Nottingham Forest manager Ange Postecoglou might have to consider dropping former Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko after his performance in the Europa League against Real Betis.
Postecoglou is still working out his best starting XI after arriving a few weeks into the Premier League season, replacing Nuno Espirito Santo who was sacked after just three games. It’s been a mixed start for The Tricky Trees, and they’ve conceded late to throw away points on multiple occasions, including against Betis where they conceded in the final few minutes.
Forest enjoyed a busy summer transfer window, bringing in a host of new additions to improve their squad for the 2025/2026 campaign. Multiple new additions started for Forest in the Europa League, including Igor Jesus, Douglas Luiz, and Zinchenko, but they conceded a late goal to draw 2-2, despite turning the game around after going behind early on.
Zinchenko Should be Dropped by Nottingham Forest
If Postecoglou wants to turn things around at Forest after failing to find a win in his opening games at the club, then he might have to consider dropping Zinchenko. An injury to Ola Aina hasn’t helped the situation, but the Australian manager still has the options to change things at full-back.
Zinchenko endured a difficult evening against Betis, with former Manchester United winger Antony causing him plenty of problems throughout. For Betis’ first goal, Zinchenko found himself all over the place at the back, with Antony easily able to find Cedric Bakambu in a dangerous position inside the penalty area, before he turned and fired into the back of the net.
For Betis’ second goal, the ball was played across the box, and Zinchenko seemingly had a real opportunity to put it behind for a corner. Instead, the Ukrainian international let the ball run across his body for Antony to tap in at the back post. Zinchenko checked his shoulder and knew Antony was waiting behind him, but he didn’t react quick enough to clear.
Postecoglou had Nicolo Savona on the bench against Betis and has done for a few weeks now, and it could be time for the former Juventus man to come into the side. Nico Williams is more than comfortable switching to left-back, so the Forest boss does have options to change things.
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