Nottingham Forest manager Olivier Glasner has revealed that an injury crisis forced him to deploy Nigeria international Ola Aina as a centre-back during Saturday’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park, Trybal News reports.
Aina started as the left-sided centre-back in Forest’s back three alongside Ousmane Diomande, adapting to an unfamiliar role as Forest secured their first league win of the season under Glasner.
Glasner explained that he only received confirmation of the injuries to Forest’s two recognised centre-backs on Friday evening, leaving him with limited options ahead of the trip to Villa Park.
Suddenly both centre-backs were unavailable to play,” Glasner told Forest TV.
The German manager subsequently approached Aina and asked whether he was comfortable operating in the position. The Nigerian responded confidently that he could handle the challenge.
I knocked on the doors of Ola Aina and Ousmane Diomande and informed them that they would be starting tomorrow in a back three,” Glasner said.
Particularly with Ola, I needed to ask him if he could envision this working, and he assured me he could, which I already knew.”
Aina justified his manager’s confidence with a composed defensive display as Forest held on for an important victory. The Nigerian recorded three tackles, one interception, four clearances and two recoveries during the match.
Glasner praised his players for overcoming the difficult circumstances, describing himself as “extremely proud” of their performance and the victory.
