Posted November 29th, 2009by Rahoul Baruah1 Comment »
The biggest win of Billy Davies’ Forest career saw us line up in a 4-4-2 formation:
Campo
Gunter
Morgan
Wilson
Shorey
Anderson
McKenna
Majewski
McCleary
Blackstock
Earnshaw
Aston Villa loanee and potential January target Nicky Shorey slotted in at left-back and an injury to the Moose saw us drop the two-defensive-midfielder-five-man-midfield formation.
But while the first half was quite subdued, Majewski, in particular, took the game by the scruff of the neck to see us batter Donny in the second half.
Posted November 27th, 2009by Rahoul BaruahNo Comments »
I was unable to attend this but there is an excellent summary at the Lost that Loving Feeling forums.
I particularly like his explanation of the “11-men in the box when defending a corner” (don’t expect it to change any time soon), what he thinks about promotion (we’re building a pot of cash for survival when we get there) and what he really thinks about Derby (”fuck ‘em”).
New number 3 Nicky Shorey talks about his Aston Villa “hell” (I am sure that there is no artistic licence in that headline), and reflects upon the possibility of making a permanent move to the Reds. In the meantime, Billy lays down the gauntlet to Joel Lynch to play as a left-sided centre-half.
Tomorrow’s match against sometime-bogey team Doncaster Rovers will be notable for the lack of segregation in the Sir Brian Clough Stand. In the meantime, Forest need to beware of Billy Sharp, while two of our own strikers, Dex-on-fire and little Robbie Earnshaw hope to make a return to the starting line-up (yes please). Another player-on-fire is the Moooooossssse, who talks about his aspiration to play as a box-to-box midfielder and how it feels good to be injury-free.
Finally, former Red Andy Reid sings a Snow Patrol song for charideee, while his former Forest boss Paul Hart reflects ruefully on what might have been at Pompey…
Bad puns aside, the signing of Nicky Shorey on loan until the end of December surely has to be a good thing. Not only does this give us specialised cover at left-back, it also means that we have another player on the books who, like Messrs Earnshaw and Gunter, has decent top-flight experience and even a couple of international caps. Woo-hoo!
Billy Davies also reveals what I had suspected for a while – that he sees Joel Lynch more as a centre-half than a left-back, where to me (apart from a few decent forays upfield at the tail-end of last season) he has always looked laboured and unsure.
Reports suggest that one of our crocked strikers, Dexter Blackstock, could make a return in tomorrow’s match at Middlesbrough, but also that Nathan Tyson will remain on the sidelines for a few weeks yet. Chris Gunter missed Wales’ match last week but should be fit to resume tomorrow.
For all you stats fans, Forest are now the only team in all four divisions with an unbeaten away record (and will hope that the horrible new blue away kit will not jinx that record). Lee Camp will hope to continue a remarkable record of no away defeats in fifteen matches for the Reds, including his loan spell last season.
Finally, the Daily Mirror continue their campaign to wind up Reds fans. Have a look at the link, talking about Wee Billy Davies being linked to the Scotchland job, and see what you think.
Raddy Majewski will hopefully become a permanent fixture at Forest, although there are implications that he could be holding out for a bit more money (who said that Polish workers are content with low wages?)
In the meantime, Craig Broon has suggested that Wee Billy Davies could be the next manager of the Scotchland national team; in an unrelated development, Joseph F Kinnear has also suggested a possible candidate: himself. Stop sniggering at the back there.
Wee Billy has been trying to get on with business as usual, and has expressed how underwhelmed he is by the players that Forest have loaned out this year. Certainly I am disappointed to see Matt Thornhill and Joe Heath struggle as I was quite impressed by them last season; perhaps this is a sign of how far we have come?
Finally, and on a completely unrelated note, if anyone suggests that women are the fairer sex, perhaps they should view this:
The biggest stories this week seem to have surrounded full-backs, both at the club and linked with moves to the Reds.
James Perchio, who is hoping to win a spot at right-back, has made it through a friendly against Barnsley without too many ill-effects; Chris Gunter, the current incumbent of the right-back slot has picked up a knock and pulled out of the Wales squad (while little Robbie Earnshaw joins the squad but might not play as he has only just returned to the first-team scene). Over the river, Notts County have finally admitted that they hope to turn Brendan Moloney’s loan move into a permanent deal (keep hold of him Billy, he’s a good ‘un).
On the other side of the pitch left-back Joel Lynch says that he really hopes to get his chance in the first team, but rumours abound linking us with Tottingham’s Gareth Bale and Aston Villa’s Nicky Shorey, both of whom are out of favour at their respective clubs, but would be expensive acquisitions, methinks.
In official news, half season tickets are on sale again, and Dexter Blackstock has started running again; hopefully it won’t be long before this Dex is on fire (sorry).
Apparently, Billy has his eyes on five new players in January (including long-term target Gareth Bale) and wants the transfer acquisition committee to get out of his way.
Posted November 8th, 2009by Rahoul Baruah1 Comment »
We lined up unchanged from last week’s heroics at Cardiff with Billy again playing McGoldrick as a lone striker in front of a packed midfield.
Campo
Gunter
Morgan
Wilson
Cohen
McKenna (c)
Moussi
Garner
Majewski
Anderson
McGoldrick
The game itself started with an impeccably observed minute’s silence for Remembrance Sunday today. And then settled into a pattern of defensive organisation from Bristol and frustration for us. Joe Garner looked particularly frustrated out on the right (but looked great when he played centrally) and Moose was more of a headless chicken than usual. But it was fantastic to see us try to play our way through them, rather than just resorting to hoofball. And Adebola, when he came on, made a real difference – probably the best I have seen him play for us, in front of his old club.
Following a fairly successful appearance on BBC2 yesterday (doesn’t Gabby Logan look a bit like a lion?), the nation’s favourite broadcaster has offered us some tasty reaction to the Cardiff v Forest match.
Firstly, an audio interview with Lewis and Chrissy Cohen, and a few words from Billy lamenting the inability to take chances and the non-award of the penalty. A subsequent article allows Billy to continue to avoid talking about promotion and extol the virtues of a mid-table finish (yes please!).
Finally, BBC Online’s Football League man Paul Fletcher reviews the match and both teams’ promotion chances in his blog. He is certainly a better pundit than Messrs Claridge and Savage.
