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'We were top of the league' doesn't have quite the same ring as 'we are top of the league', but even so, it was nice to be up there for one night.

Nottingham Forest being top of the Championship on Friday after the 3-2 win at Stoke City was nice, but it doesn't mean too much yet.

It's something for fans to enjoy and it's a damn sight nicer than being at the other end of the table, but it's still September, so players can't get carried away.

If Sabri Lamouchi doesn't keep their feet on the ground then he's not doing his job very well.

The game against Stoke was a funny one. In many ways, it was a good performance, but in a few ways it was not good at all.

Too often this season they've started games badly and the manager has ended up making changes pretty early in matches to rectify it.

They did that again at Stoke, making them look a lot better than they have been.

Better teams than Stoke would have got a second goal to go 2-0 up and then it really would have been tough.

I have to say, Joao Carvalho was terrible and should have been taken off a lot sooner. Being the kind of player he is, if he's not making things happen with the ball then he offers very little.

He made no impact at all at the bet365 Stadium.

Joe Lolley doesn't look the same player as last season to me. Last season he was vibrant and seemed to like having so much responsibility.

(Image: PA)

This season he's not been as effective. Is he feeling like he's going to get replaced at some point in the game by Albert Adomah?

I'd love to see Lolley get back to those performance levels of last season. Imagine how good Forest will be when he does.

I'm also going to criticise Lewis Grabban a little bit and I know it's going to raise eyebrows.

I thought he was excellent against Stoke in many ways and it was great to see him get another goal.

If anything, he worked too hard. I know it sounds crazy bearing in mind what I said about him after the first game of the season, but there is not much point chasing down players on your own.

The gap between midfield and attack was massive at Stoke, so he was running himself into the ground for no reason.

It was good to see him working hard for the team, but he needed to wait until Stoke were on the halfway line or further advanced so as he has players closer to him.

If he keeps chasing on the edge of the opposition box he's going to run of energy in games.

Overall though, you've got to be really pleased with the result and most of the performance. Forest are doing better than I thought they would and long may that continue.

Now Forest are back in action on Tuesday at Blackburn before a home game against Brentford on Saturday to take them into the next international break.

They're both really tough games and they would be foolish to look at Brentford before getting Blackburn out of the way.

Brentford have often beaten Forest since they came up to the Championship and I watched their game against Barnsley on Sunday.

They looked a really slick passing side, so if Lamouchi's team can stay unbeaten in the next two games they can go into the next break in good spirits.

Kenny Burns was in conversation with Matt Davies.