Steve McLaren: 'Our weaknesses were exposed'

Nottingham Forest manager Steve McLaren believes that his side were the architects of their own downfall as they lost 4-1 at home to West Ham United yesterday.

The Tricky Trees trailed their visitors 3-0 at half-time and McLaren has revealed that his defenders have given him cause for concern.

"Today our weaknesses were exposed. It's up to us to address that both on and off the field because teams go nowhere unless they keep clean sheets," the 50-year-old told the club's official website.

"We can defend better and we have to.

"For me the most important part of the game is defending, keeping clean sheets is the platform because you can't go into games hoping to score two, three or four goals to win. It's not possible."

After the international break Forest travel to Southampton on Saturday, September 10.