Chelsea coach Calum McFarlane delivered a stark assessment of his team’s performance after a damaging home defeat to Nottingham Forest, branding their start to the match “not acceptable” and admitting his side never reached their usual standards.

Stamford Bridge was stunned inside two minutes when Taiwo Awoniyi punished slack defending to give Forest the lead. The visitors doubled their advantage after 15 minutes through Igor Jesus, leaving Chelsea chasing the game almost from the outset and exposing familiar frailties in their defensive structure and concentration.

Chelsea had chances to claw their way back. Enzo Fernández struck the post and, just before half-time, Cole Palmer saw a penalty saved, a pivotal moment that deepened the sense of frustration. João Pedro later had a goal ruled out for offside, underlining a night when little went Chelsea’s way in the key moments.

Awoniyi’s second after the interval effectively killed the contest, with Pedro’s spectacular late overhead kick serving only as consolation. The 3-1 defeat marked Chelsea’s sixth consecutive league loss and intensified scrutiny on a squad assembled at vast expense but struggling for cohesion and resilience.

“Really disappointed with the performance, disappointed with the result,” McFarlane told reporters. “I don’t think we ever got to our level today that we know we’re capable of. The first 15 minutes we were nowhere near the level we needed to be. The early goal was a sucker punch and we didn’t really recover from that moment.”

McFarlane stressed that when a team starts so poorly, it relies on fine margins to turn the tide. “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 first 15 minutes was not acceptable.”

The defeat ended Chelsea’s mathematical hopes of finishing fifth, leaving their Champions League ambitions hanging on a sixth-place finish and external results elsewhere in Europe. McFarlane, however, rejected any suggestion that motivation would dip.

“I know the group,” he said. “They are driven. They want what’s best for themselves. They want what’s best for this club. We’re going to do everything we can to try and win every single game from now to the end of the season.”

Pedro echoed his coach’s frustration and placed responsibility firmly on the players. “We need to find a way to undo these mistakes every game and start to win games,” he said. “I don’t think it is about the coach. It is about us players to improve. Everyone needs to step up. Me included.”