Robbie Earle stunned Nottingham Forest star was dropped vs Everton, he thinks Nuno Espirito Santo badly needed him

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Nottingham Forest had the smiles wiped off their face by Everton at the weekend as Abdoulaye Doucoure stole all three points for the Toffees in the 94th minute at the City Ground.

Nuno Espirito Santo has a tough job to pick his team up after this performance against an Everton side with little to play for. Forest were beaten by David Moyes’ team in fashion not too dissimilar to what the Reds have done to teams all season.

Forest had a few dilemmas ahead of the game. With Ola Aina out of contention through injury, it meant a recall for Alex Moreno and Neco Williams switching back over to right-back.

Elsewhere, Chris Wood did return in attack, but there was still no sign of Taiwo Awoniyi, who didn’t play against Aston Villa either. Anthony Elanga was also on the bench after being withdrawn with a problem at Villa Park.

• READ MORE: Garry Birtles hated something Nuno Espirito Santo did in Forest defeat

Robbie Earle stunned by Ryan Yates omission vs Everton

It was a bold call to leave Yates out of the starting eleven against Everton, especially given how good his form has been of late since earning a place back in the team.

However, it’s not always been the case that Yates is required, as proved by the fact that Forest went to Everton in December without the club captain and secured a 2-0 win at Goodison Park.

Still, the news of the omission came as a shock for Earle. He’s thrown his weight behind Forest getting into the Champions League after originally saying the club would be relegated, but he felt Yates should have played on Saturday.

He told The 2 Robbies Podcast: “From the team line-up, no Ryan Yates and I’m feeling against Everton, I want Ryan Yates on the pitch. He was on the bench and I’ve spoken a lot about how much I like him recently. Nuno has got credit this season so I’m not going to be too critical, of course, but it just really surprised me.”

Ryan Yates stats vs Everton

It has to be said that this wasn’t the best performance that Yates has produced. Although he does often love the physical battle within games, Everton are a very tough nut to crack in that sense.

Yates came on and was probably quite fortunate not to give away a penalty almost immediately when he seemed to throw an arm towards Carlos Alcaraz in the penalty area.

Forest needed something a little bit different in midfield and Yates wasn’t able to provide anything different to what Nicolas Dominguez had provided before he was replaced.

Next up is Tottenham away and that throws up challenges too. Yates will hope to be in contention for that one and perhaps there is an argument that a leader such as him should be on the pitch for the remaining games.