Alexander Milosevic was not left out of the Nottingham Forest squad through injury against Swansea – but Martin O’Neill says he remains "very much" in the Reds’ plans.
The Reds boss revealed he took the decision to leave the Swedish defender out of the 18, following an intense start to life in the Championship for the former AIK player.
The defender was thrown straight in at the deep end after signing as a free agent in January, when he faced Birmingham City just a few days after his arrival.
He subsequently started eight games playing alongside Yohan Benalouane and generally produced some encouraging, strong performances.
But with Molla Wague having scored against Ipswich after being drafted into the side and with Jack Robinson available on the bench as cover at both left-back and in the centre of defence, O’Neill felt it was an opportune moment to give Milosevic a break from the action.
“No, he did not have an injury,” said O’Neill. “I am glad you mentioned him, because there is a really fine line here.
“He came over and was thrown in at the deep end, against Birmingham.
“He will have immediately thought ‘wow, what is this all about’ as he had to deal with about seven balls into the penalty area, in the first three or four minutes of the game.
“But he has gradually come through all of that.
“Wague gives us a bit of a threat, when he is in the side. I just wanted Milosevic to sit it out and have a little look at us.
“But he is very much in our plans. He really is.”
The decision to play Wague ahead of Milosevic paid off as he found the back of the net for the second game running, heading home to help the Reds fight back to claim a 2-1 win over the Welsh side.
And Milosevic was not the only senior player to miss out on a place in the squad, with Saidy Janko, Leo Bonatini, Diogo Goncalves and Adlene Guedioura also failing to make the 18.
It is a sign of how the injury problems are finally starting to abate for the Reds, leaving O’Neill with strength in depth going into the vital final games of the season.
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And O’Neill said: “At the end of the day I can only pick 18 players and I wanted to have attacking options, particularly here at home.
“We had Robbo on the bench to play at centre-half, if one of them did pick up an injury.”
