Forest Boffin

Forest entered a new era of uncertainty on Tuesday night as they lost to a very poor Charlton side. After the removal of Billy Davies,  The Reds  were led by academy Director Gary Brazil, but anyone hoping for an improvement from the 5-0 defeat against Derby was sadly disappointed. We saw a return to tradition as Forest were set up in a cautious 4-4-2 - possibly because Brazil wanted to keep things as simple as possible considering the short amount of time to make plans. Notably Gonzalo Jara and Jonathan Greening were the two central figures - a pair of defensive minded players in the middle of the pitch, which would prove pivotal. Clearly the team were instructed to play more direct football, through to the two strikers. We got a rare chance to see a duo up front - the last manager had gone off this idea; as the team was released I was left wondering whether Brazil's tactics would show up Davies' one up front preference... Charlton played a conservati...

I write this report fully aware that only the self-flagellistic will wish to read; this is more of a historical document - a grisly account of disaster, so that future Forest fans - those with a morbid curiosity - can look back with distaste. The Reds fielded virtually a second string side - but the players who filled in have all proven that they can perform at this level. And the system - considering how the goals went in, should have helped them too; Billy deployed his 4-2-3-1 formation, which became a 4-5-1 when under pressure. There should have been very little space in the Forest half. The Rams played what looked to me like a 4-3-3, the key to which was the hard work of their three central midfielders, Bryson, Thorne and Hendricks, and the two wide forwards, Bamford, but especially Ward, who were instructed to press the Forest defenders when on the ball. The warning signs were there early on. Forest sat too deep, saturating their third of the pitch with r...

When a manager unnecessarily plays a player out of position, he puts himself in the firing line. Such is the case with Billy Davies playing Greg Halford up front. This fancy has been causing discussion all season, with Halford being preferred in the position on several occasions. The 29 year old utility man led the line against Watford in January, despite there being 5 (five) natural forward players on the bench, causing widespread confusion in the stands. Again, on the way out following our recent draw against Doncaster, it seemed to be the main topic of conversation. Davies himself has a self-professed aversion to “round pegs in square holes” – so why play Halford out of position? The simple answer to this is that Halford doesn’t have a position. He has always, wherever he has played, been branded with the dreaded utility-man label, but is this a reason for him to play up front? No, but Davies has stated that he feels Halford “has got a lot of threats.” What are these threa...

Billy Davies watched from the stands on Saturday as his makeshift Forest side slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Oakwell. This was a game of sporadic quality against game opponents - but for a promotion-hunting side it should be regarded as three points dropped. Forest's injury problems are well documented, but as the players walked out I was optimistic. They continued with the 4-2-3-1 system, with Halford at right-back allowing Jara to step into midfield. Most notable was Raddy Majewski's role - he sat in defensive midfield (!), breaking forward when The Garibaldi had the ball. You can't doubt the Pole's mobility, but Franco Baresi he is not; the main worry I foresaw was Raddy not being competent enough to play in this position - as it turned out Forest had bigger problems. The Tykes played a similar formation to Forest, but with a differing approach, as they looked to play the ball forward to their star man, Chris O'Grady. The Reds were linked with O'Grady i...