Nottingham Forest were held to a goalless draw by Austrian side Sturm Graz in the UEFA Europa League, extending their run under new manager Sean Dyche to two draws, one win and one defeat.
The result leaves Forest 23rd in the Europa League standings with five points after four matches. , Dyche’s side will need a win in their next outing against Malmö to avoid slipping toward the automatic elimination places.
After the match, Dyche reflected on a performance he described as both dominant and frustrating:
“I think particularly first half, dominant not just with the ball, but dominating the chances created and the quality of chances. Other than the penalty, which is obviously a great chance, but the chances we had from set-pieces, some of those final moments where we just didn’t capitalise. So more frustrated in the sense of not scoring a goal because the first half was a very dominant performance with the ball, but also creating good chances. There were some really good performances. You come away frustrated overall because I thought we were the strongest side overall. And if we take those chances, the game often opens up and you fancy yourselves to go and score again.”
Dyche also highlighted the need for fitness and sharpness across his squad:
“Players need minutes. They need minutes, they need to get fit and match fit. Credit to Sturm Graz, they had to work hard as well. They stuck at it and the crowd stood behind them. So I’m not discounting their part in the game at all.”
And he admitted his side are still building momentum under his leadership:
“We’re frustrated we didn’t win the game. We dominated the first half, but we’ve got to score some of those chances, which we didn’t do. We ran out of steam a little bit in the second half, which we expected because we’re a bit threadbare and some of the players haven’t played a lot of football. We’ve got to keep working on that and the fitness level. It was just the cutting edge that we didn’t have to win the game. We have a threadbare squad that has put in a shift and delivered a performance that has at least got us a point.”
Forest’s next Europa League fixture against Malmö could prove decisive in shaping their European campaign, with four group-stage matches still remaining.