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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Matt Davies

'Bizarre selection' backfired but shock Nottingham Forest defeat told us something

This season's Championship looks like going down to the wire with this week's results demonstrating just how unpredictable the league is.

On Tuesday night, West Brom scraped a draw with Barnsley, while Swansea's slide continued as they lost 3-0 at home to Brentford.

You wouldn't have put money on those scores, nor would you have expected Nottingham Forest to lose to Wigan based on results this season.

It's a tough place to go though and you might well have taken a draw before a ball was kicked.

I must admit, I found Forest's team selection for that game to be pretty bizarre. Sabri Lamouchi has made changes before and it has worked, but this time it backfired.

Seeing Lewis Grabban was on the bench must have been a real boost to Wigan when the teams were announced, with Lamouchi making five changes.

I understand making changes with three games in a week, but for me it was the wrong time when you have just had two weeks off after an international break.

This not a case of pinning the defeat on Grabban's replacement, Rafa Mir.

He tried hard, if anything he tried too hard. That's understandable because he's getting his big chance to shine and he was desperate to succeed, but he didn't take it.

Rafa Mir is tackled by Matthew Clarke (Getty Images)

Forest don't make an abundance of chances, and after the game I saw only Millwall, Cardiff and Birmingham have had less possession in games this season.

That's a concern because getting results playing that way over a 46 game season is tough. There are exceptions of course, with Leicester winning the Premier League springing to mind, but that bucked the trend.

The good thing is there's always a chance to bounce back and hopefully Forest do that against Hull tonight.

Wigan was a chance missed, but this is a winnable game on paper.

Consistency is key to challenging for promotion and Forest had that with a 10-game unbeaten run, so getting back on track quickly is essential. Bad results happen, the challenge is making sure they do not happen too often.

Garry Birtles was in conversation with Matt Davies.

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