Where on earth do we go from here?

I'm feeling so depressed about Forest at the moment that I am thinking that perhaps I'd be better off without them. Sure, I will never experience the magical highs of last season's promotion or when we score a last minute equaliser, but at least I will be content and not wake up every Sunday morning with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I have plenty of other hobbies to keep me happy, so I'll be alright. Millions of people live perfectly happy lives not supporting football teams. There is more to life, of course there is. Forest do not dominate my life. They're just a small part of it. I've long since got over the days of chucking my remote control at the door when they've just lost, or sat in silence at the dinner table and refused to speak to anybody. I've sacrificed twenty years of my life for this team, and for the most part they've just made me miserable. I've given up every single weekend to follow them, whether it's at the match itself, on the internet, or even just on teletext. I am beginning to feel very foolish now. Over the past two decades, I could have been out having fun every Saturday, going shopping, to museums, or sightseeing in the countryside, but instead I've just sat in my room wasting my life. There were times when it was worth the sacrifice, but apart from the unexpected promotion last season on the final day, there has been very little to cheer about in the past five years. The summer optimism following our promotion is quickly dissipating and now as Forest lie rock bottom of the Championship with just one win from eight games, things are looking incredibly bleak again, and I just don't think I have the stomach for it any more.

We were absolutely ecstatic when we snatched promotion on the final day, and for me that's what makes our current situation so painful. We really thought that the Club was finally on the road to recovery and that we'd be going from strength to strength. The signing of Robert Earnshaw was a really good bit of business and it showed we had ambition. Then we managed to persuade Paul Anderson, a very highly rated winger from Liverpool, to join us on loan, and he was followed up by Andy Cole, who finally got to realise his dream of playing for his home town club, and Joe Garner, a very promising striker from Carlisle. But although all of these signings seemed good at the time, only Earnshaw has proved his worth so far. Cole is already showing signs of being disillusioned with life under Colin Calderwood, complaining that he doesn't want to play a bit-part role at Forest, despite not playing well when he does get on the pitch. The Anderson signing has turned out to be a disaster. We paid Liverpool nearly £1 million to loan him for the entire season, only to discover that he had not recovered from a thigh injury which he got while playing for Swansea, and I doubt we will be seeing him play this side of Christmas at this rate.

At least Joe Garner is very close to returning from his long-term knee injury, but if you think he is going to make a big difference, you're mistaken. Nobody knows if he will make the step up from League One to the Championship, first of all, and even if he does score goals, he's not going to stop us leaking them at the back, is he? If we persist with this defence, we will go down, no mistake. Not one of them, even Kelvin Wilson, has been playing well this season, and that is extremely worrying.

Wes Morgan has been awful lately, and I was actually glad when he was sent off in injury time yesterday in the 1-0 defeat at Plymouth. He may have been a tad unlucky with his clearance that led to the goal, but in every game so far this season, he has looked clumsy and hesitant. He is completely out of sorts, and now he must serve a one-game suspension, it will force Calderwood to change the defence at least. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd prefer to see Ian Breckin in there at the moment. At least he does have Championship experience, having played for Wigan, and he is a good header of the ball.

I'd also like to see our new loan signing from Brighton Joel Lynch be given a chance at left back. He can play central defence, too, but he is a good left back, according to Brighton's fans. Julian Bennett is really struggling there, and that is disappointing, because I thought he'd do well, but I'm afraid to say he's a bit of a liability and keeps getting booked for stupid tackles. At the very least he needs competition for his place because that might make him get his act together.

As soon as I saw that Luke Chambers was starting the game at right back, I knew we were going to lose the game. I don't know why Calderwood persists with him. He dropped him recently for the game at Preston, and then substituted him at half time last week against Charlton, so we finally thought that he had realised that he is no good as a right back, but surprise, surprise, he is back in the starting line-up at Plymouth, and once again for the umpteenth time, Chambers had a really poor game, constantly giving the ball away, losing his man, and seeing most of his crosses failing to get anywhere. He can count himself lucky that Plymouth were so poor, so he wasn't troubled too much defensively, but that, of course, did not stop Forest losing the game.

I wouldn't say Chambers was the worst player on the pitch, mind you. Guy Moussi was dreadful in midfield. He kept losing possession, and giving the ball away. We really thought he was something special when he first signed, and his first couple of home appearances showed a great deal of promise, but it's all gone horribly pear shaped since then, and now he looks awful. I don't think this 4-3-3 formation suits him at all, but he should still be able to get the basics right, and he's not even doing that. I don't want to write him off, though, because I think he's just lost his confidence, and if he was part of a good team, he'd not be so terrible. Under the guidance of a good manager, I'm sure we'd see a different player.

We've now played eight games and at the moment are doing a very good impression of a team destined for League One. We can't defend, we can't score goals, and we have lost all of our away games. The discipline is also starting to go, with two red cards in a week, and Nathan Tyson even managed to get booked after the whistle had blown for arguing with the referee yesterday. These are classic symptoms of a team in trouble. The only good thing is that time is very much on our side to sort it out. We are not cast adrift – yet. There are 38 games to play still, with plenty of points to play for. But I just don't think Calderwood is the man to turn it around. He has no motivation skills at all, and he is not ruthless enough when it comes to leaving out certain players. He is a lower League manager at best, and I just fear the worst if Forest persist with him much longer. Nice man I'm sure he is, but sorry, Colin, your time is up.

Signs of improvement, but make no mistake we're in a relegation fight

I'm still feeling really worried about relegation, but at least we are looking a bit better defensively now.

It is sickening seeing us second from bottom of the Championship, even at this very early stage, because those wonderful memories of the glorious last day of the season back in May are still quite fresh in our minds, and the thought of going down again is absolutely horrible. I think it would set us back further than when we went down the first time, as we were really bad then and relegation to League One was seen by many as a chance to clear out all the deadwood. After three years' hard slog, we finally got there with a young, promising squad with a good team spirit, which we thought would enable us to survive comfortably in the Championship. But after a poor start to the season with one win in our first seven matches and four defeats, it looks like we are going to be facing an uphill struggle to stay up.

I was really hopeful that our winless run might come to an end against Charlton, and any half-decent team in the Championship would probably have beaten them, as they were poor and only troubled Paul Smith in the dying moments when they could have snatched all three points were it not for his fantastic save that denied former Forest midfielder Andy Gray. But we just couldn't break them down, although it was to Forest's credit that they couldn't find a way past our defence, either. We did look a lot more comfortable at the back, especially when James Perch switched to right back, in place of Luke Chambers, who was subbed at half time.

Unfortunately, just as our defence is at last beginning to get its act together, our goals have started drying up at the other end. In our last four matches, we have scored just one goal that has come from a Forest player – Robbie Earnshaw's equaliser against Burnely a fortnight ago. The other two goals were own goals, which just about sums up our form at the moment.

Worryingly, Earnshaw limped off yesterday after he got injured. Hopefully it was just a knock, and nothing too serious, but if it is, I am not sure that Nathan Tyson and Andy Cole are good enough. Cole is a big disappointment so far. He may have his age as an excuse for not being as sprightly as he used to be, but he has often looked uninterested. Tyson, I feel, does really care, but his best just isn't good enough at the moment, and he must be due an injury soon as he's not had one for about two games.

One bit of good news is that Joe Garner is getting closer and closer to returning, but to be honest, I think people have too high expectations of him. He's not going to be back to his best straight away after having such a serious injury, and even if he was, there's no evidence to suggest that he will be a really good Championship striker. That is the trouble with Forest. Their squad is essentially of League One standard, and I think we need a much better manager than Colin Calderwood to have any chance of staying up.

Let's face it. We're just not good enough

Everyone expected a good thrashing at Preston, so I suppose you can say that last night's 2-1 defeat was a big improvement on our last outing, but once again silly defensive errors have ended up costing us the match.

Colin Calderwood deserves some credit for making changes to the back four in a bid to stop leaking so many goals. He finally came to his senses and removed Luke Chambers from right back, dropping him to the bench, and he also changed the formation to 4-4-2, which the fans have been begging him to do for ages. But the defence was still very makeshift with no orthodox full backs on the pitch. Kelvin Wilson was asked to play at right back, a position which he has admitted himself he is not comfortable in, and Chris Cohen switched from midfield to left back in place of Joe Heath, who was rewarded for a steady debut on Saturday against Burnley by being dropped from the squad altogether.

For quite a long spell in the first half, Forest were playing extremely well, and Preston were struggling to cope with us. We also looked a lot better defensively, and Robert Earnshaw was causing the home defence all sorts of problems. Unfortunately, though, this spell turned out to be nothing more than a purple patch, and Preston soon began to assert themselves and take control of the game. We did really well to hold out until half time, and there were very encouraging signs that the changes that Calderwood had made were paying off.

However, Forest lived up to their reputation of never actually managing to play well for a full 90 minutes, and in the early part of the second half, I'm afraid to say that they were a complete shambles. They undid all their good work of the first half when they conceded the softest of headed goals from the edge of the penalty area. If there was anybody stood at the near post, he would have cleared it away with ease, and even if he had not, Paul Smith should still have prevented the ball going in the net. Calderwood was uncharacteristically very critical on the radio after the match and said it was the worst goal he had ever conceded as a manager. He also made some scathing comments about the players, saying that one or two of them should take more responsibility. It sounds like there could be a bit of unrest in the dressing room.

As Wilson was playing at right back, where he did reasonably well considering he was out of position, it meant he was not in centre defence, where we desperately needed him. Now is it just me, or is Wes Morgan only any good when he's partnered with Wilson? Last night, he was absolutely terrible. He was extremely clumsy and kept committing fouls all over the place. Although Ian Breckin didn't play that badly, he and Morgan just don't work well as a central defensive pairing at all. Breckin is very good at heading the ball away and he is useful to have around as a squad player, but like Morgan, he gives away lots of fouls, and he is very slow to react sometimes. As well as a left and right back, it looks like we may well need to sign another central defender to partner Wilson, because Breckin, Morgan, and Chambers are just not Championship standard.

We may only have played six games, but as previous relegation battles have shown time and time again, once a team gets into a rut, it's very hard to get out of it. We're now third from bottom with just four points from eighteen. Nobody needs to be told that that is relegation form, and unless Forest improve drastically over the next few games, we will be in for a long, depressing season.

Usually a change of manager often does the trick, but Nigel Doughty just isn't in the habit of sacking managers. He waits until the fans are baying for his blood and forces him into leaving by 'mutual consent'. Calderwood will only go in January if we're still at the bottom, thus enabling the new manager to bring in reinforcements in the transfer window. But by then, it may just be too little, too late.

Sort the defence out, Colin, or we will go straight back down

I'm feeling really depressed about Forest at the moment. I've got a terrible feeling that we are going to struggle badly this season and be ensconced in a relegation fight.

I thought that the home game against Burnley would be an ideal opportunity to make amends for the dreadful Wolves defeat, but after a bright start, Forest just lost their way a bit when Graham Alexander scored from a free kick against the run of play, and a bizarre penalty decision late in the second half ended up costing Forest a much-needed three points and leave us languishing in 21st position in the table.

Last season's promotion success was built on the foundation of our defence which kept 24 clean sheets in League One, but having conceded 12 goals already in just five matches, it's become blatantly obvious that the current back four is not good enough for the Championship. Even taking the five goals at Molineux out of the equation, we've looked very shaky in every game. Burnley had only scored once in four matches before they came to the City Ground, yet they scored two yesterday, and were always threatening every time they got forward.

Everyone is desperate for us to play 4-4-2 because at least it would give us more shape, and not leave our defence so exposed. I just wish Colin Calderwood would have the guts to make changes, but he won't. Now that the transfer window is closed until January, we will have to make do with loan signings, but all I ever keep reading is that we're after yet another midfielder or a striker. It's defenders we need, Colin! Urgently. We need to sign a left and right back, as Julian Bennett is out injured at the moment, and has not been playing well since the season started anyway, and Luke Chambers is hopelessly out of his depth, yet somehow keeps being selected because he's one of Calderwood's favourites.

Although I said a couple of weeks ago that Kelvin Wilson and Wes Morgan are fine in the centre of defence, now I am not so sure. Although I don't blame him for giving the penalty away, Morgan was very shaky at times. In League One Morgan was excellent, but he has yet to prove himself in the Championship, and I am wondering if he is up to it.

I'm really dreading Tuesday when we go to Preston. If our first two away games at Swansea and Wolves are anything to go by, we're going to be in for another hiding to nothing. Preston have started really well, and Forest are low on confidence at the moment, so it's hard to see us getting anything out of the game. Although we really need a win, I think I will settle for a point and then hope we can beat Charlton next Saturday. We should try and win our home games and keep it tight away from home and try and draw games, because that will see us safe in midtable, which for me would be brilliant as I am so terrified of getting relegated again.