Settled Midfield Reaps Benefits

At the start of this season we signed a glut of midfielders. Considering we were already quite blessed in this position it seemed a strange one. Already in possession of Majewski, McGugan, Moussi, Greening, Reid and Cohen in the midfield we added Gillett, Coppinger, Lansbury, Guedioura, and since the summer McLaughlin.

Lansbury has been able to settle in team under Davies

It led some wags to choose a XI of just midfielders. But what it also led to was a lot of chopping and changing, some of it enforced, some of it for the sake of it to use them all. This led to a very unbalanced side and players badly out of form. Guedioura looked a shell of the player he was last year, Lansbury never settled, McGugan and Majewski seemed peripheral and unneeded.

Fast forward to now and a lots changed there. Instead of the tinkering, there is consistency, and as a result the team is winning.

We started the season with an element of consistency. The same midfield 4 was frequently used right up till we lost a couple against Leeds and some lot called Derby. We went with Gillett, Guedioura, McGugan and Reid. This consistency as I say was partially enforced, Lansbury and Cohen both injured at this stage. The last game of this run of the midfield saw Guedioura get sent off against Palace and so the chopping and changing began, and the form faltered.

If you look from the end of November up to and including the Watford game, a run which many wanted SoD to be sacked during, the form was inconsistent, with horrible defeats, but also quite good results it would look now (0-0 at Brighton doesn’t look bad) Gillett started in that run, but didn’t finish, Moussi taking over, Guedioura and Cohen were used in a majority of games but would be dropped (and sometimes bought on at half time) and Lansbury and McGugan switched in and out the team. Coppinger played a couple of times. In fact the prevalence of early substitutions does smack a little of a manager trying to tinker to get things right, and although now we look fondly back at O’Driscoll period on charge, there were glaring inconsistencies. I for one think we would have got it right, but it was a case of trying to juggle too many balls.

Radi blossoming in new role

The problem is there no –one gets a consistent run of form and it told. When McLeish came in he had a midfield which was largely out of form, he didn’t know his best side, and besides, a midfield is superfluous in a McLeish team as the ball gets humped over them (I again implore you to seek out Aliaksander Hleb’s quotes on this from his spell at Birmingham)

So how was it Billy was instantly able to galvanise this midfield into one that is a constant, in form, and above all free scoring. Well he seemed to decide on a different set of personnel and although in the familiar 1-3 layout, with one deep the other attacking, gave a certain artistic license to Majewski, who revels in such a role. Lansbury gets to be the box to box midfielder, and Guedioura gets treated more a quarter back to control the play. Gillett played this role before but with the quarter back element. Instead of long balls forward, he was more like a rugby scrum half, getting the ball and passing sideways. Guedioura's range of passing far outstrips Gillett’s, and though both don’t shirk the physical side of the game, Guedi is bigger and stronger, and can shrug off challenges.

We have also now settled on a formation. O’Driscoll by and large used the 4-1-3-2 at home but was prone to adjusting to a 4-2-3-1 formation, which didn’t work. Indeed when we altered to this against Wolves for a while we struggled to control the game. The sole forward with less support struggles to maintain possession. Additionally, having the 2 men sitting deeper means we don’t attack in the same force. I am also acutely aware I supported this formation saying many modern teams play it. They do, but that’s in the Premier League.

Whether it was a case of SoD trying to keep people fresh, and that he did have knocks to contend with we will never properly know. But we were doing better before he kept trying to adjust the midfield, and the formation. Billy has faithfully stuck to his 4-1-3-2 and it’s paying dividends. He hasn’t tried to evolve the game to involve more width; he sees what we have and is making the best of it. Players like greening and Moussi are kept involved, but are not integral. The only usual change is to see McGugan come into the fray for whoever looks like they need removing. And he is a great foil to be able to bring on.

I guess the challenge becomes when a result or two goes against us, and maybe then chopping and changing might be seen. When you’re in a great run you don’t makes too many changes, except in our case when the strikers just aren’t firing. I keep seeing people suggest involving more width, or that we should change the structure, but why the hell do anything when the team doesn’t changing? People seem to want to tinker for the sake of it, and what we illustrated above shows that doesn’t work. I think as said before that too many people play Football Manager and think because what happens in a fictional cyber world will play out exactly in reality. It doesn’t work like that.

It’d be interesting to see what happens if Guedioura got injured, would Davies favour this system with either Moussi or Gillett, would he reshuffle to a 4-4-2, a flatter formation with Reid wide or Lansbury on the right? All conjecture. Why change what’s working unless we have to? Consistency. It is the watchword of the day for me, and it shows how obviously it is needed.

Guedi the new DM

What a Difference a Day Makes.

Where to Start


It was wisely once sung in a song “What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours” and nothing can be truer here. This time yesterday there was optimism. There was hope. There was a general good feeling about what would unfold. We were in for 3-4 players, and yeah maybe we wouldn’t get them all, but we’d have a good go.

Well, how did that go eh? Not very well at all might be an understatement.

It’s interesting that for a guy who barely played for the club that George Boyd has had such an impact. This has mainly been off the field. A key wedge between board and Davies was the type of signing Boyd represented. Signings being foisted upon him. Now he has an impact in a way I don’t think many of us could have foreseen.

The question of his eyesight is neither here or there. It’s ridiculous that we’d question his eyesight as a factor. He clearly has been fine thus far in his career, and save for an impending meltdown in his eyes then I can’t see it being a huge factor. But a huge new wedge between a new board and a new manager has been slammed into place.

What is apparent is that this whole sorry charade of Boyd’s eye sight is a smoke screen for the real element of what the club were trying. What that is remains to be seen (no pun intended, or maybe just a little bit)

So you ask, what is that? What is it that you think Fawaz and co were trying to do? I have my theories. There are 3 I have in mind, which vary in possibility. The one I favour is that we used it as a way to try and negotiate out of the deal and into a loan, for cheaper, and then as he’s out of contract we could get him for free. Strong-arm Peterborough into a deal they didn’t want, but felt they had no choice to do. He was already sat there, so surely just surely Peterborough would roll over and let us have him. Well no, there’s one thing about Darragh McAnthoney and that is he is strong willed.

But maybe that’s not the case, and I don’t like blind conjecture without looking at a bigger picture. So what else could it be? My second theory is that Fawaz was reluctant on this deal. Maybe he has an advisor or someone he turns to, and this person was a bit unsure about Boyd. That or the avalanche of tweets at hm when this was rumoured saying don’t sign him (ironically considering the current avalanche of tweets now we haven’t) The first hint of being able to get out the deal with a decent explanation to McLeish about why his target hasn’t been signed, and they took it.

Or finally, maybe they simply have something else, though admitted a free transfer or a loan lined up and pulled the plug with a lame excuse.

Because it is clearly a lame excuse to get out the deal, and that’s what’s annoying. We haven’t been told the truth, and the board have made an almost comical excuse to get out of this. I just worry there is more comical excuses where that came from. Maybe in Kuwait they could get away with this but in England the fans are a different animal.

Now the whole has McLeish walked question is something I’m going to wait and see the fallout from. I suspect not. I suspect he was angry, but will carry on in his post.

It will have made McLeish question why he has took the job, almost seemingly a bit like McClaren in his era. A signing he wanted, not made, and the house of cards tumbles down.

However it’s not a good time to be a Forest fan. The infighting with fans and the now quite open questioning of high up decisions is not good. I’m not saying we shouldn’t question them, but like with Doughty after awhile, it means everything they do gets questioned. Because of a few errors, it all falls under the microscope. Every decision Fawaz makes or tweets, fans will be immediately seeing and fearing the worst.

The timing of everything has been off. Since Fawaz took over it’s been frankly a shambles. It seems under Omar we had stability and progress and since Fawaz came in, it's been turmoil, strife and embarrassment. Had we made the three dismissals of Burt, Clark and Arthur when they took over, no-one would have batted an eye lid. But the timing was wrong. The timing of SoD’s dismissal after a glorious win was wrong. 2 weeks earlier and maybe people would have been a little more understanding. And now this. A lot of people had been against the Boyd signing anyway, so seeing the same people now vociferously tweeting Fawaz is odd, but also it’s because we had been led to believe signings were coming. We were promised signings, surprises and all that. #Surprise might be the new “we’re serious promotion” tag line. Something to use against them.

Had we said no there will be no more signings then maybe we’d have not been angry? But it’s the whole being misled thing that bothers most if feel.

Turbulent times ahead. Be interesting to see what Fawaz has to say.

Feeling a Little Disillusioned

This was a post made forum user Mr Geo Challenge that I have decided to transfer into a article, I do stress this was written last week, so may have been completely negative had it been written today.

Similarly if you ever feel like venting your spleen,come on over to the forum at http://www.soccer24-7.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=80 and post away, we regularly use forum users are guest columnists on here.

Had to come out of forum retirement because this is something increasingly troublesome to me. I will add this will possibly sound more gloomy than I usually feel...

My mind has been parked (poorly) in a paradoxical cul-de-sac of hope and frustration since the new owners arrival. I'm desperate to see Forest actually have some success after seemingly cursing the club with my presence, yet I always thought there was something special about Forest. We were different in my eyes, and not just in a garibaldi-tinted glasses way. Forest always (usually) did things right, we were the good guys, we had a bias for local players, we didn't just chuck stupid money at players that didn't care about the club, when we owed money we didn't just do a Leicester or Portsmouth - we sold our valuables to pay. We tried to develop out own - even under Doughty's failed regime we knew where we were - we had a plan for long term stability with the undeniable good of the club in mind.

This isn't an attack on our new owners because without them we'd be dead as that fish, however I cannot help feeling disillusioned at what I can't help suspect is happening. In sacking the slow and steady O'Driscoll they have blown away all pretence of carefully building - these guys want the Premiership as soon as possible. One point off the playoffs wasn't enough. They needed immediate success. Why?

The cynical demon perched on my shoulder is whispering that they're impatient at best, and at worst they only want our club for their own means - as a showpiece. Are they only interested in Forest in order to bask in the glory of their plaything? And what if their new toy dosen't provide what they wanted? How patient are they willing to be? What has their track record in patience been so far?

I dismiss the above fears - I've no choice, they're unthinkable.

However there's another, almost as equally ugly demon on the other shoulder querying the direction in which Forest are being steered. O'Driscoll was clearly building for the future, he was level headed, transparent with the fans when they disagreed yet steadfast in his decisions, I was frustrated with some of his tactics but he clearly wanted us to play proper football - he was sculpting a vision. He was slowly and steadily moving us forward and building for the future.

Slowly and steadily isn't good enough for our owners though. They wanted better, quicker, and they sacked him, bringing in a new manager not as known for good football, a manager less inclined for transparency (see the "ill" Hutton whose position he didn't think needed wasting on a loan... ah wait... hello Mr Jara), a manager with absolutely no contractual reason to build for the future, in short a manager that will turn us into just another success-hungry (now!!!) football club.

Maybe it's a natural aversion to change, but my fear is turning up to the City Ground in a years time to watch eleven grossly overpaid mercenaries hoofing the ball and cheating their way to mediocrity. I fear us gambling like all the other financially turgid clubs looking for immediate success - it doesn't work and it promotes the erosion of the club's character.

I don't want to watch another Wigan. I want Forest to be something special - I want us to do things different, properly. I want to see us building for the future, playing attractive football, developing out own product and competitive in the Premiership (and inevitably the Championship).

I support our new owners, and even our new manager, however I also fear we're merely chucking 10p in the slot-machine on the off-chance of making a pound.

Derby Day Positives

Well, we didn’t win and so Derby still have the Brian Clough trophy, and a certain amount of bragging rights because it has been 2 years since we beat them. But all that said there are more positives to take from this game.


After the shaky start to McLeish tenure, and when arguably the team was more in SoD’s guise than his own, we struggled, and to be fair, as much as I defend SoD, there were times we lacked steel and the team looked idealess. With McLeish there does seem to be a bit more a mindset that if Plan A doesn’t work, there has at least been a Plan B discussed. Under SoD there never seemed that idea.

So anyway, there are negatives of course as well, we did draw after all, so it’ can’t all be plain sailing. There is of course the fact Gillett got dispossessed by Sammon, and although many demonised Gillett for that error, which happens all the time all over the field, it resulted in a goal. It’s easy to blame Gillett, he plays that role that always seems vilified by Forest fans, and when he makes a mistake it usually results in an attack. What is to forget is the fact there was still a lot to happen to result in a goal, the way the defence stood off and allowed a fairly immobile back man to waltz through, and for Ward to get space and score. So there were other elements to blame, though maybe not directly.

One thing that greatly worried my friend was the use of Darlow in goal, maybe harking back to the days of Barry Roche. He was worried that should he make an error and generally concede a lot of goals that he would in turn see his fledgling confidence shot to pieces and generally destroy his Forest career before it really began. We needn’t have worried, and although yes he didn’t have lots to do, generally what he did have to do he got right, tipping shots over the bar and kicking well, for me its kicking where you can a lack of confidence in a keeper, slicing ball generally indicates he isn’t getting IT right. Darlow had no such worries. And now the Post this Morning carries a headline saying he could be the keeper for years.

On a personal front, and I always do enjoy the more unusual aspect was the ironic jeers you can hear on replays when Cohen misjudges his first shot and slices it. Those ironic jeers all the more funny as they are soon replaced by Forest fans cheering as Cohen tucks it away at the second time of asking. No more than a good stalwart like Cohen deserves, especially with the role this fixture has played in his recent career.

For me Lansbury was good too, showing why he was rated. I have said he needs a run of games in the team, and for me he can be a more mobile form of Reid. His passing is finding its range. He takes a better corner than Majewski, McGugan or any of the other the usual suspects. Bodes well for the ex-Arsenal man.

Another pleasing aspect was the complete anonymity of Will Hughes, the great white hope of Derby, the “albino” as a few have tagged him was largely a passenger in the team, not showing any sense in the rumours of a “dossier” held on him.

Jara continues to impress at right back, and that looks like an astute addition. So much for the moron element on Twitter decrying his signing with “who?” He has been a breath of fresh air at right back.

However all these positives, I was informed by some friends, who are Derby fans that there was unsavoury element, with Greg Halford apparently having spat towards Derby fans. I can’t comment on the element of truth, but will say they aren’t the people who usually lie. A shame if it was true.

But a game we could easily have won, whether it’s Cox shot being 2 inches lower. Sharps last kick of the game that went in (though I don’t hold any doubt that derby had stopped, ergo, potentially making it that it wouldn’t have gone in) More so in the fact we didn’t crumble when conceding, but buckled down and took control of the game again. Even making really attacking changes late on, McLeish noting the importance of wins against your nearest and dearest and going for the jugular which was pleasing, he knows from Rangers days that winning such a game can rally fans and players, and unify them into a run of games. Fair play to him for that.

Had we lost, there may have been unneeded focus on the sackings last week, or a general negative feeling around the club. A commendable draw changes that, and moves us on to a very tricky but winnable game against Watford. It will be a challenge; they are a good side, but then so are we. Game On!

A Call For Calm

Things have been getting a bit heated and silly this last couple of days. People making all kinds of self imposed ultimatums that we must do this and that or McLeish needs to go. You don’t get to make that decision. And to be honest that isn’t going to happen. Barring complete collapse he’ll be here till at least the end of the season and as much as many (me included) weren’t happy with his appointment, we need to move beyond it, because a poisonous angry atmosphere helps no-one.


Now I know how people will react. There will be two camps. Those who applaud the sentiment and those who don’t care and to be honest I’m not out to specifically change people’s minds, but just appeal to reason.

Yes the Cup defeat was shockingly poor. Oldham aren’t exactly on form, aren’t exactly setting the world alight. And only really needed to turn up for less than 10 minutes to completely blow us away. It hurts, but really? What cup success could we expect? A cup run is nice, but this now stops any fixture congestion which can hamper promotion campaigns.

And that looks a beautiful notion right now, a promotion campaign; many are suggesting right now that we are more likely to be embroiled in a relegation dog fight. This is a good old knee jerk reaction you see on twitter and Facebook.

A great many people I saw suggest they liked this appointment are now completely flip flapping. Some of them even went as far as when O’Driscoll was sacked to support it. Yes they somewhat have egg on their faces, but we have only played a few games under McLeish.

For some to be saying if we fail to beat Peterborough and Derby then he HAS to go. That isn’t going to happen. And neither do we want to be a club who brandish the axe so readily. It hardly invites a decent calibre of applicant for next time if we are seen to be completely impatient with managers. Furthermore McLeish was clearly the man they always wanted and once he was ready, O’Driscoll was the fall guy. It was just timed badly. When it was said they approached the layers about who they wanted, it was clearly a move to bring in an intermediary, an Interim boss till someone they felt more suited for the al-Hasawi tastes wanted the job.

Don’t get me wrong, this has all left a sour taste in my mouth and I do feel sorry for Sean. His reputation has if anything potentially been enhanced this whole sorry episode to the point he turned down the Barnsley job yesterday. He was also strongly linked with Wolves too. And it’s on this note I address my next point.

Wolves appointment of Dean Saunders speaks volumes to me about certain ex Forest boss. Billy Davies. Now for me maybe Wolves would have been a perfect fit for Billy, so why not even mentioned or linked? It seems to me his name has been poisoned and muddied by his boardroom shenanigans and wars with owners. For this point it seems no one wants to take that risk on him. So when people keep going on about Bringing Billy Back, this to me speaks louder than words. If he is so wonderful... Why has no-one else taken him on?

A lot of people have also been sending, if not abusive, then questionable Tweets towards Fawaz al-Hasawi, I feel if things don’t improve this will in increase in number and volatility. It really isn’t going to help the cause and I get people are frustrate d and angry, but you really think this will create a strong bond? Remember, we were in such parlous financial health we could well having done a Portsmouth if it hadn’t been for them. And people are getting angry? It’s ridiculous. I saw one guy tweet at Fawaz son, that he had a feeling the family were going to destroy Forest and do more harm than good. Really what good is it to be texting the son of our owner something like that? Where in anyone’s psyche does that seem a good idea? Because I’ve seen it before with people tweeting Michael Doughty about his father, and we all know what that brought about.

I think it’s a problem of the age we live in whereby the people who make decisions are available in ways we never saw before, and people seem to think they these people are instantly answerable to them. They aren’t of course. We are merely customers of a particular brand in a market at the end of the day, and although the average football fan, me included, feels more than that, in a truly economic sense that’s all we are. Do I feel Amazon, or Fosters directors should be answerable to me on social media because I don’t like their decisions? It is over simplifying matters but it is the basic crux of it.

I didn’t agree with the appointment of McLeish but neither do I agree with the acidic hate campaign being led against his regime already. As many other shave pointed out Davies wasn’t’ a popular choice amongst fans at the time, so in essence we need to give anyone a chance. I worry when people seemingly want their club to fail just because they don’t like someone involved. I sit near a fairly volatile character in the Trent End who I have mentioned before; I genuinely question why he goes to games as he seems to garner no enjoyment from the experience even when we play well. Something like this atmosphere is festered by these characters. Those who think because they shout loudest their opinion is worth more. He reacts angrily when some other people who sit adjacent to me tell him to stop moaning and support the team, complaining I pay my wages to come here. No-one forces you though. We need to escape this negative mindset that for some reason we can spout what we want, when we want, how we want and to whom we want. Yes you can, but is it right? No. And that’s my point. It’s only going to exacerbate problems.

Keep Calm and Carry On Supporting Forest

Many of you from Twitter and Facebook and the forums have been like myself, angry and can’t understand the reasons for O’Driscolls dismissal, but then even more angry about appointing a manager that many including myself perceive as negative. Had we replaced O’Driscoll with a big named manager, or someone with excellent pedigree we may have understood.


With an extra day to think about this, and I needed to get down my feelings yesterday as they were raw and fresh, I am not as angry as what I was.

For two main reasons. Firstly the realisation that this has happened and nothing can be done about it by me directly. So essentially it becomes a case of get on with it, accept it. Make the best. I may not be happy, and feel the shabby way Sean was treated makes me feel less happy about my club. But there is nothing I can do to change this. Hence the Carry on supporting Forest section of the headline. What will be key for the players at this stage will be the support of the fans.

In terms of keep clam, well that’s just what I mean. Getting irate and tweeting at Fawaz about this appointment isn’t going to help. On Boxing Day night, me like many replied to Fawaz’s tweet about sacking O’Driscoll unhappily. It is the first time I have ever done such a thing, as usually I cringe at those tweeting Fawaz, but I was moved to make my opinion known.

McLeish is our manager now whether you like it or not, and so we have to move on and get behind them. Carrying on some campaign to undermine him and the team will not help whatsoever. It will hinder the progress of the team.

It is also a clear marker that the goalposts have been moved on expectation. Promotion is wanted this year. Clearly the al-Hasawi family believe O’Driscoll wasn’t going to deliver. I am certain the remit given to McLeish is getting us up. And so they have employed a man who has done exactly that before. So in that essence it’s easy to see why he was chosen.

Other managers who have gotten teams promoted are either employed elsewhere or fell back off the popular bandwagon long ago. Names like Phil Brown, Paul Jewell, and Owen Coyle have all had their stars dimmed by subsequent performance.

And to be honest would we rather be Stoke, or would we rather be a well regarded by perennial also rans in the Championships. Ok they don’t play pretty football, but they are being successful.

What does irk me is that one critique of O’Driscoll was his tendency to be conservative with team set ups, and this is something McLeish has done before. As others has said if it gets results so what? Well true in part, but when we just scored 4 goals at home and looked unstoppable in an attacking context and you bring in a man known for defensive rigidity, its nice going from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Maybe McLeish will temper his usual style. Maybe his time off has changed his mind set. Let’s be honest the defence does need work, so good in that regard. But what it may well reign in is our midfield flowing play.

A lot of people worry it may change Billy Sharps mind about his time here. That might well be, but it’s a lot of the rapport with fans that Billy has as much as anything.

I have probably merely echoed a lot of what I said last night, but I think some of those points need reiterating. We may well be angry and up in arms. But we also need to move on with this sorry debacle, and see if there can be good that comes from it. Money may well be spent in January, and maybe McLeish will build on the foundations laid. There’s a lot of expectation going to come now. We made this change to get promotion. If we don’t go up, then and only then can we really openly question this decision. If it gets us up, then it might have been a right decision.

I called Huddersfield into question when they sacked Clark last year, but Huddersfield gets promoted. They made a right call that too many looked like it was questionable. Sometimes hard and unpopular decisions need to be taken. Perhaps this was one.

O'Driscoll Out, McLeish Comes In

So around this time yesterday I found out the news about O'Driscoll being removed from the manager’s role. I was in the pub, at the time and to be honest most people, who I was with, fans of different clubs, simply couldn't understand why we had made this decision.

But we had. We really had just sacked our manager after a glorious win over Leeds. Ok now in the previous games things hadn’t gone right, but it looked to me at the time they had someone clearly lined up. And the speed we have got to this point suggests to me this was all in place.

It is a great shame,I had a lot of time for O'Driscoll and what he was trying to do. The football was good, the players seemed to like him and everything seemed to be moving in the right direction. Now that direction has changed

So Alex McLeish, Big Eck, is our manager.

Let’s look at the positives. He has succeeded at this level with Birmingham before. He won many trophies with Rangers, and has top flight, European and International managing pedigree.

That said he does play extremely agricultural football, took Birmingham down twice and narrowly missed relegation whilst at Villa. There are some extremely bad signings he has made in the past, but then every manager has that.

It's the quality of football for some that will be the issue. He plays a more pragmatic game rather than O'Driscoll's fluid football approach. The more direct approach of course as we all know is not what we ideally like to see at City Ground, more so because of the blessed Brian Clough years. When we have tried to play a direct game in the past we don’t succeed. Whether this is because we never take to the manager or whether it’s simply we haven’t had a decent manager for that game isn't even for debate. Cotterill & Kinnear will not be on any City Ground hall of fame.

McLeish sets teams up to not lose, which is a critique some had of SoD in his few games we played 1 up front. McLeish sides don’t score many goals. Both his Birmingham and Villa teams were fairly goal shy in the last few seasons, so this doesn’t' exist excite me.

Couple the lack of goals, and the direct football it doesn't bode well for an instant rapport with fans. There have been people already bemoaning the appointment and even some on Twitter trying to start a virtual lynch mob with the aim of forcing him out as soon as possible. Now that is just silly and being very anti the club. I don’t approve of the last 24 hours or so at our club, but I will get behind them as I do every Saturday. In 2 or 3 weeks when this has all blown over I guess not too many will be fussed if we start with wins. Furthermore at the end of the day none of us really have a say. the al-Hasawi's for whatever reasons have decided this is what needed to happen and that they hopefully know what they are doing., 

That said this move worries me that we may have owners who are too trigger happy. It speaks volumes that most fans have been in complete surprise and even anger at this.

But I think what we really do is dust ourselves off and move on for the good of the team. Dwelling on the dismissal and bringing a negative force to the ground won’t do anyone any good. 

SOD Leaves

In the past few minutes, Forest have announced Sean O'Driscoll has left his post as manager of the club.

The Fawaz Al-Hasawi has released the following statement:

"We cannot speak highly enough of Sean as a man. He was appointed at an extremely difficult time for the Club and can count himself unlucky to have lost his job with the team just one point away from the top six.

“But we have a responsibility to look to the future for this great Club because we have huge ambitions for it.

“We knew when we bought the Club in the summer that it would take time for the players we bought in to settle but that process has taken longer than we anticipated.

“We feel we have developed a really strong squad of players but are still searching for consistency in terms of team performance, underlined by the fact that we have not won more than two games in succession in the Championship this season.

“And with the January transfer window approaching, we feel it’s the right time to make a change.

“We are looking to bring in an ambitious manager with Premier League experience.”

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres
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The Ghost of Billy Davies

His name has once again appeared from nowhere following the shocking run of two games (note a heavily sarcastic lilt to this, I do not think it is shocking) without a win, coming 7 days after the best win of the season which had us all but promoted in these same fans eyes.

And now, and I trust it is down to Matchtalk last night which due to tech issues I was unable to listen to, that the usual array of nutjobs, cranks and attention seekers all called for Davies to be back. I entirely presume this from what I saw on both Facebook and Twitter using the usual refrain of we want our Billy back.

I even saw someone suggest the vast majority want him back in tweeting at Fawaz, although luckily, summarising these types intelligence it was a to a fake account (bravo)

I’m not one for questioning various people’s intellects and whatnot, but the majority (to use their vast sweeping statements they use too) are invariably people who don’t have the first fucking clue about this game. They just see he had success, and that this must mean he would again.

There is one reason I would ever want Davies back and that would be closure. Just as if he messed it up and failed you could finally put these to bed, and if he is the great prodigal son coming back to glory, then fine, we succeed. What I would expect is to be EXACTLY IN THE SAME POSITION WE ARE NOW. (Caps intended)

If Davies was in charge right now, in the top half a few points off the playoffs, would these same people be calling him into question the same way they do with SoD? Of course not.

I don’t even understand why I have to keep writing these pieces that explore a crisis that in my eyes doesn’t exist, doesn’t exist in the al-Hasawi’s eyes, not in the player’s eyes and in Sod’s eyes. But because some people aren’t happy unless we are 12 points clear at the top, here we are again, with people wanting to change a manager that hasn’t really failed. Yeah I agree we’ve hardly set the world alight. But we had no players in August, bar a few that mis-fired last season.

Frank Clark is lauded as a hero for what he did that team he took up struggled through the first few months. Because it was a new team that had been melded together with many new stars.

If you were to bring in Davies, who people proclaim to be the master and wouldn’t make the apparently questionable signings SoD has (I disagree entirely here by the way) can I remind you this is the man who signed McGoldrick and Adebola, and in the loan market saddled us with the expensive Konchesky and Boyd who were much maligned? Or are we just glossing over these facts. Under Davies we invariably limped through the first few months of seasons before cresting around now on a decent run leading to a late January slump.

Case in point is the same guy I referenced in a blog the other day. A guy I work with who goes to a handful of games at best and doesn’t listen to game. He wants Davies back. People cite the West Broom game time and time again about how good it was. One game. One game. Shall we over look how he ballsed up the playoff twice, made questionable selection decisions, (sound familiar) and kept choosing a defensive midfielder people didn’t like because they frankly don’t understand a defensive midfielder that doesn’t charge round like a headless chicken like Evans or Moussi ever did. I.e. they only understand all out attack, which just doesn’t work. They don’t understand the nuanced art of tactics.

SoD got critiqued for choosing one up front against Hull. It wasn’t one up front in the strictest sense, as the midfield was structured for players to get forward, it was meant to see Coppinger and Reid wide, but because they lack pace they couldn’t support like a McCleary could. Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, West Brom, Newcastle, Arsenal have used one up front this season. At home. But no, this point completely underlines the mentality that some fans just won’t accept O’Driscoll because they wanted Davies back.

In their heads he was only got rid of because he fell out with Doughty, Burt and Arthur. Arthur by the way whose name I haven’t heard uttered once with contempt this year yet he’s doing the same job.

The main point I will always make is this. If Davies is so damn good why hasn’t he got another job yet? And let’s remember he was openly touting himself round for jobs with Forest too. If SoD did that these same fans would be on the net teeth gnashing faster than anything fast you care to mention. Davies is poison. He constantly bickers and moans and undermines the squad. Always saying we need this that and the other, commuting from Scotland. Davies didn’t like board interference and wanted control. The al-Hasawis are not fully hands off. They have advisers, Dr Tarek for one, and have signed players that the manager didn’t request in Jenas. He wouldn’t function well under this, would we recreate the us v them mentality again?

People say with SoD we have the small club mentality but more me small club mentality is to constantly look back and not forward. Davies is the past; he’s in the rear view mirror. Forget him. You undermine the current regime by mentioning him. This will only go away through success so get BEHIND the team. Push them forward.

Jenas Loan Not Sean's Choice.

The gossip this week and news that many were discussing over pints before and after the game this Saturday as well as the game was what exactly is happening with Jermaine Jenas.


Jenas is well known for his problems with fitness these days so seeing him out the match day squad wasn’t exactly a surprise, but you’d think that a player of his ilk would surely walk into the squad.

Perhaps not. We all know the intricate game of politics that is often played at football clubs all too well, after all Billy Davies was our manager and everything was about politics with him.

It turns out that Jenas wasn’t signed by SoD, and that the al-Hasawi’s decided go out and get a big marquee signing to signify our intent. This is hardly a shock, nor does it overly worry me when you consider that they had a stated intent to bring in Kuwaiti players, we all know that this means they do have intentions to go out and get players that might not be in the managers mind. And as I say, when it’s a Premier League quality player who has played a number of times for England even better.

But, and there is always a but, they did say that ultimately the manager would have final say over any signings. This clearly hasn’t been the case here. Now it doesn’t look like they are going to interfere in team selection issues, and thus far I can have absolutely no complaints about the reign of the al-Hasawi family.

But it does sit there as a nagging doubt when you hear about something like this. It’ can’t make for great morale, when you have someone going out and signing a player above your head. I have no doubts that SoD knew that these types of occurrences could happen, and therefore won’t be a huge shock.

And these things happen all the time in football. Managers have players signed for them, but who didn’t want that player. . Look at the likes of Chelsea who have had success. Those players though that are seen by new regimes as huge new marquee signings often don’t work out. Look at Leicester’s policy last year, and the signing of Shevchenko at Chelsea is perhaps the most famous example. Trophy signings. Not that I am saying Jenas is a trophy signing alone, no doubt it was as I said before a signal of intent, telling everyone we have arrived. In a way that Bellamy at Cardiff was used, it might just put a few extra bums on seats and bring in that bit extra cash.

The fact that we were willing to apparently spend £15k a week to fund a portion of his wages also begins to illustrate the intent of the club. Some have accused us of trying to buy the title, but we have only spent as much as £4mill, and although signing fees and wages aren’t factored in, it’s still going to be less than Blackburn spent on Rhodes.

So I don’t worry too much that this regime is cherry picking in a couple of players ahead of the manager’s choice. It isn’t ideal but it is increasingly common. There is no sign of the Hasawi’s trying to influence selection, which was one worry before they came in, because there was a vague legacy of this with the team they owned in Kuwait. It does show maybe a little more hands on approach that what we thought had been happening. And does show why Jenas has only slowly been introduced to the team because he is not directly in the manager’s plans.

We haven’t had a full on Billy Davies tantrum that he had about players being bought in that weren’t his, that occurred with George Boyd, who Billy had never wanted, and so left him partly out the team. And it would illustrate the odd choice of another midfielder in already midfielder heavy squad. How long JJ stays around for is also completely unclear. But as long as we can afford him, and there isn’t too much dressing room upheaval, then it’s all fine in my book.

Progress Report - Oct 2012

What a difference a result makes. Had we not beaten Peterborough then maybe the tone and position of this piece may have had a different focus. Returning to winning ways has been key though.


The run of results from the Leeds away game, including the painful Derby defeat saw the club start to slip. With a fairly expensive array of players and with fan expectation renewed it could have been alarming. I had heard the first mutters of discontent at O’Driscoll. Why he was choosing certain players or not changing it up. These usually prove to be infectious amongst fans and spread.

Considering last season we were close to relegation, and considering two of the best players from that campaign are now both at Reading (Gunter and McCleary to the slow today) and that we had a large number of loanee’s and that Lynch too had gone, it’s progress that we even have a team at all, never mind one the fans feel can challenge.

Regard for one that we remain under most of the media’s radar still. Usually in our case there’s a bit more interest and though we have already have Clem from the Football league Show visit it us, they didn’t seem to focus on the renewed belief at the City ground.

So yes, an away victory at Peterborough arrested a run of games with no wins that was in danger of looking like a decline rather than a blip. That will be sorely tested on Saturday by the visiting Blue... oh wait Red Dragons of Cardiff City, who arguably have one of the best squads in the division. If we perform against them, and get a result this will be progress.

Our main problem remains that we still don’t know the best XI for the squad. Hell we aren’t even sure of the best formation. Do we go 4-2-3-1 or stick to 4-4-2. Both have benefits. I’d argue if w stick to 4-4-2 this needs to see McGugan jettisoned to the bench, and play Reid, Gillette, Guedioura and Lansbury, but that’s missing out Jenas who we have on loan and the resurgent Cohen. This is forgetting Majewski, who remains the second coming in some fans eyes for reasons that still remain unclear.

With a 5 man midfield, Cohen and Gillette can take the deeper roles, or Guedioura, with McGugan behind a sole striker, Lansbury and Reid getting wide. It still means players missing out, and I for one am glad this head ache isn’t mine.

What is obvious is Gillette remains key to this team. The most under stated of all our signings has probably had the most impact. He has quietly gone about his task but has garnered positive reviews in most games. Playing as the water carrier, the role and name made famous by Didier Deschamps in France 98, it’s a role many don’t understand as it does all the parts that don’t get attention. The quieter sides of the game. Moussi can’t do this role at all. He plays it more as an enforcer, strong tackling, like a De Jong, or in a Forest context Paul Evans. Like Evans he has terrible distribution once he wins the ball so is forced to tackle back again. Gillette plays it more like McKenna, drop deep, get ball, play the ball, look for the outlet again, and keep play moving, stop any stagnation we often saw last season, when Chambers or Morgan would get the ball, look up, see no options, pause, still see no option and launch the ball forward. Often to the opposition. Now the defenders always have an outlet and we retain possession. It’s a simple difference, but a huge difference.

It does mean that the 4-4-2 we play, is often more a 4-1-3-2. Meaning the 3 play narrower than a usual 4-4-2, so we don’t have the need so much for traditional wide men. This though has seen us get stuck in Cul-de-Sacs up the middle of the pitch, making it easier to defend a single pronged arrow, rather than a multiple pronged attack. The full backs do try and support but often end up exposed. This forced Gillette back more defensively at times, playing as a proxy centre half. And very narrow, meaning we can ironically get beat round the sides, as illustrated by derby’s goal so very succinctly, but also King’s goal for Birmingham.

So in essence, yes the football has been better but there are a few tactical creases that need smoothing out to enable us to get to the top of the table. This is a case of using what we have to our benefits. O’Driscoll might have seen Jenas someone who can do this. We have barely seen anything from JJ yet, but he is starting to get some fitness and form together. Cohen’s return has been a breath of fresh air in the midfield as he too is the perfect foil for Gillette as he can get box to box more than someone like McGugan or Majewski who doesn’t ever track back. Guedioura is a similar role but he has struggled for form. Whereas though Cohen is a ball player, Guedioura has a bull dog like approach, looking to get forward and power a shot in, or splay a wide pass. Cohen is a shorter game player.

Its funny, I have spent this entire article focussing on the midfield. But that’s where this team is going to make or break. Cox has shown he is class, and Sharp has good legacy in this division. Blackstock we know and love for what he can do. The defence, well the only real debate is Ayala in the middle or Hutchinson or Halford rotating at right back or centre half. Ayala had been a little wobbly but he looks like he’s coming good again. Hutchinson has long term injury issues so he is never going to be a long term fixture in the side. What role we will eventually see from Lascelles isn’t clear yet, but at this stage he needs football, so a loan again might be a good option.

All in all I am heartened by our start. There’s enough to be positive on even if there are a few problems with the team. But that’s the same with any team, there are always areas to improve and yes there are a couple of problems with defence and we still don’t know our best midfield configuration. This will become clear now that all the midfielders are fit. The likes of Coppinger look like square pegs here, and there are at least 3-4 surplus players in addition to the players out on loan. Moussi, Greening look to have served their time, Coppinger hasn’t found a role. Majewski to me still stands as a surplus luxury player.

All this said, I do think we will be up in the mix this season. I do think the two years the al-Hasawi’s earmarked might be an accurate reflection. Some said it was to deflect pressure away from the manager, but I think it’s an honest accurate marker of changing this squad into one that can compete and get promoted.

O' Its Sean

So the chase for a manager is over, and after all that has been said and done, it’s someone who was here last season. This isn’t exactly news of course; anyone who doesn’t know by now must have been living under a rock.

Many have been venting frustration, that after all the names mentioned and after all the promises of iconic names and experienced managers who can lead us to glory, they have stumped for a less than glamorous name. For a safe name.

This is no bad thing in my book. You want someone who knows the division, knows what players to get, knows our current players strengths and weaknesses. We went for the name last season in McClaren and look how that panned out.

Many of the big names linked and mentioned were frankly never on the agenda, Redknapp as I repeatedly said was never a contender, we may have spoke to him, but it would take something special for Redknapp to go north of the M25 to manage.

Look at the successful managers at this level over the last few years. Rodgers at Swansea, Lambert at Norwich, McDermott at Reading, and Adkins at Southampton, all of these are relatively unattractive safe managers. Two of these have now moved to “big clubs” and all of them were promoted. Compared with the big names, Eriksson, McClaren, Sousa, these have struggled to make the grade. They have success before and maybe will again, but they don’t know this division.

When you see the names who succeeded above, they were all in their second, third jobs, having been at a relatively smaller club before getting the reins at a larger Championship club, this is exactly what O’Driscoll has, so hopefully he can replicate those successes.

The appointment has apparently been largely player influenced. Maybe somewhat to do with the fact they experienced a large name sweeping in the guise of McClaren; they prefer the approach of an O’Driscoll. Dexter Blackstock certainly seemed delighted on Twitter and having a manager players want to play for is such a bonus, they will go the extra mile.

O’Driscoll has a hard task now though in creating a new defence from scratch. Whether he works with the youngsters available to make up at least a part of that, if not the backup, that remains to be seen. Hardened pro’s who know the division would be more than adequate.

The appointment itself has started to be mocked by fans of other teams. I don’t think they realise the fact that our board has listened to the players, and took a wider look at the situation. Rather than the initial promise of the big name, after looking at the situation and appraising what we need, they decided to go for the guy the players themselves say is good. It shows certain humility that new regimes often lack who go in all guns blazing and then fail to listen to what others recommend.

It has been pointed out by a few the similarity to what Blackburn did, in firing the recognised a manager and bringing in his assistant, but it doesn’t quite flow like that. Our man has experience, Kean didn’t, and he had left the club for another managerial role, not promoted from below.

The next few days will be key as we see the kind of players we are chasing and what kind of players sign up, how much financial backing O’Driscoll is given. Many have speculated because we have chosen a “budget” manager that it indicates the funds are significantly lower than first indicated. That is pure guesswork, conjecture. Others are saying he’s purely a yes man to be able to be dump Arabian players on, and that others had refused because of this, again guesswork. Does it matter as long as they cut the mustard?

As I say, an interesting week or so ahead as the new look squad is built and assembled.

The Leicester Debacle and O'Driscolls Arrival

Strange week for the club. I say strange, we still lost, and embarrassingly, but it did mean the unforeseen arrival of ex Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll, numerous times linked with the main job as a First team Coach, which considering his track record you have to wonder if there’s not more to this role.

Anyway, I already digress. We are ignoring Tuesday night and all that it entailed. As much as I am sure we would love to forget that now infamous night in Leicester, where not only did we simply barely show up, but also conspired to produce one of the best misses you'll ever see that will haunt blooper rolls for years to come. Findley conspired to sky it from 2 yards out. I only ever saw Jason Lee do this before, but he made a talent of such misses.

Leicester crushed us. Right from the get go we were under the cosh. There aren’t enough words to describe the destruction and embarrassment wreaked on Forest by near neighbours Leicester. Twitter and Facebook were alive with chatter about how Cotterill ahs to go and almost wishing for Leicester to get more to force Cotterills hand to have to resign there and then if it got too bad.

That of course at the time seems funny but in hindsight wishing the team to do worse was faintly ridiculous, and leading to some outlandish Twitter comments from some people that were laughable and damn right stupid. I love how the knee jerk reactionaries always come out and declare such ridiculous statements as gospel. Hiding behind relative internet anonymity, and then not answering your comments when you point out to them their errors.

Of course Cotterill wasn’t going to be fired for reasons that are many fold. Mainly thought the lack of money, we can't afford to sack him, secondly he was bought in to wheel and deal, and finally Frank Clark is our chairman. Frank Clark who was always outspoken on manager dismissals as head of the LMA and who said any manager should a minimum of 6 months in a job to be judged on, Those 3 things alone would rule out Forest making a change.

But maybe this is the cheap option. Bring in the guy who has a good track record on a shoestring to assist the wheeler dealer. Create something interesting. O'Dricoll is a good manager who took Doncaster as far as they would go. Now he is helping us and surely that can't help.... or do too many cook spoil the broth? It will be interesting to see nonetheless.

And in further interesting news tonight the youth team tonked Wigan’s youth team 9-1, which surely sends a strong message out, with Bamford being a stand out player. Give youth a chance? Well they can’t be worse can they?