It was a result that Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall branded as "embarassing" and it's clear after their defeat to Wolves that Philippe Montanier has a lot of work to do in this Forest side.

The Reds slipped to a timid 2-0 home defeat against struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers, who have hardly set the world alight themselves this season.

But it was the manner of defeat that would have frustrated Forest players and fans alike, with the Reds offering very little in attack throughout the game in a showing that might begin to worry some supporters.

Things are getting tight down at the bottom of the table and Forest now sit in 17th place, just six points away from the relegation zone.

With the busy Christmas spell in full flow, Montanier will be wanting to turn things around very quickly when things get back underway in just over a week's time.

But FLW writer Hayden Atkins thinks Forest could be set for a season of struggle.

So with that in mind, here's 3 reasons why Forest could struggle as the season progresses...

Crisis of confidence

We saw Forest's lack of confidence when the final whistle blew this weekend - their players collapsed to the floor and looked like the ground wanted to swallow them up.

Supporters are growing weary with the poor performances and the pressure is beginning to build on Philippe Montanier, who was a controversial appointment in the first place.

They need a big January transfer window with some decent players coming through the doors or they might struggle right until the end of May.

Injuries

Injuries are very much one of the reasons why Forest are struggling to pick up results right now and it was clear that Montanier's team selection against Wolves reflected that.

Chris Cohen, Britt Assombalonga, Henri Lansbury, Damien Perquis, Thomas Lam, Armand Traore and Nicklas Bendtner were all notable absentees against Wolves but if you tot up the entirety on the injury list, you're looking at around 10 players missing.

It's a huge chunk for any manager to be missing and these are all big players who would probably start games for Forest.

Having them all missing, some for substantial amounts of time, could be another reason why they struggle.

"Out-fought, out-headed and out-battled"

We touched on Joe Worrall's comments earlier but the young defender was frank in his assessment of his colleagues after the game against Wolves.

He said his team were "out-fought, out-headed and out-battled" and he was absolutely right.

He added that the players didn't "relish" the chance to chuck on the famous red shirt as much as he should.

In this division you've got no chance of winning games if you can't fight, even when you've less quality than opponents.

Nottingham Forest fans - is this fair? Will you struggle this year? Let us know in the comments below...