A new season, but it's the same old story for Forest on their travels

So here we go again, the start of another long season, which for Forest has started pretty much in the same way they ended the last one – still with no idea how to win away from home.

To be fair, Forest did play very well at Burnley, and it was a vast improvement on our last trip there two seasons ago when we were thrashed 5-0. From what I saw of the live stream on the internet, we looked the better side in terms of possession. Burnley, just relegated from the Premiership after one season, looked fairly ordinary, but a goal on the stroke of half time proved to be enough for them as Forest's final ball was dreadful, and I don't recall them having one shot on target. Our midfield was very lacking in creativity and dynamism. With the defensive Paul McKenna and Guy Moussi in the middle, that wasn't much of a surprise. Billy Davies left Raddy Majewski on the bench and his persistence of playing Nathan Tyson on the left wing will never get us anywhere. This time last year Tyson was the Trent End darling following his now infamous corner flag heroics after the win over Derby, but now he seems to have taken on the vacant scapegoat role following James Perch's surprise departure to Newcastle. I still think he has something to offer as a centre forward, but as a winger definitely not.

We have been trying to address the left winger problem with financially troubled Cardiff's Peter Whittingham being a subject of a couple of bids which have been swiftly rejected. According to Mark Arthur, Whittingham, along with Swansea's Darren Pratley wants to join Forest, although Arthur might well have unintentionally put the kibosh on both deals now as Cardiff and Swansea are said to be furious that Arthur had been 'tapping up' their players. If the clubs are now even more unwilling to sell because of Arthur's comments, Forest fans are going to be absolutely livid. Arthur has never been very popular anyway, so if the deals for Whittingham and Pratley fall through, a lot of vitriol is going to be heading firmly in his direction.

Forest's poor showing in the transfer market this summer has dampened the fans' spirits, and it's no secret that the players too have being feeling very disillusioned about the lack of new faces. One might think that they would be happy about the lack of competition for their places, but that does not seem to be the case. The players feel that being forced to fight for their shirt turns them into better players. Competition is the key to a successful team because everybody is busting a gut to get into the side, rather than just be happy to turn up, put in a lacklustre performance and take home a hefty pay packet, as we have suspected has been the motivation of several of our less popular players over the years. Naming no names, of course.

At least we have sorted out the long-standing left back problem anyway. I won't pretend that I know anything about Ryan Bertrand, but I gather he's being talked up as being the 'next Ashley Cole'. We've got him for six months, so that's something, although I would have liked to have signed someone permanently. We had been trying to bring Nicky Shorey back, but his reluctance to drop down from the Premiership proved to be a stumbling block. Bertrand comes with a good Championship pedigree, having spent last season on loan at Reading, and the season before that at Norwich. He had an accomplished debut on Saturday, so I'm sure he'll do a really good job for us while he is here.