Nottingham Forest legend Garry Birtles has suggested that Mark Warburton should adopt a more pragmatic approach this weekend as Forest travel to take on high-flying Bristol City.

Warburton insists on his teams to play a possession based game from the back and it has yielded mixed results this season, although fans certainly enjoy watching their side playing with attacking purpose.

However, that style hasn’t been particularly effective away from the City Ground. Forest have three wins and seven defeats from their 10 away games and writing in his Nottingham Post column, Birtles thinks a more direct style early on could bring a positive result.

“What would help Forest immensely is to stop this habit of conceding early goals on the road because it’s instantly putting them on the back foot. Sometimes you have to play the percentage game and there’s nothing wrong with putting teams on the back foot, by turning them round and playing in the right areas.”

“I know Mark likes to play out from the back, but if you can feel your way into a game and make it difficult for the opposition by turning them round, then you can start to play your way.”

The Verdict

Mark Warburton will have to think about making some tactical changes as losing seven in ten away from home is just not good enough.

Of course, bringing in a few quality additions in January may help but the style of play could be altered.

Playing percentage football may be a bit extreme, however a more conservative approach is needed because as Birtles says, you can’t keep conceding early goals away from home as it’s too hard to get back in the game.

Thoughts, Forest fans? Let us know in the comments below.