Vitor Pereira watched a second successive Premier League defeat for his Nottingham Forest team, with Lorenzo Lucca not even making the trip.
Forest succumbed to another defeat in the top-flight, with Diego Gomez and Danny Welbeck scoring either side of a brilliant goal by Morgan Gibbs-White.
Give us your THREE WORD reaction to that shambles of a performance against Brighton
The Reds were beaten 2-1 by Fenerbahce in midweek, and that has left Pereira with lots of questions rather than answers, with Forest now looking set to drop into the bottom three on Wednesday night.
Lucca’s omission was intriguing to say the very least and now, the Reds boss Pereira looks to have made a very big decision over the Italian performer.
Nottingham Forest celebrate scoring against Brighton
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Vitor Pereira has washed his hands of Lorenzo Lucca
Lucca’s time at the club looks to be over after this latest omission, with no sign of an injury when he came off on Thursday after being handed a start against Fenerbahce.
By including Taiwo Awoniyi on the bench instead of Lucca, it feels as though Pereira has now made up his mind on the striker signed on loan from Napoli.
The Reds need all the help they can get scoring goals and there is going to come a point where players have to stand up and start sticking the ball in the back of the net.
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Lucca and Awoniyi both have a goal apiece in the Premier League this season, and it’s quite alarming how badly Forest have performed in front of goal.
Forest have a clause to buy Lucca for £40 million in the summer, and based on this latest decision, it looks like those chances are pretty much non-existent.
Forest shouldn’t use Lucca again this season
Although Awoniyi has had some rotten luck with injury issues, Forest would be wise to play him more often from the bench than Lucca.
The Nigerian is at the very least a physical option, and that’s what Forest will need when they’re chasing games and trying to put more points on the board.
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The Reds slipped to a 2-1 defeat…
Lucca has shown next to nothing at Forest, and at times in the first half on Thursday, it felt like the Reds had 10-men such was his lack of any real ability to spearhead the attack.
Pereira doesn’t seem afraid to make big decisions and that does at least bode well going forward for Forest, with Lucca now surely wondering when he will next get an outing in the Garibaldi.
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