Nottingham Forest's finishing problems return in 0-2 defeat at Brentford

It started to go wrong for Nottingham Forest in familiar fashion. They reached decent areas often enough at Brentford, but a Nikola Milenković own goal in the 30th minute and Igor Thiago's strike in the 76th sent them to a 2-0 defeat anyway. Forest finished with 12 shots and only two on target, which is the real story of another frustrating afternoon for Oliver Glasner.

The first turning point at the Gtech

Brentford vs Nottingham Forest never sounded like a polished game, and Brentford's opener summed that up. The breakthrough went down as Milenković's own goal, which is how the major reports treated it, after a messy sequence that left the home side ahead without much real attacking flow.

The Standard captured the mood inside the ground through stadium announcer Peter Gilham, who said: "A goal for Brentford. I don’t know who scored. Who cares?"

That suited Brentford just fine. They were not piling on pressure and they only finished with six shots, but Forest had already given them the lead.

Forest's attack keeps wasting the moments it does create

This is where the pattern gets awkward for Forest. They were not shut out of the game. They had more shots than Brentford, and they had two golden chances to score, one in each half, but missed both.

Those misses matter more when the overall end product is this poor. Forest hit the target only twice from 12 attempts and remain on six league goals this season. A side can survive a bad attacking day here and there. Six goals by this stage points to a broader problem.

The names involved only add to the frustration. James McAtee, Ryan Yates and Liam Delap were all part of an attack that kept getting close to a chance without doing enough with it, while Brentford's first goal also came from pressure involving Dango Ouattara. Forest supporters summed up the away-end mood on Sky Sports with a chant that did not need much interpretation: "What the f******* hell was that?"

That reaction felt harsh in tone but fair in target. Forest were not passive. They were just wasteful again, and that has become their defining issue.

Brentford's cleaner edge settled it

Brentford's own performance was limited, but they did the simple part better. They made Forest pay for a mistake, then punished them late when the game was still hanging around at 1-0.

Thiago's finish in the 76th minute was set up by Jaidon Anthony off the bench, and it gave Brentford breathing room after a match that had stayed open longer than the home side would have liked. It was Thiago's second Premier League goal of the season, and even in a scrappy contest he gave Brentford something Forest lacked, a calm touch in the decisive moment.

The wider frustration for Forest is that Brentford only managed one shot on target and still scored twice. One of those was the own goal, so the stat needs context, but it still reflects how little Forest made Brentford work by comparison.

Brentford's win also ended a four-match winless run. Forest leave west London with the same old concern still unresolved: 12 shots, two on target, two big chances missed, and another 2-0 defeat.