'Massively disappointing' - Calum McFarlane fumes at 'unacceptable' Chelsea performance as Nottingham Forest crush Blues at Stamford Bridge

The Blues fell behind at Stamford Bridge after just 98 seconds when Taiwo Awoniyi headed in, setting the tone for a forgettable afternoon for the hosts. Things got worse in the 15th minute when Igor Jesus converted a penalty to double the visitors' lead. Speaking in his post-match press conference, a frustrated McFarlane did not hold back on his team's lack of focus in the opening stages of the contest.

“The first 15 minutes were unacceptable. The manner of the two goals conceded really set us back and gave us a mountain to climb," the manager said. "It's a ruthless game, it's a really high level. We cannot start games in the Premier League like this. We're training tomorrow, we'll review the game and try to find a reason why and try to make sure the performance level is higher against Liverpool in five days' time.”

Despite Forest making eight changes to their starting XI, Chelsea failed to capitalise and instead slumped to their sixth consecutive league defeat. McFarlane admitted that the display was a far cry from the defensive solidity they had shown in previous outings against higher-calibre opposition.

“Massively disappointing - we know we are a lot better than what we showed today. I don't think we ever got to our level so very disappointing," he told BBC MOTD.

He later told Sky Sports: "A really disappointing result and performance. The first 15 minutes was not good enough. That set the tone. Its hard to say [why it went wrong at the moment, I'd probably like to review the game to look at such a stark contract to the way we defended against Leeds."

Chelsea had opportunities to claw their way back into the game, most notably when Cole Palmer had his spot-kick saved by Matz Sels following a lengthy first-half stoppage as youngster Jesse Derry was taken off on a stretcher following a horrifying head clash with Zach Abbott. Enzo Fernandez also struck the woodwork as the hosts struggled to find any clinical edge in front of goal as Awoniyi went on to make it 3-0 after 52 minutes.

"Enzo Fernandez hits the post and Cole Palmer misses the penalty; when you have such a bad start you need those kind of moments to go in your favour and unfortunately they didn't," McFarlane explained.

After seeing a goal ruled out for offside, Joao Pedro finally got his name on the scoresheet with a late overhead kick. It was the only positive in an otherwise dismal affair for the London club, who have now lost six league games in a row.

"Great finish, unlucky with the offside goal too so good for him to get the goal but it doesn't really mean anything right now," McFarlane said. "I've said it before but we just need to improve on this performance and be ready for another game in five days."

Up next for the Blues is a game against Liverpool on Saturday.