Nottingham Forest came unstuck against Newcastle United yesterday, losing the game 3-1 on Trentside.
Forest dropped to fifth place in the Premier League table at the third international break of the season after blowing a lead against the Magpies.
The Reds did take the lead through Murillo and that goal impressed Nuno Espirito Santo.
However, a dominant second-half display saw Alexander Isak, Joelinton and Harvey Barnes all score for Newcastle.
It wasn’t to be and Forest couldn’t even pin this one on Anthony Taylor who didn’t do too much wrong throughout the game.
As domestic football takes a break once again it’s a good chance for Forest to take stock and look at how well the team has done so far.
Jamie Carragher hails three Nottingham Forest players
It’s hard to imagine that any Forest fan will be upset at being fifth in the Premier League after 11 games of the season.
The Reds are 12 points clear of the relegation zone at this stage of the campaign and that is clear progress.
December does feel like a tough run of fixtures for the Reds but as long as points keep getting picked up then a solid season can be on the cards.
Carragher pinpointed three players with whom he’d been impressed before yesterday’s game – and he’s happy for the club.
He told Sky Sports: “They’ve probably been one of the stories of the season so far. I think most people would have tipped them to be in a similar situation that they have been for the last two seasons but they’ve completely flipped.
“But, I think it’s nice, particularly at this stage of the season that they’re in a position where even supporters of their own football club didn’t really expect and they’ll just enjoy it.
“I don’t think too much goes under the radar, I think people are talking about how strong they are defensively and Nuno is doing a similar job to what he did at Wolves.
“Maybe Forest supporters are being able to dream. I don’t think anything has been missed as such. Chris Wood, they’re good defensively, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, they’ve had a lot of focus on them because they’re doing well and rightly so.”
Forest blow Premier League lead for first time since January
Not since losing 3-2 to Brentford in January have Forest lost from being 1-0 in front in the Premier League.
On that occasion, it was Danilo who found the net first for Forest and it was once again a Brazilian goalscorer who proved an unlucky omen against Newcastle.
Forest are typically strong after going in front but once again last season’s Achilles heel reared its head against Newcastle.
In truth, the Magpies were just better in the second half and Forest didn’t really know how to deal with their attacking threats.
The team can reset during the international break and hopefully come back determined to pick up more points.
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