Journalist Paul Taylor criticised midfield pair Cheikhou Kouyate and Lewis O'Brien during Nottingham Forest's 4-0 defeat away to Leicester City.

The Lowdown: Embarrassing defeat for Forest

The Reds were hoping for a much-needed Premier League victory on Monday night, as they made the short trip to the King Power Stadium.

Instead, Forest produced a largely abject performance against the similarly struggling Foxes, finding themselves 3-0 down at half-time and completely out of the game thanks to a quick-fire flurry from the hosts.

It is the type of performance and result that looks like it could cost Steve Cooper his job as the manager was let down by too many individuals on the pitch.

The Latest: Journalist criticises midfield duo

Two of those were Kouyate and O'Brien, with Taylor taking to Twitter to lambast them during the first half of proceedings:

"Kouyate and O'Brien have not been effective in midfield."

The Verdict: Anonymous

There was so much wrong with Forest's performance but the midfield was arguably the worst area of the team, with Leicester, namely James Maddison, endlessly finding pockets of space with ease.

Kouyate and O'Brien were woeful and rightly substituted at half-time, having made just 21 passes and no key passes between them - nine Leicester players managed more than 21 passes by themselves, including half-time substitute Boubakary Soumaré.

The pair also didn't muster a single interception or blocked shot.

On this evidence, the Forest duo will need to improve significantly if they are to remain in Forest's team moving forward, with potential incoming manager Rafa Benitez unlikely to have been impressed with what he saw.