Potential Forest Departures

With Billy now getting a transfer window to tackle his squad, there might be just as many heading out of doors as coming in them. Partially to free up wages, clear out some dead wood and just to get rid of players Billy simply doesn’t fancy.

Potential outs

Dan Harding
Ok so our recognised left back, but the fact simply looks like he’s not good enough, and Billy doesn’t rate him. Whether that means sticking with ever reliable Chris Cohen, or shifting him back to midfield and getting a specialized left back in isn’t fully clear. However you would think anyone with any sense would bring in a proper left back and get Cohen back to where he is effective. Harding didn’t have the greatest of seasons, and should there be much interest I could see him being moved on.

Gillett

Simon Gillett
Genuinely thought he might be a Billy type player, very much in that McKenna mould, but again, Billy tends to want his own men in roles he see’s vital, and he doesn’t much seem to like Gillett. He flattered to deceive in the second half of the season, and O’Driscoll may come a knocking again for his erstwhile side kick. Don’t imagine we’d demand much of a fee either.

Matt Derbyshire
Please god someone take this waste of resources off us. He didn’t do much on either loan, and just seems to be content taking vast wedges of cash for his wife to splurge in the cinema. Really hope he gets shipped on. The only nagging doubt I have is that Billy likes a poacher, he might see Derbyshire as one of those, but I think also board pressure would want to see players like Derbyshire out the club.

Collins

Danny Collins
Might be slightly controversial this one, but Billy didn’t initially seem to like the Welshman. Additionally, the captaincy was removed from him. In that regard he might well get told he’s not seen as first choice and his age he may decide he’s prefer to look elsewhere for action. A lot of fans don’t rate Collins, I don’t mind him, but he is cumbersome at times. I don’t imagine his wages are cheap either.





Stephen McLaughlin
It’s funny we all this focus on a winger when we have rough and ready one in reserve, admittedly on Reidy’s side, but we don’t much about the Irishman. Now I base this all purely on the McCleary evidence but Billy never gave him his chance, he only blossomed under Cotterill. Is there something about these unpolished diamonds Billy doesn’t like? He does tend to focus on players who are the finished article, not having the patience to see someone develop fully. Might see him go or at least loaned out for 6 months.

Miller

Ishmael Miller
Hardly set the world alight with Boro but could quite easily be on his way. Expensive and not getting the returns on the investment it might be best to cut losses, or just simply take what we can and accept the loss. Some have said Billy could get him playing, but I think the ship sailed a long time ago on Miller. Just get him off the wage bill. Him and Derbyshire alone are taking up the pay we could get 4/5 very good players for. Hungry players. m There has been a number on Twitter saying we should give him a chance. These people clearly only saw him for West Brom







Dexter Blackstock
Yeah he has only just signed a deal, but there have been numerous occasions there has been chatter he could be off. If we did sign Carlton Cole I’d expect to see Dexter go, and lets be honest his form last season was pretty bad. It’s also one player we could get a fee to reinvest from.

Guy Moussi
Moussi is not first XI by any stretch and is so inconsistent. After his contract negotiations the other season i don’t suppose he is cheap either. He’s the type of player we might look to recoup some money on, and Billy doesn’t seem to like him as much as he did before.

Jonathan Greening
Like Derbyshire and Miller on a lot of money for no real returns. Offloading him, for free probably, considering age and poor performance, and we could ease off that £12 k from the wage bill he is swallowing up. Nobody will miss him, he seems to only serve the purpose of keeping the dressing room entertained these days.



All of this would maybe free up some cash on the wages front, that we now have to consider FFP wise. Consider that supposedly Derbyshire, Miller and Greening between them are on over £40k a week, which s a little over £2mill a year of our turnover we have to pay out to crap. We can’t let that continue. Players sitting on fat long term contracts has to end.

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

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!

In Praise of Simon Gillett

It has been said by a few this season that the best signing of the whole host hasn’t been one of the more flashy expensive signings. The likes of Billy Sharp or Simon Cox, or one of the guys in the positions we had to fill, like any defenders, but more Simon Gillett. A player in a position we had and have a whole range of options.


Possibly the most under stated of the signings, a free transfer from Doncaster, no-one really took much note he had signed. He was one of O’Driscoll's men from Doncaster, someone he trusted but let’s be honest surely we wouldn’t play much. Wrong.

Gillett hasn’t quite had the side built round him that would be wrong, but integral to the way O’Driscoll wants to play he knew he needed a man for that role. The Paul McKenna deep lying midfielder role. The role Didier Deschamps made famous in 1998, aand one Andrea Pirlo has brought to the forefront again.

This isn’t a role Guy Moussi can play, let’s face it his distribution is shaky at best. Moussi is someone to carry it forward, or to break up play. Gillett is there to create play, but not like a play maker, but more to start the move, that first opening to start a more attack minded midfielder to start getting forward and build the move from there.

In 1998 it was known as the water carrier, after Eric Cantona derided Deschamps as such. He suggested that his role to give the ball to his more talented colleagues who could do more skilful things with the ball. But this is to misunderstand the role. Cantona I am sure recognised the part he played, and maybe he was being his usual impish self in describing Deschamps role, but it is a common mis conception because of the none glitzy element of the role. This player barely ever scores or gets forward, they don’t even often get the assist.

Paul McKenna was a divisive figure with Forest fans. Those who recognised what he did and those who didn’t understand complained he passed backwards or sideways. In fact over the last few years these players have often fallen down here, Sammy Clingan was nicknamed sideways Sammy. But these people often cite a desired midfield in those days of Anderson, Majewski, McGugan Cohen. Which is to not recognise someone needs to sit deep?

When we have recognised that role for a deep sitter, people love the destroyer. The midfielder who breaks up play and starts a new attack. However it is all too rare at this level to find the vision of a ball player with someone who does that. Moussi doesn’t, but fans like him because, well a) he has a name we can do a funny shout too, and b, he charges in often with reckless abandon, and fans love someone winning a full blooded challenge. Paul Evans was in this mould too.

But finally that fan's seem to recognise the role, because in part they see the team set up differently to try and get the best out of this role. With McKenna, in a 4-4-2 he often had one or two outlets at best, or to pass it back to the defence. With the narrower 3 in front of Gillett, there are often 3 passes on to make, o r the defensive back pass. This makes him seem to be taking a forward option more, when really it’s just the same kind of play. McKenna would have revelled in this role too. Then of course the calibre of the creative central midfielders is better too. So attacks start quicker, and it looks like he set these wheels in motion. What also helps ins Cohen and Guedioura being the box to box midfielders who make sure there are players getting forward, whereas McKenna often had McGugan as his sole outlet and if he was on a lazy day, then it all fell down.

So yes, it’s possible to say that because of his relative cheapness he has been a glorious signing. He has performed well on the whole, to the point he was being linked with being poached from us. But there are these players elsewhere, we haven’t unearthered a diamond. SoD knew about Gillett and knew he was a reliable man for this role. Managers often know they have players they can turn to in a role. A trusted general who he knows he can trust to play the role.

Jenas as he gets older is possibly falling into this role too, so the two of them often trip over each other when they started against Wednesday, restricting those forward outlet options. Maybe Jenas would be an upgrade but a pricey upgrade. That’s why you see this midfielders drop deeper into these roles later in careers. Because it isn’t as high octane as charging box to box. But it requires vision, and awareness, two basics in most midfielders game.

But is nice to see Forest fans also as a whole recognising the role that the water carrier plays in the team. For too long it’s been a misunderstood position, people always demanding forward play at all costs. Sometimes it’s just about the simplest pass, play it in the direction you are facing, and keeping possession. Yes we all applaud a great cross field ball, but that over complicates the game. Gillett keeps it simple. And it works.

Transfer Activity Round Up

Basically I’ve not been on the ball so to speak this last week, the Olympics have distracted me from keeping on the pulse transfers wise, as they wind down, so too do I start stop neglecting this.

We reported previously on the signings of Collins and Guedioura, so in essence I need not comment, however in the wider context of what we have done I shall evaluate them further.

Let’s start with Guedioura, or Guedi as I shorten it to save me time and squinting at the screen making sure I spelt it right. Really a must after last season’s starring role, he’s a box to box midfielder, and next to Gillett can provide the energy and enthusiasm, and that sht. He isn’t a lair player, like McGugan or Majewski, and I’d hate to see him pushed out wide to accommodate who I regard o be luxuries of Lewis and Radi. His role will be integral this season.

Collins, at the time we needed any centre half, but now having seen further business it’s easier to see the roles here. Collins is the physical ball winner, good in the air, strong, and not afraid to shirk a tackle. The balance of Ayala alongside means Ayala is the cultured ball playing defender, mopping up Collins interceptions and challenges. This isn’t to say Collis has no culture, but he is there as a Chris Morgan, a Steve Bould, he does the ugly. I am unsure still on either ones pace, so I can’t really comment there.

Next to him will likely be Daniel Ayala, on loan for a season from Norwich, highly thought of there hence only a loan. He first to England to Liverpool and had loan spell at hull. More a ball player central defender it clearly shows O’Driscolls intention for passing game lead from the back, rather than the Chambers/Morgan esque punts up field. Perhaps more in the Wilson guise. Norwich fans were quite animated at the thought of losing him so this bodes well this move.

Greg Halford is a direct Gunter replacement at right back, but he can play in the centre due to his height. My brother is a Sheffield United fan and he speaks very highly of Halford. He has an almighty throw which is an extra weapon. He can play all down the right so hopefully this means some marauding runs, which would mean we need a right winger who is more defensively minded than McCleary was to cover for these, that maybe Moussa, it maybe Coppinger. He is somewhat a journeyman, which speaks that he struggles to settle, perhaps age and maturity might let him do that here.

Harding is the new left back and I admittedly don’t know a great deal about him. Having seen the Villa game though he looked good, and again is a full back that goes for runs and can get in round the back, perhaps good as Reid doesn’t have the greatest mobility down the left and he can be used for link up play. He has a legacy of promotion with Southampton so he knows the division and knows how to win.

Simon Gillett in the midfield is another I know little about, but having seen his play he seems very Paul McKenna like. Dropping deep, collecting the ball and seeking to start build up play, often a role many don’t understand as it’s never one with gets glory and often leads to side of back passes as he seeks to create space. Many fans don’t like this, people round me for instance seem to insist that the ball should always go forward, these people are invariably morons who don’t understand the nuances of the game, and like crazed loons who kick players up in the air more than a cultured midfielder. Gillett can get stuck in though by the looks.

What remains to be bought in is unclear as I spoke about earlier we need a right winger; we need maybe a little extra cover at centre half. Whether al-Rashidi comes in as more experienced cover for Camp than Darlow, which I’d hope means Darlow goes out on loan, and to higher class than Newport County I don’t know.

We may see more departure but I reckon more short term loan deals for the likes of Derbyshire, McGoldrick and Findley. Emergency loans to struggling championship teams as many others couldn’t pay the requisite wages.

But in summary the transfers, though seemingly slow to those who wanted all business done in a week bodes well. We have waited for the right players, not panic bought and have looked to build a team. Last season we tried to chuck too many players together in a cobbled fashion. Derbyshire was signed because he was available, nothing more.

Transfer Gossip & Rumour

OK, so here’s a roundup of the names doing the rounds on the likes of Twitter. I am not saying any of these deals are definite, merely rounding up in a bite size manner what’s happening or how likely these could well be and what they would mean for the side.

Khalid al-Rashidi
Apparently Ali al-Habsi at Wigan, who is a handy keeper rates him as the best keeper in Asia, and the Kuwaiti keeper is a done deal pending a work permit, which isn’t exactly a foregone conclusion. I can assume he’d be back up to Camp, as Smith is now gone, without seeing any action of him I don’t know if he’d be anything like first choice just yet. Where this puts Karl Darlow I am unsure, after his squad number was revealed as 12 I thought it might mean his chances are greater, but maybe the intention is again to loan him out for experience after his stint in Wales with Newport County. Al-Rashidi requires to have played 75% of international games for Kuwait to qualify, however Kuwait is fairly lowly ranked and to qualify you usually need to be top 75 I believe. Special dispensations are however made, so let’s see.

Frank Moussa
Again less rumour more fact, as he is on trial and has been playing games. As I tweeted, the possibility of a midfield of Moussa and Moussi means we could be cheering "MOOOOOUSSS” more often. We don’t exactly have a dearth of central midfielders, so what this means for some of the other guys I would be unsure, he is young, 22 years old and was released by Leicester, after a previous spell with Southend.

Tomas Diaz Navarette
His current club is Belgian Third Division side R.U. Saint-Gilloise, but he spent the least season on loan in Hungary with Honved. He is 20 years old and had trials at Man City, and that is as much as I know apart from him being a defender. A quick Google and it seems he may have a mixed ownership issue, which is heavily frowned upon in the English game but is hugely popular with South Americans. Now you don’t get a newspaper reporting your on trial with City if your rubbish, so there must be an element of ability and it seems he is after bigger moves, maybe moving moved by a third party ownership to Belgium for passport reasons (as they have quicker naturalisation rules as any Football Manager player knows) And whilst contracted there his owners try and find a better club. Who knows though to be honest, it’s not even clear this guy is the Chilean trial list, but more and educated guess.

Ismael Bouzid
French born Algerian international Bouzid is a free agent being linked with the club. He’s travelled the world somewhat in his career, and after impressing as a youngster and being linked with Sunderland, Galatasary and Kaiserslautern, who ended up at Hearts in Scotland. After two years there he was released, and after Crawley Town passed him over he ended up in the Greek super League with a club I have never heard of PAS Giannina F.C, after apparently turning down a host of better clubs. Like George Boateng he seems to have a year in Greece and wants to come back over to Britain. This might be a cheap back up option for any other centre halves we bring in, doesn’t sound top quality, and to be honest do we want Lascelles down the pecking order further?

Simon Gillett
I guess one of the host of ex Doncaster players O’Driscoll managed will always be linked and here is another, the midfielder Gillett. He started at Southampton and after numerous loan spells elsewhere was released and ended up with Doncaster. Again another midfielder linked when we already have a host, and might be simply lazy linking ex Donny players but his name was going round Twitter earlier.

Michael Owen
The rumour that won’t die and seems to be reignited by Natalie Jackson’s brother. To be fair he would be great at this level, he’s been at top top clubs, but he has said already he has no intention of dropping to the Championship, so it’s highly unlikely. He is also strongly being linked with a move to Turkey (Trabzonspor) so it appears highly unlikely.