Journalist claims this player has to “fight for his place” after international break - Report

It’s one of the biggest conundrums that Sabri Lamouchi has faced in his brief stint at the City Ground.

Does he bring club captain Michael Dawson back into the fold when the club reconvenes after the international break, or does he stick with the current system and keep Tobias Figueiredo alongside Joe Worrall in the centre of defence?

Speaking during a Q&A for The Athletic, journalist Paul Taylor was asked whether or not he thought the Forest skipper would get his place back immediately when he is 100% back to match fitness:

“As brilliant as he has been – and he was tremendous in those first nine games – my own view would be that he has to fight for his place like everyone else. If Forest had been playing poorly, you would bring him straight back in.”

This touches on what I was writing about earlier in the week, that the decision on whether or not to bring Dawson back into the fold isn’t necessarily going to be a straight forward one, because whilst it’s hard to imagine the club captain losing his place, the numbers show that Figueiredo should really be starting instead. In fact, it probably helps that the international break is going on right now, gives Sabri Lamouchi some time to think things over rather than being rushed into things.

In my mind, I agree with Taylor on this case.

As he touches on later in the piece, “Figs will also know that he has Dawson waiting, on his shoulder, for the first poor performance he produces. Worrall will as well, to be fair.” So I think it’s a case of keeping things as they are for as long as we can.

Plus, it gives Worrall and Figueiredo a chance to develop a partnership together. With Dawson’s contract up at the end of the season (via Transfermarkt), it could be that this is the centre-back partnership of the future. So by given them a run of games together, it will give them a good base on which to build on going forward.