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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Bruna Reis

Jermaine Jenas highlights crucial missing link for Nottingham Forest as Wolves defeat

City Ground old boy Jermaine Jenas highlighted the "quite simple fixes" Nottingham Forest have to make after they lost 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Forest stumbled to their seventh defeat in 10 Premier League games after Wolves captain Ruben Neves tucked away his penalty while Brennan Johnson missed his for the Reds after being denied from the spot by home keeper Jose Sa.

Not much had separated the teams heading into the game with both looking for a positive result to lift them away from the relegation zone, but Jenas claimed "a bit more composure" from Steve Cooper's men could have seen a different outcome at Molineux.

READ MORE: 'In Clough’s day' - Nottingham Forest handed worrying verdict after Wolves defeat

READ MORE: Ruben Neves mocks Forest as Wolves group chat message revealed

"I'm really concerned," the former Forest midfielder told BBC Match of the Day. "It was nice to see Steve Cooper talk the way he did after the game though - the understanding from the manager that they have a lot of work to do.

"They are toothless up front, but there are some quite simple fixes, I think. Just having a bit more composure in these areas [will help].

"A lot of this is down to players not playing with each other on a regular basis and knowing what each other likes. Simple things like [Emmanuel] Dennis making runs into the channels and Brennan Johnson not having his head up [to see him].

"He ignores him twice, so then when you get good balls forward you have a striker out on the wing and not a striker in the central area. Nobody is making runs in behind. It all became negative, and the ball was going backwards a lot and they were losing it.

"When Jesse Lingard comes on, he started making a few runs forward, but even then the link-ups and the partnerships were just not quite there."

Asked about Reds head coach Cooper, Jenas added: "He has got a lot of work to do, but I really rate him and I am glad they have given him a contract. But bottom three, with all the stats steering at something negative, it needs to improve."

How did you rate Forest's performance? Let us know in the comment section...

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