Nottingham Forest
Nigerian media deliver interesting verdict on Ola Aina’s display in the AFCON final
Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina suffered heartbreak last night as Nigeria were beaten by Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations Final.
After the game, the Nigerian media delivered their verdict on the performance of the Forest man.
So, what has been said about Forest defender Aina after the AFCON Final? Let’s take a closer look…
What the Nigerian media have said about Forest star Ola Aina
Well, it appears that this wasn’t a good day at the office for Aina – and it will be a game that he will hope to quickly forget.
Aina began the game as a wing-back but looking at the ratings he’s been given, it would appear that he struggled.
Ivory Coast won the game after going behind, with Nigeria opening the scoring through William Troost-Ekong.
Goals from Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller would ensure pandemonium for the hosts, however.
All Nigeria Soccer delivered a brutal assessment of Forest star Aina, scoring him 3.5/10 for his efforts.
They claimed: “It was the most disappointing display of the competition from the Nottingham Forest defender who couldn’t get the trickery of Simon Adingra.
“Strange that he completed the game despite his poor performance.”
Soccernet weren’t quite as harsh on Aina and scored him a 6/10 for his display in the Final.
They said on Aina: “The Nottingham Forest full-back struggled against his Ivorian opponent. Simon Adringa was his nightmare and he couldn’t keep up. He looked jaded as time went on and could barely kick a ball.”
Aina will hope for City Ground run after AFCON exploits
With the tournament now over, Aina has a duty to head back to Forest and nab his place back in Nuno Espirito Santo’s team.
Before the competition, Aina started for Forest in the games against Newcastle and Manchester United.
The Reds haven’t won in the Premier League since the AFCON started and Aina should get his place back.
Forest will now hope to get some wins with Aina, Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly all due back at the City Ground.
In our view, Aina needs to park this disappointment pretty quickly and instead see the AFCON as a roaring success.
He’s played well in a large number of the games at the tournament and he should slot straight back in at Forest.