Midfielder Remo Freuler admitted Nottingham Forest paid the price for a “weak” second half against Arsenal.
But he says the Reds are determined to ensure Sunday’s 5-0 thumping at the Emirates Stadium doesn’t undo the positive steps made in recent weeks. And that starts with bouncing back in two crucial league games at the City Ground.
Following the 4-0 rout at Leicester City at the start of the month, Forest had tightened up at the back. They had gone from shipping 18 goals in five games to conceding two in four, with one of those being a penalty. Steve Cooper’s side had also been buoyed by a memorable 1-0 victory over Liverpool little more than seven days before their trip to the capital.
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A disastrous second half in which the Gunners scored three times in the space of eight minutes, however, blew the visitors away. With the World Cup break on the horizon, Freuler says the Reds cannot allow the manner of that defeat to affect them ahead of hosting Brentford this weekend, with a meeting against Crystal Palace to come the following Saturday and a Carabao Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur sandwiched between.
Asked if it represented a setback, he told ForestTV: “I hope not. It’s a tough loss, but we now have a week before three home games. We will prepare for those games.
“We are trying to work hard. Last week was better, but this was not our best game. I cannot say the word, but it was really bad. We conceded easy goals, and we have to work hard to make it better next week.
“It was not our best game. We were weak in the second half and conceded two or three easy goals. If you play like that against Arsenal, it looks like that.
“If you play against these teams, you have to be 100 percent focused for the whole game - for the full 90 minutes, not just for 15 or 20 minutes. We saw again, in this game, that if you are not 100 percent, you can lose like that.”
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