Chris Wood interview: Nottingham Forest striker on feeling appreciated and best form of career
“If you go up one side of a mountain, eventually you have to come down the other side.”
Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood, 32, was just asked if he enjoyed all the positive headlines.
The New Zealand international has been in the spotlight – eight of Forest’s 15 league goals so far – but his thoughtful answers reflected his journey which has spanned 12 England caps. Clubs including Burnley, Leeds, Leicester and Newcastle.
“It’s about minimizing the risk of falling off the other side in order to bounce back and build a new mountain,” Wood told BBC Sport ahead of Saturday’s home game against Ipswich Town. In sport and football, mentality is very important and it helps if you can control that side of the game.
“You go through these mountains and waves throughout the season. It’s not just a surge. That’s what (former technical director) Dan Ashworth told me when I was at West Brom: it’s not always smooth sailing.
“There are going to be these waves and you have to ride them and hope that the negative impact is as small as possible to get as much positive impact as possible.”
Wood scored 14 league goals last season, becoming the first Forest player to win the Premier League Player of the Month award in October and is closing in on Brian Roy’s club record of 24 goals in the competition. .
He has scored 19 goals in 28 top-flight games under manager Nuno Espirito Santo and says he has found a man who both understands and values him Head coach.
“You have to find something where you are appreciated. The manager has his own style and how they want to play the game,” Wood said at the club’s training ground.
“It’s not something I can control. It just means you might not be in the right area or the manager’s cup of tea. There’s always a manager who likes the number nine, or the false nine.
“I’m not a guy who beats two or three players and sticks in the top corner, I’m a guy who relies on service. If they can’t feed me, I can’t score.”
“It’s about finding roles that suit everyone and luckily under Nuno it’s happened.
“The six or seven loans I took out when I was younger taught me a lot about being appreciated and valued. It’s not always about you as a person or a player, it’s about how you connect with a team and build on that. A lot of it comes from your ability to “control. “
