ON THE EDGE

Karanka has two games to save job

AITOR KARANKA has just two games to save his job at Nottingham Forest.

The club’s Greek owner Evangelos Marinakis is already considering replacements, including Martin O’Neill and Slavisa Jokanovic.

Marinakis is not known for patience, having gone through 12 managers at his Greek club Olympiakos since 2010.

He expects promotion to the Premier League this season after investing £25m on 17 new players in the summer.

But a run of four games without a win has seen Forest slide to 10th – and the heat is now firmly on Karanka ahead of today’s trip to Millwall and Tuesday’s visit by leaders Leeds.

The under-pressure boss also faces a battle to lift his players after they threw away a 3-0 lead with 14 minutes left to draw at Norwich on Boxing Day.

He admitted that collapse had taken a toll on his players, saying: “I need to check how the players are from the game on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t just how much they ran, it was also the emotions of it as, in those games, you feel more tired than in a normal game. It was frustrating after the game after they put everything on the pitch and you lose the three points at the end.

“If we don’t approach Millwall as aggressive as them or as intense as them then we will have problems.”

Senior players were critical of the Spaniard’s tactics after his decision to throw on winger Gil Dias with seven minutes left backfired badly.

Dias made mistakes for both injury-time goals as Norwich stunned Forest by snatching a point.

The board will outline their expectations to Karanka prior to today’s game at Millwall.

In the meantime they are exploring options – including Forest’s European Cup winner and former Ireland boss O’Neill and ex-Fulham boss Jokanovic.