Nottingham Forest head coach Sabri Lamouchi admitted “maybe I was wrong” over his team selection as the Reds fell 1-0 at Wigan Athletic.
The Frenchman made five changes to his starting line-up at the DW Stadium, including leaving top scorer Lewis Grabban on the bench, with Rafa Mir preferred up front.
It was a first Championship start for the Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee and the same for John Bostock, who came into the midfield for the injured Samba Sow as Lamouchi plumped for a 4-4-2 formation.
Both Mir and Bostock were replaced 10 minutes after the break, but though the visitors looked brighter as the second half went on they could not find a way back into the game.
“Maybe I was wrong. I don’t think so, but maybe,” Lamouchi said of his starting line-up.
“I trust everyone, I have a lot of confidence in all my players.
“It was a tactical choice, but on the pitch, in the game, we missed a lot.
“The result is clear, but I don’t think we deserved this result. I think a draw, minimum, would have been logical for me. But congratulations to Wigan.
“It is clear. When you play two games at home, you need to be fresh.
“In six days we have three games, so we don’t have a lot of options.
“With Grabban, it was clear, I need to think about all the games, not only this one.
“I made some choices. I have this responsibility. I don’t have any problem with that.”
It was only a second defeat of the season for Forest and brought an end to their 10-match unbeaten run in the league on their return from the international break.
They will look to bounce back with successive home games against Hull City on Wednesday and Reading next weekend.
“We are disappointed,” added Lamouchi,
“We started the game in the right way, for the first 20 minutes or half an hour. Unfortunately, we gave them one opportunity and they scored.
“After that, it was different.
“At 1-0 down it was not easy, but we tried a lot in the second half. We took a lot of risks, but we missed a lot.
“This can happen.
“It was not the worst performance from our side, but the worst result.”
