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This week Nottingham Forest readied themselves for the Champions League, Evangelos Marinakis relinquishing his controlling interest in the club to comply with Uefa’s ownership rules. His other club, Greek champions Olympiakos, have qualified for the grandest stage in the club game but Forest’s bid to return to Europe’s premier competition will likely go to the wire. Will Forest look back on this defeat at home to Brentford as a costly misstep when their season ends here against Chelsea?
Forest, who face Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham before that potential final-day showdown with Chelsea, never really got going on a disappointing evening. Goals from Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa, a January target for Forest, condemned the hosts to successive league home defeats for the first time since the end of last season and Nuno Espírito Santo’s side have now lost four of their past five matches in all competitions, including last weekend’s FA Cup semi-final. At full-time Anthony Elanga and Neco Williams crouched, winded by defeat, and Nuno’s challenge is to lift a dejected group of players. The stakes are a reminder of how far they have come.
For Brentford, it was almost the perfect away performance, an efficient and businesslike display. Thomas Frank’s side are two points off eighth, which could be enough for European football next season. If anything was symptomatic of Forest’s disjointed display it was the sight of the substitute Ramon Sosa taking the ball off Chris Wood’s head in the final minute of the 90.
How would Forest respond to defeat at Wembley? “You grieve, and then you react,” Nuno had said but this game only served more pain to swallow, Schade and Wissa seizing on uncharacteristic defensive lapses by the fit-again Ola Aina and Nikola Milenkovic respectively in each half. The return of Aina after a month out meant Forest were, in theory at least, fully-powered. Schade’s goal approaching first-half stoppage time sent this stadium, one of the best in the league when at maximum volume, into near-silence. Nuno, hands on hips, stared into the distance as every outfield Brentford player ambled over towards the corner flag to mob Schade.
The goals were very un-Forest, both stemming from Forest not dealing with direct balls downfield, one from a centre-back, the other from a goalkeeper. Nuno acknowledged there is a need to revert to type. “We have to go back and find our best version,” he said. “Our basic play is compact, solid, we don’t give away chances. A clean sheet has been a main and basic pillar [for us this season] and today it was the other way around. It was too easy. I’m concerned about: how can we compete against Palace? How can we be ourselves again?”
For the first goal Nathan Collins pinged a diagonal pass 60 yards upfield and Schade slithered between Aina and Milenkovic to latch on to the ball. Schade tried to take the pass down with the outside of his right boot and he was fortunate that his mis-control worked to his advantage, the ball’s path tricking Aina, who slipped at the crucial moment. It got messier, too, the ball bobbling off the torso of the Brentford forward before he prodded in. A hush descended on the City Ground and Aina ended up laying supine as Schade went sliding across the turf in celebration.
Forest flattered to deceive. Aina had Keane Lewis-Potter walking a tightrope after he was booked for an early barge on Elanga and it was no surprise to see Rico Henry replace the Brentford full-back at the interval. Forest were forced into a half-time change, with the unusually ineffective Callum Hudson-Odoi departing with a hamstring problem. Brentford made a fast start, Schade heading at goal inside two minutes and Christian Nørgaard and Sepp van den Berg also went close.
Forest’s season has been built on a sturdy defence, Milenkovic and Murillo one of the best centre-back partnerships in the division, but here they were not quite so assured. There was an anxiety to Forest’s play, underlined by poor decision-making and a white noise in the stands, a constant chatter and uneasiness.
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Forest dialled up the pressure. Elanga cut inside Michael Kayode and then Van den Berg before forcing Mark Flekken into a fine save low down to his left and then Aina scooped a cross towards Wood. Forest finally thought they were getting somewhere and then Brentford doubled their lead.
Milenkovic misjudged the bounce from Flekken’s booming kick downfield and Wissa raced on to the ball before keeping his cool to dink the ball over Matz Sels. A look of disbelief covered Murillo’s face, Aina shook his head. “Forest, give us a song,” the Brentford fans sang gleefully, the home support unusually lost for words. It promises to be a nervy few weeks.
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