Five conclusions as Nottingham Forest lose at Reading

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Nottingham Forest are deep in the relegation mire and face a real fight to cling onto their Championship status after a 2-0 reverse at Reading.

Goals from Lucas Joao – once a Forest target – and Michael Morrison saw the Reds slip to their fourth defeat in five games and the ninth of the season.

Chris Hughton is facing his biggest challenge in football management as he bids to steer Forest clear of another relegation to the third tier.

As the dust settles on yesterday’s game we looked at five conclusions from the Madejski Stadium contest.

Samba needs to shape up

Although Forest’s goalkeeper has made some crucial saves this season, yesterday his lazy approach cost the Reds the opening goal.

The Congolese stopper should have made a routine claim from a Reading free-kick but instead he lost possession and that led to Ryan Yates handling on the line.

When Samba’s calm approach comes off it looks great but since the second half of last season, the 26-year-old has looked way off it.

The former Caen ace is a decent character to have in the dressing room but Forest desperately need him to become a quality goalkeeper once more.

Will the real Joe Lolley please stand up

The demise of the Forest winger is sad.

During the 2018/19 campaign, Lolley was unplayable and even last season he produced the goods on plenty of occasions.

He’s just not got going this season though and it’s hard to watch him struggle to find his confidence.

Berating him constantly on social media seems like a trendy thing to do and that won’t really help matters.

The challenge for Hughton is to get Lolley firing on all cylinders and back to the player who has bailed Forest out so frequently in the past.

Cafu and Sow pivot on Wednesday?

After such an abject display it’s difficult to find too many positives.

Samba Sow did provide one from the bench though and it was also the Malian who fronted up the press after the contest.

Keeping him fit perhaps needs to be paramount as the campaign progresses.

Alongside him on Wednesday night, perhaps Forest should allow Cafu to continue.

Ryan Yates will be suspended for the trip to Norwich and with Harry Arter badly out of form, trying a different pairing looks wise.

Forest have to start scoring

The Reds have managed just nine goals in 16 games this season and once again they fluffed their lines against Reading.

Lyle Taylor for all his effort and determination simply has to start sticking the ball in the net on a more frequent basis.

He missed a gilt-edged chance to put Forest into the lead early doors at the Madejski Stadium, summing up the goalscoring frustrations at the moment.

It’s now five games without a goal for Hughton’s team and with Norwich and Brentford up next, it’s difficult to see where the next goal comes from.

Leaders lacking

It’s time for the current crop of Forest players to start walking the walk to go with their weekly dose of encouraging words.

It’s so easy to stand there and say ‘we’re hurting, we must do better’ but the long-suffering supporters – and Hughton for that matter – need to see some evidence.

So far this season, the Reds have displayed very little determination to roll up the sleeves and make an opposition team work hard for three points.

With Michael Dawson sat on the bench for the last two games, perhaps it’s time to bring him into the action if Scott McKenna doesn’t recover from his injury.

When Forest go a goal behind there is nothing. No fight, no spirit and yesterday it looked like a group of players who simply didn’t care a great deal about putting in a shift.

Supporters don’t demand a team that wins every single game but work rate and a willingness to play for the shirt should be a mandatory requirement.

There is a real mentality concern at the City Ground and that has to change.