Nottingham Forest head coach Sabri Lamouchi said it was a “tactical choice” to replace Joe Lolley in the first half of his side’s defeat to Cardiff City.
In a poor opening 45 minutes, the winger was brought off with little more than half an hour gone, when the hosts were already 1-0 down.
Lyle Taylor came on in his place, joining Lewis Grabban up top as Lamouchi tweaked his system.
Kieffer Moore scored again for the Bluebirds before the break, however. And while there was an improvement after the interval from the Reds, they were beaten for the third time this season in all competitions.
Lolley had suffered from shin splints at the end of last term, but Lamouchi said he was not substituted because of an injury.
“It was just a tactical choice,” said the Frenchman.
“I didn’t want to wait until the break. At 2-0, it was enough just to send a message.
“But probably we need to do more.
“We need to be more solid, and for that, this week we will check what players are available and what we can do.”
Across last season and this campaign, Forest have now gone eight league games without a victory.
Just as they did at QPR in their opening Championship fixture, the Reds only sparked into life once they had fallen behind.
“The league has started. It is the second game. It’s not a friendly game,” Lamouchi said.
“It’s the league. The Championship.
“We need to start with more aggression and more determination.
“To start to play when we have conceded one or two goals, it is not enough. It is not the way we want to play or the way we want to start the game.
“We can’t accept what happened in the first half. We have to show them the video and the mistakes.
“The season has started. We need to wake up and to do the job.”
