Less than 120 seconds were on the clock when Taiwo Awoniyi headed the visitors ahead, and Forest soon claimed a second after Malo Gusto fouled Awoniyi and Igor Jesus converted a penalty.

The Blues did have chances in the first half – Enzo Fernandez struck the post and Cole Palmer saw a spot-kick saved – but we went into the interval two goals behind.

In the second period, Forest extended their advantage through Awoniyi, and after having a goal earlier in the half ruled out by VAR for offside, Joao Pedro did get the Blues on the scoreboard with an acrobatic overhead kick. Yet it was only a stoppage-time consolation.

And McFarlane was in no doubt what the biggest contributing factor to this afternoon’s defeat was when he undertook his post-match media duties.

‘I thought the first fifteen minutes were nowhere near the level we needed to be,’ he said. ‘The manner in which the two goals were conceded really set us back and gave us a mountain to climb. You can't do that at this level, especially against a team that's fighting for its life.

‘So that pretty much, for me, is something that we need to address and improve.’

On the opening goal, McFarlane added: 'It was a three-v-one at the back post. We know that they like to cross to the back post. We know their nine likes to peel to the back post, and we should defend that moment better. So, that was really disappointing, as I thought we defended that moment really well at Leeds at Wembley,

'I don't think we recovered from that moment well enough. When we did recover, we had moments: Enzo hits the post, Cole misses a penalty, and Joao has a goal ruled offside.

'When you start that badly, you need those moments to go your way to give you a chance to fight back into the game. But ultimately, the opening fifteen minutes were not acceptable.'