Micah Richards noticed something very ‘weird’ about Nottingham Forest’s loss to Newcastle United

Nottingham Forest were beaten 4-3 by Newcastle at St James’ Park in the Premier League on Saturday and ultimately, the Reds were the architects of their own downfall.

Conceding four goals in 11 minutes is just not acceptable. Forest had some misfortune with VAR but ultimately, that wasn’t the reason for this latest defeat in the top-flight.

The Reds are clinging on to their place in the top five of the Premier League. Forest need to make sure they regain their focus with Arsenal and Manchester City coming next in the top flight.

There were some decent performances at Newcastle. Andy Hinchcliffe praised Murillo, whilst it was great to see Callum Hudson-Odoi back on the pitch starting games once again.

Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images

Micah Richards admits Nottingham Forest surprised him vs Newcastle

This wasn’t the level of performance that Forest fans have grown to love from their team this season, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s team blown away inside the first half.

Nikola Milenkovic and Ryan Yates did score to make things interesting in the second half but ultimately, it proved a frustrating day at the office for the Reds.

Richards admits he was very surprised by one of the traits that Forest didn’t do particularly well against Newcastle on Sunday.

He told The Rest is Football: “It was a really good game. Forest with the goal from Hudson-Odoi set the tempo.

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“The game was, well there was some bad defending, some really good attacking but it was an entertaining game.

“It was weird to see Forest set up because normally Forest set up with that low block don’t they and try to get on the counter-attack but Newcastle were doing the exact same thing to them, it was brilliant.”

Forest need to regroup for final months of the season

The Reds haven’t all of sudden become a bad footballing side and there will be brighter moments as the season reaches its closing stages.

Espirito Santo will be thankful to have another game this week to try and put things right in the Premier League and cement that top-five positon.

Losing away to Newcastle and Fulham is hardly cause for concern, although the performance levels in those two games do perhaps offer some food for thought.

Hopefully, a return to basics in midweek can see Forest play against Arsenal in a positive fashion and get something in the way of points for a really big effort.

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