Welcome Home JJ

I will start this on a sour note and build up to the crux of this article. The last midfielder and player from that golden generation to return was Prutton, remember how that ended up eh?

Ok, let’s get past that, as Prutton although quality wasn’t the same class or type of player as Jenas, who looks extremely likely to be returning. I have blinked before in one these and gone with an article before official, and was wrong with Al-Mutawa’s work permit, but hey ho.

So now we have simply the greatest midfield assembled in the last ooooh, 15 years at this club? Yeah since 1999 at very least. So 4 or 5 from the following, Gillette, Jenas, Lansbury, McGugan, Coppinger, Guedioura, Reid, Majewski, Moussi, Cohen and errr Greening. Ok 3 can be discounted. Greening’s Forest career is now all but officially over. I expect to see him shipped out somewhere, just to get him away. Cohen is still going to be away from full fitness. Moussi, well Moussi has always split fans, but SoD doesn’t seem to fancy him very much.

It’s still a wealth of options in the middle, and a welcome boost ahead of the Derby game. People have attempted to discredit Jenas but the fact remains he has international experience, and has played at the top flight for a long while. You don’t do that without having ability. And without any first team chances he will be hungry to prove he still has it and secure a January move to another Premier club probably. If we can help him, and therefore he helps us in that time, perfect.

I never really saw Jenas in his first spell, I was away at University and only got glimpses on the TV, or on odd occasions I was home for a game. So this should be a learning curve for me too.

But where does this leave us? We already had a crowded midfield, with options galore. Lansbury and Cohen coming back into the fold looked like we were already top heavy, but now we have added this heavyweight name.

Whether this means a return to 4-2-3-1 in some games is unsure, I expect to see Lansbury move to the right wing to take a slot in the team there, with Coppinger seemingly there as back up and experience.

So welcome home JJ, just the kind of figure head signing we need.

Oh can I just say I called it first months ago. When the al-Hasawi family took over, one of the things I said they should and could do was sign a strong ex NFFC player, and recommended Jenas. Just saying folks.

Another Chapter Looms in the Great Rivalry

Joe Kinnear described it as just another game, one of a number of errors he made at the club that bought about his downfall, amongst not being good enough, it is always one of the ones that stick out, the straw that broke the camel’s back, a back that had been quivering for weeks anyway.

It’s also a fixture that a very young me remembers not for what happened in the game, but the rivalry off it. I was 6 maybe 7 and Dad used to take us on the Bridgford End terrace. Next to where the away fans were. My Dad wasn’t traditionally a Forest fan, more has absorbed love for the club from his sons he took regularly, he grew up in Essex as a Spurs fan, so maybe he didn’t quite realise the terrace next to the away fans wasn’t a great idea, but for me it was. It was a steep learning curve in footballing hatred and rivalry.

We were showered with coins, which my elder brother thought was amazing as he scooped up all the loose change, which, let’s be honest, in the mid late 80’s could buy you a lot of 10p mixes. There was scrapping in the street outside, this I remember. The game, I could look up the score and look all wise and worldly but to be honest that I don’t remember in the slightest.

One of my darkest days as a Forest fan came in this fixture. Away, in I believe 1999, may have been 1998. Relegation season anyway I think. I believe it was also our first visit to Pride Park. My Dad had scored free tickets, off a work colleague, but in the home end. I’d only ever done this before at Mansfield Town, where half the fans in the home end were probably Forest when I saw them in the League Cup, again on free tickets. Anyway I’ll sum up the feeling and why it was so bad by merely pointing out Derby scored a very late winner which the crowd went wild for. Thanks Horacio Carbonari. It was horrible having to be stood trying to look happy as your fellow fans stand dejected a short distance away, whilst surrounded by ecstatic Derby fans. Even worse when same fans separated by a fence hurl abuse, with me wanting to point out, No I’m one of you.

Couple that with mostly horrible defeats. The Cup defeat from a 2-0 winning position. The worst aspect is that at 2-2 my friend said he had a bad feeling about the Pukka Pies advertising hoarding next to the pitch in front of the Derby fans. I scoffed, it’s merely an advert. But lo and behold, when Derby scored the winner, and there was Kris Commons, much derided Kris Commons celebrating where? In front of the Pukka Pies advert. Poetic maybe for a chubster to be there. But not at the time.

I wasn’t at such events as the infamous Kenco Coffee cup moment, nor did I manage to get to the happy win we had there, our first win at Pride Park, when Earnshaw scored, Savage whinged and flounced and Moxey got sent off. I also missed the Tyson flag incident. But these events all live in the psyche of both sets of fans. It gets under the skin in a way that fixtures against anyone else don’t. I don’t recall trivialities about other fixtures in the same way, and I don’t regard myself as being vehemently anti Derby. I don’t hate for hates sake. I like to beat them, but the sheer vitriol and pure dislike you see in the eyes of some fans during the game is not an extreme of emotions I share.

That said last year, at around the same time, the last home defeat still hurts. This is a game that needs to be exorcised. The demons of that day live on. How much will we have to hear “we only had 10 men” or this week’s news that it’s not sold out yet (I anticipate by now it has) so Derby fans mock our attendance. This from a club who swell numbers with free tickets to students and children, and give away tickets with Mobile phones. That’s an irony right there.

But that day does need forgetting, and stamping a new identity. The a5-2 joke had lived quite long, but it was replaced by a new identity. Each derby game seems to have that. Something that identifies it. The Kenco game, The A5-2, the 10 men game, Tyson’s flag, it’s become almost a cult of what will happen next.

The strong connections have mostly faded, Tyson remains one, and the fear with him almost being a comedy figure in Forest fans eyes now that he might score. Or that they will use Kieron Freeman against us. It’s funny how they used that signing as a banner that they can still put one over us. Our third choice right back, really?

Derby’s sole ambition each season is to just  to be, they don’t seem to have any delusions of threatening promotion, and neither do they seem to float to the bottom. A void of ambition other than to beat us. Seeing as us and Leicester have both dallied in the Third division, maybe it’s time they dropped there too. Just so they can all understand. We now have ambitions of Premier League with money to be spent. So in that regard we’re in danger of being their cup final. That they want to use our wealth against us and beat us, mock that our wealth can’t bring success against them. The fact is that wealth will hopefully take us away from and end this fixture. Derby won’t go up any time soon, we possibly might. The fixture list will be a lot worse place for this game not being there.

And I got all the way through without mentioning Brian Clough or Billy Davies......

At Least Derby Can't End Another Unbeaten Run

So, we lost the unbeaten run at long last this weekend in Leeds, although it had looked likely the Tuesday before. Back to back away games have yielded a point and that point was a bit smash and grab.
That said we nearly could have gotten more out of two games we struggled to start in, and gave ourselves just too much to do to get the win (much like my own self in a Triathlon this weekend, but that’s another matter)

Dexter Blackstock celebrates scoring equaliser v Palace

Palace remains a relatively happy hunting ground for us; the point we got meaning we have a run of results there now which shows Selhurst Park is barely a fortress. Leeds however is a very mixed ground for Forest. We either get screwed over like 2 years ago, destroy them, like last year, or merely do a classic Forest where we fall behind, briefly rally, but ultimately fail.

It has seen Dexter Blackstock sneak his way up the goal scoring ranks with 2 strikes in 2 games for a player looking like he could be left on the brink, sidelined for Cox and Sharp to take the first two striker spots. It’s a great response. Rather than sulk, or disappear into the shadows, Dexter has rallied and this means he stays in the managers thoughts.

The fact that against Place we had to come back with 10 men after Guedioura was sent off made it feel better than what it might have been. Against Leeds Lansbury made his debut. There are positives in there, there are also distinct negatives, namely the face we are shipping goals, be it 1 or 2, they add up, and turn wins to draws and draws to defeats.

It also brings us back to earth, we aren’t going to walk this division and there are more than capable teams out there. Reality is back. And the knowledge that there will be bad days. That the 2 season approach the al-Hasawis has taken may be the best option, maybe the only choice. These players are relatively new to each other still. So mistakes will sneak in, misunderstandings will occur. It takes months to get that footballer telepathy happening.

Derby end a previous unbeaten run

The face we aren’t alone as well in losing unbeaten records so speaks volumes. This division is competitive. Look at Barnsley beating Birmingham 5-0 at St Andrews. Unexpected but underlines the fact anyone can do anyone on their day here.

Of course up next is the small matter of Derby, and by god won’t we just hear about the fact they only had 10 men. I expect at least 20 renditions to be sung, sadly predictable. Hopefully though we give them another tonking to send them back with their tails between their legs. It should be more than possible, this is a weaker Derby team than I have seen for a while.

Maybe Only a Draw, But It Shows Positives

A little over a year ago we played Birmingham City at the City Ground, and after being the better team we conceded goals in the second half that lead to us losing. I missed the game as I was off being a Best Man at a wedding instead.

A year on and again we played Birmingham, but with a new board, new players, new manager and most importantly, a new found belief. What a difference a year makes.

Goalscorer Harding

Whereas in this situation last year the heads would drop immediately and we would capitulate completely, this year, we rally, we regroup, and we try to get back in the game. Well, probably, we have limited experience in this art in the new regime.

Lining up in the familiar 4-1-3-2 formation, but with Sharp in for Cox, who had done well to recover enough to be among the subs. Halford remained left back, with Hutchinson down the right, and Ayala and Collins in the middle. Gillette once again holding, with McGugan, Reid and Guedioura given license to get forward. Sharp and Blackstock up top.

Starting Formation

The first half though largely unremarkable was shaded by the Reds. The high point came when McGugan took a free kick that required a save by Butland. We had a couple of other set piece opportunities too. However that all said the most clear cut chance fell to ex Forest striker, Marlon King. The much maligned and travelled King should really have done better, but Camp had reacted well to make himself the bigger target than the net. That said King had got himself a free chance around 10-12 yards from goal, he could and should have done better, but that’s not to discredit good work from Camp.

The second half was about the goals. The goals conceded, and how it forced Forest to change their team up which enabled the goals.  The goals we did concede were classic Forest. It may be a regime but we still seem to struggle to deal with the ball when it’s bouncing round the area.  Indeed it was bouncing round after Birmingham’s attack, and a word on Birmingham in the second half, the introduction of Redmond on the right wing completely changed the game. It gave them a potent threat which to their credit they utilised. Hayden Mullins eventually lashed home the first after a scramble. The second shortly after was all about Redmond down the right side, cut across and King finished low into the corner with aplomb.

And so it looked all lost. At this stage in the last seasons this game was over, but not this with this team. We shuffled the ranks, and cut to a back 3 and pushed the full backs on to play more into midfield, and it worked. Guedioura was removed and to be fair that’s the worst game I have seen him play in the Garibaldi.

Finishing Fomation

The first goal, well we must have all seen it, glorious at it was. McGugan lofting the ball forward, and then Cox producing some sublime skill and finishing.  He controlled the balls flight and then flicked it over the keeper within a moment. Almost one movement, it wasn't allowed to hit the floor. Wonderful.

And then we were after them trying to win. The equaliser was all about the cross coming over, passing everyone, and Harding coming in unmarked at the back and firing it into the goal via a deflection. It was no more than we deserved. And indeed Sharp could have won it late on which would have been the most incredible of endings.

All told it could have been so negative, but no, Forest pulled it out the bag and shown a grit and steel we lacked last season.

Cox changed it all coming on, but the shuffle of formation was so vital. The fact we looked close to defeat and still got something out of this is a very good sign of this team not dropping heads and the good spirit in the squad

Onwards and upwards.

O Yea O Yea, All is Well

Bad town cryer analogy I know, but it is the case that usually by now we are in crisis, about to be in crisis, one injury away from crisis or any other variant on being nearly a club in crisis. It makes writing a blog very difficult.

You see when everything is going well, what we can we point out? There’s no point dissecting the team, analysing where it s gone wrong, as its going well. There’s no point pointing out we need to strengthen somewhere, its going well. There s no point in looking at the formation, you guessed it, it’s all going well.

As a consequence you can’t really sit down to describe how the teams ace, there’s nothing to moan about. Blogs, forums, on means of communication we have now on Forest or suchlike, mainly usually concentrate on the bad. There’s more to discuss. More to argue, who is to blame, the board, the manager the players? Not anymore. For now.

You see even under Davies, even when things were going well there were things to argue about. We had gaping holes in the team being taped over. The manager would be ostracising or dividing fans like never before, was it all the boards fault we didn’t go up etc,  it gave us talking points. O’Driscoll with his happy camp, squad full of players, balanced team isn’t providing that. Damn them to hell for running a happy camp!!.

Even the backroom team look settled. They were all McLarens men, yet O’Driscoll after Cotterill too has retained them, we can’t even moan about them, hell it looks like John Pemberton is coming back to strengthen those ranks.

I can’t even moan about youth policy. There are plans possibly afoot to strengthen the academy. We have 3 Academy graduates in and around the squad, despite spending millions. The new owners recognise the importance of investing in youth. Perfect.

And now. Just now in fact, I have read Matt Derbyshire has gone out on loan to Oldham, we can’t even moan about him and his family reinvesting his wages in the various cinemas of the world.

The ground and updating or moving has also been mentioned so it’s good to see an eye on the long term rather than just investing for now to get promoted and worry about it later.

In all, everything is great, no complaints. Maybe the pies could be better. Yeah lets focus on the pies. Make them cheaper. Lets demonstrate amount the food prices, because we’re Forest fans, we need to something to grumble about.

What is this Strange Emotion?

A strange thing is happening with me and Forest this season, something I can’t begin to comprehend. I am looking forward to games; I am relishing every team we play. I don’t scour the fixture list scowling at a run of games I am convinced is going to derail the season. I believe this word is Optimism.

Every season it’s more a mixture of hope, or of a crushing knowledge that ultimately it will all go wrong. Even in League One, where it was a case of expectation for the first two years, followed by the realisation maybe we DO deserve to be here.

I am an eternal optimist with Forest. I always believe we will pull through, and I hate negative fans. But I am also a realist, I saw we weren’t really good enough to go up. A small part feared going up, that we would have been an embarrassment, we’d have  been worse than Derby’s worst team in history.

Not anymore. The al-Hasawi family have given a healthy shot in the arm of enthusiasm, optimism, excitement and anticipation. I remain that realist though, I do concede that this is a hard division and I will not give in to that previous Forest fan symptom of over expectation that usually is the death knell of a manager’s career and our season. That and the fact we do still think we are a bigger club than what we are. Yes we have the history and the fan base, but really, we never had the funds, or the ability to bring those players in. This was a mill stone round the neck of many former regimes and managers. It has changed, for the better.

These have all been cast off in a summer of love at Forest I previously talked about. And now more than ever I look forward to games, not just because we have a stronger squad than I remember for a while, but the brand of football is also a joy to watch.

Make no mistake even in the best of the Billy’s days sometimes the football we played was agricultural against some of the harder teams to play, we’d adapt, and it might not be exciting. I think we all know under Cotterill, Kinnear, Megson that the football wasn’t just agricultural but positively Agrarian.

But now we have this perfect storm of good football, and good players = good results. It is every early days And I may regret writing something like this, but the feel good factor is back. As we get further into the harder sections of the season maybe it will seem a long slog again, but for now it feels like a very happy journey, not the hindrance that some Tuesday night games would feel. A game against lesser opposition isn’t just going to be a war of attrition of the emotions, as even if we fail to get that expected result, the probability is there was some pleasant football, and a sense of optimism. The poison that surrounded the ground at times last season in the darkest moments meant some games felt really unpleasant to be at. It wasn’t enjoyable. And I pay that money every year on my season ticket for pleasure purposes. If you look on any form or suchlike, they class going to football as a leisure pastime, something you do for fun in your spare time. It hasn’t always felt like that at Forest. Rather it felt like a necessity, a dirty habit, a vice.

Maybe it’s just been this summer of such success for British sport. Maybe I just have a feel good factor towards all sport. Enthusiasm renewed in the whole world of it. Or maybe it really is a new era.

I have spoken to few Forest supporting friends in recent weeks, and all of us agree that OK, maybe this season is too early to go up. However,  the welcome change from what looked like a long slog of survival to a glorious season of passing glamorous football is all good. If we don’t go up, OK, we were entertained. And there will be next season. The real test comes 2/3 years in IF we haven’t made the Premier League.

There’s a generation of Forest fans now who have never seen us in the top flight. Even the last couple of times we were there it was largely unpleasant relegation battles. Let’s change that. And under the al-Hasawi's I believe we can, sooner rather than later, and in style.

Summer of Love for Forest Fans

Looking back over what has now become a summer of love for Forest fans it’s funny what a difference a month or two makes. The takeover which at times seemed protracted and caused many to panic that we’d left it too late seems a lifetime ago. There were cries from the usual array of doom mongers on the Internet that it would cost us, we’d struggle.

The next panic came when the Kuwaiti’s announced as preferred bidders also announced their intention to trial a number of Kuwaiti or wider Gulf area players. This started another new wave of doom mongering. We’d have a squad filled with third rate Arabic players, and struggle. The team would lose identity.

Panic number 3 was when some news services reported Cotterill would be staying. I for one never had an issue with him per se, I like to say to thus far I was wrong. The Evening Posts Paul Taylors vehement support for Cotterill at this stage lead to a great deal of mocking, calling it a “bromance” between the two. 

Then when the takeover was finalised came the manager question, Cotterill was as we all know removed from his duties and the new regime announced an iconic manager would arrive, which sent tongues wagging, and a host of names that no-one could ever agree on. Names varied from the never going to happen in Harry Redknapp and Martin O’Neill to the downright silly, with Paul Ince volunteering his name forward. Of course O’Driscoll was announced, and many fans were happy, but opposing team fans all laughed. We remained quiet on that front, wait and see, wait and see.

 And then came the Daily Mail piece, after the sale of Gunter which suggested, as there is a cut price manager and few signings, there is clearly no money. The fact there were 7 Arabic players on trial clearly demonstrated it’s all an attempt by the al-Hasawis to weasel they’re friends into the UK and one public commentator on the piece suggested this was people smuggling and Forest should shut down. The Mail suggested there was no money, and that this whole takeover looks a bit of a sham. This probably boils down to them being foreign and the Mail being a bit jingoistic at even the best of times. However it made many fans believe them, there is no money!! We’ve sold Gunter (despite this deal being all but set up first) and now all we have are 7 Arabs. Time soon proved this hilariously misguided.

The signings we all know well by now, that we have 11 new players. I even did an article comparing possible sides, one from new players one from old, located here. The whole “Iconic” thing has started to fade away as people realise we have quietly, studiously, and diligently built a squad that is pretty formidable for this level. It’s certainly top 6, but it has to gel, so far we are riding the crest of a wave. Let’s see what they are like when things start to go bad.

The Arabic players were refused work permits anyway, which anyone with a brain said would probably happen, but that doesn’t sell copy so the Mail weren’t worried about that. The more foolhardy predictions of a team of Kuwaiti players never came true, as it was never going to happen. The al-Hasawi family has shown they know what they are doing; you don’t buy a club to see it fail, unless you’re the Venky’s. They seem clued up, the Kuwaiti players was just because as well as run a successful club they’d like to include where they are from in that success. Is that a crime?

 Yeah this summer has been a story of ups, after the usual Forest doom mongering that it’d be all downs. This is just a mixture of our being conditioned to expecting the worse (even more so when Gunter left) But it also feels like a new dawn. A new dawn with a very nice Sun rise, and misty overcast, or fog, or anything else bad. A nice big sunny sunrise of a new dawn. There will still be the nay-sayers. And yeah there is an element of racism coming over from a few which has been thorn in the side of this takeover. Some opposition fans, obviously through jealousy, dubbing us the Camel Fuckers. Yeah that really bothers us. In fact in all of this, and the 5-1 win aside last weekend Derby have never ending entertainment this summer. Blowing large leads against teams, signing Connor Sammon, claiming they have a better team. My favourite was the Derby fan criticising us for selling out to foreign owners, neglecting the very fact that Derby's owners are American, bravo genius. Of course there’s the guy who claimed he’d get Twat tattooed on his forehead if Forest signed Lansbury for £1million. Well we signed Lansbury for a million (I got his number on my home shirt)

 So that’s where we got to, in one of the most eventful periods of the clubs history no doubt. Kuwait has a lot of love from Nottingham now. Might as well twin Kuwait City to Nottingham!! It remains to be seen what will happen with the Arabic players, namely Bader al-Mutawa and Khalid al-Rashidi, and whether work permits will be finalised. I hope so, if only for giving something back to Kuwaiti football, which is currently giving something to us. It’s still early days but things feel and look so positive that you cannot help but feel the warmth

Classy Forest Good Start Continues

I have never in all my years of attending Forest known something that is going round the ground right now. That is a feeling of optimism and a wealth of good feeling going round the ground. Borne in part out of a 2/3 day period before the game where we signed Lansbury, Coppinger and Sharp it has more than put down a marker of what we are looking to do.

The fans before this game all seemed happy, optimistic, enthused. All words I haven't used in this manner on this website, but that I haven’t ever remembered before, maybe save for when we were destroying Norwich 4-1 in the first game of the 97/98 season. Campbell and van Hooijdonk and all that swagger, and even then it was because we were playing well, not just the off field stuff.

And it’s this off field "stuff" that is optimistic. Clever, non-flashy signings. We have spent less in 11 players than Blackburn has in one in Jordan Rhodes. Right now not one looks like a bad signing, or a squad filler. Each has their role. The players we have signed are all winners. They have a great number of promotions between then, whether League One or the Championship. That's a winning mentality right there.

And it showed, oh how did it show. In the first half especially we played football that was sublime. The main case in point is one of course the TV has picked up, the move which lead to Guedioura hitting the bar from around 10 yards. If that had been finished then close goal of the season now. I say that but McGugan's goals last week wants to argue.

And there’s another name there. McGugan. That constant figure of frustration. Obvious ability and not always performing. Well these signings have forced him to up his game, because frankly if he’s doesn't, well there’s now Lansbury and Coppinger as well as Majewski to push him, and that’s not mentioning the returning Cohen. An absolute wealth of options.



What we did see though was see Harding out of the team due to the birth of his child the night before and a reshuffle seeing Halford at left back and Hutchinson at right. The now familiar midfield anchor of Gillett allowing the other 3 midfielders, in this case Guedioura, Reid and McGugan to get forward at will.

It’s a vital few months for those positions. Majewski may well have to push on or be pushed out. We have options creatively now. Quite what Findley, Tudgay, Derbyshire and Greening are thinking, (other than taking solace in inflated wage packets) is anyone’s guess. They aren’t going to get a look in, and on past form neither should they. That's the old days. Relegation battling days.

All this said about swashbuckling passing football, the goal was pure power, luck and a calculated risk. There is always the chance when a free-kick is whipped in at such an angle as McGugan took it that if no-one touches it, the ball will fly in. It's happened for Cohen a couple of times, and also McGugan. So it's no surprise when he powers it across and it nestles in the back of the net. It looks better than what it is. The aim is that someone puts it in, but that if that doesn’t happen, the very real chance of a deflection or what happened, it flies right on in.

The second half wasn’t as good, but we still scored a quality second, when Blackstock flicked intelligently to Hutchinson on his first start to finish. 2 minutes prior to this my friend sat with me had said Hutchinson never seem to want to pass the halfway line, as he hardly made the runs we see from Moloney or Halford. Then he pops up and does that. But anyone who say MOTD2 last night knows that marauding Right backs aren't all that with the illustration of gaps left by Glen Johnson charging up field. All full back needs to remember that back part of that positional title. That said Hutchinson finished with aplomb and we had the safer 2 goal cushion

And that was good a job, because we needed it. Charlton, well they occasionally threatened, but not that much, but they got their goal when a Fuller header rebounded off the post, hit the back of Lee Camps legs and went over the line. They did have a few chances in the game, but ironically a Camp OG is what they got. And save for a brief penalty scare when the ball hit Ayala's hand, but in such a manner as to not be an obvious handball we were safe,

Chris Powell, who I always have time for as I think he talks a good game said it best after the game, he conceded there was no way his team should have got anything out of it, that Forest were the better team and deserved their win. Charlton fans, mostly on Twitter were also respectful and paid their dues to what on the day is a better team.

The only problem with this enthusiasm is that it's playing with my emotions. I am not used to this with Forest. It’s usually cautious optimism, followed by crippling deflation. This for now (taps wood) feels different/. Hail the Kuwaiti revolution.

Old XI v New XI

So with the final pieces of the puzzle put together for the season with Forest in Billy Sharp and James Coppinger, we now have complete new XI albeit minus a goalkeeper, which we also wanted with Al-Rashidi.

So let’s just compare the new XI, with an old XI, just for fun, but also just to see what a complete squad we have signed.

The difficulty with this becomes who loses out in the new XI. For the simplicity and for a balanced team, I have set it to so we have Coppinger in midfield and Hutchinson misses out (despite playing a starring role on Saturday)

The Old XI of course has the obvious complication of not having many defenders. So Moussi drops to centre back and Cohen left back, because after all they can play these roles.

So anyway, obviously the new XI has no goalkeeper, but this isn't a match after all, but more an illustration of just how many we have added and where, or where our short comings could be, but more importantly just how much strength in depth we have now.

The Old XI



The New XI