That's one of the most interesting articles that's been posted on the Forest board recently, colin (certainly better than the articles in applied censorship posted by S-BS).

I was thinking the other day that there's possibly been a general levelling-up in the Championship over the last few years, but then again I might be judging other teams by the 'standards' set by Derby in our Premier League 'campaign'.

That League 1 side only just made it up and nearly went down again, yet on paper it looks far stronger than the current Forest side. Perhaps the standard of championship sides has actually taken a nose-dive of late.

Then again, a few of the League 1 side were still developing and weren't much more than kids.

I agree OOE. The inclusion of McCleary looks strong, but he only ever looked a decent player towards the end of last season, for us. I amazed at the quality of the other players though. I reckon they would give the current team a run for their money (even the strikers).

*I'm

Obviously, the current team would look stronger if you included Pep, instead of Gillet and maybe Cohen for Lansbury.

But what it re-inforces to me though, is what a massive step back we have taken with our 'hastily assembled' defence this season. I am convinced this is the route of all our current troubles. They are just not good enough.

Cheers OOE. I agree that on paper, our league 1 team does look surprisingly strong.

sph, I have been saying all season that our defence is not up to scratch (despite this, I hear we have one of the better defensive records in the divison?).

It certainly is confusing as most suggest we have a great strikeforce yet it is statistically to be one of the worst in the league (I think?). Yet I think our defence is poor.

Hopefully, as Rob Kelly explained, maybe somebody outside the club (in this case Billy), can come and rectify what the problem actually is.

Looking at the league 1 makes you wonder, how exactly have we been as useless as we have the last 10/13 years. Just about every Forest side in that period has underperformed. I'd say the only one that hasn't is the side Billy came third with.

Paul Harts side were good and played some great stuff. But they came 6th and probably had more ability than any other side of that time.

Problem is we appoint rubbish managers. Some obvious disasters. Kinnier, Megson, McLeish, Cotterill. Others worth a try, Clueless Colin for example. But nearly all rubbish

Good article Col.

I doubt the League 1 team you have picked ever played together, but it does look like a team that could hold its own in the Championship. However the team that won promotion struggled, and only achieved mid table in the Championship. I think BD will take this team to a higher finish.

Picking a team from the two teams you have selected I would go for the following

Darlow

Perch Ward Wilson Halford

McCleary Majewski Cohen Commons

Holt Sharp

But if I were allowed I'd have Jara in for Perch, and Guedioura in for Cohen

What it highlights is how poor our current defence is. The League 1 back 4 are all better than our current back 4 in terms of recent performances. But at the time you wouldn't have said Grant Holt was a Prem striker. He was poorly utilised by Forest but it's such a shame we didn't stick with him. He's twice the player Dex is at the moment and would be a great partner for Sharp. We're crying out for winger so McLeary and Commons would be quality for us right now. I think our current CMs Pep and Raddy are better than McGugan and Cohen in those positions. And I'd probably have Darlow ahead of Smith.

What it comes down to is the manager. Chambers was awful under Calderwood but one of the best in the division under Davies. A good manager can make an average player good and a good player excellent.

Think Sutton hit the nail on the head. Any club success is 99% based on having a strong manager in place, the manager is quite simply the single most important employee at any club as it has the most influence on success. Players he picks, how he trains and motivates them, tactics, signings etc... it goes on and on and when you look at the success forest fans enjoyed albeit 20+ years ago large amounts of fans still remember those days like it was yesterday so it makes it harder to stomach when we perform so pitifully as we did for so many years under the likes of Megson, CC, Platt etc. Teams like Blackpool, Barnsley, Wigan, Watford with far smaller resources and fanbases than us have enjoyed Premiership stints in our absence which was all acheived under highly motivated and tactically aware teams and managers. Thats why getting Billy back makes so much sense as he's a proven motivator and players want to play for him and out of all the managers we've had since Frank Clark he has been the only one who proved himself up to the job as NFFC is currently one of the toughest jobs to be successful in outside the EPL!!

Caniggia, I think your judgement of our current back four is a bit harsh. Since Boxing Day yes they have been dire, but before that I thought they were OK (with Halford at LB). I am looking forward to seeing how well they play when Billy has had a few weeks to sort them out and organise them

How perch is playing in the PL I do not know. he was pretty much awful for us and cost us the Playoff game single handed vs Blackpool!

Red,

So they've been dire for a month and ok before that? That's not really good enough though is it? Collins is a decent CB but is very one dimensional. I think we should give Ayala a longer run in the side. How you can pick Ward ahead of Wes Morgan in your team above baffles me. Morgan had his critics but he is one of the best CBs in the division. Halford does a job at LB but he only looks ok because the alternative - Harding - is so bad. I like the look of Jara although he was a bit dodgy on Sat. I don't massively rate Ward although he's just a carbon copy of Collins really.

SBD,
Perch isn't that bad. He wouldn't be playing for Newcastle if he was. He was never spectacular for us but again, often played out of position. He was brilliant in the final game of League One in a defensive midfield role against Yeovil. He was also quite a good CB. But I always thought he was poor at RB.

Perch was one of my favourite players when he was here. Worked hard, filled in adequately out of position, played pretty calmly. I'd take him now.

Perch was brutal, how anyone can think differently is beyond me. He was signed by Nukey brown Ale coz of CC who was Chris Hughton's Assistant. He now finds himself getting some game time coz of an injury crisis but he's a total liability and has had plenty of stick from NUFC fans. Too weak physically to play central in midfield or defence, headless chicken type player who single handedly imploded our chances against Blackpool as has already been pointed out. To his credit he'll play anywhere and try his best but I'd suggest his best and only role is as right back, his stint as left back for Forest was depressingly bad and every team knew it and targetted him as Blackppol did when they destroyed us in the second leg of the play offs!!!

I seriously doubt you have ever seen him play then Len apart from the Blackpool game when we was terrible. He's been picked ahead of Tiote for the CM slot recently and is well liked by Newcastle fans from what I can tell. RB was his worst position not best. I've never rated him that highly but he's nowhere near as bad as you make out.

He was a centre mid who constantly got played out of position, but still did a pretty good job.

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