Awoniyi is a nominee for the Footballer of the Year award from Nottingham Forest Fans.
The Nottingham Forest Fans’ Footballer of the Year 2023 title is open to Taiwo Awoniyi.
The international player from Nigeria will compete for the prize against Morgan Gibbs-White, Danilo, and Orel Mangala.
Last season, Awoniyi led Nottingham Forest in scoring.
In 25 league games for the Tricky Trees in 2022–2023 the 26-year-old scored 10 goals.
In ten league games this season, the striker has scored four goals and provided two assists for Steve Cooper’s team.
Awoniyi’s groin issue is keeping him out of action for now.
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Four things Steve Cooper must fix to get Nottingham Forest winning again
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND – JULY 15: Steve Cooper, Manager of Nottingham Forest during the Pre-Season Friendly between Notts County and Nottingham Forest at Meadow Lane on July 15, 2023 in Nottingham, England. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
By Paul Taylor
1h ago
Steve Cooper has often spoken of being taught more when fighting relegation than he was during two promotion pushes with Swansea City and while guiding Nottingham Forest into the top flight.
Forest’s head coach has found himself under scrutiny twice already, firstly in September 2022 and then again in the spring of 2023. And as he now looks to fix a run of one win in 10 Premier League games, he will draw on those lessons again.\
“The principles need to show, more than anything else,” he said. “Who are we, really, as a group? Who am I as a person? Who are the players as individuals? You have to stay true to yourself. When you want to win a game like we do, it has to be built on confidence, belief and commitment. You cannot just wait for it to happen.
“We are in that moment where we have to focus on ourselves; not be thinking too much about the outside world and what may or may not be being said. We are only going to get that win we want by earning it ourselves. When I think about the times when we needed to do this last season, this is what it was: it was inner determination and not coming away from who you are as a person and what makes you your best.
“There are things we can do better, of course. There are loads of things.”
The Athletic looked at what issues Forest face and how Cooper might fix them…
Deciding whether to stick or twist
In October 2022, when Cooper endured the first of his difficult moments, it prompted a change of tack. After five consecutive league defeats — in which they conceded 18 goals — he made Forest more difficult to beat, set them up to be disciplined, gave little away and planned to hurt teams on the break.
It was not always pretty but it was a blueprint that helped Forest to gradually edge their way to survival. Cooper did not quite abandon his principles to keep Forest up, but he parked them temporarily.
Steve Cooper
Cooper stopped the rot in October 2022 (Michael Regan via Getty Images)
This summer, there was a desire for more. The hierarchy wanted Forest to be better than just a team fighting relegation and Cooper wanted them to play in a manner closer to his footballing philosophy.
Thirteen new additions left Forest with the familiar challenge of bedding in a new team all over again. Many of the new arrivals did not go through a proper pre-season, and time and patience were always going to be key.
But Cooper remains determined, resisting any temptation to return to grinding out results. “Everyone is disappointed when we lose,” he said. “I feel disappointment and frustration as much as anyone, but I cannot get too emotional.
“We want to try to be sustainable over time. To do that, we have to try to evolve a playing style and a way of doing things. Sometimes that will happen slowly, sometimes it will happen quickly.
“But all you want is to gradually get better. I am committing to that. So the answer to the question of whether we are tempted (to go back to their previous approach) is: no.”
Getting the best out of Sangare
Nottingham Forest targeted Ibrahim Sangare in the summer of 2022. They were not alone. Liverpool, Leicester City and a clutch of other Premier League sides were among his admirers.
But during the last transfer window, he was a player Forest wanted more than anyone. He was viewed as a statement signing by the hierarchy; the player Evangelos Marinakis believed would be a message of intent to their rivals.
His head coach and the recruitment staff shared Marinakis’ enthusiasm to bring the Ivory Coast international to Forest. In Cooper’s mind — just as Morgan Gibbs-White had been a year before — Sangare, 26, was a player who could make a significant difference to the team.
When Forest completed the £30million ($37.8m) deal to land him from PSV Eindhoven on deadline day, it was greeted with fanfare. In his lavish unveiling video, Sangare stood in the centre circle of the City Ground in the middle of the night, his arms outstretched as the stadium floodlights were used for a spectacular light show.
The news you have all been waiting for…#WelcomeIbrahim 🇨🇮 pic.twitter.com/m9DGsPJ4MX
That money paid to PSV bought power, determination and the ability to pick a pass. Sangare is also somebody who can win back possession and get his side on the front foot. He is a momentum changer — but also somebody without an understanding of the Premier League.
Cooper has been as aware of this as anyone. It is why, rather than playing the deeper-lying role in which he stood out in Holland, Sangare has largely been used in a more advanced position. His manager was wary of exposing him to an area of the pitch where a mistake could be severely punished.
It has allowed Sangare to find his feet while making a positive impression. His quality has been evident: he has made more tackles (29) than any other Forest player, with Nicolas Dominguez (28) next. He also leads the way on blocks (19), ahead of Willy Boly (16). However, Forest are yet to find a settled and consistent midfield group.
There was a period when Dominguez, Sangare and Orel Mangala looked to have potential as a midfield trio, but these are relationships that are still building. Mangala is already a contender for Forest’s player of the season, but it is hard to escape the thought that this is because he has had a year to acclimatise. Dominguez and Sangare will be stronger when they have had the same opportunity.
Forest, if you include players such as Danilo and Ryan Yates, have a group of midfielders with genuine Premier League quality. But it may be a while before they evolve into the unit they are capable of being. Cooper’s challenge is to find a formula that gets the best out of them in the meantime.
Finding the right role for Gibbs-White
Gibbs-White is the most exciting, unpredictable and creative figure in the Forest side. Last season, he was at the centre of Cooper’s ethos. The Forest team was not built around him but he was the vital cog in the machine.
As Cooper tries to progress Forest’s style of play, he has more regularly favoured a 4-3-3 formation, which has impacted Gibbs-White. The No 10 role, in which he so often thrived last season — when he contributed five goals and eight assists — does not exist.
The former Wolverhampton Wanderers man has more often been shifted out into a role as the right-sided forward. Even when Forest have switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation in the last few games, Gibbs-White has remained on the right, with Danilo or Sangare operating centrally.
In the 3-2 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, Gibbs-White proved he could have an impact from that position, setting up Anthony Elanga for the first goal and contributing 11 shot-creating actions.
Morgan Gibbs-White
Gibbs-White shone in the No 10 role last season (Justin Setterfield via Getty Images)
Statistically, it might seem that Gibbs-White’s threat has not massively diminished. His expected goals (xG) of 0.18 goals per 90 last season has increased to 0.20 this time around, and his expected assists (xA) of 0.25 last season has only dropped to 0.18. The issue is that his actual end product has not been the same. He averaged 0.15 goals and 0.24 assists per 90 last season, which has dropped to 0.08 goals and 0.15 assists this season.
Forest are not quite getting the best out of one of their most talented players. Before Brennan Johnson was sold to Tottenham Hotspur this summer, Johnson and Gibbs-White had forged a promising relationship, with Gibbs-White developing a knack for picking out the space Johnson liked to attack.
Elanga has delivered a similar brand of threat down the left, from where he has delivered three goals and three assists since joining from Manchester United. In time, it might be Callum Hudson-Odoi who operates down that right side, but his impact has been limited by injury so far.
Hudson-Odoi and Elanga playing down the flanks, with Gibbs-White back in his more familiar No 10 role, is an intriguing prospect.
Filling the Awoniyi void
The issue of who might step in for Taiwo Awoniyi’s injury — at least until the club can bolster their ranks in January — was explored in The Athletic last week. In Chris Wood and Divock Origi, Forest have two men with a history that suggests they are capable. But this void had never been more apparent than it was against Everton.
Wood’s biggest strengths do not include running at opposition defenders or playing on the shoulder of the last man, and when Everton’s pressing game lured Forest into going a little longer, their defence won almost every aerial battle. James Tarkowski won eight aerial challenges on his own.
Chris Wood
Wood couldn’t get the better of James Tarkowski (Catherine Ivill via Getty Images)
Wood did well to finish the game after hyperextending his knee in the first half, which makes him a doubt for the Fulham game tonight. This may create an opportunity for Origi, who has yet to start a game since joining on loan from AC Milan, largely because he has battled a hip injury. But in substitute appearances against Everton and 10-man Brighton — a total of 37 minutes on the pitch — he touched the ball six times.
Liverpool fans will vouch for what he is capable of, with the Belgian having established himself as a cult figure at Anfield. Now would be the ideal time for him to do the same at Forest.
