Sean Dyche’s inexplicable Nottingham Forest decision is costing the team badly
Sean Dyche has to reinstate Matz Sels to Nottingham Forest’s starting eleven from now on after a shocking mistake from John Victor that led to Aston Villa’s third goal on Saturday.
Sels won the Premier League Golden Glove as Forest‘s first-choice stopper throughout the last campaign, as they came close to achieving a shock Champions League qualification.
He continued in the same position at the start of this season under three different managers, but suffered respective groin and finger injuries against Everton last month to rule him out for two weeks.
Reds boss Dyche had to call upon summer signing Victor to start in between the sticks against Utrecht and Tottenham, and he has kept him in the starting eleven ever since, despite Sels‘ return to full fitness.
The Brazilian stopper showed himself up in their 3-1 loss to Villa on Saturday, and Dyche now must admit that he should have put Sels back in the team when he returned to the squad by sticking by him for the foreseeable future.
Victor was at fault for Villa’s third goal after crazy error
Forest hijacked West Ham’s move for Victor in the summer window as he made a late move from Botafogo, and he had featured eight times across all competitions for Forest prior to Saturday’s clash at Villa Park.
Dyche’s side were not at the races throughout the encounter as Ollie Watkins and John McGinn gave the hosts a 2-0 lead, but Morgan Gibbs-White’s strike on the hour mark did hand them some hope of a fightback.
Victor’s moment of madness then completely dashed those hopes, as he raced way too far out of his goal to try to retrieve a ball that he was never going to be first to, with McGinn then slotting home into an empty net to make it 3-1 in the 73rd minute.
The 29-year-old conveniently pulled up with an injury after the mistake and was quickly replaced by Sels, who must now be back in the team permanently, regardless of if Victor’s problem is not serious.
Dyche has to change his view on Forest’s goalkeeping situation with Sels as his undoubted number one
Sels has been one of Forest’s most consistent performers over the last 18 months, and the sheer fact that he was not reinstated to their team after his injury came as a surprise to many fans.
Dyche offered his thoughts on the situation that has seen Victor preferred to the Belgian international last month, as he said: “John hasn’t done anything wrong since he’s been in. He’s done well.
“You want that competitive element. Obviously Matz has done great last year and this year, but you want that competitive element.
“At the moment, John has done well so I’m just letting it be. But I have explained to Matz that we take great pride in who he is and what he is, so he just needs to keep training right and be ready.“
This huge error from Victor is a sign of a clear weakness, and Dyche now has an obvious decision to make regarding Sels’ return to the starting eleven.
The 33-year-old should have already returned to the Forest team following his recovery from injury, and Forest fans will agree that he must now be back in between the sticks for the rest of the campaign.