Nuno Espirito Santo Prioritises Team Mistakes Over Premier League Position After Defeat

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After Nottingham Forest's 2-0 defeat to Brentford, Nuno Espirito Santo is concentrating on his team's errors rather than their position in the Premier League table. Goals from Kevin Schade and Yoane Wissa secured the win for Thomas Frank's side, leaving Forest in sixth place. The top five teams will qualify for next season's Champions League.

Nuno admitted his team was outperformed by Brentford but remains hopeful they can recover from this setback. "It's a bad night and a bad game," he told Sky Sports. "I'm not really worried about the table, I'm more worried about the mistakes we are making and how to correct them."

Despite acknowledging Brentford's strong performance, Nuno believes his team should have defended better. He stated, "Credit to Brentford but [their goals were] situations we should solve normally with better defending." He emphasised the need for improvement, saying, "We have to compete much better to achieve what we want."

The recent loss adds to a challenging period for Forest, who also suffered a 2-0 defeat against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium. This marks their third loss in four Premier League matches, a stark contrast to their previous form where they lost only three of 16 games.

Forest now faces back-to-back home defeats without scoring in the league for the first time since December 2023 under Steve Cooper. Anthony Elanga urged his teammates to move past their Wembley loss and focus on reversing their losing streak quickly.

"We've been really solid in defence this year," Elanga told BBC Match of the Day. "We need to regroup for Monday." He stressed the importance of focusing on each game individually, starting with their match against Palace.

Optimism Despite Setbacks

Nuno remains optimistic about his team's potential despite recent setbacks. He noted that there are still four games left in the season and plenty of football yet to be played. "We have to focus on ourselves and play better football," he said.

According to Opta's supercomputer, Forest still has a 58.7% chance of finishing in the top five, but pressure mounts as they strive for Champions League qualification. The team must improve its performance if it hopes to secure a spot among Europe's elite clubs next season.