Nottingham Forest were beaten 4-3 by Newcastle United to lose back-to-back games in the Premier League following defeat to Fulham last weekend.
The game was decided in 11 second-half minutes. Forest opened the scoring through Callum Hudson-Odoi but inexplicably went in at the break 4-1 down after a rampant spell.
A brace from Alexander Isak and goals from Lewis Miley and Jacob Murphy compounded Forest’s misery and left Nuno Espirito Santo with work to do to try and get something from the game.
However, Forest did make a game of things in the second half. First, Nikola Milenkovic scored following a teasing corner before Ryan Yates had the home fans sweating with just minutes remaining.
It wasn’t to be, however, and the Reds lost for a second successive game but ahead of Manchester City playing Liverpool do remain in third place at the very least for now.
Andy Hinchcliffe raves about Nottingham Forest star Murillo
Defensively, Murillo made some brilliant blocks but perhaps both he and Nikola Milenkovic were guilty of errors during the first 45 minutes that saw Forest collapse.
In the second half, Murillo was fantastic. He was strong defensively and also seemed willing to carry the ball out from the back in an attacking sense and on another day he perhaps might have scored a goal.
Hinchcliffe was on co-commentary for Sky Sports and he praised Murillo for his efforts, saying: “Murillo is a fabulous watch, isn’t he? Wherever he is on the pitch you just never know what he’s going to do. He’s fascinating to watch every week.”
Murillo stats vs Newcastle 2024/25
The 22-year-old was once again paired with Nikola Milenkovic on Sunday and no other central defensive partnership have played as many games as the Forest duo this season.
Murillo signed a new contract in January and that was just reward for a strong season for the Forest defender. He’s always the sort of player who gives his all and ultimately, the Reds are a better team with him playing well.
The Brazilian could maybe have done better for the first Newcastle goal. The ball did go through his legs but perhaps there was a deflection before it reached Murillo and went into the net.
Murillo is far from the problem at Forest. However, this performance from a defensive perspective was a complete mess and the Reds need to park this and get ready to play Arsenal on Wednesday night.
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