Ok, poor pun for a headline, but stick with me! Forest's midfield is quite clearly in desperate need of an injection of fresh energy and dynamism and, with signings proving harder to come by than decent headline puns, it seems Billy may well have to look within his own paper-thin squad for a solution to arrest the slide towards the dreaded drop zone.
Against Derby we needed cool heads, hard work, passion, tackles and sensible passing from the midfield to ensure Savage, Green, Commons et al didn't have the freedom to do their jobs. These quality were lacking from a disappointing derby-day showing that deflated the already concerned Tricky Tree faithful.
The midfield wasn't the only place where the battle was lost (Breckin's inability to handle Hulse cost us dear again) but it was the heart of the battle, and withold a foothold in the game it was always going to be tough to topple Cloughie's Sheep.
The Derby game was heartbreaking to lose but is not by any means a killer blow for our Championship credentials. The worrying thing was to see us fail to even show enough ability to scrap out a battle. As the run-in looms we must toughen up and scrap for every point in a bid to stumble over the finishing line to safety.
Both James Perch and Lewis McGugan looked in desperate need of a break on Saturday. To be fair neither were guaranteed starters last time out when we a league lower and it is a big ask for them to step up a level in quality and in their standing in the squad. Recently Lewis has had flashes of inspiration butis not producing enough quality to really damage the opposition while captain Perch struggled to make his presence felt in a performance where the team as a whole were woefully poor at snapping up the second balls.
Chris Cohen, lauded by some circles as our best player, was dreadful. It worries me that whenever asked to move to the middle of the park he struggles to make a mark and that came out again against D*rby. Off the pace, weak in the tackle, wayward passing and never able to harm the opposition going forward, Cohen was another cog in a midfield that was not at the races.
It blantantly needs shaking up and the only option at Billy's disposal looks like being Guy Moussi. Out for a long period through injury the summer signing is stepping up his progress and will soon be back in the first team picture.
The looming trip to Reading inevitably brings back memories of the season curtain raiser - where the Frenchmen stole the show with an all-action midfield debut. The type of display Davies' side is crying out for right now.
Whether Moussi can reach the heights of his early season form remains to be seen. His form did fade after the first few games and a long term injury may well have taken its toll. But if Forest are to re-discover form while giving McGugan, Perch, Cohen et al chance to re-charge their batteries the role of Moussi may be crucial.
He may not be fully fit or even fully acclimatised to life in English football but right now he's all we've got and he may well have to be be thrown in earlier than would normally be the case.
Let's just hope he's the right Guy for Billy (ok, that's worse than the headline, sorry!)
Other thoughts -
*McCleary looked a real danger again when he came on against the Sheep. For me he's the most likely midfielder to create a goal and has done more than enough to earn a starting berth.
*Billy really must stop referring to himself in the third person in interviews. The only people I've heard do that before are WWE wrestlers. It doesn't quite work with a Glaswegian lilt...
*Ched Evans, Michael Tonge and Gary McSheffrey are the potential loanees linked with a move Trentside this week. They'd all be great but I refuse to get excited/expect a signing with this club ever again.
*Billy says the goal is to finish 4th bottom. Some fans say this is negative but lets face it we'd all take that now wouldn't we? Maybe he's being too honest but if that is where we end up i'll be celebrating just like at the end of the last campaign.
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