Story by
Oliver Glasner must build Nottingham Forest team around Daniel Munoz, his stats are telling
- Story by
- Oliver Glasner must build Nottingham Forest team around Daniel Munoz, his stats are telling
Oliver Glasner cannot afford to start Daniel Munoz on the bench as he fights to keep his job as Nottingham Forest manager.
Forest suffered a 2-0 loss to Brentford on Saturday afternoon to pile even more pressure on the Austrian boss.
Advertisement
Glasner has only overseen one win in his first nine Premier League games in charge of the Reds and is under serious pressure to turn things around quickly.
He decided to start Ola Aina at right wing-back at the Gtech Community Stadium despite Munoz's strong previous performance away at Ipswich.
It proved to be a clear mistake as Aina struggled and the 30-year-old Colombian star came on at half-time to impress in the final third.
Munoz has hardly put a foot wrong for Forest since joining and, of all their players, he is one that should definitely be in the starting eleven every week if Glasner wants to keep his job.
Advertisement
Daniel Munoz has been playing well for Nottingham Forest and must start every game
Munoz became one of the best wing-backs in the world during his two-and-a-half-year spell at Crystal Palace, registering 11 goals and 15 assists in 109 games for the club.
Forest secured a real coup as he followed Glasner to the City Ground in the summer, and he has been one of their few standout players so far, which made his drop to the bench even more baffling against Brentford.
Aina started in West London despite Munoz assisting Neco Williams against Ipswich in Forest's previous clash, but the Nigerian was hooked at the break after failing to have an impact offensively or defensively.
Advertisement
Munoz came on and created two chances to Aina's one, completed more passes (24 to 15), had more touches in the Bees' box (4 to 0), made more tackles (4 to 2), won more ground duels (4 to 2) and covered more distance (6.2km to 5.2km).
He is among the top-performing Premier League full-backs this season for several key metrics, such as chances created per 90 (1.57), successful crosses per 90 (0.94), duels won per 90 (6.27) and tackles per 90 (3.29).
It was a crazy decision to start him on the bench on Saturday, especially with Glasner fighting for his job and Forest not in any other active competitions.
Sources: 'Surprise' update on Man City re-signing James McAtee from Nottingham Forest Oliver Glasner 'thrown under the bus' as Nottingham Forest 'concerns' grow Jamie Carragher has hailed Munoz as the best wing-back in Premier League history
Advertisement
Munoz's absence from the eleven becomes even more puzzling considering he was such a stalwart for Palace under Glasner, starting every league game he was available for in each of his full seasons at the club.
Premier League legend and leading pundit, Carragher, lavished praise on the 30-year-old last month live on Sky Sports, saying: "When I look at Munoz, we're going to look at his numbers from the weekend, distance he covers, progressive passes, all these metrics right up at the top. Now, I said it's so difficult to get quality wing-backs because very few teams play it but when you think of teams in this country who've been successful with three at the back, or five at the back, we always go back to [Antonio] Conte with Chelsea.
"I think if you're going to be successful, you need at least one specialist, who was his specialist? [Marcos] Alonso, left wing-back, the best left wing-back we've seen in the Premier League. The other team we all think about with three at the back is Crystal Palace and [Oliver] Glasner, the success they had over the last two or three years, and they had this guy, the best right wing-back that we've seen in the Premier League's absolutely sensational. I love him to bits."
Glasner needs to remember just how good Munoz can be, and stick by him for the foreseeable future before it is too late and he is axed by Evangelos Marinakis.
