Darikwa was my man of the match. Grabban was OK.

AK won't buy a keeper in January, he's bought two, but I'd be happy with either Steele or Smith between the sticks. LB needed urgently, Robinson on four bookings. I'd also like an attacking midfielder who is not afraid to get into the six yard box; it can't be Grabban all the time.

Darikwa really has improved as a player no end, but his crossing lets him down at times. Grabban spent to much time doing the Donkey work yesterday, we need him in the box, he trickled one across their goal line and there was n one to tap it on. I thought Ben was pretty solid. The main thing with us, we can’t defend simple set plays.

Agree Ben was OK yesterday, in fact the back four wasn't too bad all things considered. Thought Nmecha would cause problems when he came on, but he was kept fairly quiet.

I still maintain he thinks like a midfielder when playing FB. Next time Benny and Darikwa are our full backs notice where they stand when we have a goal kick. Ben is 10-15 yards more advanced than Darikwa.

I wouldn't read too much into yesterdays result; every team has a game like that, I expected it to be last week.

Preston lulled the players into thinking it was easy; Neil wouldn't say that some of those inured players would be back and they couldn't play that badly again.

Pants was unsighted with players in front of him, I don't think Karanka is about to drop him anyway.

The bench mark for our season to date comes next week. I you have to lose a game and all teams will, then do it by one goal and not three!

*if*

Still confident about next week. We seem to be much more suited to playing away from home.

The Muttonheads can't be any more difficult than going to Villa, Leeds, or Middlesbrough.

I'm looking forwar to it.

Hardly anyone this season is excelling at home, I believe whoever’cracks’ the home form will be the ones who gain automatic promotion. Unfortunately the likes of Norwich and the Dirties still seem able to ground out results.Villa however are for me the ones to watch.

It’s a real surprise that a young academy graduate can out perform seasoned professionals.

I agree about top ten. Not quite at the level where they are able to switch their styles against teams that park the bus. Don’t seem to have enough forwards who naturally gravitate towards the penalty area when Forest are going forwards. Grabban wants to step out a lot but there isn’t a Hodge type player making those late runs other than Cash.

The defence look jittery on set pieces. My guess is they are aware that unless the ball is delivered straight down Pantilimon’s throat, he isn’t going to make a move to attack crosses. Defenders will feel that extra bit of pressure to make a decisive clearance. This leads to players who aren’t relaxed.

In Pantilimon’s defence, he has kept nine clean sheets which is nearly one in two games. Just seems to be that when Forest concede a goal, he looks a little startled and static.

The next month will show everybody just how good we really are. We don't have an 'easy game' until Reading at home on 12th January!

We could be midtable by then; Derby away is a bigger fixture than it normally is because of the games that follow. It's vital to get some sort of a result, otherwise a slide might well set in...

Karanka has been fairly good at ensuring one defeat doesn’t follow another. I imagine he will be quite defensive at Derby. I think the teams are as evenly matched as they have been for a number of years. It’s a hard one to call.