Lack of goals hardly surprising, so why is Billy so baffled?

First of all, let me make it clear that I couldn't care less that we are out of the Carling Cup. I rate this in importance almost as least as I do the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. And judging by the falling attendances year after year, most of the other big clubs think the same. But having said all that, Forest have lost yet another home game even though they were supposedly the better side, and that is something to be bothered about.

I'm getting sick and tired of Billy Davies saying in his post-match interviews how we are playing so well, so there's nothing to worry about. Well, I'm sorry, but quite clearly there is something very worrying going on. We're not scoring goals. And goals win you football matches, which we are not doing at the moment. Our big spending splurge in the summer was supposed to transform us into a team that was capable of pushing for a top ten place at least. Yet at this rate I can only see us being involved in another depressing relegation scrap. And that is purely down to Davies' negative tactics. He wonders why we can't score goals and is apparently scratching his head over it. So why is it obvious to the Forest supporters what's wrong with the team? It's quite simple really. We're not scoring because (a) he doesn't have a clue who his best two strikers are, and is constantly switching them around, thus giving them no time to form an understanding, and at the same time damaging the confidence of those who are left out. (b) He doesn't seem to like natural wingers, leaving Paul Anderson on the bench, and instead playing Joe Garner in his place, and even worse at the weekend played Chris Cohen there when Garner was suspended. And (c) he makes the mind-boggling decision to play the tiny Robbie Earnshaw up front on his own at home. That is why your team cannot score goals, Billy.

It was a case of the same old story as Forest were dominating possession, but it was Blackburn who took the lead against the run of play from a free kick late in the first half. Forest's poor final ball was letting them down time and time again, and when Dexter Blackstock missed a penalty mid-way through the second half, it just about summed up the evening, and Forest's hopes of reaching the later stages of the competition that they used to do so well in years ago were ended for another season.

Now we have just the League to concentrate on until January, so we have no distractions until then, which is a good thing, in my opinion, as we really need to sort ourselves out. Davies says that we are 80% there, but I think it's more like about 50% at the moment. If we can't score for toffee, and our defence is so leaky, there is only one way we are going, and it's certainly not in an upwards direction.

Our next game is at Plymouth live on Sky TV on Sunday. You would think that we have a good chance of winning there, but our confidence is pretty low at the moment, so Plymouth might see this as a good opportunity to get their first win. If Davies persists with his weird tactics again, anything could happen. Our track record on TV is pretty awful in recent years, and I can honestly see us getting a bad case of stage fright once again this weekend if we're not too careful.