Talk about some serious strength in depth.
There were two big stories that came out of the defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup, most notably the VAR controversy and the influx of youth that Lamouchi introduced into the first team. However there was one story that kind of got lost in the shuffle, and that was the return of someone who hasn’t been seen by the Forest faithful for some time, and that’s defender Yohan Benalouane.
Having spent a lot of the past few months on the sidelines injured, the 32-year-old Algerian defender finally made his comeback at Stamford Bridge, coming on in place of Tobias Figueiredo at half-time.
Whether or not this is merely the start of a long run in the team for the defender, or he was merely acting as a placeholder for the day, we’ll just have to wait and see, but with six centre-backs on the books at the City Ground, he’s going to have to fight hard to get back into the team.
However, his presence was certainly welcomed back by plenty of members of the Nottingham Forest faithful, as they took to social media to congratulate him on his return.
The beast is back 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻👊🏻👊🏻🔴⚪️
— ohmistrollingin (@OhRolling) January 5, 2020
Great to have you back mate 🔴
— Jamie Allan (@JfAllan98) January 6, 2020
💪
— Jon Mee (@jonmondeo) January 6, 2020
Very glad you’re back!
— Phillip Sumner (@phillipsumner23) January 5, 2020
Missed you
— Molly (@MollyLovesBTR) January 5, 2020
Looked better at the back once you came on, has to be said.
— Matt (@matt_1979) January 5, 2020
Yes my man, missed you 💯
— Adam Mills NFFC ** (@ad_mills) January 5, 2020
Good to see you back. Great performance today #yohanbenaloyane #NFFC
— Nottingham Forest fanpage (@FanpageForest) January 5, 2020
Could Benalouane offer up a solution at RB?
Yes
No
And if he can’t help out at centre-back, then maybe perhaps he can offer Matty Cash some company.
