Sign up NOW for the latest Reds news and views direct to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Nottingham Forest boss Aitor Karanka says he is not concerned by having dropped out of the Championship play-off places over the weekend.

The Reds had moved into the top six for the first time this term thanks to their 2-0 victory at Middlesbrough before the international break, but Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Norwich City saw them fall back down to ninth place.

They will get the chance to bounce straight back on Wednesday evening, when they travel to face Bolton Wanderers, who are down in 18th.

It remains tight at the top of the table, with just six points separating Forest from joint-leaders Middlesbrough and Sheffield United, and the sixth-placed Canaries only two points ahead.

But Karanka says the only time when the standings count will be on the final day of the season.

“I have always said that I want to be, and I would like to be, in that position on May seventh.

“I would like to be in that position then,” he said.

“The journey from June 25 to that day will tell us where we are. But now, it is about the performances, it is about correcting the mistakes and to keep going forward.”

The Reds manager hopes that first City Ground loss of the campaign will prove just a blip for his side as they look to get back to the kind of performance they put in against Boro.

They started brightly at the weekend, putting Norwich on the back foot for the opening 20 minutes as they went ahead through Lewis Grabban.

(Image: Ritchie Sumpter @JMS Photography)

But Karanka says they must keep that level up for the full game as he identified a lack of intensity as Forest’s ultimate downfall on Saturday.

“That intensity is something we are working on, on the training ground,” he said.

“The last two weeks, we worked really well, but we had players who went with their national teams.

“It is not an excuse, but it is a fact, when you are with the national teams, if you don’t play or you don’t train, you have those two weeks to rest and you end up coming back worse.

“But for sure, we will be better than we were last Saturday because the team in the last month was really good.

“I want to think that last Saturday was an accident and we want to keep going.”

Between the first two international breaks of the campaign, Karanka’s men had gone seven games unbeaten – having gone into the previous one on the back of losing away to Brentford.

But he admits the most recent gap in Championship action may have contributed to disrupting Forest’s momentum.

“Maybe, yes. But to be fair, the other one worked out perfect, so now it is 50-50,” he said.

“We just have to keep growing because I think we have been really good.

“We still have to improve and sometimes with the decisions, I am right, sometimes I am wrong.

“But the main thing for me is to arrive every single day at the training ground and to see the players working to be better.”