Michael Keane expects a positive reaction against Nottingham Forest

Michael Keane expects a positive reaction from the team against Nottingham Forest to brush aside their recent stutter in form. The Blues haven’t won since their 3-0 victory over Forest earlier this month.

Keane admits that Saturday’s goalless draw against Burnley, following defeats against Chelsea and Arsenal, feels more like a loss than a draw, given the nature of the performance. As a result, he and his teammates are hungry to put up a big performance against Sean Dyche’s side at City Ground.

"We want a reaction," Keane told evertontv. "I know we didn't lose [against Burnley] but it kind of feels that way with the performance, so hopefully we can react, prepare in these next couple of days and put in a good performance against Forest.

"The fans here are always amazing, especially when you think at this time of year as well. They follow us everywhere we go no matter what and sell out every away section. We know it'll be the same again at Forest and we want to give them something more to cheer about because I think [at Burnley] we let them down a little bit, so we want to put on a performance and send them home happy."

Analysing the draw with Burnley at Turf Moor, Keane says that the team didn’t meet their usual standards. The visitors were also without key players, including Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Iliman Ndiaye, and Jack Grealish.

"I thought we played pretty poorly – I don't think we ever really got into our rhythm from the first minute," added Keane. 

"Burnley made it difficult for us with the way they pressed but we needed to show a bit more bravery on the ball, try to pass it a bit more, try to control the game a bit better, and we never really did that. We never really had that sustained pressure where we created lots of chances, so it was tough. I think the only positive is we kept a clean sheet and got a point in the end.

"[The clean sheet] is one positive, I wouldn't say it's something to build on, because I think we've got a lot to improve on going into the Forest game. There's so much we can do better and so much we need to do better. We've been really good away from home, to be fair, so far this season and we've passed the ball a lot better than what we did [against Burnley], so that's something we need to get back to."

 

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