Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper expected Callum Hudson-Odoi to make a big impact as his “brilliant moment” earned them a 1-1 draw with Burnley.
Hudson-Odoi reminded the Premier League what he can do with a fine debut goal, putting his side level with a brilliant curling strike in the second half after Zeki Amdouni had given the Clarets the lead.
It has been 18 months since the 22-year-old last played in England’s top flight as his promising Chelsea career fizzled out, but after a year on loan at Bayer Leverkusen he has returned with renewed vigor.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) September 18, 2023
He has been Forest’s brightest spark since his move from Stamford Bridge on deadline day and has received his reward.
“Any new player is going to want to hit the ground running and show what they can do,” Cooper said. “We put Anthony (Elanga) and Callum in really good positions and we could do more with them.
“I know he has quality and he can have moments of brilliance. We need that sometimes in the Premier League and today we got it. It’s great for him and obviously great for us.
“He hasn’t played much football and trained well, but I supported him to do well today. He was running out of legs, I didn’t think it would take us this long to get rid of him. We must push him to take more active action.
“You see goals like this in the Premier League, there’s such quality. This is a brilliant goal. We scored a few of these goals, but not too many for us. Beautiful shot, great technique, great for him, great for the team. He will be pleased with this.”
Burnley’s point allowed them to restart their campaign after three straight defeats, but they may have been disappointed not to come away with all three after VAR denied them a late winner as Sander Berge was adjudged to have had the ball.
They then finished the game with 10 men after Lyle Foster elbowed Ryan Yates in stoppage time, with VAR intervening.
Clarets boss Vincent Kompany was pragmatic in his response.
“I have a decent business brain and a decent coaching brain, but when it comes to laws and legality, I switch off,” he said.
“Handball goes back and forth, people come and explain to us all the time, but I have come to the conclusion that they know what they are doing and that their intentions are right.
“I don’t want to discuss it too much because I can’t change it now.”
Having played in the first three matches against Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham, Kompany sees improvement.
“In this league you have to fight for every point, but from what I can see at the moment there are a number of teams we can compete with,” the Belgian added.
“I thought today was at least even and depending on which side of the fence you sit on you probably think you deserved three points.
“But if we continue to play in these games, our team still has a lot of progress to make and that’s what’s most exciting for us. We’ve already had success with these types of games, but there’s room for further improvement in the future.”