Forest Boffin

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...

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...

After two defeats in quick succession, Forest welcome relegation threatened Barnsley to the City ground in a humongous game for both clubs. The Garibaldi unquestionably needed at least one win this week; taking the league table into account you could be forgiven for assuming Saturday's game was the easier of the two. However The Tykes will be no pushover: they are a different proposition than the team so easily outmanoeuvred by Forest earlier in the season, and after studying them, we at Forest Boffin believe they will be, if anything, more difficult to get a result against than Middlesbrough. By now we all know what a strange and exciting league The Championship is. There are no easy games, and the worst team one month can transform into "invincibles" the next - who would have thought Ipswich and Peterborough would top the form guide as they do today? Barnsley under David Flitcroft are another anomaly in that they have an eerie ability to cause an upset. To s...