Former Nottingham Forest player Garry Birtles has been sharing his thoughts on current Forest winger Anthony Knockaert and his role in the team.
This comes after Birtles recently made an appearance on the latest episode of Forest-themed podcast Garibaldi Red where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the Championship club.
On the subject of Knockaert and his current role in the team, Birtles had this to say about the player.
He said: “He clearly has the ability and I’ve said this in previous podcasts, he’s great to watch but I just think decision-making in that final third, in any division, in any standard of football you play, is so important and I think that’s been one thing that’s probably letting him down.
“Maybe the system we’ve played at times with just the one striker, you look in the box and sometimes when you’ve got players like Anthony Knockaert trying to create something, you’ve seen one player in the box, and that’s not always easy to pick out. You’ve got to be able to put it in an area where one or two, three players can go in there, but when you’re trying just to get one picked out – not easy.
“I think the jury’s still out a little bit.”
Forest signed Knockaert back in October on a loan deal until the end of the season from Premier League side Fulham.
TIF Thoughts on Garry Birtles’ comments on Knockaert…
Since his arrival at the Midlands club, the 29-year-old, who is currently valued at £3.6 million, has made 28 appearances for Forest in the Championship in which he has managed to score two goals and provide two assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
Given how Knockaert hasn’t been particularly consistent in terms of scoring or creating goals for Forest so far this season, it’s understandable why Birtles has some doubts over him.
As well as this, the fact that he has not made a league appearance for Forest since their 1-1 draw against Reading last month suggests to us that he is not in Chris Hughton’s favour at the moment.
Have you been impressed by Knockaert this season?
Yes
No
In our view, unless Knockaert can start putting in some impressive performances for the club before the end of the season if he gets the chance, then it would seem unlikely that the club would be interested in signing him on a permanent deal from Fulham.
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