Swans v Forest | Vital Football

Swans v Forest

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
Next up is Nottingham Forest at the Liberty. Last time out they drew at home 1-1 with Preston to extend their unbeaten league run to six matches, having lost their first match at home.
Nottingham Forest head coach Sabri Lamouchi comments on the Preston match:
"After the first half it was difficult. At one down, it was lucky for us because Preston started the game in a good way and we didn't play the first half.
They won the first half, we won the second because we started to play. We changed something, we were more aggressive, we had more rhythm, and we tried until the end to win.
The positive is that we stayed in the game, we came back into the game, and we never gave up.”
The other 5 league matches:
24/8 Fulham 1 Forest 2
21/8 Charlton 1 Forest 1
17/8 Forest 3 Birmingham 0
10/8 Leeds 1 Forest 1
3/8 Forest 1 WBA 2
They sit in 10th position in the table, 7 points behind us. They seem to be very strong away from home, winning at Charlton and Fulham and drawing at Leeds, so this will be another tough test for us.
 
Forest’s new head coach Frenchman Sabri Lamouchi replaced Martin O’Neill in the first week of pre-season.
He has previously managed Ivory Coast in the World Cup 2014 with such players as Toure, Drogba, Bony and Gervinho.
He then managed French side Rennes and qualified for the Europa Cup.
He has made twelve new additions to the Forest squad recently, in a bid to end their two decade wait for Premier League football.
Sammy Ameobi winger/forward - free Bolton
Tiago Silva midfield - Feirense undisclosed
Alfa Samedo central midfield - Benfica loan
Youri Ribeiro left back - Benfica undisclosed
Aro Muric goalkeeper - Man City loan
Albert Adonai winger/forward - Aston Villa free
Rafa Mir striker - Wolves loan
Samba Sow central midfield - Dynamo Moscow undisclosed
Carl Jenkinson right back - Arsenal £2m
Bryce Samba goalkeeper - Caen undisclosed
Jose Benito defender - Levante undisclosed
John Bostock midfielder- Toulouse loan
 
Kenny Burns, ex-Forest player from the Brian Clough era at the club, comments on their chances of promotion this season:
“For me, Forest might be tenth right now in the Championship, but they look a top eight side with the potential to break into the top six. The manager has adapted quickly and his team is well organised, although I think he is still learning about the league.
They’ve done well against good teams, only playing sides who are above them in the current table, before they return to action against Swansea on Saturday. That won’t be an easy game with the Welsh side the surprise early leaders.
You wouldn’t bet against Forest getting a result though. They’ve gone to Leeds and Charlton and got draws and they earned a brilliant win at Fulham. Belief should be high when they take to the field because they’re used to playing good teams.”
 
Defender Mike van der Hoorn was among the nominees for the August Player of the Month prize, which was won by Preston’s Daniel Johnson.
 
Back to the Forest match tomorrow and hopefully SC winning the Manager of the Month award hasn’t put a hoodoo on us winning tomorrow.
Joe Rodon is a doubt after picking up a knock in the first half of Wales friendly match against Belarus on Monday.
Forest have two players out, defender Carl Jenkinson with an ankle injury and striker Rafa Mir with a leg injury.
 
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Nottingham Forest head coach Sabri Lamouchi is looking forward to the difficult challenge of taking on the league leaders Swansea City on Saturday.
The Reds head to South Wales unbeaten in seven games and are in confident mood themselves ahead of the clash at the Liberty Stadium.
Lamouchi said:
“It will be a very tough game, of course. We go to the leaders and the best team until now. They are unbeaten at home, three games and three wins so they are confident.
With their last result at Leeds, this game is really important for them mentally and to give more confidence.
They are a different team to Leeds or Fulham but they are a really strong team. They have a good balance between the offensive and defensive parts.”
The players need to take the responsibility on the pitch. When you work on the training pitch all week about the plan and the opponent, they get the maximum information. Then on the pitch, they need to decide and to take the right decisions.
I have a nice group of good players but we are not here just to enjoy it together. We need to work hard and of course to play well and we want the best performance for the best result.”
 
Cooper said:
“They’re an experienced team with lots of well known players. They know their way around the league. I’ve made the players aware of that.
They’ve only lost one game which was the first game of the season. They’ve been in every game fighting for a result. If we get it right it’s got the makings of a good game.
They scored fairly early at Fulham, I wouldn’t say they’ll be sitting off and just defensively minded.
Yes they are good defensively but I see a good football match coming up.
We’ve just got to focus on what we bring to it.
They’re in good form and it’s got the makings of a good match.”
 
Bitterly disappointing display by the Swans today. Outmuscled, outfought, outplayed by a big Forest side. We were lethargic and bereft of ideas on how to break down the Forest defence. Overhitting passes, corners and free kicks.
No change after half time as we continued in the same pattern with the same players.
The poor Celina was eventually subbed by Byers, understandably, as he continued to lose the ball in possession and wouldn’t tackle. Surridge replaced Baston. Little Routledge was subbed by little Dyer when we needed some muscle like Peterson.
We gifted them the goal when Byers needlessly tried to pass the ball back to Grimes from inside the Forest half, which Grabban intercepted, raced on goal with Grimes in pursuit, but Grimes was unwilling to foul him to bring him down and take one for the team. Grabban crossed for substitute Semedo to slot home.
Both full backs had poor games. All in all a day to forget.
 
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Poor day for us and we looked clueless going forward. No ideas and no pace in the side.

Soft goal go concede but it had been coming and Forest deserved the win.

Celina was poor and Borja had no service, also felt we needed to change things around and we didn't really do that other than like for like subs
 
Frustrating that we didn’t change tactics after being outplayed first half, as you say, like for like subs.
Even then we could have got the draw but for sloppy play so late in the game.
We were weak in midfield and on the wings.
I understand our on loan centre back 6’2” Wilmot can also play in midfield and he’s a big guy. We needed some muscle in there today and he could have been the answer, together with 6’1” Peterson instead of the diminutive Dyer on the wing.
 
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One shot on target in 94 mins at home Is not good.
Steve Cooper’s aftermatch comments:
"I don’t think we did enough to win the game that’s for sure, and that’s probably the most frustrating bit.
We have conceded. We have made a mistake and conceded an awful goal really. I am not sure we deserved to lose either, but the main focus is that we did not do enough to win the game, which was the goal today.
I think we had issues at the top end of the pitch. I think we had enough possession and good positions, but on the day we lacked a little bit of creativity, a little bit of risk-taking and a little bit of confidence to go and make a difference up there.
Ultimately it cost us because we did not create enough good chances.
We could see that as it was going on and that’s the bit you have to exploit when you have a lot of possession and you are allowed to go up the pitch.
We are more than capable of that, as we have shown, but today it didn’t happen.
The game went as we thought, we knew Forest can create chances, but we know they are happy not to have the ball and sit on the edge of their own area.
They are good away from home so we knew we would come up against good numbers in and around their box, and you have to match them with numbers and then you have to try and make a difference."
 
It will be very important how we react to our first defeat of the season.
Bristol City away next Saturday will be a big test of our resolve.
I’ll be there hoping we can bounce back.
 
Sabri summed it up perfectly:
“I think with Celina, Ayew and Borja, we defended very well. It was not easy for them, Celina played for the national team and maybe he was a little bit tired," said the Frenchman.
We were so compact, we did not give them the tim and space to play the way they like to play. They have a fantastic way of playing with a fantastic philosophy.
The manager Cooper is doing a great job, they deserved the first position. But we were more compact, more aggressive, more determined to take something."
 
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