Nottingham Forest’s 3-1 defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road reinstated their predicament in the Premier League relegation battle, with key defensive absentees rupturing the growing form and confidence recent results were building. George Edwards was at the match
Without Brazilian dynamite Murillo, Nottingham Forest are nothing.
After 270 minutes of football in which the Reds conceded just one goal and never went behind — scoring seven goals and picking up seven points in the process — things were just starting to take an upward turn. Defensive consistency, attacking fluidity and confidence levels growing week by week, Forest’s position in the Premier League table was beginning to look healthy.
But then came three enforced changes as Forest visited a wet and fired-up Elland Road, Matz Sels (groin strain), Neco Williams (suspension) and Murillo (calf issue) forcing Sean Dyche into changing three of his stalwart back five.
Sels hasn’t quite been the consistent and assuring figure that he was last year, but John Victor’s three-week cameo in the first team proved the Belgian’s importance, and Neco Williams has been the Reds’ most consistent and reliable performer of the season so far.
But as Leeds United reinstated the feeling of unease, elevating themselves three points ahead of Forest and six of the relegation zone with their 3-1 victory, Murillo is the one that they missed most.
Forest have only picked up four of their 26 Premier League points in his absence this season, missing seven games with various niggling injuries as the season has progressed.
Much like Ibrahim Sangaré has become the midfield’s calming influence, Murillo is Forest’s defensive coordinator. Partner Nikola Milenkovic may be the leader vocally, but the Brazilian is the one who mops up mistakes, reads the play better than anyone and bulldozes his way through any attacker coming his way.
The manner of the goals conceded proved Forest’s wilting defensive setup, completely off the pace and consistently caught reacting rather than foreseeing danger, with Morato once again partnering Milenkovic in Murillo’s absence.
The torrent of noise that circled around Elland Road pre-match would be enough to startle any professional, let alone Zach Abbott, who made his full Premier League debut, once again operating out of his natural position at right-back.
Abbott wasn’t the only one stunned by Leeds’ early momentum, charging forward with dynamism towards the Don Revie End in the opening few minutes and catching Forest off guard. However, the Reds resiliently weathered that storm and got a foothold after 10 minutes, having four shots in the space of three minutes and seeing Igor Jesus head narrowly wide with 20 minutes played.
Yet with one defensive lapse, that good work was unravelled.
Ex-Derby right-back Jayden Bogle sauntered from full-back to striker, followed by nobody, as a floated and seemingly comfortable long pass from Illa Gruev caught Forest napping, Bogle slotting clinically past debutant-goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
It was all too easy, no pressure on the ball and no awareness or intensity to follow Bogle’s rather ordinary run. Just four minutes later Forest were two behind, the Whites momentously awoken and the visitors dazed, once again outpaced by Leeds’ fast thinking and movement, failing to track runners in the box.
The feeling that Forest are on borrowed time with Murillo isn’t a new sensation, with rumours of Real Madrid and Liverpool’s reported interest seeming to circulate every transfer window. His skillset, age and mentality make him destined for things that Forest just won’t be able provide him with, a prospect that looks daunting the more minutes he misses.
Conceding three goals away at a fellow relegation rivals also reinstated Forest’s perilous position at the foot of the Premier League table.
A chance to move nine points clear of the drop zone was spurned, hosts Leeds doing just that in victory, as Forest could now finish the weekend just three points clear as West Ham travel to Burnley this afternoon.
In a relegation scrap, just when you think you’re out of the woods something always comes back to bite, to starkly remind you the severity of the situation and to burst the temporary bubble of progression that was dangled in front of you.
It may all be seeming pretty bleak, and it’s amazing how quickly positivity can erode in football, but there was a glimmer of optimism shown as the game drew to an end.
With four minutes to play, substitutes in Omari Hutchinson and debutant striker Lorenzo Lucca combined to score a consolation goal, the latter nodding in the former’s neat cross from the right, about the only decent ball into the penalty area Forest produced all game.
Lucca’s goal is his second of the season after struggling in his 16 Serie A appearances for Napoli this season, giving Sean Dyche a welcome addition to the depth of his squad, as did fellow debutant Luca Netz.
Netz’s cameo was even shorter than Lucca’s, but the left-back constantly looked to get on the ball and become involved, putting a few decent crosses in and seeming rather mobile, albeit the game was gone by that point.
With Neco Williams, available after serving his one-match ban, Netz’s minutes may be limited as he wasn’t included in the club’s squad for the remainder of their Europa League campaign, but the German youth international did all he could to force more minutes.
Williams, Sels and Murillo have all formed the backbone to Forest’s upturn in form in the new year, their importance highlighted in Forest’s defeat at Elland Road, with another vital relegation face-off to come as Wolves come to Nottingham on Wednesday night, a match where those frailties just cannot repeat themselves.
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