Steven Reid has revealed that Philip Zinckernagel missed out on Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 win at Huddersfield Town on Saturday due to a slight knock.
Zinckernagel had started six of Nottingham Forest’s opening seven Championship matches so far this campaign. The attacker had been one of the Red’s brighter performers in a difficult period at the start of the season that has seen Chris Hughton lose his job.
However, Zinckernagel was a notable absentee from Nottingham Forest’s first squad without Hughton in charge.
That came with Reid opting to pair Joe Lolley and Brennan Johnson with Lewis Grabban in the final third in a switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation.
The Reds were able to deliver an improved performance at Huddersfield and take all three points from the game thanks to goals from Grabban and Lolley.
Following the win at Huddersfield, Reid suggested to Nottinghamshire Live that Zinckernagel missed out on the game with a slight knock, but also revealed that he should be back in contention for their next fixture against Millwall.
He said: "He has a slight injury.
"He picked up a knock in the week, had a fitness test on Friday and was ruled out.
"It was a bit precautionary. I think he'll be okay for next weekend.
"He just had a knock on his ankle, it was nothing serious. Hopefully he'll be able to train in the next few days."
The verdict
This is a major boost for Nottingham Forest because Zinckernagel has been one of their best performers since he made the move from Watford in the summer transfer window.
The attacker has been able to provide a few moments of attacking inspiration for the Reds in the early weeks of the campaign, despite Nottingham Forest being devoid of creativity at times under Hughton as they failed to register a win in their first seven games.
Zinckernagel is a player that the new Nottingham Forest manager will need to get the best out of if they are to turn things around at the City Ground.
If Forest’s new manager was to go with the 3-4-2-1 set-up that Reid used at Huddersfield then you could see Zinckernagel filling in one of the two roles behind the lone forward very well for the Reds.