Lack of signings could end up costing us dear

I thought we might get something from Birmingham as they were going through a bit of a lean spell with just one home win in their last seven games, so we could have picked a worse time to play them. But Forest never managed to get going after the half time break and deserved to go home empty-handed.

We started very brightly with Nathan Tyson almost scoring early on, but we didn't create an awful lot. Mind you, neither did Birmingham at first. It was a pretty boring first half, but Forest started to fade towards the ends of it, and when they returned for the second 45 minutes, they were very much second best and Birmingham in the end were comfortable 2-0 winners without really having to step out of first gear.

I saw the goals on TV and I have to say that I thought we could have defended then a lot better. The first one was not cleared away properly by Kelvin Wilson, and for the second Paul Smith was rooted to his line and made no attempt to stop a long-range effort. Both these players are costing us goals frequently, but Billy Davies just won't or can't acknowledge that they are not good enough. He's been here nearly two months now, so surely he must have some idea of who is good and who isn't. But he claims he's still assessing the players, giving the likes of Adam Newbold a run out, when it's clear that they are no good. Now I hear that Emile Sinclair has been recalled from a loan spell. In many respects it feels like we're no better off than when Colin Calderwood was here. We can't afford to waste time trying out different formations and players. We only have fourteen games left, for crying out loud.

It's blatantly obvious that we need to bring in new players. We failed to sign anybody permanently in the transfer window, which is fair enough considering the lack of quality available, but what is stopping us making loan signings? How on earth can we expect this squad to get us through the next month or so with all these injuries. Even with a fully fit squad, we'd still lack quality in some areas. It seems like the Club is content to just muddle through, and hope for the best. We are only four points away from the relegation zone and two clubs below us have a couple of games in hand. By the end of the month given our daunting fixture schedule coming up, I think it's probably odds-on that we will be in the bottom three again. We will be relying heavily on the poor form of other clubs around us now. It's a good job that there are so many rubbish teams. We would not get away with it in the Premiership. I think that Charlton, even though they've been doing a bit better lately, are still too far adrift, and Southampton will join them, so that leaves one other club. I think that they will be either us, Barnsley, Plymouth, Watford or Norwich. Plymouth are bottom of the form table at the moment and haven't won for ages, while Barnsley have gone on a bit of a slump, which has dragged them into trouble. Norwich, despite a brief revival a few weeks ago, have now gone four games without a win under Bryan Gunn and have lost the last two, and Watford can't be discounted despite an improvement in their form. I've ruled out Doncaster and Derby as both seemed to have got their act together and keep winning.

Forest seemed to be on an upward curve a few weeks ago and pulling away from danger, but as we feared this injury crisis has got the better of them and it couldn't have come at a worse time when they have such a tough set of games with time ticking closer and closer towards the end of the season.