Aitor Karanka explains why Lee Tomlin and Joe Lolley were dropped for Nottingham Forest

Follow us on Google Discover

Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United drew 0-0 at Bramall Lane yesterday.

Aitor Karanka has told BBC Radio Nottingham Sport that picking Lee Tomlin or Joe Lolley would have been too much of a risk for Nottingham Forest against Sheffield United.

Tomlin and Lolley have both made positives impacts at the City Ground, since arriving on loan in January.

However, the pair were both left on the substitutes’ bench yesterday, when they took on Sheffield United.

Forest arguably missed the creativity of the pair, as they played out a 0-0 draw.

And when asked when he only used Lolley and Tomlin as second-half substitutes, Karanka responded: “As a manager I have to try to pick the best eleven – players like Lolley and Tomlin, when they arrived here they hadn’t played a lot of games, and I didn’t want to take the risk with injuries.”

Lolley and Tomlin were both reserves for their parent clubs, Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City, and their exertions for Forest may be catching up with them.

The duo could be brought back into Forest’s line-up for their next match though.

The Reds have shown signs of promise recently, and have gone on a seven match unbeaten run.

Forest are next in action after the international break, when they take on play off chasing Millwall in two weekends’ time.