Forest Boffin

It has been a week of anticipation, hope, excitement, glee, worry, trepidation - even dread... yes it's the Derby game! Forest welcome their rivals in what is probably the most important home game of the season. After a great start The Reds have faded somewhat since losing Guedioura - this is the ideal chance to reverse that - but Derby never make things easy, in fact this is sure to be another difficult challenge since The Rams system could prove ideal against Forest's positive ethos. Nigel Clough has been experimenting with his formation, but appears to have settled on a 4-3-3 system for away matches, which has been proving very successful. Their game-plan is based around winning the ball before their opponents can develop an attack, and exploiting the space left by positive opponents. Bryson, Hughes and the front three hunt down the ball with great energy and determination, forcing opposition players to hoof it long or risk losing the ball. At home, Derby have struggled ...

On their return from the international break, Forest welcome Barnsley. Just as I warned before our last encounter, this is not an automatic three points. Speak to Barnsley fans and you will find them refreshingly upbeat – none I have spoken to, either online or in person, expect another relegation fight, and upon close inspection I can see why. Their record under David Flitcroft is very impressive; under him their form has been that of play-off contenders ( see stats, below ). This form has been based on an excellent home record, however they have proven themselves capable of getting results away against the very best this league has to offer – their shutout at The City Ground last season was preceded by two other points at Crystal Palace and Cardiff. That being said, The Tykes are clearly at their weakest away from Oakwell, and a team with the home record of Forest, especially under Billy Davies, should be hot favourites, especially since Barnsley have not won in any of their last...

This season I wanted to keep a closer eye on how and why Forest's goals (for and against) were being scored, as it can tell us a lot about a team tactically - for example, Forest under Billy Davies last season began conceding a lot of goals from crosses, coming mainly from the area in front of our right full-back; it highlighted a weakness in preventing and dealing with high balls under Billy. I intend examining every goal scored and conceded, and over the season will try to build up a larger picture. I must point out at this point that some of this is going to be a little subjective; this blog isn't merely about my opinions, I want to get to the bottom of things so if you find flaws in my reasoning, help me out and let me know - if there's something in what your saying, or I've missed something, or there is an error lurking, I'll happily upgrade, in fact the more people who stick their oar in, the better picture we'll have of why and how Forest are scorin...

This season I wanted to keep a closer eye on how and why Forest's goals (for and against) were being scored, as it can tell us a lot about a team tactically - for example, Forest under Billy Davies last season began conceding a lot of goals from crosses, coming mainly from the area in front of our right full-back; it highlighted a weakness in preventing and dealing with high balls under Billy. I intend examining every goal scored and conceded, and over the season will try to build up a larger picture. I must point out at this point that some of this is going to be a little subjective; this blog isn't merely about my opinions, I want to get to the bottom of things so if you find flaws in my reasoning, help me out and let me know - if there's something in what your saying, or I've missed something, or there is an error lurking, I'll happily upgrade, in fact the more people who stick their oar in, the better picture we'll have of why and how Forest are scori...

After an interesting end to the transfer window from Forest's point of view, there has been much discussion concerning the gap left by the departure of Adlene Guedioura. With no replacement already secured, we have all been asking who will play in the defensive midfield role; I've been analysing Forest's options. Firstly I thought it important to examine how Billy Davies has set up our midfield when on the defensive. Ever since his return, Billy has employed a midfield diamond, which has been successful because it has played to the strengths of our players. Guedioura has sat at the base of the diamond; he is not a  'holding' midfielder, he was played in this position because of his ability on the ball. He is a typical swashbuckling midfielder, with lots of vision and the ability to play decisive passes. The downside to this was when Forest did not have the ball, because although Gueddy is reasonably good at winning it back, often he allowed himself the be dragge...