Nottingham Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi defended himself after seeing his team lose to Wigan this afternoon.

A Jamal Lowe strike was enough for the home side to take all three points and put a dent in what has been a good run of form for the Reds. The defeat meant they stayed down in fifth instead of leaping towards the top of the table.

Manager Lamouchi made a big call before the game to change his team with eyes on the midweek fixture in just a few days and speaking to the club's official website following the game, he defended some of his selections, including leaving Lewis Grabban out.

"Maybe I was wrong with the changes, but I trust in everyone. I have a lot of confidence in all of my players and it was tactical choices, but in the game, on the pitch, we missed a lot. The result is clear but I don’t think we deserved it, a draw minimum was logical," Lamouchi said.

“When you play two games at home, you need to be fresh and we have three games in six days so we don’t have a lot of options. With Grabban, it was clear that I needed to think about all games, not just this one. I took some choices and I have this responsibility; I don’t have any problem with that.”

Forest and Lamouchi might well end up regretting the decision to make such changes given their current form and chance to go back into the automatic promotion places being passed up.

The Reds are back in action on Wednesday as they host Hull City at the City Ground. Lamouchi will be hoping to see his team take all three points as he bids to keep fans off his back for making such big calls this weekend.

The Verdict

It's easy to see what Lamouchi is saying, but on the other hand, some of the best teams in the Championship in the last few seasons have kept a consistent line-up.

You only have to look at Sheffield United last season and then Wolves a few seasons back to see that.

It's always a bit mind-blowing when managers talk about resting players, especially given there are 3 days between the games.