Nottingham Forest return to Championship action on Wednesday night, fresh from the highs of a brilliant FA Cup victory.
Steve Cooper’s side cruised into the fifth round of the competition as they thumped Leicester City 4-1 at the City Ground on Sunday.
But focus quickly turned to a midweek trip to high-flying Blackburn Rovers, when the Reds will look to make up for their last league outing, which was a poor performance in defeat at Cardiff City.
Forest reporter Sarah Clapson answered fans’ questions and responded to comments ahead of the game in a live webchat on our Reds Facebook page.
Q: Is Joe Worrall BACK back? Do you think he’s up for three-game weeks or does he need to be managed?
A: Steve Cooper was asked about that in his pre-match press conference, and he said Worrall would have to be managed quite carefully - for now.
He wore a cast to protect his ribs on Sunday as he played the full 90 minutes, but from what I’ve heard he was still in a bit of pain afterwards.
Knowing what Worrall’s like, he’ll still put his hand up to play on Wednesday night - just as he did at the weekend.
It’s just whether the manager feels he needs to be reined in a little bit, with the game against Stoke on Saturday in mind.
If he does need a rest, Forest could go with a four at the back, with Scott McKenna and Steve Cook. Or they could stick with a three and drop Ryan Yates in there, or Tobias Figueiredo.
I do think they are better with a three, and Yates has generally done well when he’s played there.
Other than perhaps resting Worrall, though, I wouldn’t change the team from the Leicester game.
Q: Keinan Davis was superb on Sunday. Can he fill Lewis Grabban’s shoes while he’s out injured? What a performance, what an atmosphere, what a manager!
A: Davis has been really good since he’s come in, and he was brilliant against Leicester.
His goal record for Villa counted against him a bit when he signed, but he’s really impressed. His hold-up play is excellent, he’s got a great touch, he gets other players involved, he’s strong and physical, and he’s a handful for defenders.
A lot of his games for Villa came from off the bench, and he’d not really had a proper run in the team. Grabban being injured does open the door for him to have that at Forest.
The fact he’s got a couple of early goals in his Forest spell should help him. That will give him a lot of confidence.
Grabban is still a big miss, but there’s the opportunity now for Davis to play more regularly and make his mark.
Because he hadn’t seen a lot of game time before he joined, Davis does start to feel it a bit when games get to 70 minutes or so, which is why he tends to be substituted around then if he has been in the starting XI.
He’ll get there, though. It’s a case of building up his fitness, which is only going to improve the more he plays.
Sam Surridge gives Forest a different option now as well.
Agree about the performance and the atmosphere. It was as complete a display from Forest as there’s been for a long time.
They just dismantled Leicester and tore them apart. The group of pigeons on the pitch caused Forest more problems than Leicester did!
They should take a lot of confidence from that. What you don’t want to see is Forest revert to the kind of performance they put in at Cardiff when they play on Wednesday night.
Q: Blackburn is a bloomin tough game after the highs of Sunday. More than capable of getting a result, but offer me a point now, I’ll take it!
A: I would definitely take a draw at Blackburn.
Forest will approach the game looking to win, because that’s how Cooper wants them to go into every game. But Blackburn will be tough opponents.
A point would still be a decent result.
I certainly wouldn’t put it past Forest to get the win, though. They are going into games with no fear and looking to impose themselves.
The manager is very keen for them to approach every game in the same way, playing their way no matter who they are up against. That shows how much he believes in this group of players.
What I’d really like to see on Wednesday night is a good performance, building on Sunday, rather than go back to how they were at Cardiff.
Cooper has instilled in his players this week that they have to quickly forget about the FA Cup result.
He told his players that as soon as they left the City Ground on Sunday they had to stop thinking about what had happened and focus on Blackburn. That message has been drilled into them again this week.
It makes for a really big game against Rovers. You don’t want it to be a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show.
It will say a lot if Forest do manage to get a good result, especially as Blackburn are doing really well this season.
Q: Does Brice Samba make you nervous when he is distributing the ball? I hope the manager had a word after Sunday’s mistake. Keep it simple - but I suppose it is his style.
A: Generally his distribution is good, but he does still make me nervous at times.
I’m not a big fan of his winding-up tactics, although that’s just part of how he plays and it does make for good entertainment.
I just think there’s a time and a place for it, and sometimes he treads a very thin line. Personally, I’d prefer his focus just to be on playing well.
It was a horrible goal to concede on Sunday. It was careless too. He didn’t need to come that far out of his area, that’s what was really frustrating about it.
It was an error of judgement. He’ll know that, I’m sure he wouldn't have needed telling.
Sometimes he does need to keep things simple a bit more. But it’s all part of who he is and how he plays. I suspect it would be difficult to coach that out of him now. He’s an entertainer, he likes playing to the crowd.
He’s still a really good keeper, though. He’s saved Forest on many occasions.
