Nottingham Forest suffered a miserable 2-0 defeat to Cardiff City at the City Ground, leaving boss Sabri Lamouchi with plenty to ponder.
The Reds are suffering a hangover from their spectacular capitulation at the end of last season when they dropped out of the play-offs on the final day.
Two goals from Keiffer Moore put Forest to the sword yesterday as the target man enjoyed a solid performance.
Following another defeat, we looked at five takeaways from the game at the City Ground.
Two positives
Starting with the good stuff and two Forest players highlighted what they can bring to the side with pretty decent performances.
Luke Freeman was once again in decent form and he looks like being a big player for Forest this season.
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An injury to Joe Lolley also allowed Lyle Taylor the chance to get an hour under his belt and he too looked pretty good.
The ex-Charlton man looked a menace and once he settles he should be capable of scoring goals in the Forest team.
Carl Jenkinson
Quite simply Jenkinson hasn’t played enough football to get himself into any sort of form.
He was once again badly out of sorts and Cyrus Christie who was watching on from the Peter Taylor Stand will fancy his chances of getting in Lamouchi’s team.
Jenkinson just doesn’t seem to suit with Forest’s system that is heavily reliant on the full-backs getting forwards.
With Christie’s arrival complete, the future once again seems bleak for the 28-year-old.
Grabban form a concern
It’s hard to completely question a man who just last season fired 20 goals.
Once again against Cardiff though he missed a quality to chance to equalise when it seemed easier to score.
Last weekend at QPR he also missed some good chances and with Lyle Taylor in reserve, he’ll have to find his shooting boots quickly.
Grabban is a confidence player and a good week on the training ground followed by a goal at Huddersfield would do him the world of good.
Lacking leaders
Forest seem devoid of ideas on the pitch and one man they are perhaps missing is Ben Watson.
When the chips were down the influence of the central midfielder proved massive for Forest.
The Reds seem to be massively lacking in leadership at the moment and it’s high time for someone to step up.
Is defensive shake-up imminent?
Forest look set to secure the signing of Aberdeen defender Scott McKenna this week and it’s unlikely he’ll come in and sit on the bench.
Both Joe Worrall and Tobias Figueiredo have seen their form spital recently and they’ve both shown no signs of getting over last season so far during 2020/21.
Figueiredo, in particular, has looked like a completely different player and not necessarily in a good sense.
McKenna is a left-sided 23-year-old and his arrival could prove timely for Forest.