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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Matt Davies

'A touch of Collymore' - Keinan Davis talks will already be taking place at Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest ensured Leicester City would not retain the FA Cup with a thrilling 4-1 win at the City Ground on Sunday.

We reviewed the game on the latest Garibaldi Red podcast in the company of host Matt Davies, Forest fan Mikey Clarke and broadcaster Darren Fletcher.

A part of the conversation is below, but you can listen to the full episode here, or watch it here.

How memorable will the game prove to be, especially for those who were there?

DF: "You've got to be going back a couple of decades for an atmosphere like that. The crowd have been tremendous all season.

"They've got to be pound for pound the best crowd in the country. You know 28,000 is a lot but you go to the Premier League and there's 50 or 60,000.

"They don't make that kind of noise. They got everything they deserved and it just felt big.

"I was less nervous at 0-0 than 3-1, but the occasion and what it means - it's a special club with a team developing before everyone's eyes.

"It's a day people have been waiting for. It meant a bit more because it was Leicester. It was brilliant. If you could roll it up and watch it back when you're low then we'd all be that bit happier."

MC: "The last time the ground was like that, Derby days aside, I'm scratching my head. Alan Shearer looked dumbfounded by the atmosphere at half-time.

"It was a great day from start to finish, going back to when Worrall came in. I looked at their team and felt we had a chance.

"The crowd came alive, even before the first goal. We had 10 or 15 minutes where I've not seen anything like that for years, maybe since the Paul Hart time.

"The atmosphere steamrolled round the ground and I think Leicester were taken back by that."

How good was the spell of three goals in nine minutes?

DF: "That's what you get when a team that wants to play that way. The big criticism of Hughton's Forest and sometimes Lamouchi's Forest is that they were too negative.

"They want to play on the front foot and they have players to play at pace. The football was of a really high standard.

"Ally that with the fact that is as bad a central defensive performance as I have seen from Leicester for many a year.

"Soyuncu without Fofana and Evans is a very different player. Amartey is a makeshift centre back at best. There was very little cover for them as well.

"It's a legacy of what Cooper is trying to do. They are set up now perfectly to play as counter attacking team or they can play on the front foot like this without ever changing formation.

"If you tried to work out the man of the match yesterday you could pick five or six different players and none would be unfair."

Should Forest already be working to sign Keinan Davis on a permanent deal?

DF: "There's no necessity to decide on his future now. He'll play a lot of games before the end of the season to help us work that out.

"His performance against Leicester was that of an authentic number nine. He worked the centre-back to death.

"He was instrumental in helping Forest get up the pitch. You could play it to his feet and he would hold it and lay it off.

"There aren't many players who would do that role like that now. I was speaking to Garry Birtles after the game and Garry would have done that in a similar way.

"Playing into the nine and out again got Johnson and Zinkernagel in good areas. The issue has always been goals.

"I thought a massive step down the road was his goal against Barnsley. It had a touch of Collymore about it in the way he drove forwards and finished so well.

"He's so confident now. He's strong but he's got the intelligence to link the play. I'm sure those conversations about whether they look at him next season are already taking place."

MC: "He has surprised me. When I saw him at Villa he'd been coming on for 10 or 15 minute bursts. I thought that might be the case here but I was wrong.

"He offers a lot more. He gets us up the pitch and is an upgrade on previous options. He's shown he can play wide too with his direct running.

"Against Arsenal he had his back to goal but against Barnsley he was running at them. He's a much better player than I thought."

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