REDS CRASH OUT OF CUP
NOTTINGHAM Forest bowed out of the FA Cup when they were swept away by a slick Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.
Steve Cooper’s side took advantage of a poor first-half performance from the Reds to move into a 2-0 lead through Liam Cullen and Matt Grimes and went on to seal a 5-1 win.
Anthony Knockaert did pull a goal back but a controversial penalty, awarded for a foul on Ryan Manning and converted by Grimes, effectively killed off hopes of a fightback.
Cullen then grabbed his second and Oli Cooper scored a fifth for the Swans.
Leigh Curtis looks at the big talking points from a disappointing afternoon.
■■Forest must sign a striker this window
Having completed the signing of Filip Krovinovic on Friday, Hughton said he is still looking to add to the squad before the transfer window closes on February 1.
Another centre-forward would not go amiss, given the continued problems that Lyle Taylor and Lewis Grabban are experiencing in front of goal this season.
Six League goals between them is a dreadful return and while Miguel Guerrero is supposed to be challenging for their position, you sense that Hughton is not entirely convinced he has the ability to lead the line on his own.
Ideally, Hughton needs a forward who is happy to stretch defences because both of his current strikers seem content to drop deep, which is exactly where defenders want them.
Signing another number nine will intensify competition and could be the difference between a comfortable finish to the end of the season or a nervy one.
After Derby County won at the weekend to go level on points with Forest in the table, the Reds cannot continue to keep heaping pressure on their back four to keep clean sheets in the hope one of the forwards will nick a goal.
■■Miles off it
Chris Hughton made 10 changes to the side which lost to Middlesbrough last Wednesday as he gave those who have been on the fringes of the first team the chance to stake a serious claim for the shirt.
Forest’s manager would have hoped that incentive would have triggered a positive response. Instead he was rewarded with a firsthalf performance devoid of intensity and spark.
After some strong words at halftime, Forest marginally improved but the gulf in quality was considerable, which must be a concern.
Even though Swansea made plenty of changes themselves, they would have been pleasantly surprised at the ease with which they were allowed to cut through the lines.
Only Anthony Knockaert came out of the game with any real credit and his frustrations quickly became apparent when he attempted to lead a press in the first half, but nobody else followed.
You can excuse a lack of quality but never a lack of wanting to do the hard yards.
Should any player involved in this FA Cup defeat complain about not being involved next week against Barnsley, Hughton will not even have to open his mouth.
He just needs to show them this result.
■■Penalty pain
Having got back into the game at 2-1, Forest were enjoying a decent spell in which they began to bare their teeth after a first-half performance which fell well short of the standard required.
But for all the of the promise, the hopes of a fightback were killed off by a nonsensical decision from referee Kevin Friend to award a penalty after Ryan Manning tumbled on the edge of the box.
Replays showed there was no contact, yet Friend seemed to take a few seconds before making his decision, which suggests he did not have a clear view of it.
If he had, then he would have seen that nobody touched Manning when he fell. If Hughton could see it from the dugout – and he made his grievances known straight away – then Friend has no excuse.
Defender Joe Worrall led the protests but, with no VAR to back him up, he was never going to persuade the referee to reverse the decision.
Matt Grimes eventually scored the spot kick and, from that point, Forest never recovered.
When he looks back at it, the least Friend can do is hold his hands up and admit he got it hopelessly wrong, given it was such a big moment in the game.
■■Knockaert must start
Out of all the attacking players on show, the on-loan Fulham winger was the only one to carry any kind of threat, particularly in the first half.
As others laboured, Knockaert was bright, full of running and continually tried to find chinks in Swansea’s armour, which was a credit to his attitude.
He eventually scored the goal his performance deserved, which must be now giving Hughton plenty to think about for the team he picks against Barnsley next weekend.
If Knockaert is not staking a claim for a place in the starting 11 now, he never will be, particularly at a time when Forest are crying out for a more direct approach.
He never passed up an opportunity to eat up the yards when the opportunity presented itself, but
also worked hard without the ball.
He was the only positive in what was a chastening afternoon at the Liberty Stadium.
■■Percentages
After last week’s defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough, Hughton said Forest needed to stretch teams more instead of wanting to play the ball into feet all of the time.
In the first half, in particular, Forest passed up the opportunity of turning Swansea’s defence, epitomised perfectly in a phase of play involving Lyle Taylor.
Knockaert made a decent run and Taylor needed to stick the ball over the top for his team-mate to engage Swansea’s full-back in a foot race.
Instead, the forward played a limp attempt which immediately surrendered possession from a promising position.
Knockaert may have not won the race had Taylor planted it over the top, but it would have got Forest 20 yards further up the pitch and at least had Swansea facing their own goal.