This defeat wasn’t down to bad luck or poor finishing, we simply lost out to a hungry Posh team showing all the work-rate, team-work commitment that is sadly lacking from our own players. Our statuesque midfield had no answer to the movement and pace of their midfield. In the end, we were lucky to escape with only a single goal defeat as they failed to make the most of a number of promising breaks.

During the early stages, we showed moments of promise down the right with McCleary especially prominent. One effort from the edge of the area needed a decent save and then McGugan’s effort saw a similar result. Things then disintegrated into the usual sub-standard performance. We left Boyd free just inside our area and he found the top corner with a curling effort that Camp had no chance with. Their goal lost all momentum within the side and half-time couldn’t come quickly enough.

The second half was a little better but generally more of the same ineffective stuff. McCleary was unlucky to narrowly miss one pull back and Blackstock had one cleared off the line. McCleary’s direct run and perfect chipped pass set McGugan free but his finish was poor. In reality, they created the better chances on the break and could easily have extended their lead without Camp's interventions.

MOTM McCleary was one of the few to come out of the game with any credit. He at least looked to take on his defender and try to make things happen for the team. The midfield looked very slow in comparison to our opponents, the forwards aren’t capable of creating chances for themselves and it’s only ever a matter of time before we concede.

Tags: Games Lost, MOTM Gareth McCleary

Having seen their manager sacked, this was a chance for a reaction from the players and put on a determined performance with some fight. Unfortunately, it was business as usual with a thoroughly uninspiring display against a very poor Coventry side. The lack of fight and organisation was shocking at times and in the end the home side took the points simply because they wanted it more. We’ve gone so far backwards in 11 games, it’s some achievement. Well done to all concerned...

We started the same quite brightly with some neat moves down the right hand side but never genuinely looked like scoring. We should maybe have had a penalty when Miller was challenged when about to shoot but nothing given. The game then found it’s natural level between two struggling, out of form sides and dragged along until half time came along.

Coventry improved marginally in the second half, forced a few set pieces but it was still a surprise when they scored. The manner of the goal would come as no surprise to anyone who’s seen us this season. Camp punched instead of catching a corner, the next cross required a brilliant save to keep out but thirty seconds later a right wing cross and unchallenged header saw us behind.

Only in the latter stages did we create anything worthwhile but still couldn’t trouble their stand-in keeper despite a slight improvement from the likes of Majewski and Findley. Findley mis-directed a free, near post header and later on, took advantage of a defensive mistake, cut inside onto his right foot but leant back and put it aimlessly over the bar.

MOTM McGugan and Miller occasionally looked lively and at least tried, Majewski at least looks like a footballer and should be starting, Moussi put himself about and Tudgay worked hard but never in dangerous areas. Derbyshire and Greening continue to struggle and really haven't settled into the club so far.

The front three of Miller, Derbyshire and Tudgay swapped around again and again but simply didn’t work. Having Miller stood on the right wing was a complete waste of time, he has to played centrally to cause the opposition enough problems. As the game went on, he looked increasingly frustrated and being unable to get involved. The other two (like McGoldrick) rarely look like getting into enough goal-scoring positions which makes Findley the only realistic partner for Miller. I wouldn’t write off Derbyshire and Tudgay though until they’ve at least played a number of games at centre forward.

In order to protect the full backs and prevent crosses, we have to go back to playing with a 442 formation. Whilst he might not be the most productive of wingers, Anderson at least provided great defensive cover down the right hand side, which has been sorely missed this season. Unfortunately, the legacy of McClaren’s time in charge has left us with an unbalanced squad, full of central midfielders and badly lacking in pace, especially wingers. Until new players can be brought in then the only option is to use players out of position but that can’t be any worse than the current system.

At least Cotterill was there to witness this mess first hand and can surely be in no doubt what a mess he's taking over. It's time to go back to basics, do whatever is necessary to make us hard to beat and rely on some Miller magic and set pieces to pick up points. It's been some time since the players showed any pride and any improvement has to start with them.

Tags: Games Lost, MOTM Lewis McGugan

It was all going so well for an hour or so. Birmingham were on a poor run away from home, looked very poor up front and generally lacking in ideas. We created few chances but managed to get ourselves in front from a well worked corner, McGugan’s cross flicked on by Derbyshire and Miller couldn’t miss. Everything looked set for the first home win of the season until the second half substitutions. We replaced our best attacking options in MOTM Majewski and Miller with Greening and Findley and lost all momentum going forward. They, put two players up front and suddenly started to put pressure on our feeble defence. As soon as we conceded the first goal, the end result was all too predictable.

We gave the ball away in midfield, Moussi didn’t close down their player, who beat Camp, disappointingly, from distance. Shortly after we found ourselves behind, McGugan tried a fancy back-heel in their half, they raced past Hill down the right wing and from the pull back, the mis-hit shot bobbled into the bottom corner. It wasn’t a surprise when they rounded it off with a third but the manner of the goal said a lot about our players this season. An aimless through ball was mis-controlled by Chambers to allow their player to run clear and score, that was bad enough but to simply stand there and watch without running back, was unforgivable.

The decision for McClaren to leave wasn’t a surprise, you could tell that Radio Nottingham knew it was coming as they kept broadcasting well past their scheduled time. It just simply wasn’t working out for him in this league. The solid defence and backbone of the side in the past couple of seasons had disappeared and we’ve rarely been a high-scoring side that would have compensated for this. His signings have been uninspiring, with only Miller showing signs of genuine quality for this league.

Boateng was reasonable back-up when experience was needed within the squad and only really started games whilst Moussi gained fitness. If the re-signing of Moussi was ever a possibility then we should have exhausted that avenue before considering another option in that position. The signing of Greening has been the biggest disappointment where he seems nothing like the dynamic play-maker from a couple of years ago and seems to be playing well-within his true capabilities. This is in addition to the negative impact it's had on the likes of McGugan, who's often found himself left out of the side. The lack of quality and pace in wide areas has cost us badly even without the injuries to Anderson and McCleary and should have been resolved before the start of the season. Having identified a real talent in Verhoek to address this failing, for some reason we didn’t follow up with other alternatives and the problem never went away.

We've been woefully ill-prepared for this season, to the extent that McClaren never managed to decide on his best starting XI. Having filled the squad with a number of central midfielders, adding to McGugan, Cohen and Majewski already at the club, he could never possibly squeeze them all into a sensible line-up and performances suffered as a result. Reid hasn't looked like contributing to the side since his arrival, his lack of pace being exaggerated via the absence of a natural pacey left back and midfield colleagues equally as immobile. Having found what looked like a balanced line-up and decent performance against Wycombe, we then reverted back to type for the next league game and normal service was resumed. The early stages of this season were treated as an extension of pre-season in the vain hope that we would be able to suddenly find form. In reality, we've become increasingly desparate with the trademark switching of personnel and formations that tend to indicate a change of manager is on the horizon. We're lucky to have gained as many points as we have so far.

However, for all of McClaren's faults, there is simply no excuse for the level of performance we've seen from some of the established players at the club this season. The likes of Camp, Gunter and Chambers have performed well below the standards they have set for themselves previously at the club.

Camp used to be such an influential figure at the back, always vocal and making a number of impressive saves during games. This season he's very rarely made anything but routine saves and has regularly been beaten with efforts we would have expected him to save. Gunter has been at fault a number of times this season, either failing to prevent crosses from wide areas or getting beaten in the air by a more determined opponent. The composed defending and pacey runs from deep seem a thing of the past and found himself deservedly dropped. With the one paced midfield we've been left with, it was essential that we could rely on pace from full back but he's been sadly lacking.

Finally, the selection of Chambers as captain has been a disaster since the start of the season. Every week there's been yet another amateurish mistake as yet another simple pass slips under his foot and gives the opposition an unexpected chance on goal. We've got away with a few but it's almost a weekly occurrence now. The sight of him giving away the 3rd goal on Sunday and not even bothering to run back was about as low as it could get. Having gone from player of the season last time, he's barely worthy of selection in the reserves on current form. Lynch having looked much more competent in his rare chances at centre back.

The only players to emerge from this period with any credit are Lynch for a number of decent performances on the few times he's been selected. Both at centre and left back, he's been better than the alternatives we've seen. As long as he can stay fit, he could find himself having a important role this season. In a disjointed and muddled midfield, Majewski has looked lively throughout and generally the most likely to create something for the team. Having been largely overlooked last season, he's become one of the important players so far.

Tags: Games Lost, MOTM Raddi Majewski

Just when you think this season can’t possibly get any worse, we find ourselves in the bottom three having lost a game that should have resulted in a comfortable win. Even worse, it had to be to that lot from down the A52.

The only players to emerge with any credit were MOTM Moussi for adding a more dynamic edge to the midfield and bothering to leave the safety of the half-way line. Miller had a decent first half, won everything in the air without getting too much help from anyone else. Lynch looked committed at left back and was unlucky not to score. The rest were generally a shambles, especially the defence who looked fragile every time the visitors got within 30 yards of our goal. They were average but worked hard and we could have no complaints over the result.

In reality, it should have been an even heavier defeat as they conspired to miss a free header at the far post with the defence nowhere. At the other end, we created very little throughout, apart from one excellent lofted through ball from McGugan, straight to Lynch, who forced a decent save. There was also one decent goal-line hand-ball shout that looked worthy of another penalty but the referee had already given one and wasn’t in a hurry to dismiss anymore of their players.

Despite all of McClaren’s complaints about lack of signings, there is no way that his squad should have lost to an average side having a one man and even a goal advantage. He’s had plenty of time to build a capable squad and yet we still lack a proper left back and genuine pace. His signings and tactics have been poor, turning a once solid defence into a number of nervous individuals, creating a one-paced midfield that finds itself unable to make any impact on games, whilst struggling to create chances in the final third. We’ve barely threatened the opposition keepers in most games this season and must rank lowly on the number of efforts on goal stats for this season.

The team overall seem to have lost that togetherness that was built up under the previous manager and was the key element of the side. We very rarely hammered teams but built up a reputation for conceding few goals whilst being clinical at the other end. At the moment, we seem to have neither.

Compared to last season, we are a poor imitation of the side that reached successive play-offs semi-finals. The loss of form from the likes of Camp, Gunter, Chambers, Cohen, McGugan has been key to our problems this season. The chest thumping, fist pumping Camp has been replaced by a timid, nervous wreck who is starting to make Paul Smith look worthy of a starting place. He’s started conceding goals that previously he would have saved without even thinking twice. Gunter used to be the reliable 7/10 member of the squad who could be relied upon despite the team performance and would contribute at both ends of the pitch. Chambers had a outstanding last season and was deservedly player of the season. This season has seen a succession of unforced errors and he’s looked very nervous, especially when in possession. We need to get back to defenders actually defending and not thinking they are some ball-playing Beckenbauers at the back. Maybe it’s time to remove the captaincy from him and allow him to get back to defending.

In Cohen’s case, the lack of form is completely understandable due to the indecision of the manager in terms of where to play him. McGugan has struggled to make any impact this season and has had been left as substitute in recent appearances. We saw the best of McGugan last season under Davies strict supervision and that progress seems to be in danger of being wasted. At times, he carried us single-handedly with his goals and creativity. McClaren has preferred to use 2 from Boateng, Greening and Moussi this season in centre midfield which has restricted McGugan to a left wing role and competing with another new signing, Andy Reid. Davies got McGugan playing on the left hand side of a diamond which at least got him involved in games. However, with McClaren preferring more width, he’s been stuck out on the touchline and we’ve not seen the same player since.

It’s not all McClaren’s fault though. The inconsistent messages from the club are based around short term reactive rather than proactive thinking. We were supposed to be targeting hungry, young players from the lower leagues whose value could only increase and then we recruit the likes of Boateng, Greening and Reid. We never complete our squad building in the summer and spend August and September as extra pre-season taking scraps from other teams. This season was the one where we’d see an impact from the academy but, apart from a brief Freeman appearance in the cup, we’re still waiting. Billy Davies was supposed to be the best young manager outside of the Premier League and then is sacked a few months later. This change was supposedly needed in the name of progression but the good work of the last two years is quickly being unravelled and it feels like we’re close to the depressing times under the final stages of the Calderwood era.

Tags: Games Lost, MOTM Guy Moussi

Defeats on our travels have been a regular occurrence for as long as I can remember but it was the manner of the loss that causes concerns for the season ahead. Against a well-organised and resolute Millwall side, we barely managed a meaningful attempt on goal and found ourselves thoroughly beaten. We generally start seasons slowly but there’s still no excuse for this type of performance.

It’s frustrating having been a regular top six side and now regressed to having no real efforts on goal in two league games whilst the new manager works out his best team. McGoldrick starts the season as number one striker up front on his own and then doesn’t even make the bench for the next two games.

In their opening league home game, Millwall started very well and caused us a number of problems. It was no surprise when they took the lead from a neat near-post flick from a corner and then generally looked in control under they caught us on the break in the closing stages to wrap up the three points. In between, Forest had decent spells of possession but failed to present any real problems. The closest we came to scoring was a good overlap from Cohen and his pullback was met by Findley but his effort hit the post and bounced to safety.

In contrast to some of the more memorable performances in the past couple of years, our problems lie in the midfield. Previously we’ve been at our most dangerous winning possession on the half-way line and then charging forward in numbers on the counter attack. In contrast, on Saturday, we were so slow to build an attack, Millwall had plenty of time to get players behind the ball and prevent us from causing any real problems. Apart from the full backs, we looked static and played at walking pace with the home side happy for us to have the ball in midfield and simply crowd out our forwards.

There just isn’t enough movement from the likes of Reid, Greening, Boateng and McGugan. We lack the drive that the likes of Cohen and Moussi have provided in recent years, someone to either make runs past the front two or make quick incisive passing to feet whilst running off the ball. Instead we had Boateng and Greening playing a stream of safe sideways passes at walking pace and McGugan wandering about without any recognisable position and failing to get into the game in any shape.

To his credit, Reid did at least try to get us moving forwards, always made himself available and looked to make things happen whenever possible. On too many occasions there were no options for him and an impossible pass failed to reach it’s target or he was crowded out. Overall, it just looks like the wrong mixture of players for us to be effective. We could have changed things around, bringing Lynch on for Boateng and moving Cohen to left back but instead we stuck to a formula that clearly wasn’t working.

We did change things around for a while in the second half and we did improve slightly with Greening providing more width down the right hand side. However, the old failings of a static midfield and reliance on the full backs to provide width were still evident.

In contrast, Millwall’s players knew exactly what their roles were and didn’t mess around unnecessarily with the ball – every pass was played with a purpose. They broke forward effectively with movement and pace and caused us problems throughout.

With so little service, it’s not surprising that the likes of Garner, Findley and then Tudgay are left to fight for hopeful balls instead of thriving on genuine service. Despite the additions of Derbyshire and hopefully Miller, the doubts over quality service will remain a concern.

Things wouldn’t be so bad if the defence looked solid, however, we gave the ball away badly in dangerous areas and were looking to escape a number of nervy moments, generally of our own making. Camp seemed to play within himself and lacked any of the usual passion and leadership that have been a trademark since he arrived at the club. There didn’t even seem to be an acknowledgement of the fans which seemed weird for one of the “fans favourites”. Cohen looked reasonable going forward, showing plenty of energy but doubts remain over his defensive qualities. MOTM Gunter was probably the best of a bad bunch on the basis of making fewer errors than anyone else.

Tags: Games Lost, MOTM Chris Gunter