Nottingham

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.”

Wolves are open to selling striker Jorgen Strand Larsen this month, amid interest from Nottingham Forest.

The Premier League’s bottom side recognise allowing the 25-year-old to leave may be best for all parties, if the right deal could be found.

That would include a switch to the City Ground, despite Forest being one of the teams also fighting against the drop from the Premier League.

Forest – missing last season’s 20-goal top scorer Chris Wood – are one of several clubs to have looked at Strand Larsen as an option.

Wood, who has been out with a knee injury since October, had surgery just before Christmas, with a comeback date yet to be determined.

West Ham‘s interest in Strand Larsen has cooled after being asked for £40m, and they have bought Valentin Castellanos and Pablo Felipe instead. Newcastle‘s priorities are now elsewhere after they failed with a £55m bid in the summer and signed Nick Woltemade.

Sean Dyche’s Forest are seven points clear of the relegation zone – and 15 above Wolves – after Tuesday’s 2-1 win at West Ham.

Arnaud Kalimuendo, Forest’s £26m summer signing from Rennes, joined Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt on loan with an option to buy on Wednesday, leaving Igor Jesus and Taiwo Awoniyi as the club’s only strikers.

Strand Larsen has been targeted by unhappy Wolves fans this season, having scored just one Premier League goal.

It is part of the reason why Wolves are willing to allow the Norway international to leave, even though he only made his initial loan move from Celta Vigo permanent last July for £23m.

Yet, Strand Larsen is well-respected behind the scenes, where he is seen as a leader. He earned internal credit for the professional way he handled Newcastle‘s interest and bids.

He was rewarded with a five-year contract in September after a promising debut season, scoring 14 goals and helping Wolves finish 16th.

Wolves‘ likely relegation is a factor in Strand Larsen’s future – they only secured their first Premier League win of the season last Saturday, at the 20th attempt, as they beat West Ham 3-0.

Strand Larsen would not be expected to remain at Molineux in the Championship and selling him in January would generate a higher fee than the summer.

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 striker Chris Wood is set for a further spell on the sidelines after undergoing surgery.

The New Zealand striker has been out since mid-October with a knee problem and is yet to feature under Sean Dyche since he replaced Ange Postecogolou as manager.

The 34-year-old excelled at the City Ground last term, scoring 20 times in 40 appearances as they qualified for Europe.

His playing time has been more limited this campaign, with Wood having managed two goals in nine appearances.

Wood did not specify the nature of his surgery, but he has been seen wearing a knee brace while watching recent Forest matches.

“The Christmas I didn’t expect, you can never know what football throws at you,” Wood wrote on Instagram.

“From the highs of last season to now the battles and the lows personally of this season. You have to be ready for anything.

“Truly gutting and frustrating that I’ll be on the sideline for another period of time. It’s what’s needed to come back stronger and better to help my team-mates do the job needed in the Premier League and in Europe.”

Wood’s last appearance came in Postecoglou’s final game in charge, the 3-0 defeat by Chelsea on 18 October.

Born in the Viewpark area of North Lanarkshire, Robertson played for Drumchapel Amateurs and Scotland at youth level before joining Forest in May 1970, making his debut later that year.

Having been on the transfer list before Clough’s arrival in 1975, he became a key player under the iconic manager, appearing in 243 consecutive games between December 1976 and December 1980.

Robertson scored the winner from the penalty spot in the 1978 League Cup final replay win over Liverpool.

He was sold to Derby in 1983 for a constested transfer fee, a move which soured the relationship between Clough and his former assistant, Peter Taylor.

An early injury hampered Robertson’s progress at County and, despite rejoining Forest in 1985, he never again captured the same form and moved on to non-league Corby Town, Stamford and then Grantham Town.

At Forest, he also won the First and Second Division titles, the Uefa Super Cup, two Football League Cups, the 1978 FA Charity Shield and the Anglo-Scottish Cup.

And in 2015, Robertson topped a poll by the Nottingham Post of favourite all-time Forest players.

As O’Neill’s assistant, Robertson helped Wycombe win promotion from the Football Conference and Third Division, and promotion to the top tier with Leicester, as well as the League Cup.

An even more successful spell with Celtic followed.

In Glasgow, they won the Scottish Premier League three times, the Scottish Cup three times, the League Cup once and reached the Uefa Cup final.

Then, in Robertson’s final season as a coach in 2010, Villa finished runners-up in the League Cup final.

Robertson had played for Scotland at schoolboy and youth level before joining Forest as a teenager in 1970. He had failed to make an impact until Clough’s appointment, but the great manager saw something he could nurture.

In his autobiography Clough wrote: “Rarely could there have been a more unlikely looking professional athlete… scruffy, unfit, uninterested waste of time… but something told me he was worth persevering with and he became one of the finest deliverers of a football I have ever seen.”

He also wrote: “If one day, I felt a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn in comparison. But give him a ball and a yard of grass, and he was an artist, the Picasso of our game.”

Clough was idolised by Robertson, who said: “I knew he liked me but I loved him. I wouldn’t have had a career without him.”

Robertson played in 243 consecutive games between December 1976 and December 1980, and despite the big-name buys such as England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Francis, Britain’s first £1m footballer, he was the player who made Forest tick.

For all the talent elsewhere, Robertson was Forest’s fulcrum.

In Forest’s first season back in the top flight under Clough in 1977-78, Robertson not only played a vital role in winning the title, but also scored the winner from the penalty spot against Liverpool in their League Cup final replay at Old Trafford.

It was not just Clough who recognised Robertson’s significance, with former team-mate Martin O’Neill saying: “He was the most influential player in Europe for maybe three-and-a-half to four years.”

And Forest’s captain under Clough, John McGovern, stated: “He was like Ryan Giggs but with two good feet.”

All this despite Robertson’s own admission that he had no pace and could not tackle.

Clough, however, was not bothered about what Robertson could not do, preferring to give him licence to concentrate on what he could do. It was the perfect footballing marriage of manager and player. Two maverick characters working in harmony.

In a famous interview before the 1980 European Cup final against Hamburg, who had England captain Kevin Keegan in their side, Clough was asked about the prospect of their great Germany right-back Manfred Kaltz keeping Robertson quiet.

“We’ve got a little fat guy who will turn him inside out,” said Clough. “A very talented, highly skilled, unbelievable outside-left.”

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

Guardiola is known as a strict coach when it comes to player fitness levels and in 2016 exiled some of his squad from first-team training until they met certain weight targets.

Former City full-back Gael Clichy said Guardiola had told his players to avoid pizza, some juice and certain “heavy food”.

Guardiola previously apologised to Kalvin Phillips after saying the City midfielder was “overweight” on his return from the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

City are two points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, who beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday, and face Forest before an away fixture at Sunderland on New Year’s Day.

Guardiola said he had no problem with his squad’s fitness or running, but they simply “have to play better”.

“The players asked me to have tomorrow’s [Sunday’s] training session off and I said no, because they didn’t play well enough,” Guardiola said.

“So Sunday recovery, train the guys that didn’t play, and after three days off they have two days to prepare for Nottingham Forest.”

Guardiola added that it was important for his players to spend time with their families over the Christmas period.

“I’ve learned from England, since I arrived, as much days [where you can] have a day off, you give them,” he added.

“The schedule is so tight and the players have to forget. The moment of the game they will be fresh in the legs.”