Board's myopia is leading Forest up a blind alley

I don't think anybody expected us to get anything from the Wolves match, and although the performance was a big improvement at least defensively, following the dire display at Burnley, Forest were never much of a threat going forward and looked like a team short of ideas.

This latest defeat leaves us two points adrift of safety with just six games to go. At least none of the other teams around us won their matches, so we haven't been cut off, and we still have a great chance of staying up, particularly as we have three games against sides fighting to stay up. But I wonder whether Forest have the bottle required for a relegation fight. They showed yesterday that they can battle hard, but the fact that they ended up with nothing when they deserved a point might make them feel defeated. They have got to believe they are capable of staying up, otherwise they may as well relegate us now and get it over with.

I felt strangely confident before the game that we would get something from the match, so I felt quite relaxed. Whenever I've had a gut feeling about Forest, it's not usually let me down, so I was rather taken aback to lose. Wolves were not much of a threat at all until Billy Davies made two substitutions, replacing Paul Anderson and Gary McSheffrey with Gareth McCleary and Nathan Tyson. As soon as they came on, Forest resorted to route one football, and suddenly Wolves were all over us and we looked a mess at the back. If Anderson was struggling with his injury, then he had to go off, but there was no need to change tactics. We could have just replaced him with McCleary, but in my opinion bringing on Tyson was a mistake, and it cost us the match. We had looked really comfortable until the substitutions, and I would certainly have taken a point, considering that we hadn't troubled their goalkeeper at all.

At least the performance – and the result – was much better than the last time we played Wolves, back in September. We were 4-0 down at half time in that game, and the Forest defence was run ragged. This time we looked a lot more confident. This was of course down to having a much better goalkeeper in Iain Turner, who we signed on loan from Everton late last week. Apart from the goal itself, he was never threatened at all, and that was down to much better defending. Our full backs did their jobs properly for once. Luke Chambers was mercifully dropped to the substitutes bench and replaced by Chris Gunter, who switched to right back, which is his best position. He did a much better job than Chambers has ever done, so providing he stays free of injury and suspension, he will probably keep his place there for the rest of the season. If one player has improved under Davies, it must be Joel Lynch at left back. I thought he was awful until a few weeks ago, but he has really stepped up his game and as long as he maintains his form, I'm happy for him to stay there.

The reason why we are in the relegation zone is down to our defence being poor all season, but if we had the same personnel as we did yesterday, I'm sure we would be alright. The failure to sign Lee Camp permanently, or at least replace him with somebody else immediately could have deep repercussions for the Club. The signing of Turner is welcome, but for me it has come rather too late. I know we are only two points adrift, but we needn't be in this position at all. We could have been virtually safe by now had Davies been allowed to bring in the players he wanted in the January transfer window. But on the back of one fobbed-off excuse or another, we ended up signing nobody while all our relegation rivals were busy strengthening their squads. Only when the fans and the press kicked up a fuss, did we finally sign some loan players, and only when Forest found themselves back in the relegation zone last week, did we finally sign a goalkeeper, which we had been crying out for all season. But that's just typical of Forest, isn't it? They are run by people with a complete lack of foresight, and if we do go down to League One again, they will only have themselves to blame. And yet, the only ones who will really be hurting will be the supporters, and they definitely don't deserve it.

Smashed to Smithereens

How appropriate that Forest were wearing black yesterday on one of the darkest days of the season for the Club as Burnley ran riot, scoring five without reply. The only saving grace was that somehow we managed to avoid slipping into the relegation zone at the end of the day thanks to results elsewhere. But it will only be a matter of time before we do.

It's amazing how seven days in football can change things so much. This time last week we were really upbeat after holding Swansea to a draw following back-to-back wins. We were four points clear of the relegation zone, our players were all coming back from injury, and Norwich were five points adrift of us and looking down and out. One week on, Norwich are a point above us. They won their last two games, while we lost ours. I honestly thought we'd get about two points minimum from Watford and Burnley, but have ended up with none, and now with just seven games left, we are just one point clear, with just Southampton, Barnsley and Charlton below us. The only problem is Barnsley happen to have three games in hand on us, and if they get at least a draw against Crystal Palace at home on Tuesday, we will be in the bottom three by the time the leaders Wolves visit us at the City Ground next Saturday. Yes, Wolves, the only other side to score five goals against us this season. Not exactly an ideal game to get back to winning ways and restore a bit of pride, but then at least Forest know they have to be at their very best to get anything out of the match, so hopefully we will see a much-improved performance. Wolves have started to hit form again lately, though, so we will do well to get a point, which on another day would be a good result, but in our situation only a win will do.

I have no idea what has happened to Forest in the last week. I am really suspicious that something has gone on off the pitch. We know that Lewis McGugan has been reprimanded by Davies for being unfit, and people on the forums say that they've seen a few of the players out drinking and getting paralytic. This has been going on at Forest for years and years, yet nothing has been done about it. It must be affecting the players' overall fitness. It's no wonder that we have so many injury problems. The trouble is many of these players just aren't bothered. Many of them won't even be here next season if we go down, and even if we stay up, Davies has promised a wholesale clearout with big changes.

One of the first changes he must make is to get rid of Paul Smith. I have finally run out of patience with him after yesterday's display. He may not have been to blame for all five goals, but the first one was completely his fault as he totally misjudged Robbie Blake's free kick, which he had thought was going harmlessly wide. He just stayed rooted to his line and didn't attempt to save it. How many times have we said that this season? Yes, he is a good shot-stopper, but everything else a goalkeeper should have, he lacks. Now his confidence will have been shattered even further after Davies described his error as 'horrendous' in his post-match interview. When asked what he thought of Smith's good record in League One last season, Davies was very evasive. He definitely wants to replace him, but it looks like we will have to put up with him until the end of the season, and hope against hope that we can somehow scrap our way to survival. My worry, though, is that Smith won't even bother trying any more now he has everybody on his back.

I don't know if Davies has any plans to bring in a goalkeeper on loan. The trouble with goalkeepers is that they are a very precious commodity, and clubs do not want to let them go at such a crucial stage of the season. If we do get anybody, it will be someone pretty low down the pecking order, and we might end up with somebody just as bad as Smith, or worse! If only, if only we had stumped up the cash to sign Lee Camp permanently in January. We looked so much more confident at the back when he was in goal. But now we're playing like we were in September and October again. It is obvious that Smith is the weakest link in the team, and that is not a good thing at all, because goalkeepers win or lose you matches.

It was a bit of a shock to be thrashed so badly as I thought our defence wouldn't be too bad as we had just signed a good young full back on loan from Tottenham by the name of Chris Gunter. He can play at either right back or left back, and he filled in for Joel Lynch, and to be fair didn't do a bad job. Most of the attacks were coming down our right hand side. Not for the first time this season, Luke Chambers was rubbish. When will Davis realise that he is not good enough? James Perch was available, yet he was played in central defence. It might have worked out better for Chambers to be in his natural centre-half position and Perch be at right back instead. Chambers just cannot cut it as a right back. Some games he gets away with it, but whenever we play a team with pacy wingers, he is completely destroyed. Please do not play him here again. Let Perch play there. Whenever he has done, he's done a reasonable job. Davies has promised he will make big changes for next Saturday, so I will be very surprised (and very annoyed) if Chambers is still at right back. With Perch and Gunter both good in that position, there is simply no excuse for him to be played there any more.

Another complaint I have is that Forest never seem to play well when they play long ball. We did this yesterday and as a result Robbie Earnshaw (was he even playing?) didn't get a look-in. When we pass it about on the ground we are so much better. We did this against Reading and Preston, and guess what we won both of them. Then Nathan Tyson returned for the Watford game, and we resorted to playing long ball to suit him. Basically, we seem to be a better team without Tyson in it. That is quite a harsh thing to say because Tyson is a good player and one of the few who genuinely seems to care, but as others have pointed out on the forum, we play better football when he's out injured. If Davies can't see this, then are we really any better off with him than Colin Calderwood?

Bounce-back-ability is key to our survival

After a really good week in which we claimed seven points out of nine against Reading, Preston, and Swansea, the doom mongers are out in force again after an injury-ravaged Forest lost away from home to an in-form Watford side, thus leaving us periously close to the dreaded relegation zone.

Norwich City have closed the gap to just two points after they beat play-off contenders Cardiff at home. That will really give them a big confidence boost ahead of another very winnable home match with relegation rivals Plymouth on Saturday. It means that even if we get a point at Burnley, it may not be enough to keep us out of the relegation zone as Norwich are bound to win their game, and Barnsley likewise should beat Blackpool at home.

It could have been a whole lot worse, though, had Derby not equalised at Southampton. The Saints remain three points behind us, but they do have a game in hand on us. Their goal difference is only three worse than ours now, and all it would probably take is a defeat for us and a win for them for them to overtake us. It's quite possible that by Saturday tea-time, we could find ourselves in the bottom two. If that is the case with just seven games to go after that, it will be a very scary feeling. Let's pray that Forest can conjure up another away victory, but there will have to be a huge improvement in the performance from the one they gave last night.

From the moment the team news was announced, Forest were rather up against it. There was no Paul Anderson or Chris Cohen, the latter having suffered a back injury, and Billy Davies decided he needed to rest a few players, relegating Rob Earnshaw and Isaiah Osbourne to the bench. But we were boosted by the return of Nathan Tyson to the starting line-up, and even without the aforementioned players we still looked quite decent up front with Gary McSheffrey and Gareth McCleary supporting Tyson.

Unfortunately, though, it just wasn't our night. We conceded after just five minutes, and were very lucky not to go further behind soon after. We were very shaky at the back, and we could consider ourselves rather fortunate to be on level terms just over ten minutes later thanks to an excellent strike from the re-called Matt Thornhill. But that was about as good as things got for Forest, as they suffered a number of injury setbacks, first losing Joel Lynch at left back, who was then replaced by Kelvin Wilson who switched from centre half, and then Ian Breckin, who had come on as a substitute for Lynch, did not emerge for the second half, having picked up a knock himself. That forced Forest into a reshuffle at the back, playing three centre halves, and using Tyson and McSheffrey as wing backs. It's hardly surprising that Forest offered so little in the second half. In fact they did very well not to concede any more goals. With it being so tight down at the bottom of the Championship, the goal difference could end up being crucial come the end of the season. One thing is for sure, our nerves are going to be well and truly jangled no matter what happens over the course of the next seven weeks...

Midfield steel is making us a lot more solid

I was quite happy we got a point against Swansea. Obviously three would have come in very handy, but the fact that we had won our previous two games against very difficult opposition meant that there was less pressure on us to get a win, and we did end the day a point clearer of the relegation zone than when we started it.

The first half was a superb game of football with both teams looking excellent going forward. Swansea caused us no end of problems, especially Jason Scotland, but we were able to contain him thanks largely to the steel in our midfield that was provided by Isaiah Osbourne and Guy Moussi. I was surprised to see them both line up together as I thought it would be one or the other. It was quite harsh on Lewis McGugan, who has been in good form of late, to be dropped to the bench, but that is what happens when you've got a good squad. You cannot find a place for everybody. It was just so refreshing to see such a strong line-up and bench for once. If this had been the case earlier in the season, I'm pretty confident that we would not be hovering just above the relegation zone by now.

I thought Gary McSheffrey, who joined on loan from Birmingham, this week, looked quite impressive. He had a few shots on goal, and I think he could be a huge asset to us during his loan spell here. I hope Birmingham don't recall him, but the chances are that if he is successful here, they will, so let's hope that we have enough points on the board by the time he goes back. He didn't play the full match as he was substituted for McGugan mid-way through the second half, and by then we were a goal down after Scotland had scored from close-range just after the hour-mark, despite Forest being the better side at that point.

Once McSheffrey had gone off, I thought Forest looked devoid of ideas and I couldn't see where a goal was going to come from. Paul Anderson had earlier been substituted at half time because he had picked up a slight calf injury, and his replacement Gareth McCleary, despite some excellent runs earlier on, faded after a while and Forest started to play more direct again. But just when I had begun to give up hope, a brilliant cross from Joel Lynch was met with perfection by McGugan, who headed home an equaliser out of nothing fourteen minutes from time.

Either side could have snatched all three points with both goalkeepers producing good saves late on. Rob Earnshaw saw two late efforts go begging, including one from an overhead bicycle kick that went over the crossbar. And Swansea, who had not been much of a threat in the second half, especially after their goalscorer Scotland was substituted, could always be a danger on the counter attack. A long-range shot from Garcia Jordi Gomez forced Smith into a very good flying save. Other than that, Smith had rarely been called into action as Forest had contained Swansea very well.

A draw was a very fair result, but against inferior opposition, Forest would probably have won quite easily. Swansea were a very good organised team, and it's no wonder they have been doing so well this season. Forest would probably have been destroyed by them a few weeks ago, but with Osbourne and Moussi marshalling the midfield, they look a much improved side. Our defence is better protected as a result, and doesn't look quite so pathetic as it did earlier on in the campaign.

Both Norwich and Southampton lost, so we are now four points clear of the drop zone. It's still close for comfort, but it could be a lot, lot worse. It is only a fortnight on from that awful home defeat against Derby. If somebody told me that we'd go on to claim seven points out of the next nine against Reading, Preston and Swansea and then be four points clear, I would never have believed them, but since then we've managed to get all of our good players back from injury and signed a couple of very good players on loan in Osbourne and McSheffrey. But the biggest influence of all has been Moussi. I wasn't too impressed with his form in September and October as, like the rest of the team, he was underperforming under Colin Calderwood, but since his comeback from his four-month lay-off, he has looked like the player that we were raving about back in August.

Our next few games do not get any easier with back-to-back away trips to Watford and Burnley, and then we have the chance to exact revenge on Wolves for their mauling of us at Molineux. I think perhaps if we can manage four points out of nine from these games, it would be a quite good return. Watford are in very good form and will stay up no problem. But then we are not too bad ourselves at the moment, so anything could happen there, and we are a better side away from home. I think there's a chance we could beat Burnley, and we should give Wolves more of a contest than what we did at Molineux as we have come on a long way since then and Wolves have been quite poor lately. If Michael Kightly happens to be playing for them, though, I think perhaps it would be a good idea for Luke Chambers to be 'rested' for the game. It's fair to say that Chambers did not have his finest couple of hours marking Kightly in the reverse fixture, and although he has undeniably improved since then, I think this is an ideal chance for James Perch to stake a claim for a regular place at right back. There is no other way he will get back into the team, otherwise.

We're winning in the rain and now we're happy again!

This time last week most of us thought we would be in the relegation zone by now. Very few people would have predicted that we would win at Reading, and a draw against fourth-placed Preston would have been considered a decent result. So the fact that we have claimed maximum points from these two games is a brilliant boost, and has seen us take a huge step to securing our Championship status.

I wasn't sure what to expect last night, particularly as the weather was so awful with driving rain making playing conditions less than ideal. I thought that Forest would subject us to another sub-standard display and blame it on the weather, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see Forest play so confidently and keep the ball on the ground. Preston looked very ordinary and we thoroughly deserved the three points, even if we did have to rely on a huge slice of fortune for the winner when Rob Earnshaw pounced on a goalkeeping blunder to restore Forest's lead, which he had given to us just before the hour, only for Preston to equalise six minutes later from a corner.

I thought our midfield looked excellent. Isaiah Osbourne, who we have signed on loan for two months from Aston Villa, looked the part in central midfield. He is a defensive midfielder very similar to Guy Moussi, and he did a very good job of winning the ball and keeping it. I think that now we have Moussi and Osbourne, James Perch will find it harder to break back into the team when he returns from suspension. He is not bad at right back, though, so that gives us more options. Though saying that Luke Chambers has not been too bad there recently, and if Forest have won two games in a row, Billy Davies is not likely to want to tinker with a winning formula more than he has to. He will be forced to make at least one change for the visit of Swansea on Saturday as Wes Morgan is suspended. That is a real shame as Morgan has been excellent this season, and he made one or two last-ditch challenges last night. Ian Breckin will probably come in for him, which could be good or bad news as Breckin is rather inconsistent to say the least.

I was absolutely delighted with the win, but when news of the other results came in, I was deflated to see that Norwich and Southampton had both won what I thought were very tricky away games at QPR and Ipswich respectively. It is so annoying that all the other teams are winning around us as well. I thought when the final whistle blew that we would be something like five or six points clear, but while we have leapfrogged three teams above us, we still remain only three points clear of Southampton, who amazingly won 3-0 at Ipswich. This was their third successive victory, and now they look like a strong bet to survive, despite looking down and out a few weeks ago.

At least Blackpool, Barnsley and Watford lost their games. They are all below us now, but Barnsley and Watford do have two games in hand on us. The game next Tuesday night at Watford is going to be huge. If we can get a win against Swansea on Saturday and then follow that up with a draw at Vicarage Road, I will be very pleased. We have now got to the 40-point mark and probably need three or four wins plus a couple of draws to be sure of safety. No team has ever gone down from this level with more than 53 points. We now have ten games left and considering that we have played ten games under Billy Davies so far and got 16 points out of 30 even when we had a lot of injury problems, I think we look well on course to match or even better that, particularly as we are playing a lot more of the division's poorer teams.

Time to banish those February blues and March on to safety

I didn't know what to do with myself on Saturday evening. I had done all the mental preparation for us being in the bottom three, and had a film lined up to watch on DVD to help take my mind off it. But against all our expectations Forest caught promotion-chasing Reading on an off day and walked away with all three points. And all I wanted to think about was that. What a timely shot in the arm this is at the end of a thoroughly miserable month.

I was almost certain that we'd be in the relegation zone by teatime as I thought Norwich would achieve at least a draw against Coventry and that we would lose at the Madejski Stadium by a comfortable margin. So for us to not only win, but for Norwich to lose, too, was absolutely brilliant. It's just as well we did get a victory, considering the other set of results as Southampton, Barnsley, Plymouth and Watford all won their games. Plymouth's win at Wolves was as shocking as ours was at Reading. It was a very good day for the teams at the bottom – well, all except for Norwich and Charlton, that is. Norwich are now four points behind us and have gone second from bottom. I thought they would get out of trouble when they had that brief revival a few weeks ago, but they've now gone seven games without a win and are bottom of the form table. At the moment I think they will be the second team to join Charlton in League One next season, but who the third team will be is anybody's guess as everyone is winning games. Annoyingly Southampton appear to have got their act together just at the right time. They had only won once at home all season before last weekend. Now they have tripled that tally by winning two in a row, and all of the sudden they are breathing right down our necks, with only three points separating us from them. I am trying not to think about the last game of the season when we have to play them at home. I would hope that we have done enough by then to book our place in the division for next season, but this is Forest we're talking about. They never make life easy for themselves or their fans.

Forest played really well yesterday, and they were more like the team that was doing so well in January. The main reason for this was simple: they had good players in the team. The long-awaited return of Guy Moussi after a four-month lay-off went a lot better than expected. Billy Davies had earlier said that he was not ready to return to the first team just yet, so I wasn't expecting very much, but he really made a huge difference in our midfield. He helped Forest to retain possession better, and the other players really thrived on his presence. We had players playing in their proper positions for once, and it really helped. Paul Anderson also had a good game. His pace really troubled Reading. We really missed him when he was out with a broken arm. When he got that injury, I instantly knew that meant trouble for Forest, and so it proved with us losing four of the six games that he missed. We are lucky that he was only out for a month, but we cannot afford for him to be injured again. Let's hope that he, along with the rest of our key players can stay fit for the next two months because having a fully fit squad will be critical if we are to stay in the Championship.

Although they started off much the better side, Reading were really poor, considering they were third in the table at the start of play. Forest grew in confidence as the game wore on and were the better side in the second half and deserved to go in front through Lewis McGugan just after the hour mark. I didn't think we'd hold on, particularly when Reading made a double substitution, bringing on Leroy Lita, and especially not after five minutes' injury time were declared, but thankfully my fears were not realised and we claimed a hugely important win in our quest to beat the drop. Even though Reading were going through a bit of a poor spell, most Forest fans had predicted a drubbing. At the end of another week that had failed to see any loan signings coming in and rumours of boardroom bust-ups with Davies surfacing in the press, this win has come as a very welcome surprise. Now we have entered a new month and have an opportunity to accrue some serious points. Two back-to-back home games against Preston and Swansea give us the chance to pull further away from danger. Please, please do not waste them, Forest.