Martin O’Neill says Nottingham Forest did head to Rotherham with attacking intent.
The Reds boss revealed that he did include Daryl Murphy in the starting XI partly because of his ability to help defend against Rotherham’s threat from set pieces.
But O’Neill says he also wanted to play with two up front, amid a formation he felt was very attack minded, with Joe Lolley playing in the hole behind Murphy and Lewis Grabban, and with the two full backs both given instructions to push on and provide attacking width.
Forest were ultimately undone by their failure to hold out under the barrage of throw ins and corners that Rotherham lumped into the box, as they conceded goals in each half from set pieces.
But Forest were also denied by the post twice, while Millers keeper Marek Rodak produced fine saves to deny Joe Lolley and Lewis Grabban – who had found the net in the first half, to make it 1-1.
“We did have attacking intent, absolutely. We had to go for these things, because we are at the stage where we have to gamble,” said O’Neill.
“I wanted us to have positive intent; to start with two centre forwards playing, amid a little system where you hoped the width would come from our full backs.
“But, at the same time, we needed to be absolutely and utterly mindful of what might happen at set pieces.
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“We have conceded in the first half, then we get back into the game and score – but then concede another one. That is really disappointing from our view point.”
Murphy had a role to play at both ends of the pitch, with the big Irishman on hand to make three headed clearances when Will Vaulks hurled the ball into the box from throw ins.
Forest knew this would be something they would have to deal with and O’Neill confirmed this was one of the reasons why Murphy – who scored a vital goal against Swansea in the Reds’ previous outing - was included from the off.
“That was part of the thinking, very much so. I knew the game would be a stop-start affair – and he can help to defend those set pieces,” said O’Neill. “We do have some smaller players in the team and they might be overwhelmed, physically.
“So that was part of the thinking.
“But we also wanted to take some risks as well. Last weekend, when Grabban played on his own, I did not think that we created enough.
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“Swansea had a lot of the play and, this time here, I felt that – if this game was going to be a stop-start affair and about set pieces – then we might need a little bit of strength.
“I think if we had got into the lead, things might have got more frantic for the opposition, and we did have opportunities to do that.
“And even at 1-1, I thought ‘we can take this game now’.”
