By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@Reutersphoto.
Sean Dyche furiously called out on Nottingham Forest player’s display ‘unacceptable’ after they crashed out of the FA Cup against Wrexham on penalties.
Forest were faced with an embarrassing scoreline at half time after Wrexham duo Liberato Cacace and Oliver Rathbone netted two quickfire goals to hand the Welsh side a comfortable 2-0 lead at the break.
After making a few adjustments at half time, Dyche watched his team fight back and reduce the deficit through Igor Jesus in the 64th minute, only to see Dominic Hyam restore Wrexham’s advantage with a goal 10 minutes later.
Substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi came to the rescue for Forest with two late goals to force extra time, but Wrexham still managed to pull off a sensational giant-killing at the Racecourse Ground by winning 4-3 on penalties.
“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 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.”
Friday’s defeat comes just a few days after Forest secured a dramatic late 2-1 win over West Ham in the Premier League, earning all three points thanks to an 89th-minute penalty from Morgan Gibbs-White.