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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Matt Lee

Gary Lineker calls Nottingham Forest duo as 'absolutely brilliant' as Leicester City are humiliated

Former Leicester City star Gary Lineker has praised Brennan Johnson and Djed Spence after their performances in a 4-1 humbling of the Foxes.

The duo both provided evidence as to why they were linked with Premier League moves in the January transfer window with their goalscoring performances.

Neutrals watching from home would have thought it was Nottingham Forest who were the Premier League side rather than Lineker's former side as Steve Cooper 's team ran riot at the City Ground.

Philip Zinckernagel and Johnson scored twice inside less than 90 seconds as the hosts blitzed into a 2-0 lead.

Joe Worrall, appearing for the first time since breaking his ribs against Millwall mid-way through January, provided a third goal for Forest before Kelechi Iheanacho took advantage of Brice Samba's blunder to reduce the deficit.

Spence provided a fourth goal for the home side therefore securing a fifth round Cup tie at home to Huddersfield Town.

Posting on Twitter, Lineker said: "To be fair, Spence and Johnson have been absolutely brilliant."

Head coach Cooper would not be drawn into singling out individuals, instead sharing praise among his whole team.

“We were good for the result. I thought the performance matched it. In the first half, some of our attacking play was excellent - scoring three, hitting the bar and had chances from set-plays,” said the Welshman.

“Dare I say it, it could have been more.

“Conceding was unnecessary. But what I liked about it was, after conceding we didn’t let it bother our momentum and our rhythm. That’s a real good sign of our focus and our mentality.

“The second half was always going to be a little bit different. It wasn’t about seeing out the game, it was just always going to be a little bit deeper in the mid-block. But the guys were brilliant in our mid-block strategy.

“And we still looked a threat in the second half. Djed’s scored, Brennan ’s had a chance and Max Lowe has had a chance. The lads were brilliant."

What did you make of Forest's performance? Have your say in the comments below...

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