Zach Abbott - Coming of Age?

One of Forest's own made a fantastic impression in the Europa League on Thursday night, and finally in a position more suited to his talents.

When the line up for Forest’s 2nd leg against Midtjylland was announced in the late afternoon on Thursday, I must admit I was pretty worried about the task ahead of Zach Abbott - it looked like he would have very little defensive support in front of him, against a side that would surely test him physically.

As it turned out, the 19-year old had very little to do defensively, but dealt with everything that came his way with confidence and assurance. For me in previous appearances, it’s not just that it didn’t look like he belonged, it didn’t look like he felt he belonged either.

His performance felt like the true arrival of a young player in the first-team squad - and it’s not a surprise that perhaps it took him being used in his favoured position for the first time since August 2024.

We can see from Abbott’s action map that he only had one defensive action in his own box in the entire 120 minutes of the match - that shows up how well Forest defended in general, but also is a result of the calmness & composure shown by the back 3.