Journalist Greg Mitchell has claimed that since Joe Lolley has been re-introduced to the Nottingham Forest side, he has been like a new signing.
Joe Lolley has featured sparingly for Nottingham Forest this season due to being out of favour and injury woes, he has made just 18 Championship appearances and has featured just once in the FA Cup. However, he has started the last two games for Forest, but before that, he was an unused substitute in five out of their last six games.
Forest have opted for a back three for the majority of this season, and this has meant that they haven’t played with natural wingers in their side, but with the back four that they have had to play in recent weeks due to injuries, this has favoured Lolley.
After his performance against Liverpool, Greg Mitchell highlighted this on the Garibaldi Red Podcast:
(18:57) “(Joe Lolley) another player who probably wouldn’t have had as many minutes in the last couple of games without the injuries and he’s just stepped up, it’s like a new signing,”
TIF Thoughts on Joe Lolley and Greg Mitchell’s comments…
Joe Lolley, who is valued at £2.7 million (as per Transfermarkt), has made 160 appearances for Forest since he signed in in the 2017/18 season, whilst scoring 26 goals and registering 27 assists. Lolley’s goal contributions have seen a decrease in the past few seasons as last campaign he scored just once and assisted twice, but after a few good performances in recent weeks, he could be set for a big role in the side in the remainder of the season.
His performance against Liverpool certainly stands him in good stead as he had some surprisingly good stats on the defensive end, with four duels won, two clearances and three interceptions, which perhaps highlights that he could slot into a potential right wing-back role if Djed Spence was to become injured and Steve Cooper reverts back.