Nottingham Forest picked up a useful point in their latest Premier League outing down on the south coast.
Steve Cooper’s side went into Tuesday night’s fixture propping up the table but temporarily move off the bottom following a 0-0 draw with Brighton.
After a 1-0 loss at Wolves the manager made three changes to the side including a return to the starting line-up for Jesse Lingard but the former Manchester United attacker failed to take his chance and was eventually substituted late on.
Writing for Nottinghamshire Live, Sarah Clapson awarded the Englishman a 6/10 for his performance and justified it with the following comment:
‘Barely touched the ball, in what was a particularly quiet game for the summer signing. Given his chance back in the starting line-up, but struggled to provide a spark.’
TIF Thoughts on Lingard and Forest…
Has Lingard been disappointing so far?
Yes
No
It’s now nine appearances and seven starts with a goal involvement for Lingard since his summer arrival at the City Ground.
His 6.56 average match rating (SofaScore) sees him rank 20th in that metric for the club this season with only Emmanuel Denis, Cafu, Renan Lodi, Alex Mighten and Willy Boly performing worse.
It was another lacklustre display from the 29-year-old at the Amex as he managed just 16 touches as Forest absorbed most of the pressure applied in the game.
The 32-cap England international completed 11 of his 13 passes but failed to create anything of note for his side losing possession three times and as a result, Lingard could well find himself out of the side as Forest host Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime.