Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper is under intense pressure to keep his job after the 4-0 defeat to Leicester City.
The Reds are now bottom of the Premier League after suffering a fifth straight defeat and producing a dire first half performance at the King Power Stadium.
We discussed the game and Cooper's future on the latest Garibaldi Red podcast with Matt Davies, Mikey Clarke and BBC Radio Nottingham's David Jackson. Here is part of the conversation and you can listen to the full episode here, or watch it here.
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How bad was it watching that performance against Leicester?
DJ: "It was horrific. The first half was utterly dire. There were really poor individual performances. The defence looked fallible and they were overrun in midfield.
"You could see they won early corners and Leicester are weak defending there. That might explain Kouyate playing. They did have a really good chance with Awoniyi but really when Leicester scored they should have had two already.
"When they did score one became two became three. it was horrible to watch."
MC: "It was a really tough watch. I just didn't enjoy it. It reminded me of the end of Chris Hughton's tenure in terms of players looking lost.
"It was horrible from minute one. We're in a situation now where we let in one goal and the second and third arrive. After the first goal we needed to get to half time at 1-0. Once the second goal goes in heads drop. It was horrible.
"The fans were great again, singing through the game. If we tuned in at 3-0 you wouldn't know what the score was. It was always going to be hard but last night was tough."
What did you make of the team selection and change in formation?
MC: "You have to face into it and talk about how it was. I don't blame Cooper for changing to a back four. The spine of the team with Cook, who has been brilliant for us, and Kouyate - they aren't the quickest.
"You have Maddison, Tielemans and Dewsbury-Hall in midfield with Vardy running in behind. It looked like being a really long night straight away. We looked a bit better with the shape in the second half.
"I understood the shape with the starting XI but the personnel deployed didn't make sense."
DJ: "If you look at the defence Worrall has been left out and Niakhate is injured so I guess Kouyate was picked for his height. I don't think he had a great game. O'Brien did so well against Fulham but it didn't work for him.
"At the moment Cooper doesn't have a straightforward decision to make in almost any position to be honest."
MD: "They didn't win any individual battles or have collective cohesion. I think there's three big conundrums. Who plays centre half? Secondly, I'm not sure the full-backs are full-backs and thirdly he seems determined to get Lingard, Gibbs-White and Johnson in as much as he can.
"It wasn't Lingard's night and with hindsight it might have been better to play Yates or Freuler instead of him."
Should Forest stick with Cooper?
MC: "My worry is if he leaves and that new manager loses five of the first six, then what? In terms of the trajectory, you always get ups and downs. The test of any strategy is if you stick with it during tricky periods.
"This is the tricky period. I would absolutely stick with Cooper. We don't want to be a club that every time a manager loses four or five games he goes. That's not sustainable. We need to come out the other side of this and hold our nerve.
"The fans are very much behind Cooper. This is a sticky moment but stick by him. If we do go down, who would you want leading us back up? It would be the only guy who has taken us up in 20 plus years. My worry is we have three or four managers before the end of the season and turn into another Watford."
DJ: "It might work if you change manager, but you've got to look at the risks. It's a gamble changing manager. You'll lose a head coach who is very good, clearly respected throughout the game. You've got to ask how long do you give him in this slump?
"The board will make that call. Were supporters at the start of the season saying five defeats and he has to go? If you were that's quite a big call to make when he's done what he's done.
"Would you be replacing one of the highest rated young coaches in the game with someone better?"
MD: "You are massively rolling the dice if you sack Cooper. It might work. If you do it you are asking someone to come in and solve everything straight away just as Cooper did 12 months ago.
"He transformed a football club. I don't know if you can do that again. My inclination would be to stick with him against Villa and Wolves at least, two clubs you hope Forest get something against."
What do you make of the potential replacements like Rafa Benitez?
MC: "Not very exciting for me. The managers out of work have pedigree at this level, albeit some a few years ago.
"Forest is still a very good job. There will be a load of people who want it. None of the names mentioned are ones I'd change Cooper for. We could get in a Benitez, a Bruno Lage or a Nuno. They may keep us up but my mindset is that I want Steve Cooper to stay and be backed.
"If we lose the next three we'd be rooted. I wouldn't want him to go but I could understand it more then if I'm honest."
Do Forest need to make changes? Have your say in the comments below
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