Nottinghamshire

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

All season, we are inviting you to send in your questions about Nottingham Forest as part of the BBC's Ask Me Anything service, using this form.

One of the questions this week was about the plans for Forest's stadium so we put it to our reporter Nick Mashiter.

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis wants to increase the City Ground capacity to 50,000.

That will have to wait for now but Forest are pushing ahead with plans to expand their home.

The proposals will see the existing Peter Taylor Stand demolished and replaced with a 10,000-seater stand, increasing the City Ground's overall capacity to around 42,000.

Full planning permission was granted by Rushcliffe Borough Council's planning committee in June, with some conditions.

These include paying just over £1m to improve local bus services, £150,000 to upgrade the A60/Cattle Market Road junction and £200,000 for cycle improvements along Lady Bay Bridge.

They must also replace Nottingham Rowing Club's Britannia boathouse, which will be demolished as part of the plans.

It ended a long wait for Forest as they had initially announced expansion plans in 2019, meaning the club had even considered leaving the City Ground

It was originally expected to cost about £94m but an estimate from earlier this year suggested this has risen to £130m while a build date is yet to be announced.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for what you learnt after Forest's 3-2 loss to Swansea and their exit from the League Cup.

Here are some of your comments:

Craig: Very poor appointment of a very poor manager who, though a trier, is totally out of his depth in a top league. Not right for Ange Postecoglou to come out and blame the players for "getting too comfortable" when team selection and subs were the root cause of throwing away a two goal lead against a mid-table Championship team.

Peter: Well, it's only two games so far for Ange, but I'm already getting the feeling his coaching ability is like having the reincarnation of Brian Clough - only in reverse. Being knocked out of one cup competition at the first attempt could be a blessing in disguise - to allow us to focus on a possible relegation battle.

Ben: An ominous start to Ange's reign. It's too early to be hitting the panic button, but certainly worrying signs. Forest played some good passages of football but lacked the clinical intent to push the game out of Swansea's reach. Some very sloppy play at times meant this team looked as un-Nuno as possible by the end.

Edward: Absolute joke. We should have won that. We needed to keep our focus but we lost it.

Bruce: Absolutely no surprise at Swansea. Sack a successful manager when the team is doing well, just before important cup and European matches. Shoot yourself in the foot and watch the new appointee blame everyone but himself. Deja vu.

Matt: I'm not a pessimistic person, and I'm most certainly not a pessimist when it comes to my beloved Forest but I'd rather not be on this 'exciting' Ange-ball rollercoaster. Especially if it's putting us back into the Championship again. It feels like a collapse at the City Ground- I hope I am wrong

Gareth Roberts
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Getty Images

After defeat at Emirates Stadium, Ange Postecoglou promised this would be the game where the first signs of his influence on the team he inherited from Nuno Espirito Santo would be visible.

He did not have time to waste, he said.

And at the very least, the Australian will have gained a greater idea of what he has at his disposal after handing first starts to talent that cost the club the best part of £120m over the summer.

He would have had every right to have been impressed with Jesus, the striker nicknamed the 'Little Frog', who jumped at the opportunity to open his account in the south Wales rain.

More importantly for Forest, Jesus' second was an example of the kind of football associated with Postecoglou's teams as a sweeping move cut the hosts open and made it easy for the striker to finish.

There were signs too of Juventus loanee Douglas Luiz's class and what the likes of Hutchinson and McAtee could provide.

But there were also signs – as if the result did not make it obvious - that the former Spurs boss has plenty of work to do.

It was Swansea who looked to have the kind of tempo 'Angeball' is meant to have, pressing hard from the front with intensity.

And although Forest could point to spurned chances from a number of players, it would be tough to say that Swansea did not earn the win.

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou speaking to Sky Sports after the Reds were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Swansea City.

"I just thought it was a game we really should have killed off long before it got to the stage that it did,

"I got the sense we were getting a bit comfortable and thought the game would finish off easily but that's not what happens, particularly in cup football. I thought we scored a good third goal.

"I think the lads got a bit comfortable in that moment and you've got to know the warning signs.

"We had to finish them off and we had plenty of opportunities to do that, and a couple of decisions didn't go our way.

"Players just thought it would naturally finish that way and we've paid a heavy price for that. We need to improve.

"They had two shots from outside the box in the first half and didn't really test us until right at the end.

"There were a lot of players out there who needed some football, but even within that context we were well in control of that game and should have seen it out.

"I was just frustrated that we didn't realise the danger that could have developed by not being more clinical and killing off the opponent when we should have."

• Nottingham Forest ended the contest with an xG (expected goals) of 2.83. For Swansea, it was just 0.72.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Get in touch with your views here

Come back to this page on Thursday to find a selection of your replies

Swansea XI: Fisher, Key, Yalcouye, Eom, Burgess, Samuels-Smith, Franco, Benson, Casey, Galbraith, Idah

Subs: Farman, Cabango, Widell, Vipotnik, Tymon, Cullen, Wales, Inoussa, Ronald

Forest XI: John, Morato, Luiz, Jesus, Hutchinson, Yates, McAtee, Bakwa, Boly, Zinchenko, Savona.

Subs: Gunn, Sangare, Hudson-Odoi, Awoniyi, Gibbs-White, Ndoye, Kalimuendo, Jair Cunha, Abbott