Nottingham Forest were beaten 1-0 by Everton with Abdoulaye Doucoure scoring a winner deep into stoppage time to stun the City Ground.
The Reds were stunned by the late goal, which came after Murillo was dispossessed on halfway by Dwight McNeil, who set up Doucoure to settle the clash.
All is not lost for Forest, however. The team now have six games to play in the quest to make the Champions League and it promises to be twists and turns from here on in.
Nuno Espirito Santo wasn’t keen on his team’s performance and he will know that this level of performance simply won’t do during the final half a dozen games of the campaign.
Forest must now dust themselves off and prepare for a trip to Tottenham next week and the challenge is to claim a big result to get things back on an upward trajectory again.
Ibrahim Sangare was tailor-made for Everton clash
It did feel like Forest missed a trick yesterday and with the physical presence of the Toffees, perhaps Espirito Santo should have tried something different.
Ibrahim Sangare has barely played of late and given how uncompromising the Everton team looks, this game looked perfect for the Ivorian player.
Having cost £30 million, Sangare is still looking for consistency in his play but he’s not going to get that by not getting minutes on the pitch.
Yesterday was a match that looked tailor-made for his battling qualities, with the Everton midfield often proving too strong for Forest.
Both Nicolas Dominguez and Ryan Yates have done a job this season but as always, this was more a case of horses for courses and perhaps Sangare would have proved a better option.
Ibrahim Sanagre stats 2024/25
It’s hard to imagine Sangare being at Forest next season if truth be told.
The Reds performer will want to be playing regular football and it doesn’t feel like he’s going to get that any time soon at the City Ground.
Sangare hasn’t always looked like a Premier League player during his time at the club but injuries have held him back somewhat.
The Reds need to start using the entire squad in the final six games, with yesterday’s performance looking like a very tired one.
Espirito Santo has some serious credit in the bank for the work he’s done at Forest but not utilising Sangare in some capacity yesterday feels like an oversight.
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