Not just helping the long-term future, but also making sure the present is secure.
That was my little takeaway from this weekend when I saw pictures being posted up on Nottingham Forest’s Twitter page of Tendayi Darikwa and Alex Mighten during a training match at the City Ground.
I’ve spoken before about how the new substitute rule in the EFL Championship, using five subs on a matchday instead of five and a matchday squad of 20 instead of 18 will offer up the club a chance to blood in some youngsters and help build for the future.
However, when seeing Darikwa back in action, it got me thinking that this could also spell a good opportunity for some of the more senior players to make an impact on the club, and not just help the team out, but also help themselves.
Someone like Darikwa, who has been out of action for a long time since suffering an ACL injury, could be just as useful to the club at right-back than say someone like Brennan Johnson could be in attack, offering up a chance for Matty Cash to get some rest during what is going to be a pretty hectic schedule moving forward.
Should young/reserve players be given more minutes in the final run in?
Yes
No
Given that Darikwa hasn’t had an opportunity to play in front of Sabri Lamouchi yet, a few minutes during this run in could act as a pretty important lifeline to him keeping his place in the squad for next season, especially given Carl Jenkinson’s injury record and Cash potentially on the move if bigger clubs decide to come back in for him in the summer.
Darikwa is just one example, but there are other senior players like Joao Carvalho, Yohan Benalouane and Michael Hefele who could see this little run as a bit of a ‘last chance saloon’ to try and make a case to be part of the team for next season.
What about you? Do you think that these guys are going to take this opportunity? Or do you think they won’t even get given one to start with?
