Midfielder praises David Wagner’s influence
- Jonathan Hogg reviews win at Nottingham Forest
- Midfielder praises Philip Billing's performance
- 'Hoggy' enjoying life under David Wagner
Jonathan Hogg celebrated his 200th career appearance by helping Town end Nottingham Forest’s 13 match unbeaten run with a 2-0 win at the City Ground on Saturday.
The 27 year-old midfielder was one of Town’s standout performers in a very good team display and played alongside Philip Billing in the centre of midfield - who stunned the crowd with a brilliant goal from almost 30 yards out.
“We were leaking too many goals in previous games and we worked on it during the week. Now we got a clean sheet and put on a performance like that,” Hogg told htafc.com.
“Great goal from Phil (Billing). He hits them in training like that all the time and we tell him to shoot and now he’s got his chance. We knew he had it in his locker, so the boys aren’t that surprised.
“I don't think you will see another one like that all weekend. Philip’s got an absolute rocket on him and I’m more than happy to be playing alongside him. I’ll let him do that!”
During the week David Wagner has been working with the First Team on combatting Nottingham Forest’s counter attacking style and Hogg was pleased with how Town dealt with the hosts’ style of play.
“We needed to be solid throughout the spine of the team and the Head Coach (David Wagner) stressed that me and Phil (Billing) had to hold in the middle of the field and make sure one of us always stays behind the play.
“Their strengths are their counter attacks, so we stopped that. As soon as they tried to counter we mopped it up and I think we did a good job in there.”
Since joining the club Head Coach Wagner has consistently deployed his side in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which has changed Hogg’s role in the middle of midfield. He believes it suits his game.
“It’s perfect; what they want me to do is sit, break the game up and pass it simply. I’m always feeling fresh as he doesn’t want me to do as much running as I used to do and when the ball is there to be closed down I’ve got more power and strength in my legs to get there.”
Hogg believes Town’s performances have improved since the arrival of Wagner in November.
“The Head Coach, since he came in, has changed a lot of things; one of those is the training schedule. We do a lot of double sessions.
“I think that fitness has shown in the last six or seven games. We've played some brilliant football and haven’t got the results.
“We had a good run last month where we put in six or seven good performances and kept winning, drawing and didn’t lose. Now after this weekend’s performance we can look forwards to next week.
“We're not worried at all about the bottom three because we know we’ve got the quality to pick wins up. We know we are going to do that.
“The Head Coach is putting in his ideas. This week it was defending the middle of the pitch, which was a lot stronger at Forest than it has been.
“We’ve got a clean sheet, so I think we’ve done a good job.”
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