'Need to refresh and think' - Looking back at Nottingham Forest's last game before lockdown

Forest players returned to training today ahead of the Championship's restart.

Nottingham Forest players returned to training today ahead of the Championship's return to action.

The EFL are yet to confirm when the Reds will be back on the pitch at the City Ground, looking to continue their push towards promotion to the Premier League.

It seems an age ago now since we last saw Sabri Lamouchi's players in action in their 3-0 home defeat to Millwall - a day when so many of his stars left with much to learn if they are to succeed in their aim to return to the Premier League.

When they do return to action, they will do so on the back of a warning from Lamouchi who told his players that they will need to be "more clever" when they are back in action.

That return is now not too far away, so let's revisit that game and lessons we learned.

What happened in that game?

Forest’s hopes of gatecrashing the automatic promotion places were dealt a hammer blow that day in March when they were well beaten by Millwall, losing 3-0 at the City Ground.

After a bright start which saw chances for Joao Carvalho and Joe Lolley, the hosts were left with a mountain to climb as the Lions scored twice in the space of six minutes.

Looking uncharacteristically shaky at the back, Forest fell behind with 20 minutes on the clock when Matt Smith headed in Murray Wallace’s cross.

And another ball from the left caused problems again soon after, with Jayson Molumby’s shot taking a slight deflection as it beat Brice Samba.

It got even worse for the Reds before the half was out as another Smith header, this time from a corner, left them 3-0 down.

It took until almost the 70th minute for Millwall goalkeeper Batosz Bialkowski to be tested, when substitute John Bostock let fly from range.

And the home side felt they should have had a penalty a few minutes later when Carvalho appealed for a handball.

They saw plenty of the ball in the closing stages, but there proved to be no way through against a resolute Lions team.

Who were the players who struggled that day?

Brice Samba: Has come to the Reds’ rescue many times this season, but not on this occasion. He wasn’t helped by those in front of him being more than a little shaky.

Matty Cash:A poor night in what has otherwise been a stellar season for the right-back. Had a tough night defensively and struggled to show his usual attacking intent.

Tobias Figueiredo: That rock-solid partnership was missing in action against the Lions. Left shell-shocked as the backline fell apart in the opening 45 minutes.

Joe Worrall: A disaster of a first half for the defence as a whole, with the visitors proving difficult to handle. One the centre-back won’t want to watch back.

Alfa Semedo: That early-season promise seems to have gone missing. Not a good 45 minutes from the summer signing - although he wasn’t alone on that front. Millwall had it too easy in the centre of the pitch, though.

What did Lamouchi say after that game?

“It is a bad feeling,” said the Frenchman. “It is disappointing because the expectation was different.

“We gave them the possibility to kill us. They killed us.

“Congratulations to Millwall, they executed their plan - to wait and play on the counterattack. Physically it was a big impact from them and we suffered a lot.

“It’s a bad moment for us. We showed our limit probably physically. When you are a little bit down physically, mentally you need to play more simple.

“It was the wrong performance. After eight months, maybe some players are a little bit tired, so we need to think about that.

“We are missing some players, but the group needs to be more clever and play more like we know."

He added: “We need to refresh and think a little bit about that, then we need to come back in training and find the solution for the next one."