Cox-Less Pairs Options for Forest

With the upcoming news of just how long Simon Cox will be out for it could make life difficult for Forest in the striking options. Instead of the three quality up front options we have, we know the two main strikers, and that’s a problem. Obviously if Cox can be injure so can Sharp or Blackstock, and with the loan window now being shut there is no scope for bringing in a short term measure.

McGoldrick and Miller are tied in to long term loans and cannot be recalled, so they are no goes. Tudgay has just gone to Barnsley, he could be recalled, and Robbie Findley has been back off loan from Gillingham for a couple of weeks. Matt Derbyshire is still out on short term loan and could be recalled we could also maybe use McGugan as an auxiliary striker.

In the short term for the Ipswich game we could use both Blackstock and Sharp, but we do need back up options. Earlier in the season we played 4-2-3-1 often. The problem here is one we discussed in the Gillett piece whereby two players dropping deep are both looking for the same ball. However we did play well with it in the late summer sunshine before when Cox was injured after the Ireland game.

It would of course been an ideal opportunity for a youngster to step up, say a Patrick Bamford, this would have been ideal. No pressure in the team for a short burst of games through till we can bring someone in. Coming off the bench maybe, unfortunately that possibility was removed, and we can’t, as there doesn’t appear to be a 19-20 year striker coming through, and any younger than that would be too risky unless they were set to be a wonder kid.

Derbyshire or Findley could use this as a chance to re ignite their Forest careers. Fail, and it would be the end of them for definite. They would be in a confident team making chances, whereas last year it was in a struggling team, not making chances. It’d be hard for any striker to come into a struggling team, but one with the injury problems Derbyshire had would be difficult. It could be a chance that a few fans have said he could take. A handful hold on to the belief that he isn’t as bad as he seems, and surely eventually will come as good as his former pedigree suggests.

Findley has that one element the rest of the team lacks, pace. And although his finishing or passing and certainly control is questionable, if you had the kind of balls Lansbury has been playing, half the battle is won, and you don’t need to control or move your position, you just have to finish.

My preferred option would be re-calling Tudgay, but I am unsure on the caveats of his loan, with it being so soon since he went, and being with a view to a permanent move both parties might decide against it.

Whatever we choose we have the quality within the squad to cope till January. Then if Cox is out for a year as some have predicted, then we might need to re think what we are doing striker wise. As said McGugan would surely also be able to fulfil a more attacking role and this might suit him.

Where it will really tell is if we are chasing a game and need new options and right don’t immediately we don’t have any. Let’s hope Coxy isn’t out for months and it’s not nearly as bad as first feared. However planning for the worst can’t hurt.

Loanee Watch - Robbie Findley

Findley in action for Gillingham

A quick check in with the various players out on loan right now starts with Robbie Findley.

The former (and I think we can safely say former) American international has played 5 times for the Gills in his loan spell in Kent. This includes 2 starts and 3 substitute appearances. He has failed to score so far.

He started in his first two games, though was withdrawn early in one match due to a midfielder being sent off for the Gills, so he was sacrificed after 35 mins. The next game he made way after 50 mins.

His last 3 appearances have all been as sub coming on in the last third if the game, and nearly netted in his most recent game with his first touch when he came on.

The Gills aren’t exactly struggling to make chances or score, as they lead the table, so Findleys lack of goals even in League Two is a worry really.

This is a guy who famously missed from half a yard once. I haven’t been able to see any footage of his in Kent, merely going off match reports, but as I say the fact he’s now starting on the bench in League Two speaks volumes.

As much as some said it might be good to try and get him firing lower down and bring him back, even this is failing, and I am starting to think he’s never going to make it over here, and will end up back in MLS within a couple of years. It’s not as if he’s a youngster.

Our Strikers - An Appraisal

With the new signing of Simon Cox and the news we seemingly are also looking at Chris Wood and or Simon church, its begs the question what are we intending to do with our current stable of forwards, and where they fit in with the scope of the team and squad as a whole.

Simon Cox
As the big new signing and seemingly high cost involved it is almost certain Cox will regularly start. As well as playing front he can also get pushed to the wings too, as shown at Euro 2012 for Ireland. Apart from this Cox is somewhat of a mystery to me, I do not know a great deal side looking at his stats and what Wikipedia says, but that doesn’t always cast a true story. A lot of Baggies fans have told us we have a good player on our hands and that’s good enough for me, and the fact he was good enough to be in the Irish squad for 2012, although Ireland didn’t do a great deal, the fact he was there performing on a very grand scale footballing event speaks volumes.

Dexter Blackstock
The Antigua international was recently handed the captains armband in the Villa friendly. An indicator he is regarded as one of the senior pros at the club, and he is similarly well regarded by the fans. I see Dex as being the target man for Cox, holding up play and feeding the new man. But Dex has an eye for goal too, and can score a lot of gals at this level. He seems to love the club quite a lot, and is hungry after such a long layoff with injury to get back to the fore front. He will definitely play a role in the squad, and start more than he does not in games.

Ishmael Miller
For me this should have been his season to shine and lead the line. Maybe Cox is replacing him. Miller was definitely intended to be the power house forward and be a focal point, due to injuries and poor form it hasn’t happened. Whether this is down to managers not knowing how to implement him, or maybe the element of resentment of his inflated wages is true. Miller is on double many of team mate’s wages. Aside from this he struggled with fitness never able to be build a head of steam form wise and merely flit in and out the side regularly. Very much under used in the second half of the season he does though have a good record. Add to that though there was other clubs apparently interested and due to his hefty wages, and despite now having money we may look to move him on should the right offer come in. Maybe we were just the wrong club at the wrong time.

Matt Derbyshire
Where do you even begin? In and out of the treatment room, and apparently had been carrying a very long term injury when even in the side Derbyshire has said he is fully fit and raring to go, that may well have to be at another club. Like Miller he is on a hefty slice, more than many team mates and the fact he has done next to nothing to justify these wages, which have so well funded Vue and Showcase cinemas it seems. He gets a lot of abuse, probably unwarranted, he’s just doing his job, it’s just he’s so bad at it, falling over continually, seemingly unaware of the big net thing at the far end of the pitch. Most fans have been lost in terms of him, it would take an amazing turn in form for the fans to take him to heart, and the majority of McClaren signings are like this. Regarded with complete indifference, because frankly they have all failed. Derbyshire’s record in the past is mixed at best anyway, and it seems he isn’t quite in love with this club, always on twitter about Blackburn or Olympiakos, and seemingly on match days when Forest are on twittering about whatever else he is getting up to. The problem is on his wages he will be difficult to unload, either on loan or permanently.

Robbie Findley
All pace and no end product. He has scored a few goals admittedly, often in cups versus lower league opposition. His most famous achievement with Forest is missing from2 yards with an open goal. A clearing off the line any defender would be proud of, he was trying to score. Also for spending his first few months with the club permanently injured. I’m not sure he is as fast as people said he was, He doesn’t seem as fast as Tyson say for instance, and at least Tyson had a powerful shot, Findley doesn’t seem to have this. He also seems very much a confidence striker, which when you’re in and out the team is hard to for you build that. MLS fans on 24-7’s forums’ warned us he wasn’t that good. A warning that seems to have come true. It might be worth moving him on or loaning him to a League One level side. Or Barnsley, because they take practically anyone on, especially when foreign.

Marcus Tudgay
As I said last week he seems to have been bookmarked as Blackstock's back up for a target man to hold the ball up who can also finish well. Just as I thought his time would be up he looked good against Villa. The thing I’m not sure he is top Championship striker, he’s perfectly reasonable for some teams, but not if you want promotion as he can drift out of games. That said he has scored some very important and good quality goals in his couple of years at the club. Plus it’s always nice to have ex Derby players who have a bait of scoring against them. I see him as having a limited future; maybe see his contract out as a fringe squad player.

David McGoldrick
You don’t get nicknamed McGoaldrought for nothing. I genuinely would be elated to see the back of him as I can’t help thinking he must demotivated. He scored goals before us, but something is holding him back, as whenever he plays for us he is mostly anonymous. Occasionally a good game marks people saying he’s turned the corner only to not hear his name again for weeks on end. Needs to move on quickly, like Garner did once he was out the loop.

5 Games Without a Goal

The 0-0 against Bristol City may have at the end of the day ended our losing run; however it now stretches to 5 games now we haven’t scored. 450 minutes. 7 and a half hours. That’s quite a record in its own right.

Now of course in that time there have been some baffling saves, and goal line clearences, but they happen all the time. The truth is we are completely misfiring in front of goal and that is beginning to get extremely costly.

Obviously Dexter Blackstock is somewhat above blame, he’s barely played in the run and has been out for a year. Miller got injured during the run. Tudgay remains goalless, and Findley only played half the run. The midfield hasnt weighed in with goals, and so far this season, save for Lynch’s strike v Ipswich the defence has barely contributed goal wise, which after the exploits in previous seasons of Chambers goal scoring runs adds up.

1 or 2 goals here or there in this run would have given us at least 4 extra points. That'd see us a few places further up the table (Around the same stage as Derby) Not that scoring in any of those goals would have resulted in points, it’s a churlish argument, but the fact remains, we need goals. Goals win games. And therefore points. And we need that quickly.

So what we need is a goal scorer. Tudgay has never really been prolific. Miller has been frustrating with injuries. Derbyshire has barely had a run and scored goals before, but when he has played he has looked so lightweight.

So do we need yet another striker? It’s the one position we don’t have dearth of players. It's just the ones we do have arent firing. So it’s easy to suggest shipping a couple out to bring some more in. I've argued before about taking a Premiership youngster on loan to give them a no pressure go. We aren’t in a position to snap up a lower youngster, we can’t pay much in fee's to bring anyone in. One of two people I know suggested Patrick Bamford from the youngsters has been fairly consistent scoring there, but I’m not sure trying someone completely untried at professional level would work.

But is it a case of not the right service to score the goals. You can have the best strikers in the world but with no service it’s not going to result in much. McCleary looked creative against Palace, but in other games there was not a lot of production in the midfield to make chances for strikers to prove themselves. We no longer have an Earnshaw esque striker who creates something out of nothing at times, so we need that service from midfield. Cohen’s delivery may be missing there and his drive and determination. We don't have a box to box midfielder right now. McGugan and Majewski don; drive into the box enough. So I'd argue he is a huge miss in the build up of goals as his runs distracted defenders from the attacker.

It is extremly frustrating and need remedying. If there was an easy answer, we'd be scoring. If it was easy we'd all be managers. Let’s just hope Cotterill gets them firing.

Findley In Line to Start Forest Career

Robbie Findley could be unleashed tomorrow by the Reds as anew secret weapon. The pacey American has been injured since signing for the club, but not the relatively unknown quantity might be ready to at least be on the bench for Reds.

Reds fans might finally get to see what their new man is all about. Until now allwehave had were Youtube videos and memories of him destroying Carragher against England in the World Cup for the United States.

In other team news Kris Boyd may well have shrugged the injury off he sustained against Norwich, but Lynch still looks set to miss out, and couple with with Koncheky's suspension. This will see defensive reshuffles for the Reds, with the likeliest set up being Gunter at left back and Moloney at right back. Cohen is also a possibility at left back with his return from his suspension.

So Forest only have one or two people missing out, for a change we are looking fairly strong. Lets hope it results in victory

Injuries to Findley and Moussi

Following Moussi's injury last night (match report to follow)comes the news that new signing Robbie Findley pulled up in training with a thigh injury.
Findley has not played in some time since leaving Salt Lake City, so it suggests he may have been working too hard in training to catch up with the rest.
Moussi picked up his injury as he set up Earnshaw to score. He carried on despite pulling up and set up the goal before going off.
Both will undergo scans later this week to ascertain the full extent of their injuries.

End of Transfer Window Summary

So the window has finally slammed shut on a day that has seen some clubs pay absolutely ridiculous money for certain players - we all know which one in particular I mean.

From a Forest perspective, none of the rumours for players like Martyn Woolford and Gabriel Obertan came to fruition and we end the window with three fantastic signings in Paul Konchesky, Marcus Tudgay and Robbie Findley.

Outgoings have seen Matt Thornhill join Hibernian on a free and Joe Garner sign for Scunthorpe on a loan deal until the end of the season.

To conclude, I'm absolutely delighted with the business we've done in this transfer window. With promotion rivals like QPR and Cardiff all strengthening, it's refreshing to see we're following suit and are definitely prepared to go for one big final push between now and May - which could be argued was our downfall last season.

The likes of Konchesky and Tudgay will offer a wealth of Premiership and Championship experience, respectively, to our relatively young team. In Tudgay's case, he's already showing the impact he can bring to our team with his incredible contribution to games so far. Konchesky on the other hand, can be considered the final piece of our left hand side problems. His excellent attacking and strength attributes will hopefully make him the best left back in the league - and make our defence completely watertight.

As for Findley, he has it all to do but with the guidance of Davies - there is no reason why he won't succeed. The pacey striker and winger needs to adapt to the more competitive and fast nature of the Championship inside his first few months, as well as settle down to life in Nottingham. He could be a slow burner like Stern John originally was or make an immediate impact like Ben Olson did. Either way, I'm sure he is in for a successful time at Forest and we all wish him and every other newcomer a warm City Ground welcome.

As for Thornhill and Garner, their moves are definitely best for both parties.

Thornhill had always had that bit of promise about him but with Raddy, McGugan, Cohen, Moussi and McKenna all in front of him, a serious injury crisis would have been needed for him to make his big breakthrough. He now get's the chance to link up again with Colin Calderwood, who thought very highly of him at the City Ground.

Garner's short term departure to Scunny presents Joe with the chance to prove Forest and any potential suitors that is good enough for this league - especially after his disappointing loan spell at Huddersfield.

We both Joe and Matt all the best.

Some breaking news from an Obertan perspective. Reports are suggesting he has handed in a transfer request at Old Trafford - which has unsurprisingly stunned the club. It is rumoured he is looking for a move back home to France in the Summer - could a loan move to Forest be a short term fix?

But all in all, a highly successful transfer window and excellent work from both Billy and the transfer panel. Dare I say we have a squad that could maybe get us over the finishing line in May.

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