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Will Still barely recognises Nottingham Forest player he used to coach, he’s ‘vastly improved’

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Nottingham Forest beat Tottenham Hotspur to compound the home side to an eighth home defeat of the season – a record for Spurs during a 38-game Premier League campaign.

The Reds began the brighter of the two sides, with Elliot Anderson smashing Forest into an early lead when he took advantage of a poor clearance from a corner to score via a deflection.

AJ Auxerre v Racing Club de Lens - Ligue 1 McDonald's
Photo by Franco Arland/Getty Images

Shortly after, Chris Wood had a goal disallowed via an automated offside call but on 16 minutes, the New Zealand international wasn’t denied his 19th goal of the campaign, heading home a superb cross from Anthony Elanga.

The second half was all about the defensive resolution from Forest and once again the Reds stood firm to deny to Tottenham, all the way up until the 86th minute when Richarlison did pull a goal back, with his standard goal against Forest!

Tottenham Hotspur FC v Nottingham Forest FC - Premier League
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Will Still doesn’t recognise Matz Sels anymore

Sels couldn’t get a 14th clean sheet of the campaign and his quest to win the Golden Glove accolade remains in the balance with David Raya of Arsenal hot on his tail at the top of the charts.

Once again, he was outstanding, however, and although Richarlison did beat him with four minutes remaining, he made an early save that was simply brilliant from the same player.

Still worked with Sels when he was at Lierse in Belgium and on Monday Night Football last night, he claimed that the goalkeeper has improved a lot from the time he spent coaching the stopper.

He said: “I coached him in Belgium, he was a great kid, he’s had a massive season and he’s been vastly improved during this season as well.”

Matz Sels stats vs Tottenham

When it comes to picking out the Player of the Year accolade for 2024/25, there will be a number of players in the mix and Sels will almost certainly be one of them.

It’s quite remarkable how improved Forest have been defensively and Sels has been a huge part of that, with his form being helped by increased solidity in front of him.

Matz Sels stats vs TottenhamTotal
Minutes90
Yellow Cards1
Saves4
Pass Accuracy34%

At 33-years-old, Sels is showing that he perhaps still has a few years left ahead of him and it would appear that he’s going to stay as the number one goalkeeper in the years to come.

Sels showed brilliant leadership qualities with his saves last night and in a young squad, it’s clear that he’s one of the players who is quietly going about his business and leading by example with some top performances.