Let's face it. We're just not good enough

Everyone expected a good thrashing at Preston, so I suppose you can say that last night's 2-1 defeat was a big improvement on our last outing, but once again silly defensive errors have ended up costing us the match.

Colin Calderwood deserves some credit for making changes to the back four in a bid to stop leaking so many goals. He finally came to his senses and removed Luke Chambers from right back, dropping him to the bench, and he also changed the formation to 4-4-2, which the fans have been begging him to do for ages. But the defence was still very makeshift with no orthodox full backs on the pitch. Kelvin Wilson was asked to play at right back, a position which he has admitted himself he is not comfortable in, and Chris Cohen switched from midfield to left back in place of Joe Heath, who was rewarded for a steady debut on Saturday against Burnley by being dropped from the squad altogether.

For quite a long spell in the first half, Forest were playing extremely well, and Preston were struggling to cope with us. We also looked a lot better defensively, and Robert Earnshaw was causing the home defence all sorts of problems. Unfortunately, though, this spell turned out to be nothing more than a purple patch, and Preston soon began to assert themselves and take control of the game. We did really well to hold out until half time, and there were very encouraging signs that the changes that Calderwood had made were paying off.

However, Forest lived up to their reputation of never actually managing to play well for a full 90 minutes, and in the early part of the second half, I'm afraid to say that they were a complete shambles. They undid all their good work of the first half when they conceded the softest of headed goals from the edge of the penalty area. If there was anybody stood at the near post, he would have cleared it away with ease, and even if he had not, Paul Smith should still have prevented the ball going in the net. Calderwood was uncharacteristically very critical on the radio after the match and said it was the worst goal he had ever conceded as a manager. He also made some scathing comments about the players, saying that one or two of them should take more responsibility. It sounds like there could be a bit of unrest in the dressing room.

As Wilson was playing at right back, where he did reasonably well considering he was out of position, it meant he was not in centre defence, where we desperately needed him. Now is it just me, or is Wes Morgan only any good when he's partnered with Wilson? Last night, he was absolutely terrible. He was extremely clumsy and kept committing fouls all over the place. Although Ian Breckin didn't play that badly, he and Morgan just don't work well as a central defensive pairing at all. Breckin is very good at heading the ball away and he is useful to have around as a squad player, but like Morgan, he gives away lots of fouls, and he is very slow to react sometimes. As well as a left and right back, it looks like we may well need to sign another central defender to partner Wilson, because Breckin, Morgan, and Chambers are just not Championship standard.

We may only have played six games, but as previous relegation battles have shown time and time again, once a team gets into a rut, it's very hard to get out of it. We're now third from bottom with just four points from eighteen. Nobody needs to be told that that is relegation form, and unless Forest improve drastically over the next few games, we will be in for a long, depressing season.

Usually a change of manager often does the trick, but Nigel Doughty just isn't in the habit of sacking managers. He waits until the fans are baying for his blood and forces him into leaving by 'mutual consent'. Calderwood will only go in January if we're still at the bottom, thus enabling the new manager to bring in reinforcements in the transfer window. But by then, it may just be too little, too late.