Garry Birtles has heaped praise of Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba, following his impressive start to life at the City Ground.

Samba joined Forest from French side Caen in the summer and the 25-year-old has been one of the standout performers for the Reds this season, playing a key role in their promising start to the Championship season under Sabri Lamouchi.

Aro Muric - who is on loan at Forest from Manchester City - started the season as Lamouchi's first-choice goalkeeper, but after some questionable performances, he was quickly replaced by Samba.

He has since made nine appearances for Forest in all competitions so far this season, conceding seven goals and keeping five clean sheets, and was named as the Reds' player of the month for September.

That prompted Forest legend and former European Cup winner Birtles to praise Samba for how he has performed since replacing Muric.

"Samba’s been given his chance and he’s most certainly grasped it with both hands – competition is good, however, you need quality players competing for each position," Birtles told the Nottingham Post.

"I’ve been lucky enough to see quite a bit of Forest this season and each time I’ve seen him play, he’s been hugely impressive.

"He’s confident, he’s commanding and takes no prisoners. He’s a very good shot stopper and you can see the influence he’s having on the players in the defence.

"Michael Dawson and Joe Worrall look very assured with Samba behind him – I've said numerous times about the importance of having a strong, reliable goalkeeper in your side, it makes such a difference."

Forest missed out on the play-offs under Martin O'Neill last season but have made a very promising start to their new campaign under Lamouchi and are currently second in the Championship table.

The Verdict

Samba has been excellent for Nottingham Forest so far this season. He's a very talented goalkeeper and it looks like he could be a great signing for the Reds.

He's a very good shot-stopper and has pulled off some remarkable saves so far this season. He's going to have a very important role to play in Forest's promotion push.

Even though he made a few mistakes, Muric is still an international goalkeeper and he wouldn't be a top club like Manchester City if he didn't have potential, so the fact that Samba has kept him out of the team shows how well he's done and he deserves a lot of credit for that.

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