Nuno Espirito Santo says £10.6m Nottingham Forest ace has ‘proved’ something to him after Newcastle loss

Nottingham Forest were second best against Newcastle and suffered their second defeat of the season.

   The City Ground rose to applaud Murillo when he scored his first Forest goal after 21 minutes on Remembrance Sunday.

   However, it was as good as it got for the Reds, who succumbed to a dominant second-half display from Newcastle.

   Nuna Espirito Santo’s side were well beaten in the end and nothing he tried with substitutions worked.

   Some fans pointed the finger at Anthony Taylor throughout the day, but it was a game the referee had no influence on.

   After 11 games, Forest have 19 points and that is still a good haul for this stage of the campaign.

   Nuno Espirito Santo praises the Nottingham Forest star who proved a point against Newcastle

   There’s really no need to exaggerate after this show.

   OK, Forest were well below what they have been of late, but Newcastle were a very good outfit on the day.

   It was Murillo who scored against the Magpies and Espirito Santo is impressed with the player.

   He told BBC Radio Nottingham: “He’s been massive since he’s arrived, he’s massive and his improvement has been there for everyone to see.

   “He’s shown we can score goals all over the team now and that’s important.”

   Forest now face Arsenal after the international break and now is the time to take stock of what has been a really positive start to the campaign.

   Forest will have to share goals this season

   It’s not healthy for the Reds to rely solely on scoring goals through Chris Wood.

   The statistics will suggest that it is similar at other clubs, but with Forest’s position in the Premier League food chain, it is important that they do not depend on too much.

   Forest’s last four goals have come from four different scorers and that bodes well for the season going forward.

   Murillo at £10.6m deserves to hit the target and get on the goalscoring list for Forest.

   He has been knocking on the door almost ever since he signed for the club and could have scored another goal recently.

   It wasn’t, but as Espirito Santo says, at least he showed that he can hit the net.