Naive Calderwood will cost us promotion again

I'm absolutely seething. The 3-0 defeat at Gillingham was nothing to do with Gillingham being brilliant, or the Forest players playing badly. It was purely down to Colin Calderwood's (Deadwood I shall now call him) complete lack of tactical nouse, and his negative mindset. I just can't get my head round his decision to play Kelvin Wilson at left back when we desperately needed him in central defence.

I'm sick and tired of Deadwood playing players in positions for which they are not designed, and then leaving players who do play in those positions on the bench. What is going on in that head of his?

We had four central defenders at the back yesterday. And while Luke Chambers has done a good job as a right back, if Deadwood thinks he can make a decent left back out of Wilson, he's sorely mistaken. And the fact that Wilson's poor back header cost us the third goal should have been enough to convince Deadwood that he is not cut out to play there. As a central defender Wilson is absolutely brilliant, and had he played as one yesterday, I doubt the scoreline would have been so embarrassing.

If Deadwood is picking James Perch and Wilson to play at left back, then that says a lot about what he thinks of Matt Lockwood. OK, so Lockwood has had a few poor games, but given time he could turn out to be a decent player. After all, he was not voted the best left back in League One last year for nothing. I thought the whole point of signing him was so he could link up with Kris Commons, but since Commons can't even hold a place down in the side at the moment, either, that idea seems to have been put to bed.

I've gone through phases this season of backing Deadwood and wanting him sacked, but just recently his team selections and tactics have got more bizarre. It's just like last season all over again when we hit a rocky patch in December and ended up throwing away what had for so long looked like certain promotion. Only this time around, promotion has not at any point looked by any means certain at all, and unless Deadwood grows a brain cell or two between now and May, I can't see us troubling the top two. We are still in second place at the moment, but we will surely not stay there for long. We don't even have our home form to fall back on any more, as we are now struggling to put away teams like Northampton on our own pitch. There seems to be a real lack of confidence permeating the whole team at the moment, and I'm not sure what can be done to bring it back.

A good away point, but why be so negative?

I don't know about you, but I was thrilled we got a point at Oldham. This game had heavy defeat written all over it, so the fact that we managed to get a clean sheet at a ground where we have not had much luck in recent years, least of all last New Year's Day when we were thrashed 5-0, is quite a surprise.

I had been convinced that defeat was on the cards, but not long into the first half, a strange feeling suddenly hit me like a giant wave. We were not going to lose! I really can't explain how I knew this, but having experienced this on many occasions this season, and ALWAYS been 100% correct, I felt extremely confident that I was going to be proved right again.

I remember I had exactly the same feeling before the Cheltenham match a few months ago, so I was half celebrating the result before we'd even turned up at the ground! And before the Northampton game, which on paper was a home banker, I had a sense of foreboding that it was going to go wrong, and sure enough we only managed to steal a point with a last-minute equaliser.

Saying all that, though, it's little wonder we escaped with a point with so many defenders on the pitch. We started the game with three central midfielders and no wingers as Arron Davies and Kris Commons were once again left on the bench. The strangest decision of them all was to play James Perch at left back in place of Matt Lockwood. Now, if all our other options were exhausted, maybe it was understandable, but Lockwood was not injured. He was on the bench, and although he hasn't really done well since he returned to the side, playing Perch ahead of him must have been quite an insult.

This is just typical of Calderwood playing players out of position. After nearly two years in the job, he still doesn't know what his best side is. He chops and changes the team every week. It's no wonder it looks like the players don't know whether they're coming or going half the time. He seems to be clueless tactically, and when he gets it right, it's just down to luck.

Another thing that really annoys me is that when a key player gets injured or suspended, he can't get back into the team. Our top scorer Junior Agogo went on international duty with Ghana, and until very recently, he had to be content with a place on the bench. And yesterday, Kelvin Wilson, by far the best defender we have at this Club, and the very reason why we have managed to get so many clean sheets this season, was only a substitute after missing his first League match on Saturday with injury. If the reason for this was that he wasn't match fit, then why even have him on the bench?

From a defensive point of view, it was a good performance. We really frustrated Oldham and stopped them from playing, but if we hadn't been so negative, we could have won that match and kept our place at the top of the table. As it was, we didn't manage to fashion one shot on target all afternoon. What must have former Reds goalkeeping legend Mark Crossley have made of our performance in front of goal? For him, 0-0 was just about the perfect result. I very much doubt he would have been elated if he had played a part in causing Forest to lose, as we all know he loves the Club, and would surely jump at the chance to return in the twilight of his career.

I did say that six points out of nine would be a good return from our Christmas games, so we're still on course to achieve that with games against Gillingham and a home date with Huddersfield to come. Gillingham will be a tough place to go as well, as although they are struggling near the bottom, their home form is pretty good. We thrashed them back at the City Ground earlier this season, but the Gills will give a better account of themselves this time, and we will have to be at our best to beat them, I think.

Rather inevitably, we've lost our place at the top of the League to Swansea, and fallen into second. Leeds are right behind us breathing down our necks. They are remarkable as they keep scoring in the last minute. It's so annoying, but you just kind of expect it. The same thing happened to us at the City Ground back in August, and I've no doubt it will happen when we visit them in February. I only hope that by the time that match comes around that they haven't run away with the League by then and that we are still within a shout of automatic promotion ourselves.

Top of the tree for Christmas, but will we be there in May?

Christmas has come early! All I wanted was to be top of League One, and we are, but make the most of it while you can, as I don't think we will be there in a few days' time.

I don't think we played that well against Port Vale, but we still deserved the three points as Vale were awful, and showed just why they are in the bottom three. But they did come close on several occasions and were only let down by their terrible finishing. Our defence frightened me at times. We really missed Kelvin Wilson's composure, and I hope he is back for the Boxing Day clash with Oldham, otherwise I fear another thrashing could be on the cards.
Wes Morgan did alright, but he always looks unsure of himself when he first gets the ball. I am not sure that he and Ian Breckin are a central-defensive partnership made in heaven at all. Though, saying that, Breckin did have a very good game yesterday, and at one point made a superb last-ditch tackle to prevent what looked to be a certain goal.

The start of the second half was very reminiscent of last Saturday's game against Northampton. Forest were very slow off the starting blocks and looked very jittery. Vale were having a lot of possession, but unlike Northampton, they couldn't make the most of it, and when Lewis McGugan made it 2-0 to add to Junior Agogo's earlier first half strike, it really settled our nerves, and Forest took control of the rest of the game.

We would not be top if the Carlisle-Swansea game had gone ahead, as any result there would have seen us in second place, so it's a real bonus to find ourselves top on Christmas Day. You can't ask for much more than that, but it's so tight at the top that you can find yourselves in third or fourth place within a week.
Leeds are in third now and just one point away from the summit. They also have a better goal difference than us, and will overtake us in the next couple of games, as we have two tricky away matches at Oldham and Gillingham, and then on New Year's Day we have Huddersfield at home, and I'm not confident of beating them, either.

I think I will be happy if we can get six points out of the next nine. That would allow for one defeat, which will probably come at Oldham. You know what Forest are like on Boxing Day. They rarely ever play well away from home at the best of times, let alone when they've been stuffed full of mince pies.

Complacency could end up costing Forest

Leon Jackson's shock triumph over red-hot favourite Rhydian in this year's X Factor final just goes to show that you can not take anything for granted in life.
And maybe that's a message that needs to be drummed into the Forest players' heads for so-called 'easy' games in future, as we were extremely fortunate to escape what would have been a very humiliating defeat against an extremely poor Northampton side yesterday.

Colin Calderwood made it clear before the game that anything less than six points from the two home matches with Northampton and Port Vale would represent a disappointment. Well, now all we can get is four, and if we don't beat Vale next Saturday, we will have thrown away a glorious chance to gain some serious momentum in the race for promotion.

It all looked like it was going to be plain sailing when Lewis McGugan gave us the lead with a fantastic long-range effort, and we dominated the first half so much that the result seemed something of a foregone conclusion. So what on earth went wrong in the second half? Northampton, who had looked every bit relegation fodder before the break, were suddenly running us ragged and frightening the Forest defence to death. Matt Lockwood sloppily conceded possession, and Northampton grabbed an equaliser, which really put the spring in their step, and all of the sudden they were the better side. Within six minutes, they were in front, and we were playing so poorly that I just could not see a way back for us.

Thank god then for Junior Agogo's 90th minute equaliser from a corner. If there was ever a way to be happy at earning only a point against Northampton, then this was the way to do it, but if you told me we'd only manage to draw against them on our own pitch before kick-off, I would have felt gutted. But the way the game went, I just felt relieved in the end. If we'd lost, I would have felt extremely depressed and sick, which is not what I want to feel at Christmas time.

If we do beat Vale, and I say if, then four points out of six won't be too bad, I guess, particularly if we are second on Saturday. There's still half of the season to go yet, and there will be many more ups and downs before May. Every team has a wobble now and again, so let's hope that this was just that, and that we will be back in a winning habit before too long. Last season our poor form over Christmas and New Year was what saw us surrender a seemingly unassailable seven-point lead at the top of League One. Who can forget that horrendous 5-0 thrashing at Oldham on New Year's Day. I wish I could! If we can avoid losing against them on Boxing Day this year, I think I will regard it as a job well done, considering they have been a bit of a thorn in our side in recent seasons.

I think League One is a lot stronger than it was last year. There are a handful of teams who are consistent. Swansea, Carlisle and Leeds, in my opinion, are a better bet for the title than us. At the moment, I don't think we're good enough to get automatic promotion. Apart from Leeds, I would say that Swansea are the biggest threat. That point we earnt against them back in August could turn out to be very significant at the end of the season.

I never wanted to play Liverpool anyway

The fact that we are out of the FA Cup doesn't bother me in the slightest. And I'm not really that upset that we won't get a chance to pit our wits against the mighty Liverpool, either. We would only have been a laughing stock on national TV, just like we were at Chelsea last season. And god knows what a heavy defeat against the Scousers would have done for our confidence.

What does bother me, however, is the fact that Forest didn't even make an attempt to pretend to care about it. They showed a complete lack of respect for the travelling Forest fans, who braved sub-zero temperatures to watch what was quite frankly an embarrassing performance. The scoreline rather flattered Forest, for if it wasn't for Paul Smith, we would have been thrashed.

It's easy to blame the players, but Calderwood was completely at fault for his awful team selection and formation. Why on earth did he leave three of our best attacking players – Arron Davies, Kris Commons, and Junior Agogo – all on the bench?
Why did we sign Davies again? Somebody please tell me. Wasn't it to make us a threat on the right wing, and take the pressure off Commons? Wouldn't these two players have made a real difference? Granted Commons can be very lazy, but even a lazy Commons would have been better than what we did have out there in the midfield.

It didn't really upset me at the time when Sammy Clingan was sent off against Brighton, but now I realise just how important he is. Without him, we were clueless. Although his replacement James Perch admittedly wasn't bad last night, putting him and Neil Lennon in the midfield is just so negative, and it's no wonder we got so badly outplayed. We were completely devoid of any creativity, and it harked back to last season. That's why it just didn't make any sense to have those three players on the bench.

I really don't know why I bothered going. I hated Luton the last time I went, and vowed never to go back. But silly old me thought that it would be an exciting game what with Liverpool being the prize for the winners. Why on earth I thought that, I don't know. It was just a typical FA Cup second round match, really. The only consolation was that the journey home wasn't long. And I suppose I enjoyed my egg mayonnaise sandwich.

It's looking much Brighter again

Well, knock me down with a feather! I was certain we were going to lose tonight at Brighton. All the ingredients were there for a recipe for disaster: in-form opposition, a cold December night, and one of the worst grounds to visit in League One, but thanks to a double from super Nathan Tyson, it was Forest who took all three points, despite being reduced to ten men when Sammy Clingan was shown a straight red card early in the second half.

There was a real danger that following the defeat at Walsall three days earlier, the Forest players would be low on confidence. As they were four points adrift of the leaders Swansea at the start of play, they could ill afford to lose another away game in the space of a few days, so the pressure on them was huge. Colin Calderwood hinted that there would be a shake-up when he named his starting line-up, although he did make some odd choices, choosing to drop Arron Davies to the bench, and leave Kris Commons out altogether – ostensibly because he was 'ill', but I think there may have been a bit more to it than that.

I'm glad to see that Junior Agogo got recalled, though. I could understand him being left out for the first game back after international duty with Ghana, but I was expecting him to be recalled for the matches after that, but Calderwood left him on the bench for the Walsall game. I would have thought that his name would be one of the first to go on the team sheet, considering he is our leading goalscorer.

Tyson, despite playing on the left wing in the first half, was the hero, scoring both goals, but the real credit must go to the back four, who were all superb, defending resolutely. They could easily have caved in after Sammy Clingan was sent off – indeed I was convinced we were going to throw it all away - but they kept their cool and thoroughly deserved to earn yet another clean sheet – rather impressively their eleventh in eighteen matches so far this season!

Although it will probably only be for less than twenty-four hours, we are back in second place, and even if results go against us tomorrow, the situation at the top of League One is once again looking healthy. It could have been so much worse had we not won tonight, which is why these three points could prove to be absolutely priceless at the end of the season.

What is so scary about Walsall?

Exactly one year ago to the day, I know just where I was. I was at Bournemouth watching a very lacklustre Forest side lose 2-0. It was our first defeat on our travels that season, but although we bounced back in some style a few days later with a brilliant 4-1 win at Crewe, our form really suffered around the Christmas period, and ultimately it was that that cost us promotion. Fast forward one year later, and once again our promotion credentials are brought under scrutiny with yet another defeat at Walsall, a team we have failed to beat on the last TEN occasions.

It was a pretty bad night for Forest all round, with results going against us. Only Leyton Orient did us a favour by losing at home to Millwall. But I think Orient are the least of our worries. Leeds will overtake us soon – they are storming to promotion, and were it not for their fifteen-point deduction, they would be running away with the League. And Swansea and Carlisle, in my opinion, are showing more consistency than us at the moment.

We actually were the far better team in the first half. The radio commentators said it was as if we were at home, and Walsall were lucky to be in it at half time, but Forest's inability to play a full 90 minutes reared its ugly head again, and in the second half we were not in it. Forest's heads dropped when they conceded just three minutes after the break when Sammy Clingan's headed back pass let in Michael Ricketts, and from then on we were very much second best, and you just knew it was not going to be our night.

What is it about Walsall that Forest are so scared of? This was our fifth successive defeat at the Bescot Stadium. They are well and truly a bogey side, and it was a pleasure not to have to play them last season when they were in League Two.
Can you imagine if we get drawn against them in the play-offs? No, I don't want to think about it. But it's a real possibility. They are in good form, and...oh god, no, let's not even go there.

At least we don't have a whole week to mope around and feel sorry for ourselves, anyway. We've got to go to Brighton on Friday night. That's another ground that we don't like visiting. If we had beaten Walsall, I would be happy to get a point from Brighton, but now I think we've got to beat them. If results go against us again on Saturday, we could find ourselves playing catch-up. But Brighton themselves are not doing too badly at the moment, and Forest will find it tough. I'm not looking forward to it at all.

What I am looking forward to, however, is the Luton game next Tuesday. I wasn't interested in it before, but the fact that the winners will meet Liverpool in the third round, has certainly made it a lot more attractive. As it's not far from where I live, I've persuaded my dad to take me. I had vowed never to go back to that place a few weeks ago after Forest's awful performance there, but I think this game could be really exciting. Both teams will be really up for it (you would think), and all the Forest fans are desperate to renew the old rivalry with Liverpool. I've never seen us play them before, so it will be fantastic to have them come to the City Ground in January, even if it's almost certain we'll be on the receiving end of a heavy defeat. But we have to get past Luton first, and they are very difficult to beat on their own ground, as we found to our cost little over a month ago.

Calder could be the man for Forest after all

If I was writing this a couple of seasons ago, or maybe even last season, I'd probably be moaning about an embarrassing FA Cup defeat to lower League opposition.

But now there seems to be a winning mentality at the Club again, and judging by last night's comfortable 3-1 victory over Lincoln in the first round replay at the City Ground, Forest at long last have finally understood that they must treat all games with the same respect. Brian Clough certainly did that during his time with the Club, always picking the best team available to him in the Cup competitions, rather than give some of the reserves a run out. And Colin Calderwood resisted the temptation to rest some of his key personnel and stuck with virtually the same eleven who disposed of Crewe on Saturday.

The win was our fourth on the bounce at the City Ground, and this can only be good for our confidence at home. Before the Tranmere game we were struggling a bit in front of our own fans and were drawing too many games, but we have put that behind us now, and now our attention is focussed away from home with three matches in a row, starting with another trip (groan) to Luton in the second round, in a fortnight.

The prospect of being drawn against a top Premiership team in round three will be a good incentive to beat Luton, but the Hatters will fancy their chances against us, with their recent win over us still fresh in their memories. To be honest, I'm more nervous than excited about playing another Premiership team. If we are on the receiving end of a mauling, it won't do our confidence the power of good. Still, if we end up being drawn against Derby, everybody, including me, will be licking their lips at the thought of pitting our wits against our fierce rivals.

Talking of the Sheep, I'm a bit depressed that they've appointed Paul Jewell as their new manager. If anybody can pull off a rescue act, he can. He's done it with Bradford against all the odds, and he did it at Wigan. He'll certainly have a good go of it with Derby, and they have plenty of time on their side to turn it around. They are only four points adrift of safety with less than half of the season gone. As much as I hate to say it, I think he'll keep them up, and we may have to wait a good while longer before we meet them in the League again.

But still, I don't want to worry about what other teams get up to. Forest are stressful enough! But for now, they are doing pretty well, and there is not much to complain about at all. The football is good, we have talented players, we're getting good results consistently, and we're only a point away from the top of the League.

Obviously, the anti-Calderwood bandwagon has stopped rolling for now, and more and more people are coming round to the idea that maybe, just maybe Calderwood is not such a bad manager, after all. He still makes the odd mistake, but he seems to be learning from them, and his post-match interviews are a lot more interesting these days. Even when we win games, he finds things to complain about, whereas last season when we lost games and had played badly, he would say we had played well!

Calderwood will probably be awarded Manager of the Month for November as Forest had a 100% record in League One this month. I believe this will be the second time Calderwood will have won this award with Forest - the first coming in his first month with us last season. Let's hope for Forest's sake that we won't have to wait over a year until he wins it again!

Impressive Forest just keep getting better and better

After almost three weeks of being starved of any meaningful Forest action, I was itching to get back to the City Ground yesterday, despite the freezing cold weather. Thankfully, Forest warmed us all up with their third win in a row on the back of probably their best performance so far this season.

I was rather anxious before the game as I thought what with the weather being cold and miserable, the Forest players would not be on top form, and Crewe had just won four on the bounce and not lost in six games. Taking those circumstances into account, I told myself that a draw would not be a disaster.

However, I needn't have worried, as far from having an off-day, Forest put on a 90-minute display (yes, I did say 90 minutes!) of very good passing football. The only thing that let them down was their finishing – they managed to hit the woodwork five times during the course of the game. But luckily, Arron Davies and Sammy Clingan (yes, I did say Sammy Clingan!) did manage to hit the target, so we didn't end up ruing our spurned opportunities.

I am not sure if Crewe were diabolical, or whether we were awesome. It was probably something in between. I don't believe Crewe could have got that bad overnight. We always tend to play well when we play Crewe – apparantley it's because they like to play attacking football instead of long-ball. Our best performance last season was at Gresty Road when we beat them 4-1. But let's hope that unlike last season, there will be plenty more pleasing-on-the-eye performances to come this term.

It's difficult to pick a Man of the Match as the only player who had an off-day was probably Kris Commons. But that's nothing new. Everybody else did their bit. Not least of all, Julian Bennett. He obviously was worried about the fit-again Matt Lockwood breathing down his neck, but after yesterday's display, I think Lockwood should be worried, as Bennett was tremendous, making some excellent tackles. On his day, Bennett is a very good left back. He just needs to be more consistent. You really can't accuse him of lacking passion. You only have to watch him celebrate the goals to see how much the Club means to him. I do worry, though, that when he dives on to the other players, he may injure himself or one of his team mates!

The win puts us back in second place, and thanks to Brighton's late equaliser, we have leapfrogged Carlisle. It's a pity Leyton Orient won at Huddersfield, otherwise we'd be top, but we're not even half way through the season yet. It's where we are in six months' time that counts.

We've now got a rather tricky looking couple of away games coming up at Walsall and Brighton. Both teams are in quite good form at the moment, and considering Forest's poor record against Walsall in recent seasons, I think I would be rather glad to get a point off them. I would say the same about Brighton, but I am not sure we can afford to draw two successive away matches.

If we can come through the Walsall and Brighton games without too much damage, then we will be in pretty good shape when we have two home games on successive weekends just before Christmas against Northampton and Port Vale respectively.

Not my Cup of tea

I'm not going to lie. I am not interested in the FA Cup unless we get to play a big team like Chelsea, or we get to the late stages.
I think it's just a big waste of time for clubs like us, and is only really important to very small clubs and the massive teams, who stand a chance of winning it. For the likes of we middle-sized clubs, it's just an annoying distraction that we could do without.

The competition used to be magical, and it used to be one of my life's ambitions to see us win it, but it's become so devalued over the past few years, that now when we get knocked out of it, I don't feel upset at all.

Yes, a good cup run has its financial rewards, which may come in handy for boosting the transfer coffers, but Forest rarely progress much beyond the third or fourth round these days, and if last year's non-performance at Chelsea was anything to go by, I'd rather we just went out in the first or second round instead of embarrassing ourselves on national TV.

I am really struggling to say anything about the Lincoln match. All I can say is I am glad I didn't go. It sounded really boring on the radio. A typical FA Cup first round match, I suppose. If Forest had bothered to step out of first gear, they would probably have finished the job. Now we have another pointless game we could do without at the City Ground. I personally would let the first teamers have a rest and play the reserves. At least they will play with a bit of passion in a bid to impress Colin Calderwood.

Personally, I just can't wait to get back to what really matters – namely the pursuit of League One points. The Carlisle game has been postponed due to international call-ups, so we don't have a match next weekend. This means that the Crewe game a week later will be our fourth consecutive home match. You would expect us to take maximum points from that, and hopefully we won't have lost much ground owing to the cancellation of our game next weekend.

Why can't Forest always be this good?!

It felt very odd going back home last night in the car with a smile on my face. I really can't remember the last time I witnessed Forest win an evening match at the City Ground, but I think it was longer than two years as I don't think I was there on the last occasion.

It was an absolutely awesome night in front of a large crowd of more than 26,000, and to cap it all we have gone second in the table, just a point away from Carlisle. Swindon Town's very late equaliser against Leyton Orient just made the night all the more sweeter and made me want to skip all the way back to our car.

But by the way we started, I would never have predicted that we would end up comfortable 4-1 winners at all. The defence looked very nervous, and Southend got a very early goal, which could quite easily have caused Forest's heads to drop. But if anything, that setback may just have been what we needed as almost from the off, we played some extremely good attacking football, which finally produced a much deserved equaliser just before half time, from Ian Breckin of all people. I had been constantly berating Breckin before he got that goal. Now all of the sudden he was a hero. To be fair to him, he did have a good game last night and didn't do much wrong once he'd scored. I still think Wes Morgan is a better option, though.

Another Forest whipping boy Julian Bennett also did well last night with some great attacking play and solid defending. He's been playing well recently, so when or if Matt Lockwood can ever get himself fit, I think he will have a fight on his hands to get into the team. After all why drop any of the defenders when they have only conceded nine all season in League One? Before last night we had the third best defensive record in the entire country! Only Arsenal and Manchester United had conceded fewer goals than us. After putting four past Southend, we've boosted our goal difference by another three goals to +16, which is the best of all the teams in the top six, and the reason why we are currently sitting in second place just above Leyton Orient.

Although it was a great team performance, not everyone had a good night. Arron Davies was virtually anonymous, and it was no surprise that he was replaced by Nathan Tyson just after the hour. But it turns out Davies wasn't feeling very well, and at one point, my dad tells me, he left the pitch for a bit and walked down into the dressing rooms, presumably to go to the toilet! I didn't even notice he'd gone anywhere, but he really was crap last night – in more ways than one!

Once Tyson was on the pitch, we really upped the tempo and we were all over Southend like a rash. Not surprising really as Junior Agogo was no longer up on his own and had somebody to support him. Why Colin Calderwood insists on playing one up front in a home game is beyond me. Surely 4-4-2 is the best formation to play with Tyson and Agogo up front together with proper orthodox left and right wingers. As Kris Commons and Davies can operate on either wing, they have the potential to cause the opposition nightmares.

This time last week I had written Tyson off as a Forest player. I thought that he didn't want to be here any more, but suddenly he has got two very important goals in the space of three days and played very well as well. He surely must start from now on. If he can't get in the team even after producing these displays, he will just get fed up and want to leave.
He has been suffering from niggling injuries lately, but I don't think there is anything wrong with him now, and Calderwood is mad if he continues to leave him on the bench.

I still think we would have won even if Southend hadn't had one of their players sent off, but I certainly think the red card took the sting out of their tails a little bit, not that they had much of it in the first place. I didn't see what their player did to Luke Chambers, but I read that he headbutted him and pushed him over, which was nasty. I don't know what Chambers did to provoke him, if he did anything at all, but the whole situation descended into a bit of a punch-up involving several of our players. Luckily for us only Breckin emerged from it with a booking.

After that, Forest completely dominated the game and it was such a nice feeling to sit back and just relax in the final few minutes after Agogo had scored twice to make it 4-1. That's another positive thing about our recent run of good form. We've learnt to shut up shop in games and not end up having to defend slender 1-0 margins in the last few minutes. In the early stages of the season we were conceding a lot of very late goals, but thankfully that seems to have been stamped out now, and that can only be good news for everybody's hearts!

That's more like it, Forest. Now let's put the sword to Southend!

There there. That's better isn't it? There's nothing like three points over one of your promotion rivals to put a smile on your face. And Derby lost! And, yes, so too did Leeds, at flaming last!

Yesterday for me was just perfect. It was a really nice sunny autumn day with a beautiful blue sky, and I just sensed that a win was on the cards, despite Forest not exactly being in very good form having gone three games without a victory.

The first half was very reminiscent of the Oldham game, and until we got the penalty, it didn't look like we were going to forge a breakthrough. But then Colin Calderwood decided to bring off the lacklustre Kris Commons for Nathan Tyson, and suddenly we looked a whole lot better, and had more purpose about us.

Tyson, of course, then went on to score an absolute peach of a goal with a superb volley that made it 2-0 with little over ten minutes remaining and set Forest on their way to a deserved victory.

Not that I relaxed. With Forest's recent track record of throwing away seemingly comfortable leads in the last few minutes fresh in my memory, I didn't even relax until the whistle actually sounded. As daft as it may sound, my heart was in my mouth when Paul Smith punched the ball clear in injury time. It only takes one minute to score a goal after all, and Tranmere had four to come up with two.

But thankfully, my fears proved to be unfounded and Forest ended up comfortable winners against a team who before the start of play had the third best defensive record in the Division. We are now fourth, just three points away from the current leaders Carlisle, who we incidentally play a fortnight this weekend in front of the Sky cameras. That's if it's not postponed due to international call-ups anyway. If we beat Southend on Tuesday night we will at the very least be third, and if Leyton Orient and Carlisle don't both win, we could be first or second! Now wouldn't that be nice in front of a full house?!

But Forest will have to overcome the depressing statistic of having not actually won a League One match on a weekday night for, would you believe, two years. The odds are also rather stacked against them in that they usually underperform in front of big crowds and buckle under the weight of expectation. But that is something they are going to have to come to terms with if they are to be considered serious promotion contenders.

We've been handed a Lennon

I told you didn't I? I could have written last night's script it was so predictable. The only twist in the tale was that Forest didn't actually lose, although it certainly does feel like it.

You would have thought that after Saturday's spineless display at Luton, Colin Calderwood would have the guts to shake the team up a little bit – but no, his answer was to name an almost unchanged line-up, and worse, keep the same 4-3-3 formation. The team news left me feeling depressed even before we had even kicked off. Wes Morgan, despite being available, had to make do with a place on the bench, despite it being very obvious to just about everybody except Calderwood that Ian Breckin should not be in the team, let alone be captain of it.

If that wasn't bad enough, Neil Lennon's sudden back injury (or should I say 'back injury' – more of which later) meant that the midfield would now be too lightweight without any hard grafters in there.

Before the Doncaster game, Forest were playing a lot, lot better than they were last season and looked like genuine promotion contenders, but since then we've just gone into a downwards spiral, and the football has been more like a game of tennis. And I know I keep saying it, and I know it makes me sound like I have a personal vendetta against him, but I am absolutely certain that Forest's recent slump has everything to do with Breckin being in the back four. I don't understand how Calderwood can justify leaving Morgan on the bench when he and Kelvin Wilson formed a central defensive partnership that conceded just six goals in ten games. How long before Morgan becomes disillusioned and falls out with Calderwood? Then he'll never get back in.

Talking of fallings-out, although it's not been made official at the time of writing, it looks like Lennon has done a runner. His back injury, it transpires, was just a smokescreen to cover the fact that he has walked out of the Club after becoming disenchanted with life at Forest. Apparently he is not afraid to speak his mind in the dressing room, and may have unruffled one or two feathers too many. After he was substituted against Luton on Saturday, the word is he had a bit of a bust-up with Calderwood, and promptly decided that he would be better off nearer his relatives back in Scotland. Well, if that's the way he feels, good riddance to him. If he's anything less than 100% committed to Forest, I don't want him here, regardless of how good he is.

In the earlier part of the season, I thought Lennon was really making a difference in midfield, but in the last few games, something hasn't been right with him, so the fact that he has walked out isn't exactly very surprising.

Forest took a bit of a risk signing him in the first place as he has had problems with depression and his off-pitch behavior is less than exemplary. Remember in the summer when he was on the front page of a tabloid newspaper in Scotland after being caught cheating on his wife? To be honest, although it doesn't seem like it at the moment, Forest may be better off without him in the long run.

Now that Lennon has gone, it means Captain Fantastic (you know who I mean) is virtually assured of his place now. Calderwood is too much of a coward to drop him. There are other players more deserving of the armband. Luke Chambers skippered Northampton when he was just 20, so I don't think he is too young to do the job for Forest. After all Michael Dawson was only 21 when he was captain here. Kelvin Wilson could also do the job, but I don't know if he's vocal enough, whereas Chambers is. And then you have Sammy Clingan in midfield, who was given the armband in pre-season on a number of occasions.

One player who I would never in a million years make captain is Julian Bennett. Instead of just saying Gordon Bennett when I want to avoid swearing, I will just say his name instead. He is shocking! He is so thick as well, not just off the pitch, but on it as well. I know he is only deputizing for Matt Crockwood (er, sorry, Lockwood), but to be quite honest, it's like we're a man short in defence when he's playing. He had a good game once, though. Ironically, it was at Chelsea when all of his team mates had shockers. His one redeeming feature is that sometimes he scores...but that's about it.

Forest's failure to beat Oldham has now put them under even more pressure to get maximum points from their next two games. I never expected them to get all nine points from these three home matches, but anything less than seven points would be disappointing. Although the table might suggest Oldham would have been the easiest game, actually, I think it was probably the hardest. They have been a constant thorn in our side in the past few seasons, so in many ways we have made a bit of progress by not actually losing to them - although that does not excuse the dire performance last night. I've just got a feeling that Forest will find it a bit easier against Tranmere and Southend, particularly the latter as they have conceded double the amount of goals that we have this season.

The only real positive thing to emerge from last night was Arron Davies making his long-awaited debut. When he came on as a substitute, we suddenly looked a whole lot brighter going forward. Davies really looks a very talented player, and we know (to our cost) what he is capable of. When we signed him back in the summer, the plan was to have him and Kris Commons on the flanks causing all sorts of problems. I hope this still happens, but I don't know if Calderwood can be trusted to get his tactics right to suit them both. It's all very well having good players, but good players don't necessarily make a good team, and bad players don't always make a bad team. A good manager can make average players seem brilliant, and vice versa. Just look what Brian Clough did with Forest back in the Seventies. Need I say any more?

Just a bad day at the office...or something more sinister?

My dream is well and truly shattered. As I mentioned last week, it was one of my life's ambitions to see Forest play at Luton, and now I've fulfilled it, let's just say I am a bit underwhelmed. I am sure Forest's losing and generally playing like morons probably coloured my view of the place, but even an hour before kick off, I was already feeling extremely cheesed off after getting lost on my way to the ground.

I am not the brightest of people when it comes to finding myself around places. My spatial skills are practically non-existent, but it really shouldn't have taken me two hours to find the place, should it? Especially after three people had given me directions. But I was so shy talking to them, that I didn't take in anything that they said, and I just pretended to have understood. As two o'clock approached, I started to get really panicky about missing the match and all the worrying just made it harder for me to use my brain. Thankfully, just as I was about to have a nervous breakdown, I saw a boy wearing a Forest shirt and followed him all the way to the ground. I don't think I would have got there, otherwise.

I didn't enjoy the game at all, as I was worried about getting back to the train station. To be honest, in a way it was probably a good thing that Forest were bad, as if they played well, I don't think I would have been in the mood to celebrate. I suppose if bad things are going to happen, it should all happen at once. I think the only time I raised a smile was when the referee clattered into one of our players and knocked him over. The fact that it was the highlight of the afternoon tells you everything you need to know about Forest's 'performance'. Nothing went right for us. The defence was a nightmare, the midfield was awol and the strikers were completely let down by a lack of service.

The reason why the defence was poor was obvious: Ian Breckin was there. Worryingly, since Wes Morgan got injured, he has not only wormed his way back into the starting line-up, but also got the captain's armband back. One word. Why? He is nothing short of a disgrace as a captain, and he is a dreadful defender. The other players around him don't look half as composed when he is playing. Kelvin Wilson and Morgan were doing brilliantly before, so let's hope that when Morgan is fully fit, Breckin will be the one to make way again.

I know this was our first defeat in nine games, and Luton are a difficult team to play away from home, but sadly I don't think it was just a case of a bad day at the office. If Breckin doesn't get dropped again, I think there will be plenty more sub-standard displays like this one.

To compound matters, Leeds United, who started the season fifteen points behind us, have now leapfrogged us, and now look dead certs to win promotion. So that's one automatic promotion spot gone then. Who will take the second one is anybody's guess, but I am becoming less and less confident that it will be us.

We have three homes in a row coming up, starting with Oldham on Tuesday, followed by Tranmere and Southend. I daren't predict how many points we might get out of them, but needless to say we will be looking to win them all. If we can do that, then we will be in a terrific position, but how many times have we seen Forest throw away their opportunities? When it comes to the crunch, Forest are bottlers.

Breckin useless

Maybe I'm getting a bit greedy, but I felt rather downhearted after we drew 0-0 with Doncaster. I had no idea how the game was going to go, so I didn't expect us to win or anything, but I do think that given our domination, we could have beaten them on any other day.

The midfield seemed to be having an off day. Kris Commons reverted to his old lazy self, and Chris Cohen was quieter than usual. Doncaster to their credit defended very well and made it hard for us to play with fluency, so I'm not going to be too critical of the Forest players as I don't think it was down to a lack of effort. We always knew that Donny would be tough opposition, so it wasn't a surprise, and at least we got a point, which is a point more than we had at the start of play.

I know we kept a clean sheet, but I wasn't very happy with the defence. I never thought I'd say it, but I missed Wes Morgan. I hope he won't be out for very long with his knee injury as Ian Breckin is just terrible. I just cannot understand why he gets so much praise, because most Forest fans think he is awful. He keeps giving stupid free-kicks away, and all he is good for is heading the ball and not much else. I don't think he and Kelvin Wilson have a future together as a long-term partnership, put it that way. And why on earth did Colin Calderwood take the captaincy off Neil Lennon and give it back to Breckin? That's just insane. When Morgan is fit again, which I hope is very soon, if Calderwood doesn't put him straight back in the side, it will be mad.

We've got some really big games coming up in the next few weeks, and three of the next four are at home. We can still go top if we win our game in hand against Oldham a week on Tuesday, and then a week later we have Southend in front of what should be a near-capacity crowd as everybody gets in for a fiver. If we can get three points at Luton next Saturday, it will give us a good foundation for the next few games after that. Luton are certainly beatable, which surprises me as I thought they'd be strong promotion candidates this season, but they seem to be suffering from a relegation hangover. It's practically a 'home' game for me as it's just down the road from Bedford. Don't laugh, but it's been one of my ambitions to watch Forest play at Luton, although I never thought it would be in Division Three! By all accounts the place is a right dump, but if we get three points I shan't care much, and if we lose - well, at least I won't face a long journey home.

It's Cohen great!

The things I do for Forest! I'm still suffering from 'jet lag' after getting up at 5.30am yesterday morning to catch the bus to Oxford where one of my brothers met my mum and I, and drove us all the way to Cheltenham where my other brother lives. I'm just grateful Forest won to justify what was a very stressful trip!

Cheltenham were so poor that Forest didn't even need to break out of first gear to run out comfortable 3-0 winners, courtesy of a hat-trick from Kris Commons. This is becoming something of a familiar theme this season as Forest have picked up quite a few decent results even when their performance hasn't always warranted it. I'm not saying that the opposition have always been unlucky, though. That's not true. The only match where we have been outplayed this season was at Swansea, but we still got a point there. In most of the other matches we have dominated possession and completely shut out the other side. It's just that without Commons, we seem to struggle a little bit up front. He is now our top scorer with seven goals, and even though he is a midfielder, he is top of the League One goalscoring charts!

To say that we are a one-man team, though, would be very wrong. Commons does have a massive influence, but there are other players who are making a big difference as well. Chris Cohen is doing a brilliant job in midfield at the moment. He is very talented and even though Commons made all the headlines on Saturday with his goalscoring exploits, Cohen in my opinion just shaded it for Man of the Match. I don't understand why he is playing in League One, and what on earth he was doing at Yeovil last season. He is an excellent young player. He made some brilliant tackles in midfield yesterday, and was very creative as well. Our rich vein of form seems to have coincided with his arrival in the team. Let's hope he manages to stay injury-free for the rest of the campaign, because I think he is a crucial player for the team.

I jumped for joy yesterday when I saw that we had gone second in the table, but then I remembered that other sides were playing later, but we only slipped into third place by tea time, and we are just one point away from being first with a game in hand! Our goal difference is +12, which is a lot better than Tranmere's, so if we keep up our form over the next two or three weeks, I am sure we will hit top spot very soon. I can't see Leyton Orient staying up there, despite their good away point at Leeds. I think the only team we have to worry about is ourselves. Along with Leeds, we are the best team in the division by far, and even though we were top of the League at the same stage last year, I would never have said that last season.

Smells like team spirit

Forest must stop winning like this. I could get used to it! Four wins from five games and just one defeat all season. You could say we're on a bit of a roll.

I think we have the best team we have had since the 2002-03 season. There seems to be a real team spirit which has enabled us to grind out results even when not playing particularly well. Last season when we suffered setbacks, the players' heads dropped, and we never recovered, but this year there is a never-say-die attitude which has been missing for years. I think this has got to be as a result of having a genuine leader on the pitch in Neil Lennon.

Lennon is one of those players who gets on with the job quietly and without fuss. Just because his name doesn't get mentioned much in the match reports does not mean he is not playing well. Far from it. His contribution cannot be underestimated. I think he is a massive calming influence, and he should definitely keep the captain's armband whether Ian Breckin is able to get back in the team or not.

I have also noticed lately that our disciplinary record has improved drastically. We have only had nine bookings so far this season, and a few of them were as a result of dodgy refereeing. If we can avoid our key players getting suspended, it means we can have a settled side, which can only be a boost to our promotion chances.

I was delighted after beating Hartlepool. More so than after the Gillingham game, as Gillingham were very poor anyway, and never looked like scoring, whereas Hartlepool really made our defence earn their money, and either side could have walked away with the three points. Paul Smith was once again instrumental and pulled off a number of very good saves, including one with his finger-tip. He also spared Junior Agogo vitriol from the supporters when he saved from close range after Agogo gave the ball away in midfield to enable Hartlepool to break free.

Agogo made up for his earlier error by firing home the winner seven minute from time, and fortunately we were able to withstand some late Hartlepool pressure to hold on for the three points, which puts us within touching distance of the leaders Tranmere. If we were to win our game in hand, we would go top, but let's not get too excited at this stage of the season. We are only just into October, and it's where we are in May that counts. Nobody needs reminding that we had a seven-point lead in December last year, but blew it. Perhaps, though, this was because unlike this season, we were not playing well and the team was full of average players and there was a lack of leadership. This year the team is full of talented players, we have a decent captain, the defence is solid, the midfield is creative, and the strikers are scoring. In other words we have a team! Not a collection of eleven individuals who look like they've never talked to each other before, but a team! It's been a long time coming, but at last Forest look like they mean business.

Super sub Commons deserves first team berth

Well, I don't know about you, but I am more than satisfied that we managed to get a point at Huddersfield. With three wins behind us, Forest could afford to drop points, and although perhaps Huddersfield were in the end there for the taking after they were reduced to ten men, I still think it was a really good result.

To be honest, I thought Forest were going to be under the cosh, as they usually tend to be when they visit big stadiums, but it sounded like we were in complete control for most of the first half, our midfield working hard, and our defence completely snuffing out everything that Huddersfield had to offer.
It was just our final ball that was a complete let down, which was probably as a result of our 4-3-3 formation, which admittedly has worked rather well lately, but perhaps was not suitable last night.

It was a very dull game until just after the hour, when Colin Calderwood made a very strange substitution when Julian Bennett was replaced by James Perch. Bennett didn't seem to be injured, but he had been very poor. Even so with no orthodox left back being available to replace him, it did seem very strange that Calderwood was prepared to take him off. And what was even stranger was moving Chris Cohen out of the heart of midfield and into defence to take over from Bennett. And guess what, no sooner had the substitution been made then we had conceded a goal from out of nothing. If the referee hadn't taken the sting out of Huddersfield when he sent off Danny Cadamarteri for his over-enthusiastic celebration, having already shown him the yellow card earlier on, I don't think Forest would have recovered. As it was, another superbly executed goal from super-sub Kris Commons saved us a point, and with all but one of the teams above us dropping points, too, we didn't lose any ground in the promotion race.

Commons has looked very good every time he has come on as a substitute recently. Now whether this is down to his realising that he has to work really hard to hold down a place in the side, or whether he is one of those players who can never last the distance of a whole match, I don't know, but dropping him is probably the best thing that Calderwood has done this season, because since he was relegated to tbe bench, we've been playing so much better. The only trouble is, I don't think Commons is very happy playing only a bit-part role, and sooner or later he's going to get fed up, and start causing unrest. So maybe this Saturday against Hartlepool, Calderwood should throw him back into the starting line-up and see how he performs. If he reverts to his old self, then leave him on the subs bench for the next game. I think he definitely has to start against Hartlepool, and we should play 4-4-2, not 4-3-3. Either Grant Holt or Nathan Tyson should be dropped as they just haven't looked the part at all just lately. I have heard that both of them want to leave. Holt in particular doesn't seem interested at all, and Tyson keeps being played out of position, so no wonder he's not happy. And I don't think he and Calderwood get on, either.

Last season we were blessed to have so many good strikers at the Club, but now only Junior Agogo cuts the mustard, and we can't rely on just him to come up with the goods. We should really have signed someone before the transfer window closed. Unless we get somebody in on loan, it will be three months before we are able to sign another striker. We'll just have to hope that Tyson and Holt decide to knuckle down and start scoring themselves, even if it's just to impress prospective buyers.

Three straight wins, nine goals, none conceded...where's the catch?

I said that I would be happy with a point against Yeovil, having won our previous two matches, so to get all three is absolutely brilliant, and it will be a tremendous boost to our confidence.

It's funny how things turn out as when I saw that we were playing Yeovil, I thought it was a real shame as I was sure they were going to beat us and dent our confidence, which before the game was sky high following back-to-back wins over Port Vale and Gillingham. But by the sounds of it, Yeovil hardly troubled Paul Smith, and Forest ended up winning comfortably without having to break out of first gear.

The introduction of Kris Commons seemed to breathe life into Forest. When he came on just after the hour-mark, we suddenly looked very threatening going forwards. Before that, the game had been extremely scrappy with passes going astray, but when Mr Goal Machine Luke Chambers netted his fourth goal in five matches, the game opened up and Forest just grew in confidence from there with further goals from Junior Agogo and Commons. And what very good goals they were, too, especially from Agogo who scored with an audacious lob from 35 yards out!

Forest appear to have learned a lesson that they must kill off games so they don't have to hang on in the dying minutes. They haven't had a 1-0 win yet this season, which tends to happen quite a lot when you play boring, defensive football, but Colin Calderwood, to his credit, has been far more attacking this season, and it's making a huge, huge difference. Forest are a lot more entertaining to watch than they have been in ages. This can only bode well for the attendances, which have taken a bit of a tumble this season. But if we keep winning and keep playing good football, people will come back, of that you can be sure.

We look in excellent shape for promotion. We're scoring goals and we're hardly conceding any. We've only let in four goals all season, which is not bettered by any other team in League One, and our goals for column looks considerably healthier than it did two weeks ago, having scored an impressive nine goals in our last three games.
It is hard to believe as the defence does look pretty shaky at times, but we have kept five clean sheets out of seven this season after all, so the back four must be doing something right.

With three wins behind us, the pressure is well and truly off Calderwood now – for the moment anyway. He's got us playing attacking football, winning games, and there seems to be a great team spirit. What more could you ask from him? I wanted him sacked a couple of weeks ago, but since our win at Port Vale, we've gone from strength to strength and with a game in hand on all of the teams above us, we will soon find ourselves breathing down the necks of the leaders Leyton Orient and second-placed Tranmere. If we make the most of our three home games in October, we will be right up there.

Now watch Forest Ago-go!

Well, wasn't yesterday a pleasant surprise?! At best, I was expecting a 1-0 scrappy win, but not only did we win comfortably, but we also played extremely well with some wonderful passing football!

The first half was frustrating as we struggled to create any clear cut chances as Gillingham got men behind the ball in numbers. It was obvious that they had come for a draw, but Forest, to their credit, did not lose patience and they finally got their reward a few minutes before half time when Junior Agogo at last opened his goals account with a simple header.

When Agogo put us 2-0 ahead after the break, it looked like Forest had decided to sit back and defend, and Gillingham started to get more of a look-in, but when Agogo's third goal killed the game off as a contest, the Gills gave up the ghost, and Forest were soon dominating possession again.

It was nice for Emile Sinclair to get on the scoresheet at the end of the match. It was the easiest of goals to score, but hopefully there will be more to come from him. He sounds like a good prospect, and he has been getting in the first team squad a lot lately.

Normally, scorers of hat tricks end up with the Man of the Match award, but there were quite a few contenders for it yesterday. Wes Morgan and Luke Chambers were superb. Morgan isn't one of my favourite players, but if he regularly plays as well as he did against the Gills from now on, I will certainly change my opinion of him.
He made a number of outstanding last-ditch tackles, and there was one inspired bit of play where he made a brilliant run, which earned rich applause from the crowd and had everybody sat near me with big grins on their faces. I think he is desperate to put behind him his Yeovil nightmare, and I have to say I have forgiven him now. He really cares about the Club, and full credit to him for turning things around.

Chambers is another player who plays with a lot of passion and gives 100% in every match. There were question marks at the beginning of the season about whether he could adapt to playing at right back, but just recently he has been brilliant there, getting forward, delivering very good crosses, and scoring goals. And his defending has been mostly solid, as well. Against the Gills, he had three gilt-edged chances to score in the space of a few minutes. I think he was desperate not to lose his leading goalscorer tag to Agogo!

The only downside to Chambers' performance was that he suffered what appeared to be a nasty blow to the knee at the end of the game, but Colin Calderwood reckons he is okay, so let's hope it's nothing too serious, as he's becoming a very important player, and we don't need another long-term injury.

It was brave of Calderwood to drop Kris Commons again. I was surprised that he was left out after a good display against Leicester, but Calderwood decided to play three strikers up front instead, opting to bring Grant Holt back into the side. It was an odd decision to play 4-3-3 at home, but who am I to argue when we won 4-0?!

I get the feeling that Calderwood was a very relieved man at the end of the match yesterday. I had heard that Nigel Doughty had given him the Port Vale and Gillingham games to save his job. He probably told him to get a minimum four points out of six, but we have ended up with all of them, and you can't ask for more than that.

We played terribly at Vale, and scarcely deserved the win, but we totally deserved to beat the Gills, and if we keep playing as well as that from now on, Calderwood can stay as far as I'm concerned. He is a very amiable person, and I was touched by the team huddle at the end of the game when Calderwood joined his players in celebration. I think that he is slowly beginning to take things on board and learn from his mistakes. The good thing is that the season is very young, and Forest can only get stronger and stronger now. With a game in hand on all the other teams in the top half of the table, we can easily get into the automatic promotion places, especially now that Leyton Orient's purple patch seems to have come to an end.

Our main rivals must be Leeds United. They look absolutely unstoppable, despite their 15-point deduction at the start of the season. They will certainly make it into the play-offs at the very least. Nobody expected them to win their first seven games, but they have dispelled the myth that League One is hard for big clubs as they are everybody's cup final. Forest simply have no excuse now.

Cloughie's spirit will always live on

Three years ago I know exactly what I was doing. Why? Because on 20th September 2004 one of the most important people in my life died. He was of course Brian Clough. The greatest ever man to be linked with Nottingham Forest, and the very reason I am a fan of the Club today.

Although my dad hails from Nottingham, it's highly unlikely that I would have become a Forest fan if it weren't for Cloughie. At the age of nine, I wouldn't have been interested in Forest if they weren't in the public eye and winning things. There wouldn't have been much scope for my supporting them back in the days when only the First Division, as it was then, got any real coverage.
So I owe absolutely everything to Cloughie. He gave me Forest, which, although it is hard to believe at times, has made my life magical, when it could quite easily have been completely colourless.

Brian Clough may never have been made a Sir officially, but to all Forest fans he was a Messiah. He made Nottingham Forest what they are today, and because of that, he has in a way achieved immortality.

Forest stumble at the last hurdle yet again

Not again. When will Forest learn not to switch off until the final whistle has blown? Once again they dominated a match and looked comfortable, but then Colin Calderwood made one of his famous suicidal substitutions, and what do you know, Leicester grabbed two late goals on the counter attack to snatch victory from our grasp.

I'm just grateful that it was just the Carling Cup, but nevertheless I did feel gutted at the end of the match as we were on the verge of not only putting one over our East Midlands rivals, but also getting our own back on Gary Megson. And the manner in which we threw away the game was very similar to the Yeovil match four months ago to the very day, so it brought some very painful emotions back to the surface. I still haven't completely got over that night, and nor do I suspect have the players, yet.

It was very good of Leicester to let us have a free goal. When I saw Paul Smith running the length of the pitch, I just assumed that the two goalkeepers were swapping ends, but then my dad explained what had happened. I have never seen anything like it before in my life!

We didn't play that well in the first half, and Leicester deserved their equaliser for the amount of possession that they had, but they should not have been awarded the free kick. It was a good, clean tackle from Chris Cohen, but the referee obviously thought otherwise.

But we were excellent after the break. We played some very good attacking football. Cohen and Kris Commons were both impressive, and as a result of the midfield being better, so too were the strikers. Junior Agogo made lots of good runs, and Nathan Tyson scored a typical striker's goal, which I haven't seen for ages. Most of our goals this season have come from set pieces, so it was very pleasing to see one of our strikers score from open play last night. Let's hope that it's a sign of things to come.

Smith had a bit of a mixed game. He made some very good saves, but he should have done better with the two late goals. He fumbled the first, and on any other day he would probably have saved Stephen Clemence's last-gasp strike. Still, the defence could have helped him out a bit. I wish they wouldn't just stand back all the time and let the opposition run at them. That is just asking for trouble.

I don't blame the players, though. I think what changed the game was Calderwood taking off Neil Lennon for James Perch. I just didn't see any sense in that whatsoever. Lennon didn't appear to be injured, so why take him off?
We didn't have any leadership on the pitch at the most crucial moment of the game. This was a huge tactical mistake on Calderwood's part. I just hope that he learns from it, but I won't hold my breath.

On a scale of one to ten on the guttedomermeter, it's about six. The Yeovil match absolutely destroyed me. But this is nothing. It's only the Carling Cup, and while it might have been nice to go to Aston Villa and pit our wits against Martin O'Neill and John Robertson's side, we've got much more important things to concentrate on, and now we're out of both the minor cup competitions, League One remains our sole focus until after Christmas. This will give us a bit of breathing space, and you would hope give us an advantage over the other teams.

A win is a win, but don't let it paper over the cracks

I'm feeling very relieved that we have finally got a win under our belts. When we slipped into the relegation zone last night after Leeds' win at Bristol Rovers, it made me cry. I know it's ridiculously early to be worrying about going down, but we're playing so badly at the moment that it is easy to get into a losing habit and lose all your confidence.

Today's victory at Port Vale has not changed my mind about Colin Calderwood one bit. He has totally lost it. Although I agreed with his decision to drop Kris Commons following a string of below par performances, why did he put Sammy Clingan, clearly our best midfield player so far this season, on the bench, yet keep James Perch in the side? I like Perch, but he is simply not good enough, at least not in midfield, anyway.
If Clingan was not match fit following international duties with Northern Ireland in midweek, then fair enough, but if the decision to drop him was merely tactical, then Calderwood is even dumber than I thought. If playing well gets you dropped, then what kind of a message does that send out?

Dropping Commons will hopefully have given him the massive wake-up call he needed. When he came on, he livened things up. He must learn that if he doesn't give 100% in every match, he will be axed from the team. Even if Nathan Tyson had a terrible game there in his place, Commons knows that his place is by no means guaranteed now, and like everybody else, he has to earn it. Hopefully in the next match he will give his all, and Forest will reap the awards. I have to applaud Calderwood for making the decision to leave him out.

We may have got three points, but to be quite frank, we didn't deserve them that much. Both sides were dreadful, and it was one of the most boring games I've ever listened to. The radio commentators said it was like a pre-season friendly. You would never have thought that there were three League One points at stake. And you would think that Forest would be desperate to get their first win. But once again, having taken the lead through that man Mr O.G again three minutes into the match, we sat back and defended. Didn't you just know we would do that? Forest are becoming so predictable these days.

Paul Smith bailed us out again with some fantastic saves. But if the defence was doing its job properly, he shouldn't have had anything to do. I'm pretty sure Vale would have got an equaliser had Luke Chambers not scored late on to net his third goal in two matches – making him our top scorer so far this season, believe it or not. Not bad for a central defender playing out of position.

Chambers seems to be the only player who knows how to score at the moment, which is quite something considering he only managed to score once for Northampton in more than 150 games!
But it's not his job to come up with goals. That's the strikers' job. And so far, they are failing miserably. Grant Holt and Junior Agogo have both scored once so far, although Agogo's doesn't count officially as it was in the abandoned match against Leicester, but as things stand, I can't see either of them getting twenty goals this season, if their performance at Vale was anything to go by. And if Calderwood thinks Tyson makes a good alternative to Commons on the left wing, then he's mistaken. He is awful out there. He was never in the game today, but it wasn't his fault. He's been asked to do a job which he can't do. He's a centre-forward, and that's where he loves playing, so let him play there for heaven's sake.

I know I have been really critical, but I am very happy with the three points. I'm just relieved to see us out of that relegation zone. We now have the momentum to start building something. Our next match in the League is at home to Gillingham, and you have to say that we should get three points. The Gills have not exactly been in good form, either, but they did win this weekend, so their confidence will have increased. But if we can win that match, it will set us up nicely to go on a bit of a run, which is what we're going to have to do to catch up with the promotion pacesetters. Who would have thought that Leyton Orient would be leading the way after they narrowly escaped relegation last year? Not me. Maybe they are this year's Port Vale, and they will fade away after a while, but who knows, if they have the right manager in charge, they could be a surprise package and do a Scunthorpe instead.

At the moment, Forest should concentrate on getting themselves into the top six, and then they can try and sneak into the automatic promotion spots. But we will have to play a lot, lot better than we did against Vale.

No need to cry over spilt paint

Let me get one thing straight. Last night's defeat in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy doesn't bother me at all. I am glad we're out of this pointless and stupid competition, and hope (but doubt), that we won't have to play in it again.

But it was the manner in which we threw away the game that has made me absolutely livid, and made me reach the conclusion that Colin Calderwood has no future at the Club whatsoever.

As Forest were still seeking their first win before the Peterborough game, it was an ideal opportunity to put in a good performance and get into a winning habit, but it soon became apparent that was not going to be the case as the first half hour was absolutely dire. The players from both sides couldn't have made their feelings about playing in this competition more obvious.

However, the second half was rather exciting, and became rather farcical when Luke Chambers, a central defender playing right back, managed to score a hat-trick. Well, sort of. He had put us in front after 33 minutes, and after the break in a crazy three-minute spell, Peterborough equalised, only for Chambers to immediately restore our lead with his second of the night. But no sooner had he celebrated that, when he went up the other end and put through his own net, and Peterborough went on to score another and dump Forest out of the competition at the first hurdle. Oh well, we'll live!

Forest did have a few players missing last night, but that's no excuse. The side we put out was still good enough to beat a League Two side. Both Nathan Tyson and Junior Agogo were up front, although you wouldn't know it. I am not exaggerating when I say that I didn't hear their names mentioned on the radio except when the teams were read out. It wasn't really their fault, though, as they didn't get any decent service as per usual.

The defence was shocking. Wes Morgan and Ian Breckin as a central defensive partnership is a disaster waiting to happen. Thank God for Kelvin Wilson. He didn't play last night because he had a virus, but he definitely deserves his place in the team. Who partners him, though, is anybody's guess, as Morgan, Breckin, and Chambers all have their weaknesses.

It's two weeks until the next match, and thank god for that. Forest are doing my head in right now, and I need a break from them. If there's one good thing to come out of Forest's slump into oblivion, it's that I've realised there is so much more to life than football. I have had to find new hobbies to keep me happy, and as a result I find it easy to switch off from Forest these days. I refuse to spend my days crying over a silly football team any more. Don't get me wrong, I love Forest to bits, but there's only so much despair I can take. I am going to make myself ill if I fret over them all the time, and I just don't think it's worth it.

Promotion? More like relegation

I'm starting to get a bit panicky now. We're still searching for our first win after four games, and if it goes on for much longer, automatic promotion will be out of the question.

We are more likely to be involved in a relegation scrap than a promotion battle, judging by our performances so far this season.
Indeed, next Saturday we could well find ourselves in the bottom four as our game against Oldham has been cancelled owing to international call-ups. Even if it was going to go ahead, we'd probably still end up losing it anyway, given our recent record against them.

I don't understand how the same eleven players who played so well against Leicester can then play so poorly against Bristol Rovers.
The defence was an absolute shambles. Only Kelvin Wilson did himself any justice. The other three, Julian Bennett, Wes Morgan, and Luke Chambers were all dreadful. Chambers kept giving the ball away in dangerous positions, and was also responsible for the penalty, and Morgan was just, well, his usual self, totally clumsy whenever he was in possession of the ball. Opposition strikers must be delighted when they see he is playing.

It wasn't just the defence, though, that was rubbish. It was the whole team. The midfield was disjointed and scrappy. Kris Commons, surprise surprise, did nothing all day, and was substituted yet again. Sammy Clingan and Neil Lennon weren't too bad, but their efforts went to waste as they were surrounded by poor-quality players.

We weren't helped by the referee's antics, mind you. He should never have booked Grant Holt for kicking the ball in the net after he had blown offside. The second incident which led to his dismissal looked petty, but maybe Holt had been winding up the referee, and he just snapped. Who knows. Holt does seem to have a bit of a temperament problem.

In the end, it was a point gained, but at the start of the day we were looking to get all three, and we might well have done if the defence had been on top of its game.

We don't have another League One game for a fortnight, so that will buy a bit of time for our injured players to get nearer match fitness. But there is no guarantee that when we do have them available, that we will be a good team. In theory we have the best bunch of players in League One, but a team is more than the sum of its parts, and right now we have eleven individuals on the pitch, some of whom have undoubted talent, but they are not playing as a unit. Without a decent manager to mould them together, they may as well be on different planets.

Abandonment was annoying, but totally understandable

I don't think I'll forget last night in a hurry. It might have only been a second round League Cup match, but it was one of the most dramatic matches I've ever been to in my life, and it all happened away from the pitch.

As soon as the tannoy announced that the second half had been delayed by 15 minutes, alarm bells started ringing. I feared that something must have happened in the dressing rooms, and as it transpired, something very bad had. My first thoughts were was it one of the Forest players? When I found out it was Leicester, I will admit that I was relieved. Anyone would be the same with their own families, and Forest are like my extended family. But then all my thoughts turned to the Leicester player, later revealed to be Clive Clarke, a player who we actually were reportedly interested in signing from Stoke a few years ago. There were scenes of terrible panic in the tunnel area, as the Leicester players waited outside their changing room while Clarke was resuscitated for heart failure.

Thankfully, by the time the ambulance took him to the Queens Medical Centre, he was conscious and sitting up, but understandably the match had to be abandoned as there was no way that the Leicester players, and maybe even the Forest players could have continued.

It was dreadfully annoying for the game to be abandoned after a brilliant first half from Forest in which we took a 1-0 lead through Junior Agogo. My dad and I had wasted a two-hour car journey from Bedford, but I'm not going to moan about it too much. A footballer, a human being, very nearly died last night, and despite what a moronic minority think, it was absolutely the right decision to call the game off.

I'm not, however, going to forget Forest's great first half display. We totally dominated the game and made Leicester look rubbish. We looked like the Championship side, who had just won 4-1 at home. We passed the ball around superbly, the defence was watertight, and heck, we even scored a goal, although it will obviously be wiped out now. Doh!

I was really impressed with Luke Chambers, both defensively and as an attacking player. To say he was playing out of position at right back, he did a very good job there. He was excellent on Saturday against Leeds, and his crossing is very good. Maybe he can play at right back after all. He certainly does a better job than John Curtis ever did. But his best position is still as a centre back, even though it doesn't look like Colin Calderwood has plans to play him there what with Kelvin Wilson and Wes Morgan forming a good understanding there, and Ian Breckin (damn it), returning from injury soon.

If Breckin gets back in the team, it will be criminal. We've only conceded two goals in five matches this season, and I'm pretty sure Breckin not playing has something to do with it. It really would be silly to bring him back. Wilson and Morgan are doing a good job right now, so if it a'int broke, don't fix it.

Kris Commons also had a good game, and about time, too. But then, it was a cup match. He always raises his game in the knock-out competitions. I just wish he did it in every match, because when Commons is on fire, the whole team seems to be. But whether that's because Forest are playing well, or despite it, I'm not sure. Perhaps he just needs to be part of an exciting attacking team. Maybe I've been a bit too harsh on him?

The match will be replayed in three weeks' time on the 18th September. No doubt Leicester will win now. That's the way these things usually work out, isn't it? So, instead of bemoaning the fact that we were denied the chance to dump our East Midlands rivals out of the League Cup, let's enjoy our 45-minute display and hope that Forest carry on where they left off when they travel to Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

Conceding late on is becoming a horrible habit

One of the most sickening things I have experienced in my life is watching 3,000+ away fans at the City Ground go beserk when they have scored an important late goal. Forest have a nasty habit of conceding late on, just when you think things are going well and the journey home will be a pleasant one.

If Leeds were going to win, then I would sooner they had been the ones who dominated and had the match sewn up long before the final whistle. But to do it just a minute from the time was absolutely heart-wrenching, especially after we had outplayed them in the second half following a poor first 45 minutes.

That said, I certainly didn't lose any sleep over it, like I did after the match against Yeovil. Now that was devastating. At least, we're only three matches into the season, and our promotion chances have not been dealt a death blow.
But, the sooner we get off the starting blocks the better, because sooner or later the table is going to start taking shape, and we could be in danger of losing sight of the chasing pack. It was only our excellent start to last season that kept us in the top three for most of the campaign after all.

The first half was dreadful against Leeds. The defence got caught out time and time again, and the midfield was in no-man's land. But after the break, they were excellent. We created chances, we looked good on the wings, and Leeds never got a sniff...until the back four switched off in the 89th minute that is, and Leeds snatched all three points which they didn't really deserve at all.

I can't help but blame Colin Calderwood for making two substitutions. I was disappointed to see Junior Agogo go off for Nathan Tyson. Agogo looked very sharp up front, and looked capable of scoring, but Tyson didn't do very much at all. And although Kris Commons had for most of the afternoon been completely anonymous, he was just starting to play a bit better when he was replaced by Felix Bastians. We could have done with Commons on the pitch in injury time just in case there was a free-kick.

Overall, although obviously gutted by the result, I was very encouraged by our performance in the second half. It's just a shame they never seem to be able to play well over 90 minutes. What is it that Calderwood says to them at half time that he doesn't before the match? Is it that he doesn't do his pre-match homework on the opposition? If this is the case, he should not be manager of Nottingham Forest Football Club, or any other team for that matter.

Clueless Calderwood should be chopped

On the face of it, a point and a clean sheet at Swansea City is a decent result, especially after being outplayed in the first half.

But Swansea City are not Manchester United or Chelsea. Forest are the big boys in League One, and they are the ones who should be dominating teams. Why should places like Swansea be such scary places to go? Why? This has to stop. We have got to start stamping our authority in matches like these, instead of being steamrollered. We deserve better than this.

The fact that Colin Calderwood was booed off the pitch yesterday even though we had just got a decent point, suggests that his days are numbered. I just cannot see him turning into a good manager at all. Sure he came here with a good reputation, having got Northampton promoted, but that is not the full story. Most Cobblers fans were actually happy to get shot of him, even though he had got them into League One! What does that tell you?

We've just drawn our third consecutive game 0-0, so at least we've tightened up defensively, but Paul Smith still had plenty of saves to make, despite the side having seven defensive players. Yes, seven. No wonder we're not creating anything! Just take a look at our right side. Brendan Moloney, a right back, is currently playing right wing in midfield, and Luke Chambers, a central defender, is playing right back. Chambers had a bit of a 'mare there against Swansea, but that's Calderwood's fault for playing him in the wrong position. It's hardly surprising that we are struggling to score goals when our right wing has two defensive players trying to do an attacking job there.

The left side of midfield is not much better at the moment. Kris Commons has been very poor since the season started. He looks like he's been having second thoughts about staying. I don't think he is bothered. Mind you, he rarely ever is. He doesn't bomb up and down the left wing or deliver teasing crosses much at all. All he is good for is coming up with a goal out of nothing. He is not much of a team player at all. It's all about him, as exemplified by the amount of goals he scores from long-distance.

I don't think that warrants a first team place, personally. In fact, I think it would give him a much-needed jolt if he was dropped for a few games, because his attitude stinks. I had to laugh when he wrote in his blog that he had decided to put in 110% effort for Forest, after sitting with the fans and realising how important it was. He should be doing that every game anyway!

When Matt Lockwood signed, we all thought that he and Commons would forge a great attacking partnership, but last week against Bournemouth, we saw precious little sign of that, as ruddy Calderwood was too obsessed with keeping a clean sheet to let Lockwood attack.

I was all for giving Calderwood a chance this season, but I've changed my mind. I really don't see things improving at all, even when we have a fully fit squad to choose from. I just find him so boring. I never listen to his interviews. He just drones on and on and on, and says the same thing every week. I just cannot see how somebody like him can motivate the players. If a manager has charisma, I think you're three-quarters of the way there, but Calderwood, while being a nice enough human being, just isn't cut out for management, at least not at a big club like Forest, where there is a huge amount of expectation.

If the fans continue to get on his back, and they will if things don't drastically change soon, I cannot see him wanting to stay. He's not arrogant like Megson. He will walk, no mistake, and that will save Doughty a bob or two, which I'm pretty sure is what is holding him back from sacking him.

The first season in League One was always going to be about acclimatising, so the fans were willing to put up with a second term. It looked as though we were heading for the Championship at one point last season where we had a comfortable seven-point lead. But we missed out in the end after that awful play-off game...the less said about that the better. Only a glut of promising signings in the summer persuaded 10,000 people to renew their season tickets for a third year in League One, but I am not so sure that they would come rushing back for a fourth season if we fail to get promotion again. We simply have to get promoted this time, but on the evidence of our lacklustre pre-season and first three games, things are going to have to change pretty quickly if we are going to be third time lucky.

Cups don't count when promotion is the name of the game

I was expecting us to get knocked out of the League Cup last night at Chester, such is Forest's track record in recent years of losing to lower League sides. So I am quite surprised, although not exactly relieved, that we are in the next round and have a chance of being drawn against a Premiership club.

To be honest, I couldn't care less about the cup competitions any more. I haven't done for years, actually. Mainly because we've had more urgent matters to deal with, like trying to get promotion or escape relegation, but it's not just that. Forest never do very well anyway, and if they were to get to the semi-finals or even the final, they'd only lose and leave us all nursing broken hearts.

Perhaps, when (or if) Forest ever get back in the top flight, the FA Cup and League Cup will become more important to us as we obviously have no chance of winning the title, but for now, the only thing that matters is getting Forest back in the Championship and staying there.

Even though we still haven't managed to score a goal this season yet, at least we have proven ourselves adept at taking penalties (if you forget Grant Holt's miss late on).
The last penalty shoot-out that we won was against Tranmere four years ago in the same competition.

We didn't look like scoring until Junior Agogo came on as a substitute, but Colin Calderwood insists that he is not fit enough to start yet, so for the moment we are relying on Scott Dobie and Holt, neither of whom played very well at Chester.
This partnership is doomed to fail, so the sooner Nathan Tyson and Agogo are 100% fit, the better for all concerned. Our season may not effectively start until mid-September at this rate, as Tyson is still a month away, and even then there is a good chance he won't be the same player when he returns.

It's just a shame that Southampton have knocked back our attempt to sign their 19-year-old striker David McGoldrick on a season long-loan. He sounded ideal - he managed to score six goals in twelve appearances while on loan with Bournemouth last season. He was also born in Nottingham, and was said to be quite keen on playing for his home town, but if Southampton don't want him to go, then that's their prerogative. We'll just have to try and find someone else now, as there is no way on hell's earth that we can continue with the dire Dobie if we have serious ambitions of finally getting out of League One this season.

Season's bleatings

So, the football season is finally upon us, and already people are calling for Colin Calderwood's head after Forest failed to get off to a winning start against 'little no-hopers' Bournemouth.

I don't think we played too badly, especially in the second half, but we struggled to create clear-cut chances, so we resorted to long and hopeful balls from midfield again. I know we are in the midst of an injury crisis right now, but that's the point of having a good squad, so people can step in. But even if we did have a fully fit team available, I am not convinced that Calderwood would be able to pick a good, balanced side anyway. He has a nasty habit of playing people in positions for which they are not designed.
For instance, Sammy Clingan was a right winger yesterday, when we are crying out for his creativity in the centre, and Luke Chambers was playing as a right back, where he tried his best, but he should have played alongside Kelvin Wilson in the heart of defence instead of Wes Morgan, who looked clumsy once again.

I thought Calderwood was going to try James Perch out at right back. He hasn't done too badly there in the past, so why has the idea been abandoned so readily? Perch is not a midfielder, full stop. As I said, we need at least one creative central midfielder in there.

It looks like Perch is going to face a spell on the sidelines for a bit with a neck injury sustained in the late stages of yesterday's match, so Calderwood will be forced to pick somebody else anyway. Hopefully, Chris Cohen will be fit soon, and Forest will start to look more purposeful in midfield.

Perch's injury might be seen as a bit of divine intervention, in the same way that Ian Breckin's is. Incidentally, Breckin could now be sidelined up to six weeks with a calf problem. It's difficult to envisage Neil Lennon losing the captain's armband after nearly two months of wearing it, but that would be too logical, and that is a dirty word in Calderwood's dictionary.

Breckin injury a blessing

And another one bites the dust. Ian Breckin has become the latest first teamer to join the ever-increasing injury list, on the eve of the new season, but without wishing to sound too mean, this is actually good news for those who don't think Breckin warrants his Captain Fantastic tag, which Calderwood has bestowed on him.

Breckin has been an ever-present in defence ever since he joined the Club two years ago, and for many Forest fans, he has been the weak link. I will admit that he is quite good with aerial challenges, which comes in handy against big, physical strikers, but when Forest attempt to play a more passing game, his frailties are shown up for all to see.

And as for being captain, please don't make me laugh! He is as quiet as a dormouse, and never shouts words of encouragement at his team mates, like a proper captain is supposed to do. And I have also heard, although it might not be true, that he doesn't have much time for people off the pitch, often snubbing people for autographs. Remember that incident at the City Ground where he stuck two fingers up at a supporter, for which he later apologized?
No wonder he's not popular with the fans.

The captain's armband will almost certainly go to Neil Lennon, who, of course, has a wealth of experience, having skippered Celtic to the Scottish title last season. But whether or not he is officially recognised as such, he will do most of the talking on the pitch anyway. Although, I hope he doesn't slag off the other players when they make mistakes, which I have heard he did quite a lot during pre-season. That's the fans' job!

Breckin's injury will be an ideal opportunity for Luke Chambers and Kelvin Wilson to stake a claim for the two central defensive berths. If they can strike up a good understanding in the next fortnight while Breckin is sidelined, it will be hard for Calderwood to justify changing the defence again. After all, Chambers and Wilson are his signings, so he would surely want to play them instead of one of Megson's cast-offs.

I haven't mentioned Wes Morgan, as I don't think he's in very good form at the moment, judging by people's pre-season reports of him, so I expect him to be on the bench, and let's hope for goodness sake that he stays there this time!

Lack of firepower a big concern as season fast approaches

The start of the new football season is just five days away, but instead of feeling really excited about it, like I was a few weeks ago, I am now feeling a bit worried. Our pre-season performances have been very lacklustre, and we have been struggling in front of goal.

But it's no wonder we haven't been scoring much if Scott Dobie has been operating as a lone striker up front. I am fully aware that if Tyson, Agogo and Holt were all fit, Dobie wouldn't be in the team, but even so, what is stopping us signing somebody on loan, or even bringing someone in permanently? It appears quite a lot, as Calderwood has indicated that there will be no signings made before the weekend for the Bournemouth game.

With Arron Davies ruled out injured, and Chris Cohen still not match-fit yet, it looks like we will have to wait to see all of our new signings line up in the team together. We might just have to content ourselves with a 1-0 scrappy win on Saturday. I guess, as long as we get off to a winning start, that's all that should matter in the short term. The pretty football will hopefully be forthcoming in the next few months when we have all our good players back.

It's not just the fact that we don't have a decent strikeforce that is a concern, though. Calderwood still doesn't seem to know what his best team is and what formation to play. He kept changing it in the friendlies, sometimes three times in a match, so it's not surprising Forest struggled to get going. He has pledged to have us playing more passing football this season, and while there has been some evidence of that during pre-season, he still seems to be obsessed with being defensive. Did we really need six defenders on the pitch at Sheffield United on Saturday? What exactly were they defending? It was a friendly for heaven's sake! They should have used the opportunity to attack as much as possible. That would give them confidence for the important matches ahead.