Forest Boffin

The first Scene of the season's final Act sees Brighton travel to Nottingham for what's sure to be a great game. Who could have predicted how important this match would be for Forest a couple of months ago? Billy has ignited Forest's fire, and six wins in a row has seen the Garibaldi rocket above their opponents. Such form is bound to engender optimism, but The Seagulls will be no pushover. Brighton have been pushing for promotion all season and possess some truly special players at this level, but worst of all for Forest they play a system perfect for exploiting Billy's diamond formation. They pass the ball better than the average side, enjoying a lot of possession utilising the width of the pitch. Wide-men Will Buckley and Andrea Orlandi have 16 assists between them this season, with full-backs Bruno Saltor & Inigo Calderon getting forward to contribute another 9 assists - should Brighton find space in front of Cohen or Jara they will exploit it - see Key Batt...

Forest's recent good form has created plenty of talking points, one of which has been a continuation of a debate held all season long: are our strikers doing enough? The acquisition of Billy Sharp and Simon Cox served to assure Forest fans that the goalscoring puzzle was solved - they are, after all, proven strikers. Yet even during our last five games, where Forest have knocked in thirteen goals, our only complaint has been that Cox et al  have (if you're only reading the score sheet) been firing blanks. Is scoring goals the be all and end all for a forward?   During our run of 5 victories, only one goal has been scored by a striker ( see right ), leading to some fans questioning their input, and pundits in the media are now starting to pick up on this. Forest Boffin proposes that this is far too a simplistic view on the goal contribution from our strike force. The fact is: they have played a significant role in all but two of our goals during our run of victories. ...

As Forest continue to string results together, clawing their way back into contention for the playoffs, they entertain a Wolves side on Saturday experiencing a season to forget. Expectations were high at Molineux: an immediate return to The Premier League should, on paper, have been on the cards, however The Championship is no place for predictions - which is why Forest should treat this game with caution. Since Billy Davies waltzed back into The City Ground there has been nothing but positivity surrounding the reds, Dean Saunders has conjured the opposite effect at Wolves - can Forest prove that the table doesn't lie, or will the Wanderers leave us wondering where it possibly went wrong? After consulting with Wolves fans online, there seemed, to me, two main themes of complaint, the first being that they have the players not to be in this position. Inspection of their squad reveals a menagerie of players from all corners of the world such as Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Roger John...

After another fantastic win at in-form Sheffield Wednesday, Forest welcome The Tractor Boys to the city ground as expectation is rising faster than blood-pressure in the playoffs. Unlucky Forest are once again up against a resurgent team - another relegation scrapping side who happen to have improved in time for their game against the Garibaldi. There are similarities to be drawn between Billy Davies and Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy, as both have rescued struggling clubs and made them unrecognisable, despite retaining mostly the same players. Like the last fixture, on paper Forest should be beating Ipswich easily, however Forest Boffin suspects it won't be that easy. The Tractor boys have have been deservedly accused of brittleness over the past few years, their old manager Paul Jewell labelling them "mentally weak". They have thrown away leads consistently, crumbling 13 times over the past two seasons after scoring first (compared with Forest's 3 times). They ...