£16m Nottingham Forest player gives Nuno Espirito Santo a conundrum with drab FA Cup showing

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Nottingham Forest are out of the FA Cup after losing to Manchester City 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in the semi-final on Sunday.

Nuno Espirito Santo sprung a surprise of sorts by picking youngster Zach Abbott to play at right-back, with Anthony Elanga being relegated to the substitutes’ bench for the contest.

Forest saw the game plan obliterated after just 90 seconds when Rico Lewis scored a simple goal to leave the Reds with an absolute mountain to climb in the contest.

Espirito Santo watched on as Elanga missed a good chance just after half-time, while Morgan Gibbs-White struck the post and the bar against the team courting him ahead of the summer.

Whilst there were some positive performances for Forest against City, there were also some pretty drab ones on show too, with one player in particular now providing his boss with more questions than answers.

• READ MORE: Nuno Espirito Santo hails Nottingham Forest player vs Manchester City

Nuno Espirito Santo now has a problem with Danilo

It’s hard to be too critical of Danilo, given that he’s had a serious injury to contend with this season, and that does need to be taken into consideration when discussing his form.

Danilo kept his place after a strong performance defensively against Tottenham on Monday night, but against City he was extremely disappointing and it was no surprise to see him hooked at the interval.

He wasn’t at the races against Pep Guardiola’s team yesterday and clearly, Espirito Santo wasn’t impressed with his performance for 45 minutes and was right to take him off at half-time.

Danilo just doesn’t seem to be settling into any midfield role that he’s been given at the moment, with fans uncertain over what the Brazilian is actually bringing to the table when he’s picked.

Although the player is still at the age where he could improve, Forest have five massive Premier League games left to play and there really can’t afford to be any passengers.

Danilo stats vs Manchester City

The Forest midfielder has been a positive signing since swapping Palmeiras for the City Ground in January 2023 and helping the Reds remain in the top-flight during the 2022/23 campaign.

Danilo has scored some important goals for the team but ultimately, he’s just not doing enough to warrant his constant selection since returning to the team following injury.

Danilo will now face an anxious wait to see if Espirito Santo picks him against Brentford on Thursday night and with Forest needed a big win, the Reds need all hands on deck.

The 23-year-old is desperately striving for consistency but it’s fair to say that this showing yesterday has ultimately knocked him back a few paces in terms of him getting that under his belt.