Vital Forest News

Opinion: Who Sabri Lamouchi may want in midfield for Nottingham Forest next season

|
Image for Opinion: Who Sabri Lamouchi may want in midfield for Nottingham Forest next season

Ben Watson had an uncertain future at Nottingham Forest after struggling to hold down a starting place last season, but the 34-year-old could be a regular in 2019/20 after featuring consistently during pre-season. Watson has started every friendly for Forest in July, amassing 288 minutes of football, while captaining the Reds on two occasions.

He played the full second-half as captain against Alfreton Town on June 29, amassed 45 minutes against Dundee on July 2, played over an hour against Atromitos on July 13, racked up a full 90 minutes against Olympiacos on July 16, and captained the side against Crystal Palace while playing a full 90 minutes on July 19.

Watson was in and out of the team under Aitor Karanka and Martin O’Neill, making just two Championship appearances in the final three months of last season, but Sabri Lamouchi appears to be a big fan. He’ll have stiff competition from Alfa Semedo, Claudio Yacob, Ryan Yates, Adlene Guedioura and Tiago Silva which is sure to keep him on his toes.

Forest have two more pre-season friendlies before they play their opening game of the new Championship campaign – Real Sociedad (July 26), Lincoln City (July 29).

Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

Share this article

Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.