legend at the City Ground but his comments regarding one Nottingham Forest star earlier this season were particularly unpopular.

The Irish icon has been sticking up for Forest players at almost every turn, shown when Keane said Chris Wood has been good for years whilst pundits around the country labelled him as a surprise package under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Keane also defended Wood’s target-man role despite it being largely out of fashion in the Premier League these days, highlighting how he still has a soft spot for the City Ground club.

His affection for Forest is no surprise as Keane was told he was too small to play football before the legendary Brian Clough offered him a trial, kickstarting a career that would seem him remembered in Forest history as one of the most decorated players to put on the Garibaldi red shirt.

However, not everything he says about Forest is always popular, showcased earlier in the season when he heavily criticised a key member of the Forest squad.

Roy Keane was enraged by Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels

In what wasn’t their finest outing of the season, Forest drew 2-2 with Brighton in September in what was an uncharacteristically weak defensive performance.

If it were not for some shoddy finishing by the Brighton frontline who had 14 shots in the game, Espirito Santo’s side would’ve likely lost the match as goalkeeper Matz Sels only actually made one save.

Sels performance was mostly unnoteworthy but as Danny Welbeck stepped up to take a free kick, the Belgian keeper poorly positioned himself and his wall to make the English striker’s job easier than it ought to have been.

Keane was furious with Sels, going as far as to say: “The goalkeeper should be fined a week’s wages. You can’t be beaten on that side. He’s taken a gamble, he’s set the wall, you can’t be beaten on that side. From the goalkeeper’s perspective, it’s not good enough.”

Roy Keane’s criticism of Matz Sels is hard to imagine now

Fellow pundit Alan Shearer praised Sels’ ‘crucial’ role in Forest beating Ipswich, which is a more fitting way to describe the Belgian’s season than what Keane said.

Whilst by no means the most flashy goalkeeper, Sels’ ten clean sheets have him leading the Premier League in that metric, with his 75 saves at a percentage success rate of 73.5% showing that he has had to work for those clean sheets.

Sels has also prevented 2.39 goals this season to the relief of the Forest manager, who will also be delighted with the Belgian’s 178 accurate long balls to aid counterattacks.

Arne Slot was in awe of Sels against Liverpool a feeling that is now hopefully shared by Keane after being roundly proved wrong about his earlier criticisms of the Forest keeper.