One Nottingham Forest star’s performance will have opened Nuno’s eyes despite Newcastle United loss

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Nottingham Forest lost to Newcastle at St James’ Park despite a spirited second-half display that saw the Reds almost pin the hosts back to earn a massive point.

Forest lost this game inside 11 first-half minutes. After taking the lead, Forest couldn’t take any momentum and instead found themselves conceding four goals and trailing by three at the interval.

Conceding four goals in 90 minutes of action is bad enough but to do it in just 11 minutes is frankly unacceptable and Nuno Espirito Santo will be majorly aware of this wake-up call.

Forest goals came from Callum Hudson-Odoi who scored the opener in the first half and second-half strikes from defender Nikola Milenkovic and club captain Ryan Yates.

The second 45 minutes was a performance to take some pride from. However, things could hardly have been worse than they were in the first and it’s important the Reds move on from this showing against Arsenal on Wednesday night.

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Callum Hudson-Odoi shows how important he is to Forest

Restored to the starting line-up for the first time since going off injured against Southampton in January, this was a big game for Hudson-Odoi in his recovery from injury.

It took the player just six minutes to make his mark on the game as his rasping effort had Nick Pope all ends up as he careered his shot into the corner of the net to send the away fans into raptures.

Shamefully, the defending wasn’t as good as Hudson-Odoi’s effort and his teammates really let him down in this contest, rolling over and gifting the Magpies four very avoidable goals.

The brilliance of Hudson-Odoi served to highlight just how important he is, however. He was a constant menace on both sides of the pitch and on another day he might have caused more damage to Newcastle.

Callum Hudson-Odoi stats vs Newcastle

Hudson-Odoi showcased that he’s probably the team’s most important player against Newcastle. His presence allows Espirito Santo to showcase his 4-2-3-1 system that has served him so well and the Reds always looked a threat on the counter.

The 23-year-old was in fine form when used on both sides of the pitch. He richly deserved his goal from long distance and on another day might have scored another goal or two.

There were some positives to take from the second half for certain. Forest never rolled over and had the best chances in the second 45 minutes and that will at least give the team some sort of heart going into the next game.

The fact remains that Forest are still in the mix to try and claim a place in Europe next season and hopefully, the team can quickly move on fro this first-half disasterclass.