Jamie Carragher has hailed Taiwo Awoniyi after the former Liverpool striker produced a superb display for Nottingham Forest against Chelsea.
Forest put in a terrific performance against Chelsea and, to be quite honest, they probably deserved to win the game.
Raheem Sterling’s opener had Chelsea in front before Serge Aurier fired Forest level in the second half.
Chelsea were flat and seemingly complacent in the second half, with Forest no doubt gutted that they couldn’t take full advantage.
A number of Steve Cooper’s men put in quality performance and striker Taiwo Awoniyi was a constant menace for Forest.
Jamie Carragher hails ex-Liverpool man Taiwo Awoniyi
Forest went with a front three against Chelsea with Brennan Johnson, Morgan Gibbs-White and Awoniyi all involved.
Whilst we know Awoniyi as a striker, he is also deployed down the left at times for Forest with Gibbs-White drifting as a false nine.
That meant Awoniyi was regularly taking on Cesar Azpilicueta and Kalidou Koulibaly down Chelsea’s right.
The Nigerian enjoyed plenty of success, working incredibly hard for the team and driving Forest forward.
Awoniyi was so good that Jamie Carragher just couldn’t stop heaping praise on him.
Awoniyi’s name may be familiar to some Liverpool fans having joined the Reds from the Imperial Soccer Academy in Nigeria back in 2015.
Work permit issues meant Awoniyi was never able to play for Liverpool and after seven loan spells away from Anfield, Awoniyi was sold to Union Berlin in 2021.
Awoniyi excelled in Germany to spark Forest’s interest and Carragher was blown away – even if he didn’t remember much about Awoniyi’s time at Liverpool.
Carragher, speaking to Sky Sports, suggested that Awoniyi was an ‘absolute nightmare’ for Chelsea to deal with and he was Carragher’s man of the match after a ‘fantastic’ display.
“He’s done really well, Awoniyi, whenever he’s been involved in the game,” said Carragher on 58 minutes. “No, not really!” he added when asked if he had seen much of Awoniyi at Liverpool.
“Forest have just got to keep feeding him, he has been an absolute nightmare for Chelsea from minute one. Koulibaly has really struggled in that channel,” said Carragher on 73 minutes.
“He’s been fantastic, he’s my man of the match. Thiago Silva has been equally as good but I just think he’s dragged Forest back into the game. He was really dangerous in that first half,” Carragher added on 87 minutes.
It’s a shame that things were never able to work out for Awoniyi at Liverpool but if he keeps playing like this, maybe Jurgen Klopp will keep close tabs on him moving forward.
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