Nottingham Forest have to cope with higher expectations, says Dougie Freedman

Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman believes the Reds will have to find a way of coping with higher expectations after their recent up-turn in results.

Freedman’s men take on Huddersfield Town at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon on the back of a 13-game unbeaten run in the Championship, which has seen them move up to tenth and eight points from the play-offs.

“We get confidence from our preparation, which has been shown in the last three months,” said Freedman. “It is a fantastic achievement to be where we are, but we want to keep the run going and we will prepare just as well for Huddersfield at home, as we did for Middlesbrough away.

“We feel that the level of expectation is going to rise, but we have to develop a way to cope with that; to deliver what is expected.

“We will be expected to get three points from this game and what I will say is that I do have a lot of respect for Huddersfield and what they are trying to achieve.”

“You need to keep on developing; keep learning from your failures. We have done that. Now the test is over whether we can deliver what we are expected to deliver.

“Huddersfield are a good side, their league position does not reflect how they can play. They have a new manager and a new philosophy. I believe they are on the right path.

“But we have to focus on what we do. We need to make sure that we do what we do best and let Huddersfield worry about this.

“We have to stick to our same mentality. I think we can play better, our passing game at the City Ground can certainly be better than it has been in the last four or five games. We can open teams up.

“We need to work on that this week.

He added: “Since I have been here, there has been a transformation, within a good, spirited group of players who want to play for each other.

“I am very proud of that, but now we need to go the next step forward and deliver what is expected from us.”