Dyche

Sean Dyche has called for some of his Nottingham Forest players to “have a look in the mirror” after an “unacceptable” first-half performance in their FA Cup loss at Wrexham.

Forest were the first Premier League side in third-round action and the first casualty at the hands of lower league opposition.

Having made eight changes from Tuesday’s Premier League win at West Ham, Dyche watched in fury as his side trailed their Championship opponents 2-0 at the break.

They fought back to make it 3-3 and force extra-time at Stok Cae Ras, but were beaten 4-3 in the penalty shootout after Igor Jesus and Omari Hutchinson had their spot-kicks saved by home keeper Arthur Okonkwo.

“The first half was completely unacceptable,” Dyche told TNT Sports.

“I let the players know and there are certain individuals that certainly know and they have to look in the mirror.

“But the strangeness of football, some players that came on in the second half were a credit and we went on and looked like a Premier League side.

“You can’t do that in the first half, it’s completely unacceptable. It’s unacceptable to me, but I said you have to look in the mirror because that’s unacceptable to the badge as well.

“They all knock on the door and say, ‘why aren’t I playing?’. Well the evidence is quite honestly there for some, not for all.”

While Dyche praised those who came off the bench – including two-goal Callum Hudson-Odoi – for acting as a “catalyst” for their second-half comeback, he continued to berate his side’s efforts in a poor first 45 minutes.

“I could have taken all of them off [at half-time],” he added. “The tempo, the mentality to take the game on was lacking so badly in the first half.

“Slow, methodical, we have done a lot of work on that. There was basically no intent, no real desire to make a difference. Second half, the changes were terrific.

“The facts of the matter are we’ve got to make changes. They showed their hand and won’t be knocking on my door saying, ‘why aren’t I playing?’ again, that’s for sure, that first-half group.”

On the opening weekend of 2025, Forest beat Wolves 3-0 to consolidate their position in the Premier League’s top three.

That was a sixth straight win, something the club had not achieved in the top flight in a single season since 1966-67, and they sat five points ahead of Newcastle in fifth.

Now, it is four straight defeats for the first time since November-December 2023 – a run which ended with Steve Cooper losing his job at the City Ground.

Dyche is already Forest’s third manager of the season and the SOS went to him in October after Ange Postecoglou’s brief and damaging reign.

The former Everton and Burnley boss started well, but the drop-off in organisation, focus and form – especially of late – has been drastic.

At Villa they were undone by simple errors: a collective switch-off to allow Ollie Watkins to open the scoring was followed by John Victor’s ill-advised foray 40 yards from goal which allowed John McGinn to add a killer third goal.

“You can’t give basic errors away to teams like this in the Premier League,” Dyche told BBC Match of the Day.

“The mentality is there, but you can’t keep giving yourself a mountain to climb. Players were switching off to the basics. We have worked on it and shown them, but this is the job. I never expected it to be easy when I got here.”

Until Watkins struck in first-half stoppage time, Forest’s plan was working, even if it was pragmatic in the extreme. Villa had been restricted to one chance – a golden one – when goalkeeper John denied Watkins early.

But Forest fell apart. McGinn scored the first of his two goals in the 49th minute to give high-flying Villa a handy 2-0 cushion.

Although Morgan Gibbs-White’s goal made it 2-1 and briefly gave Forest hope, there was little to suggest they would mount an improbable comeback.

Gibbs-White told Sky Sports: “I feel like we stuck to the gameplan in the first half. There were lots of positives to take. I know we need points, but we showed a work ethic and desire.

“We always know Villa start with a high press. So the key was to absorb that pressure and silence the fans a bit. We were unfortunate to concede right before half-time.”

Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has told his players to “enjoy themselves” but to “use common sense” over christmas. His comments follow Pep Guardiola’s admission that Manchester City’s players will be weighed when they return to training to check their fitness has not dropped over the festive period.

READ MORE: Dyche urges ‘common sense’ and won’t weigh players