Nottingham Forest defender Neco Williams discusses the Reds' season and the managerial changes at the City Ground
Full-back Neco Williams has addressed the challenges Nottingham Forest have faced during a far from “ideal” season.
Victory over relegation rivals Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday was a shot in the arm for the Reds’ survival hopes. They jumped above their opponents, into 16th place, in the Premier League table and moved three points clear of the relegation zone with seven games to go.
Success in the capital came after Forest had qualified for the quarter-finals of the Europa League by seeing off FC Midtjylland in the week. They will return to action after the international break with the first leg of their last-eight tie away to Porto on April 9.
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The demands of competing on two fronts have stretched Vitor Pereira’s squad. And with the Portuguese having been appointed as the club’s fourth head coach of the campaign in February, there has been a lot for the Reds to get used to.
"Every manager or coach has their different ways," Williams told the BBC. "I guess this is just part and parcel of football where the manager goes, you've got to be ready for the next one and you've got to take on his ideas and his style of work straight away.
"You know, to have four different managers with four different styles and ways of working - you've just got to adapt quickly and get used to it. There's no time to sulk. You've just got to get on and you've got to get on board with his ideas straight away.
"If you're talking from a team perspective, we're in a position where we don't want to be in. After last season we're in a position now that none of us wanted to be in.
“We're obviously balancing the Premier League, the Europa League and we obviously had the cups earlier in the season, so it was a lot more games, but that was the reward we got for what we did last season. It hasn't been ideal and we do want to be higher up.
“Last season we were playing one game a week. Now we are playing Wednesday, Saturday, Thursday, Sunday. So where last season you have a game, then you recover, you train and then build back up to play again, now you play, you recover and then you play again, so you don't have time in between to recover properly or work on tactics and analysis on the training ground. And then at the same time, you're playing obviously a hell of a lot more games than what we're used to."
For Williams, the international break means attention has now switched to trying to secure a place at this summer’s World Cup. Wales take on Bosnia and Herzegovina in a play-off semi-final on Thursday, then could face Italy or Northern Ireland in the final next week.
The defender will go into the crucial games for his country in good form. He has been one of the Reds’ most consistent players this term.
"I'd say it's probably been one of my best and consistent seasons I've had as a player,” Williams added. "I think I've missed one Premier League game from my own doing when I obviously got sent off (against Crystal Palace).
"I've always found it a bit difficult to get that consistency and I think as a professional you need that consistency, especially when you're playing in the Premier League. There's no point having a good game every four or five, so I've really worked hard on trying to find that consistency.
“I feel, especially this season and last season as well, I found that. I'm not having a really good game, then a really bad game, then a really good game."