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.
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