Olympiacos 3-0 Nottingham Forest: 3 takeaways as the Reds are thumped in Athens

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Nottingham Forest were thumped 3-0 by Greek giants Olympiacos last night, as Evangelos Marinakis’ two teams clashed in Athens.

The Reds were two goals behind inside the first 10 minutes, with the third goal also coming before the break.

Giorgos Masouras and a brace from Miguel Guerrero ensured a comfortable night for the hosts.

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Forest will have learnt a lot from the tough test. They face Crystal Palace at the City Ground on Friday and will hope to improve.

Following last night’s drubbing, we looked at three takeaways for Sabri Lamouchi:

Defending at set-pieces must improve

It seems like forever since Forest could defend from set-pieces, particularly at corners.

All three goals were laid on a plate to them thanks to some suspect incapabilities from dead-ball situations.

Aro Muric could have perhaps done better with two of them (more on him shortly), whilst Joe Worrall was caught napping for the second goal.

The Championship is an unforgiving league and the Reds must get to work on the training ground to iron out this Achilles heel of theirs.

Steep learning curve for Muric

The on-loan Manchester City goalkeeper will undoubtedly turn out to be a sensational player.

He has all the attributes but the key will be playing more games and learning more about in-game situations.

Some interesting footwork from the Kosovo stopper led to the corner for the first goal and a weak parry led to a tap in for the third.

Last night he looked like the stereotype for a 20-year-old; raw, tentative and with a lot to learn.

There is, of course, no need to panic but the more games that Muric plays during pre-season the better.

Defensive partnership clear

On Saturday evening Tobias Figueiredo and Alex Milosevic looked calm and composed against Atromitos.

Last night, Joe Worrall and Michael Dawson looked anything but against Olympiacos.

Of course, the standard of opposition played a part in that and Forest are unlikely to come up against a player with Miguel Guerrero’s quality in the Championship!

Based on the two performances, however, Figueiredo and Milosevic look to be the current frontrunners to start the West Brom game.

Dawson might have a part to play this season as an influence in the dressing room, whilst Worrall may have to settle for fourth choice.