Vitor Pereira blamed Nottingham Forest’s defeat on a lack of preparation time. Brighton.
Lost Forest 2-1 at home against Fenerbahçe in the Europa League on Thursday, although they qualified for the round of 16 thanks to their 3-0 first leg victory.
Advertisement
That means Forest, who were drawn against Danish side Midtjylland, will end up playing six games in the first 22 days of March.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Pereira said: “Fatigue is not just physical, it’s also mental. You have to recover.
“But this is what we have. You can’t use the Europa League as an excuse because we are there and we are competing there.
“Before accepting this position, I knew that we had the ambition to maintain our objectives in both competitions.”
Forest are a far cry from the joys of last season, when they finished seventh and secured a place in Europe for the first time since 1996.
Advertisement
The club have won just seven of their 28 league matches this season and have struggled without last season’s top scorer, Chris Wood, who has been out since October with a knee injury.
Only the bottom side Wolves (15) have failed to score in more Premier League games this season than Forest (13).
Read more about Forest and the Premier League relegation battle
