Mark Warburton criticised Nottingham Forest's first half performance in the 2-1 defeat to Bristol City yesterday.

The Robins were leading 2-0 at the break with Forest barely threatening and although it was a different story in the second half, the Reds had given themselves too much to do.

And, speaking to the Nottingham Post, Warburton hit out at the first half showing from his side. “We have paid for a sloppy first half. In the first half hour we weathered the storm, which you sometimes have to do away from home. But then we conceded a soft goal and it was a soft goal to give away.”

“Then in the second half we produced a seven-and-a-half out of 10 performance and we dominated. We looked by far the better team, but we cannot wait until half-time to do that. We cannot.”

The defeat leaves Forest 11th and they are seven points away from the play-offs. Perhaps more worryingly, it was their twelfth loss of the season, with only Burton and Birmingham losing more games this season.

The Verdict

This game perfectly encapsulated Forest’s season as they were so inconsistent. The first half was full of individual errors and they conceded cheap goals.

After the break it was much improved but they missed chances to equalise and can’t really have complaints about the result after the first 45 minutes.

Warburton’s comments are completely accurate and fair, however he has to look at himself as well. The number of the defeats they’ve had isn’t acceptable, so he maybe needs to be more pragmatic at times to grind out results.

Thoughts, Forest fans? Let us know in the comments below.