Nuno Espirito Santo, Nottingham Forest’s head coach, has stated that the 5-0 defeat at Bournemouth should serve as a “warning” to his team.
The Reds’ nine-match unbeaten run came to an end in the second half, as they performed poorly on the South Coast. They are still third in the Premier League table, but Nuno has highlighted that the past two games have taught them valuable lessons.
Forest were left hanging on against Southampton last weekend despite leading 3-0 at halftime. They survived a fightback from the Saints to win all three points, but they have now gone 135 minutes without scoring a goal and allowing seven.
“Of course, it’s difficult to take. I believe it surprised everyone, particularly the way we started the game. It was horrible. It was horrible. “It was a bad day from start to finish,” Nuno stated after the final whistle at Vitality Stadium.
“It’s recognizing how we do things; how we’ve been playing football up until now. Our strengths are obvious: we are a squad that needs to be tight together, compact, and leave no room for our opponents to drive and take action.
“The moment we lose that aspect of the game, it becomes much more difficult for us.” Much, much harder.
“Not only today. The second half against Southampton was a warning. We have a 7-0 lead after 135 minutes, that is the fact. We must examine our actions today in order to avoid repeating them.
“It must serve as a warning to everyone, including the coaching staff, players, and supporters. Realising how we do things, and we must never abandon those components of the game.”
Forest went into the break trailing the Cherries by one goal following Justin Kluivert’s early score. Nikola Milenkovic had a chance to tie it 1-1 after the break, but his header was saved. Dango Ouattara scored three goals, while Antoine Semenyo added one.
