Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka says he will try to give new academy players a chance to play in the first team once the Reds are completely safe in the table.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday night’s meeting with play-off-chasing Brentford, Karanka confirmed his interest in seeing fringe players out on the pitch, but only once Forest’s championship status had been secured.
“I am trying to be completely safe on the table so that I may give opportunities to everybody.
“I know that we have good players in the academy because sometimes they train with us.
“I hope that we can win as soon as possible so I can try to give them an opportunity.”
the players that are playing know that they are confident because they don’t have a replacement
Fresh youngsters injected into the team would perhaps please Karanka even more so, given his comments about motivation within the first team. The Reds boss explained that, in his opinion, Forest had suffered in recent away games because of the mindset some players are in as the season draws to a close.
“We have a lot of injuries now. So, the players that are playing know that they are confident because they don’t have a replacement.
“When you know that you are always going to play, when you don’t know anything about your future, when you know you are comfortable in the table, there is a lot of things that can happen
“but we have to keep going because there is another six games ahead of us and we need to try to win”
Listen to Aitor Karanka’s pre-match presser in full:
“I have to try to motivate them, but it is difficult because we have five players on loan. I can understand them now, thinking that they don’t know their future.”
With Barnsley’s visit to the City Ground postponed last week due to a waterlogged pitch, Forest were left with a difficult trip to Middlesbrough to try to make amends for their previous defeat away to Millwall. Now Forest have four home games in their last six games, however, and Karanka was firm about not letting home form slip too:
“It’s the thing that I said when I arrived here: we have to be strong at home.
“We did it against Birmingham and we did against Derby, but now we have to keep going because the crowd deserves to come here and enjoy it with the team.”
Tom Monks
Images: Impact Sport
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