Hughton is looking for Forest to sharpen up in attack
MANAGER WANTS TEAM TO GET ON THE FRONT FOOT
CHRIS Hughton suffered his first defeat as Nottingham Forest manager, as his side were beaten 1-0 at Middlesbrough.
It was a lacklustre performance by the Reds, one where they struggled to make any real headway against their opponents.
And they were punished by Marvin Johnson’s late strike, bringing an end to a four-match unbeaten run.
Here’s what Hughton had to say afterwards.
What did you make of the result and the performance?
“It was a very difficult afternoon. “They’re the type of opposition who play a very direct style and do it very well.
“There are two ways you can get something out of the game. One is to be resilient right through to the end.
“Defensively, I was as comfortable as we could be in this type of game, because they put you under a lot of pressure.
“It was just that one lapse in concentration which gave them the goal.
“If you can’t have that resilience, then you’ve got to score goals.
“That’s been the difficult part for us. We haven’t been able to take pressure off ourselves.
“If you’re not starting well and not taking the lead, then you’re constantly putting pressure on yourself as a team.”
How do you think you did going forwards?
“We have to take it on the chin. “You’re always looking where you could do better. We needed to be better on the ball against a team who pressed really hard and played very direct.
“You’ve either got to battle against that, and make sure you’re not conceding. Or you’ve got to look for those moments of quality and guile, to break those lines.
“When you get into the final third, you’ve got to show quality. At the moment, we’re probably not showing enough of that to get some of those breakthroughs in games.
“If we could take the lead, then the game changes, against a very direct team.”
Do you think that’s a psychological barrier at the moment?
“I can only talk about my period of time here and by far the best we’ve been in terms of chances was the
Rotherham game.
“We have shown we can create and we can get into those positions but still we didn’t score the goals.
“Can that be a confidence thing? Yes.
“I know we conceded a goal, but overall defensively, I think we’ve been compact as a team - I’ve been happy with what I’ve seen.
“We need to be a bigger threat offensively.”
What was your thinking behind leaving Lyle Taylor on the bench?
“It was a very hard shift on Wednesday night. If it had been on
Tuesday, then you’ve got the extra day to recover, but we had to play 50-odd minutes with 10 men.
“We’ve got two hard games in quick succession again next week, and with (Lewis) Grabban out injured at the moment, I’ve got to use the squad I’ve got.
“Guerrero was brought in in the summer and he’s a player of good ability. I’ve got to use the squad.”
Was that the same for Joe Lolley?
“With the amount of games we’ve got, I have to use the squad.
“Joe has done brilliant for me and has got through games.
“But I’ve got to be mindful that if I’m playing the same players consistently all the time, there’s the possibility of some of them breaking down.
“So I’ve got to rotate. “We came up against a Middlesbrough team which made more changes than we did.
“If I felt it affected the team and affected the quality of the team, then I wouldn’t do it.
“But when you’ve got a squad like we have, who are all training hard each work and pushing for positions, then I’ve got to use the squad the best way I can.”