Nottingham Forest cannot keep passing up chances like this. They cannot keep watching their rivals falter, then slip up themselves, and hope everything will turn out all right in the end.
They cannot gift opponents goals as generously as they did for Diego Gomez and Danny Welbeck in this gloomy defeat to Brighton and they cannot keep just giving it to Morgan Gibbs-White and hope he smashes in 25-yard screamers.
A win on the south coast would have sent Vitor Pereira’s side five points clear of West Ham but, for the third game in a row, Forest failed to put any real daylight between them and their rivals after the Hammers dropped points the day before.
Instead they produced a fragile, limp performance that will only have supporters fearing the worst once more.
Nottingham Forest wasted another chance to move clear of West Ham in the relegation battle
CREAKING FOUNDATIONS
One foundation Forest thought could carry the weight of their survival hopes was the strength and stability of their first-choice backline. They might be struggling for goals but at least they keep it tight at the back. Yet on the south coast even that let them down.
For Brighton’s opener, Neco Williams twice fluffed attempts at a clearance before Matz Sels, returning after missing the last five games through injury, somehow failed to keep out Diego Gomez’s low shot across him from the far side of the penalty area.
Danny Welbeck’s second, meanwhile, was Sunday league stuff. Kaoru Mitoma knocked in the floatiest of crosses that still landed on the head of an unmarked Jack Hinshelwood. He found Welbeck who finished while neither Murillo nor Ibrahim Sangare made an attempt to stop him.
Brighton could have had more had it not been for Sels. He made a stunning point-blank save from Mitoma after they played through Forest’s midfield with ease, he kept out Hinshelwood’s header after three red shirts failed to stop Jan Paul van Hecke’s cross and then dived low to keep out Pascal Gross’s second-half free-kick.
Pereira switched to a back three for the second half which saw a slight improvement in their threat – and their defence – as Gibbs-White had a header saved before substitute Taiwo Awoniyi put one of his own, a great chance, wide.
Forest’s back line was creaky – Danny Welbeck’s goal was gifted via Sunday league defending
PEREIRA’S CONUNDRUM
Forest’s settled first XI can be good enough, on their day, to win enough games to stay up or to overcome Europa League knock-out opponents over two legs. But that same set of players cannot, surely, do both.
Pereira has found out quickly that the back-up players are not up to scratch. He admitted he ‘took a risk’ by fielding a second-string side for the second leg of their Europa League tie with Fenerbahce in midweek, one they only just sneaked through on aggregate after defeat. He made seven changes to switch back to the same outfielders who started against Liverpool, where they were excellent but succumbed to a late goal as jaded legs began to fade.
‘To press in the way we want to press today, we need energy,’ said Pereira, who said he will use different systems in coming weeks to help manage his players’ fatigue. ‘Today, in the first half, we tried to press like we had a full tank of energy. We have players that played today that if I didn’t change in last game, imagine today!’
Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner, is desperate to lift a European trophy this year so Pereira cannot afford to take such risks again. A win here could have allowed him to rest his stars in the league and focus on Europe. Not any more. Not when Manchester City, in-form Fulham and a huge six-pointer against relegation rivals Tottenham are to come around a two-legged last-16 tie against Midtjylland.
At some point, there may be a decision to make: Premier League survival or a shot at European glory?
‘It’s difficult to have this balance but we will try (to do both),’ said Pereira.
Evangelos Marinakis (right) wants success on two fronts but another defeat makes those ambitions increasingly difficult for Vitor Pereira to balance
EVERGREEN WELBECK LIFTS CLOUD
The last time Brighton played here in front of their own supporters, the players were booed off the pitch in defeat to rivals and Fabian Hurzeler faced chants from some sections of a frustrated fan base that he was ‘getting sacked in the morning’.
He wasn’t, of course, and his side have now secured back-to-back league wins for the first time since November. At the heart of both was veteran striker Danny Welbeck who, aged 35, has now reached 10 goals in back-to-back Premier League campaigns. Last season was the first time he had ever done it.
‘It’s no coincidence when you see him working, he seems to be in his best shape ever. It is so impressive,’ said Hurzeler. ‘It’s his effort, it’s how he behaves as a professional and how he’s there for the team on and off the pitch.’