Martin O’Neill saw his Nottingham Forest side’s play-off hopes dealt a blow before the international break.
But with the Reds still sat just three points off the play-offs, he remains positive about their chances. He believes that mental strength will decide who wins the race between now and the end of the season.
That was the message from the Reds boss when he spoke to the Nottingham Post ahead of his side’s Championship contest against Swansea City tomorrow.
The Reds only have eight games left to get themselves into the top six. There’s no doubt that tomorrow’s game against the Swans looks like a ‘must-win’ fixture.
With tough away fixtures against Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday on the horizon, picking up three points tomorrow looks to be vitally important.
Speaking to the Nottingham Post, O’Neill said: “Now let’s go for it. Do not die wondering. Let’s be strong – let’s be as strong as we can be physically. You cannot change that overnight, but you can certainly change the mentality.
“That is the most important thing, from this point on – having a strong mentality and players believing that they can win games.”
Consistency
The Reds have struggled with consistency all season. They have still only won back-to-back games in the Championship once, back in September. It makes it difficult to see them picking up enough wins to gatecrash the top six.
But there’s still time, and O’Neill believes his side do have the quality to do it.
He said: “Do we have that mentality? That is the $64,000 question, isn’t it? I think that we should have it. I think we have talent in the team.
“You can win a couple of games and think that you have cracked it. You lose a couple of games and start to question everything – that is the nature of the business.
“But we are in the position we are in and we accept that – and now we have to really go for it.”
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