Sarah Clapson gave the lowdown on Nottingham Forest
- Expert’s view on Nottingham Forest
- Details on what she expects from Forest
- Watch the full feature on #HTTV
Nottingham Post journalist Sarah Clapson gave her thoughts on Forest ahead of the match against Huddersfield Town on Friday 25 September 2020.
Style of play
Nottingham Forest have started off a bit slow and had some criticisms from fans about a negative style of play from the Head Coach. Forest do tend to sit back; they are better on the counter attack! We saw that last season and for a while it did work well, but it hasn’t started off to the same extent this season. I think it will be interesting to see whether Forest go into this game doing that or whether, because they need a win, try to score goals against Huddersfield Town. I think because it is an away game we’re more likely to see them play on the counter attack and sit back a bit, which does suit their game as we saw last season.
Responding from the heartbreak
After that final game of last season they were a broken team and he was a broken manager as well, Sabri Lamouchi, it was a horrible watch and a horrible experience for them. It was always going to be a case of how they dealt with that, whether they came out and took it on the chin and used it in the right way or let it bother them. I think at the moment they haven’t got it out of their system yet, it was only a few weeks ago and normally you would have that long pre-season or you would have that break in the summer where you can switch off and forget about it and then come back and start a fresh; they’ve not really had that. Forest just have to get on with it and try and lift themselves somehow, they need to do it quite quickly because they don’t want to keep on the same run they’re on at the moment.
Expectations from the game
The key part is going to be how Forest defend. The first two games they have looked a little bit wobbly and fragile at the back. If Huddersfield Town go at them, then that’s going to put a lot of pressure on the defenders and it’s how they stand up to that and cope with that. More often than not they do play on the counter attack, they soak up the pressure and then try and get teams on the break. For Huddersfield Town it’s all about how they cause them problems and how they manage to manipulate the defenders and try and create something for themselves.
Impactful players
Brice Samba is a good ‘keeper. He is a real fans favourite, he was a character on the pitch, would wind up the opposition, get the opposition strikers going and the opposition fans going. The crowd loved him because he gives them something. Lewis Grabban last season got more than 20 goals; normally you put him in front of the goal, give him a chance and he’ll take it. Finally, Joe Lolley is a player that the rest of the team look to if they are struggling to create something. They’ll give him the ball and more often than not he will try and make things happen. Forest need him on top form if they are going to be challenging the top end of the table because he makes such a difference.
