The biggest complaint from the fans at the game was the formation and the time it took to make changes. They believed it was not one of Malky's better days.
Here are a couple of viewpoints:
Julian says:
I'm normally loath to blame the manager for defeats I'm going to make an exception in this case and put it all on Malky fair and square.
Firstly, the starting 11 had no pace to go at a very ordinary Forest team. The selection of Conway could be justified after the impact he made against Ipswich BUT even after 20 minutes it was obvious that he was offering nothing going forward and precious little defensively either, especially as all 3 goals originated on our left side. Conway doesn't ever want to cross with his left foot, a fact which must be common knowledge amongst other teams dossier compilers so why persist in playing him there?
Heider was completely isolated until his support arrived in the shape of the wholly inadequate Gestede arrived, who, I found myself thinking would get nowhere near a decent teams starting spot if he was 2 or 3 inches shorter as he offers nothing apart from physical presence. Gunnarson continued his woeful form, I'm not sure if he's good enough either whilst the positioning of Whitts, still deep lying even when we were chasing the game was also baffling.
However, the major reason I'm blaming Malky is that he DOES have options on his bench (apart from Gestede who doesn't count in my book) and whilst it was obvious to all City fans that changes needed to be made at least at 1/2 time, to keep essentially the same team and formation going until well into the 2nd half exposed his woeful lack of flexibility. Yes we did have decent chances for another 1 or 2 goals but these really only came after the various changes had been made, you can only wonder what might have happened if they had been made earlier? Sorry Malky, the defence wasn't great BUT this one is down to you.
Aidan says:
Malky cost us the game thanks to his brain numbingly stupid decision to stick to his ineffective 4-5-1 away formation which entirely predictably saw us not create a single decent chance until we were 3-0 down. As usual Helguson was marked out of the game for the first hour our 5 in midfield didn't dominate and we couldn't defend either. When we changed to 4-4-2 with Noone coming on for the ineffective Conway and the useless waste of space Gestede joining Helguson upfront we actually created enough chances to get a draw despite the fact that Gestede was total rubbish.
I watched Gestede for the 25 minutes he was on the pitch and he was awful. He never loses his markers, he never runs into space to receive a pass or be in a position to get on the end of a cross you just don't know if he is a good finisher as he never puts himself in a position to finish anything. I would not so much question Malkys judgement in extending his contract as his sanity. Has Velikjonka accidently chopped of his leg in an unfortunate incident with a chain saw?
I watched Gestede for the 25 minutes he was on the pitch and he was awful. He never loses his markers, he never runs into space to receive a pass or be in a position to get on the end of a cross you just don't know if he is a good finisher as he never puts himself in a position to finish anything. I would not so much question Malkys judgement in extending his contract as his sanity. Has Velikjonka accidently chopped of his leg in an unfortunate incident with a chain saw?
The really infuriating thing is we have a good enough squad to go away from home and win games yet Malky persists with this negative defensive formation when it obviously isn't working if he continues like this it will cost us automatic promotion.
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Cardiff are at home for the next two matches. Hopefully a couple of wins will make up for the poor opening hour at Forest.