Nottingham Forest must ‘turn dominance into victories’ says Postecoglou as winless run continues | OneFootball

Ange Postecoglou is adamant that his Nottingham Forest side are going in the right direction despite a disappointing 1-0 loss to Sunderland.

Despite having 22 attempts, six on target, Forest were left frustrated as they failed to convert any into a goal.

Yet an intuitive free-kick proved costly, with Granit Xhaka finding Omar Alderete, whose unmarked header found the back of the net.

“It’s another game that we’ve allowed to get away from us that really we should be very comfortably overcoming,” Postecoglou admitted.

“We controlled the game pretty well, a really poor goal we conceded. It would be enough of a poor decision, I thought from the official, but it’s a really poor goal.

“Then we had plenty of time to rectify that and still created enough opportunities in the second half.

“Even in the first half, at the moment, we’re just not ruthless enough in terms of taking advantage of the dominance we have and turning that into wins rather than what’s happened in the last four or five games.”

Forest dominated possession and showed signs of their form from early last season, but they ultimately struggled to convert their chances.

Asked how he could fix it, Postecoglou replied: “I think from my perspective, that’s for me to sort of unlock because you kind of hope that the players have got the right mindset and they’ve got clear heads.

“There’s a lot that’s happened obviously in the last sort of three and a half weeks or three weeks, whatever it’s been.

“I’ve been really stressing to the lads that we can’t dwell on whatever changes we’re making. To be fair to them, I think the football shows that they’ve embraced what we’re trying to do. It’s not like I’m sitting there going, well we’re not really playing the way I want to.

“It’s just that, like I said, we’re not turning our dominance into victories and we have to win games of football. That’s why we play the way I want us to.

“From my perspective, it’s up to me now to sort of unlock that last bit so that we can start turning whatever dominance we have into wins.”

Forest can look to bounce back on Thursday night as they welcome FC Midtjylland in the Europa League, before facing a stern test away at Newcastle next weekend.