Quoted by the Athletic in a piece about defender Tobias Figueiredo, Nottingham Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi has labelled the Portuguese fantastic but has also identified where he could improve his game further.

Forest have had a good season so far and will be one of the sides eager to see the campaign resume as soon as it is safe to do so.

Indeed, they will feel that a play-off place is the least they deserve for their efforts this year and Sabri Lamouchi deserves plenty of praise for the job he has done.

However, the Forest manager also has plenty of positive words for his players and labelled Figueiredo 'fantastic' but not without suggesting an area where the centre-half could get even better in.

He said:

“He needs to improve with the ball; he does not have the confidence in his own quality sometimes.

“Before he receives the ball, he needs to know where he can play it. If he has a look before he receives the ball, that split second can change a lot.

“Defensively, he is a fantastic player. He has built a good partnership with Joe [Worrall] and he is quick."

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The Verdict

The Portuguese defender started the season out of the side with Michael Dawson and Joe Worrall the first-choice pair at the heart of the Reds' defence.

However, he has managed to get himself into the team alongside Worrall and together they have looked very strong.

It's a good sign of Lamouchi's management, too, that he can identify a player's strengths and weaknesses and has a plan to make a good footballer even better.