Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo keeps doing something that Garry Birtles simply doesn’t understand.
It’s not exactly been plain sailing since the man formerly of Wolves and Tottenham came to the City Ground.
He defeated Newcastle and Manchester United in two of his first three games in charge but then saw his squad decimated by the African Cup of Nations.
Ibrahim Sangare, Ola Aina, Moussa Niakhate, Willy Boly, and at the time, Serge Aurier all departed to represent their countries.
That left Espirito Santo with some gaps in his squad. Ultimately, results have stuttered a little bit since the turn of the year.
With just five games of the season remaining Forest are just a point above the drop zone and have three games left to play away from home.
After a 2-2 draw with Wolves, Birtles has suggested that the Forrest head coach keeps doing something to leave him puzzled.
Nuno keeps doing something to baffle Garry Birtles at Forest
Well, this all boils down to the in-game changes that Espirito Santo is making – and Steve Cooper was thrown some similar critique in his direction.
On Saturday, the Reds boss made substitutes that seemed okay. He does, however, have a knack for taking Ola Aina off quite a lot.
In fairness at the weekend, Aina might have had a little knock but even then he put on Nuno Tavares ahead of Harry Toffolo.
Birtles was left a little perplexed by the Forest boss at the weekend and there was something that he just didn’t understand.
He told the Forest Focus podcast: “The substitutions baffled me a little bit. Do you know, he keeps taking (Ola) Aina off and I think he’s doing alright. I don’t always get it.”
Espirito Santo has five games to save Forest
Naturally, when results aren’t going in the direction of Forest – fans and pundits will naturally take aim.
The Reds need to start winning matches. Funnily enough, a couple of wins from here would probably be enough to secure Premier League football for another season.
Everyone will always have an opinion on substitutes. Had Divock Origi squared properly for Chris Wood in the dying embers on Saturday; Espirito Santo would have probably been praised.
Birtles is right to question the nature of the Forest changes at the weekend.
Hopefully, Espirito Santo has learned some lessons about certain players and he can make more telling changes this weekend against Everton.
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