Moult puts himself No.1
ALEX NEIL gave Louis Moult clear instructions to start being more selfish – and it paid instant dividends.
The Preston boss (below) feels his striker can be too much of a team player and that costs him when it comes to goals.
There is no doubt the former Stoke City trainee has goals in his locker after hitting 38 in 84 games for Motherwell.
He’s not been able to get near that kind of ratio since coming back south of the border and Neil gave him directions to get himself into the box more and do what he’s paid to do.
Moult followed the orders to the letter and popped up with the decisive strike which gave Forest’s promotion aspirations a reality check.
He slid in two yards out to force Lukas Nmecha’s cross over the line to maintain Neil’s perfect record as a manager at the City Ground.
And he feels his third win in three visits was all down to his chat with Moult, saying: “I told him that he needs to be more selfish and think about himself.
“He’s such a team player, coming short to link play and helping out his mates, but I wanted him to stay away from the ball more and get in the area.
“That’s where I need him to be and where he needs to be to score more goals.
“It worked and I am really pleased with him and delighted for him and the team.
“They are the best games to win when you work so hard all together and get over the line.”
It was the perfect antidote to Preston’s first defeat in 10 games against Birmingham last weekend
And they did an excellent collective job to silence Aitor Karanka’s Premier League hopefuls.
It turned into a painful reality check for Forest who will look back with regret at a dominant first half in which they wasted a host of chances.
Karanka said: “We should have been two or three goals ahead at half-time, maybe more.
“We have to learn from this. If we want to win games, we cannot waste chances like that.
“We have to be clinical. I have told the players this.”
Tendayi Darikwa started the rot firing wide after neat play from Joao Carvalho and Joe Lolley and it continued throughout.
Lewis Grabban’s trickery set up a wonderful cross along the six-yard box but no Forest player anticipated and then Matty Cash overran the ball when clean through.
Lolley volleyed wide after seeing another Cash effort blocked but the biggest culprit was substitute Daryl Murphy who could not find an equaliser with a free header late on.