Nottingham Forest had to settle for a point in a 0-0 draw against 10-man West Bromwich Albion on Friday night.
The hosts saw more of the ball in the opening 45 minutes, with the Reds struggling to offer much by way of attacking threat as quality was in short supply all round.
Forest did improve after the break, and had the numerical advantage with 20 minutes to go when Jayson Molumby was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Steve Cooper’s side were unable to make the most of it, though, and came away somewhat frustrated after a third successive draw.
Here’s what the Reds head coach had to say at the final whistle.
What did you make of the game?
“It was an average game. I thought we were average for large parts of the game, particularly in the first half. I didn’t really like our performance.
“I didn’t think we played with enough intensity. I didn’t think we made enough passes. We maybe slightly lacked a bit of belief.
“It’s been three games in a week, that can be tough physically - but it’s the same for them.
“I didn’t feel under threat in the game. I know they had a couple of good moments in the first half, but I didn’t feel like we were ever getting peppered in the game.
“I just felt the game was there to play a bit better than what we did.
“I’m slightly annoyed at it, really.”
You sound disappointed with a point?
“I’m just disappointed with the performance, really. I just think we are a better team than that; we can be a better version than that.
“I don’t want to apologise for expecting the best all the time.
“The players are feeling it as well; they are not overly happy with it. They work really hard, they give their all, they are a good set of guys who are very together, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with challenging them to do better - that’s basically what we are doing.
“They take it, and I think they know.”
What was the thinking behind the four changes you made, and the change to formation?
“We matched them up a little bit, with our front three going against their front three with a press, and the wing-backs going man for man as well.
“That was just to get high up the pitch. We wanted to really put pressure on West Brom, with and without the ball - and then fall back into position when we got the ball, then try to stick to how we play.
“They were only subtle changes. I just asked the strikers to play a little bit wider. It was still two strikers, just playing slightly wider.
“We felt we could get down the sides of West Brom and play the high line.
“We wanted Phil (Zinckernagel) to go on to the three-man press, really go after their back three, and our wing-backs drop on to their wing-backs.
“We wanted to play with a bit more intensity without the ball. They were really there to be got at, in terms of their build-up play.”
You had one decent spell in the first half where you knocked the ball around. Did you need to show more of that?
“I said that to the boys at half-time - that’s what the game needed. That’s what the plan was, to play with the ball, make passes, switch play and move it around, if you do that then the spaces would arise to go and be the team we can be with our attacking threat.
“We just didn’t do it well enough.”
Were you disappointed not to score against the 10 men?
“They had a good chance at the end, which would have been hard to take.
“We should have been more creative, really.
“It is hard.
“We limited Luton to very little on Tuesday (after Jack Colback was sent off) - it was only off a set-piece where Brice (Samba) made that save.
“Once you get loads of bodies in and around the box it’s not easy to break down.
“But we know we’ve got good enough players to break them down.
“Fair play to them for defending their box, but we’ve got to do a little bit more.”
