Hughton accepts reasons for rough ride from the fans
BOSS Chris Hughton says he accepts the criticism which came his way from a vocal City Ground crowd as Nottingham Forest fell to a third straight Championship defeat.
The Reds were beaten 2-1 by Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday, in a repeat of their scorelines against Coventry City and Bournemouth, as a poor start to the season continued.
Fans made their feelings clear as boos rang out at the break and at full-time, while some chanted “you don’t know what you’re doing” in Hughton’s direction, as well as singing the name of former manager Sabri Lamouchi.
Hughton says that comes with the territory after a dismal run of League results.
“I can understand that. It comes with it. It’s a brilliant crowd here and a very vocal crowd. They’re a very passionate crowd,” he said.
“When things are going well and they are behind you, it’s the best thing.
“But when things are not going well, it’s a passionate crowd and you have to accept that.
“You have to accept the difficult times and the rough with the smooth.
“All we can do is endeavour to get better results for this crowd.
“It was a huge crowd tonight and we desperately want to do well for them.
“At the minute, it’s been tough, especially with results. But we have to dig deep and look forward to the next one.”
He added: “Is it nice? No, it’s not nice. Do I take it personally, no, I don’t.
“It’s a crowd wanting their team to do well. If their team is not doing well and they feel they should be doing better or I should be doing better, it’s a crowd that voices their opinion.
“It’s a passionate crowd. I’ve learnt that you have to take the rough with the smooth.
“If there’s criticism, you have to accept it and look to improve, try to get the best results you can.”
Philip Zinckernagel drew the Reds level after Daniel Ayala opened the scoring immediately after the break.
But Darragh Lenihan headed in the winner late on, with a red card for Jordan Gabriel, following a second booking, rubbing salt in Forest’s wounds.
“It’s particularly disappointing after the last results and having worked so hard to get back in the game,” said Hughton.
“We’re a squad which has had a fair amount of disruption and losing Jordi (Osei-tutu) so early in the game as well. We’ve had a fair amount of disruption within the group itself.
“We spoke about them being very good on set-plays. We didn’t want to put ourselves in a position where we were giving them free kicks and giving them a leg up. Free kicks are a strength of theirs.
“At the moment, we are conceding too many goals. That being the case, we’re finding it difficult to win matches.”