Predictably, after a couple of defeats and yet another draw-we-should-have-won, there have been murmurs of discontent from a vocal minority.

Sure, the match against Blackburn was hardly a classic, but the first half was bound to be a bit flat bearing in mind we were playing with one striker and they had five defenders.

Sean O’Driscoll said afterwards that he was a bit surprised by Blackburn’s decision to set up so defensively, and sure enough, he made changes by pushing Henri Lansbury up as a second striker (later to be replaced by a lively looking Radi Majewski) and reverting to the midfield diamond.

Of course there are concerns – I personally doubt whether Lewis McGugan and Andy Reid are worth their places in the team at the moment, but I think Dan Harding is getting unfair criticism. Anyway, if Billy Sharp and/or Henri Lansbury had a bit more match practice, we would have put away our chances and I think that most fans would have viewed the match through a very different prism.

TBBM made the comment of the night when a bloke near to us was laying into a Reds player (I don’t remember which one, might have been Reid, but that doesn’t really matter): “I don’t know how some people manage to dress themselves in the morning”.

Things are as good at the City Ground as they have been for some time – a talented squad, a manager with a deep love and understanding of the beautiful game, and no in-fighting behind the scenes. How long has it been since we could claim that?

SOD has, true to form, now got some idiots contacting Radio Nottingham saying that he is not good enough. I personally feel proud to have a manager with such knowledge and who is planning for the long haul, despite the pressures of a great period of change and the added pressure of having money available (did he really make the decision to sign Lansbury and JJ?). I once again refer you to this interview from when he was Donny manager, if you still have doubts.

Actually, I couldn’t be happier to have a manager who doesn’t get too high when we win, and doesn’t get too down when we don’t (although I wish he had appealed Dexter’s red card).

We said at the start of the season that it would be a difficult season because of the very brief pre-season and the efforts in gelling a new squad together with a new footballing philosophy. We are not the only ones to think so. Be proud to be a Red. We are moving in the right direction.