HUGHTON FRUSTRATED AS REDS FAIL TO FIRE
POOR DISPLAY BY REDS AS HUGHTON SUFFERS FIRST DEFEAT SINCE TAKING THE REINS
THERE’S no glossing over how poor Nottingham Forest were at the Riverside Stadium.
They weren’t just beaten by a Middlesbrough side on a good run of form, it was almost a meek surrender.
Boro could have scored more. The Reds never looked like scoring any.
It may only have been Chris Hughton’s first defeat in charge, after a four-match unbeaten run, but the new boss has plenty of problems to address.
Forest correspondent Sarah Clapson looks at some of the talking points from the 1-0 loss.
GOING FORWARD
This is the biggest issue for Hughton. And one he needs to find a solution to pretty quickly.
Not for the first time, the Reds gave their opponents an easy afternoon.
There’s a significant lack of creativity and attacking threat at the minute. Barely a meaningful shot was registered, let alone one on target
Away from home, it’s always unlikely to be a feast of free-flowing football – particularly against a Boro side who are sufficiently resolute – but there was barely a spark there at all from the visitors.
Too many times they played sloppy passes or didn’t offer enough options for a team-mate when they did have the ball.
There’s no shortage of quality in this squad. Forest have some very talented players to call upon. It’s just not happening for them at the moment.
Of course, it could all have been very different had a header from Ryan Yates gone in. But as a team, the Reds needed to offer more than that.
STATS DON’T LIE
It’s fine margins in the Championship.
One mistake, one missed chance can cost you three points.
Forest are where they are for a reason, though.
There’s no question they are labouring at the moment. And while nine games in is much too early to be talking about relegation fights, they do need to turn a corner some time soon.
Two home games in the coming week should offer the chance to do just that – to go into the international break feeling a bit more positive.
FALLING BEHIND
Speaking of stats ... the Reds have taken the lead only once in 10 games this season. That was late on in their victory over Blackburn Rovers.
It is another issue which predates Hughton’s arrival. And not one which is easy to fix.
A bit like last term’s bad habit of conceding late on, it can fast become a mental problem.
Despite the mass arrival of new signings in the summer transfer window, this group look like they are still battling with the after-effects of that final day collapse.
It’s proving difficult to shake off. In recent games they’ve at least played better in the second half of games and showed fighting spirit to claw something back.
They lacked that at the Riverside, though.
They looked like a collection of individuals who didn’t believe in themselves.
They didn’t look like a cohesive unit.
And they didn’t exactly go down fighting.
A fair amount of patience and time on the training pitch is going to be required.
TEAM SELECTION
It wasn’t really a surprise to see Gaetan Bong in the starting line-up over Yuri Ribeiro.
The former was Hughton’s firstchoice left-back during his time at Brighton & Hove Albion and is a player he knows well.
Given he’s still getting to grips with his squad, it was always likely he’d go with the defender he knows more about.
And the manager reasoned afterwards that Bong played 90 minutes for the Under-23s last week, while Ribeiro has just returned from an injury.
Having Carl Jenkinson on the bench provided cover for both the left and right side but Ribeiro did still travel with the squad.
That selection decision wasn’t the reason Forest lost, though.
Bong did okay; considerably better than his last appearance. Ribeiro might have been the popular choice but it’s unlikely he would have done better than his team-mate to the extent it would have changed the game.
There was a first start for Miguel Angel Guerrero, who also did allright. He just suffered from the same problem Lyle Taylor had when he came on – a lack of service.
A POSITIVE
In an attempt to end on a more promising note, Scott Mckenna was superb. The Scot has got better with every game and gave another commanding performance in the heart of the defence.
He’s arguably been the club’s best bit of summer transfer business.
Mckenna does the simple things very well, winning his headers and clearing anything which comes into the box. He’s also comfortable on the ball.
As a back line, the Reds actually didn’t do too badly.
Set-pieces again caused problems and they needed Brice Samba to come to the rescue a few times but it looked like they were about to notch up a clean sheet.
Boro’s perseverance paid off, however, and one lapse in concentration from Cyrus Christie proved costly.
Hughton has made Forest harder to beat; it’s at the opposite end of the pitch where work is needed.