Rafa Mir was handed his first start by Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi this week as the Championship outfit beat League One side Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup.
Nottingham Forest just about sneaked through to the second round of the Carabao Cup but they were made to work by League One opposition at the City Ground.
Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton believes his side couldn’t have done much more to try and cause an old-fashioned upset other than score. If it wasn’t for a number of missed opportunities from his side in the second half, it could’ve been a very different story.
He believes that his side were largely comfortable throughout, with Rafa Mir cutting an isolated figure for the most part.
Making his first start for the Reds since his season-long loan move from Wolverhampton Wanderers, the 22-year-old had a big chance to stake a claim for a place in the starting line-up in the Championship.
‘We were more than comfortable’
He was largely kept quiet by Harry Souttar and Peter Clarke throughout though. He didn’t do much to suggest that he’s worthy of a place in the team ahead of Lewis Grabban. However, there’s still time for him to adapt to life with the Reds.
Speaking post-match to the press, as quoted by the Nottingham Post, Barton said: “We came here with a plan to take the crowd away from them and settle the lads into unfamiliar surroundings of a Championship ground.
“We did that superbly and limited them to set plays and corners. We were happy with Worrall and Bostock having the ball deep.
“They weren’t going to hurt us. With Mir at the top we were more than comfortable where we wanted to them to play.”
The Reds will face arch-rivals Derby County in the next round of the competition. Lamouchi will be under pressure to name a strong starting line-up despite still being in the early stages of the competition.
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