Nottingham Forest produced another flat performance as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against Birmingham City in the Championship.
The Reds had a good opportunity to build on last weekend’s win over Wigan in this match. However, this always looked unlikely as soon as Jota gave Birmingham the lead after just 13 minutes.
Che Adams was able to double the home side’s advantage in stoppage time from the penalty spot. This came after Yohan Benalouane was shown a straight red card for handball on the line.
In short, it was another dismal away display from the Reds. It simply wasn’t good enough for a side that was expected to compete for automatic promotion this season.
Birmingham have only lost twice at St Andrew’s all season under the management of Garry Monk. However, it wasn’t just the result that will be a concern to Forest supporters. It was the manner of the defeat which will be a bitter pill to swallow.
(Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
O’Neill leaves himself open to criticism
Unsurprisingly, Martin O’Neill’s starting line-up caused uproar once again when it was announced an hour before kick-off.
Both João Carvalho and Lewis Grabban had to settle for a place on the bench for the third consecutive game. The likes of Claudio Yacob and new signing Léo Bonatini also couldn’t find a way into the starting line-up.
Together with the fact that Ben Watson and Daryl Murphy were included in the team, O’Neill was leaving himself open to criticism if the result went against his side.
In this case, it never looked as if the Reds would come away from St Andrew’s with a positive result. It’s another missed opportunity. Had they come away with all three points, they would be just two points off the play-offs.
Is Forest’s season now officially over?
Following the conclusion of today’s match, Seat Pitch rounded up exactly what Reds supporters had to say about the performance.
Who’d have thought it… Carvalho and Grabban come on and we have more attacking threat in 5 minutes than the previous 70! 🙄 #NFFC
— Jordan Thelen (@JordanThelen) February 2, 2019
Feel like we’ve taken a step backwards not forwards. Don’t know how you can leave Grabban and Carvalho on the bench 🤦🏼♀️ I feel like all my optimism has gone out the window 😂 #NFFC
— Lucy (@Lucy_Hamson) February 2, 2019
Don’t understand these negative tweets about Murphy, I’m listening on the radio and I’m sure he’s not playing #nffc
— Little Boi (@LittleBoi9) February 2, 2019
3 games in under O’Neil and I’ve got absolutely no confidence in him. That performance doesn’t happen under Karanka. #NFFC
— liamnffc (@LiamNFFC1) February 2, 2019
We are struggling to create, we need a player like Jota who specialises at playing behind the striker linking the midfield and attack, oh hang on……… #nffc
— NFFC Fans Voice (@nffcfansvoice) February 2, 2019
People think most moan for the sake of it. Maybe it’s because there was a real feel-good factor around the club, and another deluded owner has ripped the soul out of us and killed our season. Lost interest #NFFC
— Aaron Whiley (@AaronWhiley) February 2, 2019
Our owners have sold us a lie, and every forest fan including myself is a mug for buying into it. #nffc
— Joel Stockdale (@joelnffc6) February 2, 2019
In the last 173 minutes of football, we’ve not had a single shot on target from inside the penalty area. It’s almost like we need a creative number 10 and a natural goalscorer starting #NFFC
— Raul Naylor (@notttmfails) February 2, 2019