Opinion: Nottingham Forest midfielder starting to win over fans in makeshift role
Soccer Football - Championship - Queens Park Rangers vs Nottingham Forest - Loftus Road, London, Britain - February 24, 2018 Nottingham Forest's Matty Cash celebrates scoring their fourth goal Action Images/Adam Holt EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Sabri Lamouchi signed Carl Jenkinson to replace the injured Tendayi Darikwa, but the Nottingham Forest manager has so far used Matty Cash at right-back.
Cash is a natural winger whose form came under a lot of criticism during the second-half of last season, but he was praised by supporters after Saturday’s 1-1 with Leeds United and may give Jenkinson stiff competition for a starting place.
Matty Cash had a blinder. Massive confidence booster for him. #nffc
— Simo 🛑🕒 (@larsbohemian) August 10, 2019
https://twitter.com/WallyWilliams11/status/1160183750702977024?s=20
Not a great performance attacking wise with only 1 shot on target but a good team performance and defended well, Cash played very well, Silva was unlucky to be brought off. Ameobi looked bright when he came on. A lot to still improve #NFFC
— Chris Armstrong (@Stretch_0704) August 10, 2019
#NFFC I thought we battled really well and deserved that . Back 4 were great including Cash who had a real challenge in Harrison. Semeydo was class and Grabban scored and that's important. We are off and running
— John O'Donnell (@JohnIntraining) August 10, 2019
https://twitter.com/Liamstatham/status/1160188911810949120?s=20
My thoughts –
Ameobi should start next game.
If grabban gets injured we’re struggling.
Sow defensively looks quality.
Semedo is our best player.
Robinson constantly caught out of position.
Lolley needs some confidence back.
Cash quality. #nffc— TalkForest (@TalkForest1) August 10, 2019
The 22-year-old contributed eight goals in 36 Championship games last season, but he scored just one goal in 2019 and made only one assist since mid-August. Cash struggled to affect the game in the final third, so he was instead used in a deeper role by Martin O’Neill.
With Forest signing Albert Adomah and Sammy Ameobi to play on the wing, however, Cash has been forced to stay in defence. His latest performance against Leeds vindicated the decision. The Englishman played a full 90 minutes at Elland Road, made 56 touches and completed 54.6% of his 22 passes.
Cash created one chance, whipped in four crosses with 25% accuracy, made two tackles, one interception, 12 clearances, won three aerial duels and had one successful dribble.
Forest next face Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night. Whether Cash will get the nod remains to be seen, however, as Lamouchi might want to give other players minutes who haven’t featured as much.