Nottingham Forest manager Chris Hughton has suggested that he will be assessing his options ahead of the January transfer window and make a couple of changes to his squad.
Forest picked up a much needed late win against Coventry City at the City Ground last time out, with Hughton picking up his first win at home in charge of the club and first since winning his first match at Blackburn Rovers. However, there were still plenty of signs of the frailties that have impacted their start to the campaign.
Hughton managed to bring in Anthony Knockaert before the domestic transfer deadline, but the Forest manager was hoping to also add Kamil Grosicki to his squad as well but that move failed to materialise due to paperwork not being submitted on time, per Nottinghamshire Live. The Reds are now reportedly set to face competition to reignite a move for the West Brom forward in January.
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Speaking to talkSPORT, Hughton outlined his intentions to make adjustments to his squad during the winter window. However, he also revealed that the Reds need to concentrate on picking up points and putting themselves in a stronger position to convince new players to arrive.
He said: “It’s about getting to January and assessing whether we need to make a few tweaks here and there.
“We’ve got a lot to work to do before we get there. It’s about the balance of the squad. If I can get the club to January in the best possible position that we can, but we need to pick up more wins.
“I’ve been delighted with aspects of our games and we’ve not been losing many games which is a plus, but we need to start winning more.
“It lifts the mood hugely, especially winning late on like we did, and hopefully we can take that into the next game at home against Wycombe.”
The verdict
Hughton inherited a strong squad on paper when he took over from Sabri Lamouchi, but there are areas where Forest are lacking and at the moment they are looking like a side still suffering from the frustrations of missing out on the play-offs in dramatic fashion at the end of last term.
The former Brighton manager is adept at finding the right sort of players to help his side push for promotion from the Championship. Hughton will therefore be hoping he gets the backing needed in January to add the right amount of quality to his side to get them going back in the right direction.
Grosicki is clearly a player that the Reds are keen on, but he might feel he has better options in January if Forest are still adrift of the top six. Therefore Hughton is right to suggest that they must first concentrate on improving their league standing before making any transfer moves.