Nottingham Forest play Leeds United on Friday in a huge game at the bottom of the Premier League.
A win for either team would see Leeds or Forest pull nine points clear of the relegation zone, with West Ham due to play Burnley on Saturday afternoon.
Sean Dyche has done well to steady the ship, with Forest taking eight points from the last four Premier League matches.
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Dyche will have to make at least one change to his team on Friday, with Neco Williams set to miss out after being sent off for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity against Palace.
Forest added Luca Netz to their ranks on Friday but after being quizzed about him in his press conference ahead of Leeds, the excitement around him perhaps needs to be tempered.
Luca Netz plays for Borussia Monchengladbach
Photo by Christian Verheyen/Borussia Moenchengladbach via Getty Images
Sean Dyche makes very strange Luca Netz claim
Whether Dyche is doing this to ease the pressure on the player or not remains to be seen, but when asked about Forest signing Netz, he delivered a pretty strange response.
Most people presume that as a natural option, Netz will be capable of going straight into the Forest team on Friday – but Dyche might have other ideas.
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He told his press conference: “He’s a young up-and-coming player who adds balance. We were a bit limited in terms of natural players in that position.
“We’ll see (whether he plays against Leeds), he’s only just trained today. We’ll make a call on that.”
Fans could turn on Dyche if Netz doesn’t play
There are a number of issues with Dyche’s comments regarding Netz.
Firstly, the 22-year-old might be young, but he’s not inexperienced, with the player making over 100 Bundesliga appearances in his short career and the majority of them at left-back.
Furthermore, if Netz doesn’t play, it means someone like Morato coming in and playing with Murillo out of position at left-back, and that just doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
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Should Netz start vs Leeds on Friday?
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There really is nothing to lose by throwing Netz straight in on Friday.
He’s seasoned at left-back, has been playing games this season, and there really isn’t much tougher environments to be thrown into than Elland Road under the floodlights for a huge game.
Netz has a golden opportunity to get a Premier League game under his belt, and with Williams set to return against Wolves on Wednesday, Dyche could risk infuriating the fans if he doesn’t start him.
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