Do Forest Stick Or Twist?

The day has come, the clock is ticking, by tonight Nottingham Forest Football Club will know their destiny. How do they play it? Go for the win or sit back and keep calm? Whatever happens it will only be the right way if by 10pm tonight the Reds are in the Playoffs.

Sabri Lamouchi, the clubs much-loved Manager has come under some stick in recent weeks, his side lack charisma and charm although he himself is full of charisma and charm, which is why so many love and adore even if his style of football isn’t always so pleasing on the eye.

In truth, Forest are today sitting on their best points tally in nine years and the club have made massive progress on miserable seasons in recent past. Successive finishes of 14^th, 16^th, 21^st and 17^th were bettered only last year with a 9^th place finish under Karanka then O’Neill… Now whatever the outcome of tonight they’ll better that still… Proof of progress, proof that Sabri is the man to take the club forward.

But it has not been without mistakes, a young foreign Coach finding his feet in England however, why shouldn’t Lamouchi be allowed to learn from those mistakes and in time he’ll be even better for learning from them. We in England like the ‘up and at em’ kind of way, we like to ‘get it forward’ and ‘attack’ but Sabri’s French philosophy indulges in a little more thought… Perhaps too much ‘thought’ for the English game and the Championship which we all know is relentless and unforgiving at the best of times.

I totally get why Lamouchi rested players against Charlton after the Leeds win in between playing West Bromwich Albion… But it didn’t work… I totally get why he went five at the back at Barnsley in only needing a point… But it didn’t work… That stuff never seems to in England… You just have to play your best team to win games of football, because that’s what we as fans expect.

Lamouchi and Forest like it or not are a team set up to defend and counter-attack. First and foremost, the team is set up not to lose games, and if they do get a goal, then the aim is to defend it as best they can. Vulnerabilities have shown that defending over too long a periods of time has often taken its toll. Too many late goals to mention when defending leads, but that’s not to say by Forest doing what they are doing they won’t improve in that area too.

The ingredients are there, a good goalkeeper, two classic centre halves, a couple of full backs with energy, pace and workrate, a ball winning midfield pair behind a spear that can make things happen with a touch of class. Two wingers, unorthodox with quality to win games on their own and a centre forward who’s twenty plus a season. Forest’s issues are not with the first XI but with the squad depth and asking different players to do the jobs of those who are first picked in charge of the shirt.

I’m honestly not sure how tonight will go? It could be routine should Cardiff or Swansea slip up, it could be a breeze if Stoke fail to turn up? It could be one of those nights, one of those nights in a million that has unprecedented drama which can only happen in football?

I’m hoping for a much easier nights work though and I’m hoping that Forest can do the job they need to without a hand in help… Whether that’s with Sabri sticking ten men behind the ball and parking the Silverdale Bus in front of the Reds goal so be it… Because tonight is all about getting the job done.