Chopping down the Forest

Please look elsewhere for a more detailed account but I thjought I would share a few thoughts on Charlton's game tomorrow against Nottingham Forest. 

The statistics on the Charlton website (http://www.cafc.co.uk/stats/?opponentTeamId=15) show the earlier away fixture as a fairly even game with Forest coming out eventual 2-1 winners.  However, I, and I am sure a few other fans, remember us being played off the park by them at the time.  Whether it was nerves I am not sure but I also seem to remember a wrongly given free kick against Chris Solly going sweetly into the back of the net.

We have grown as a team since then and have nothing to fear.  Despite some of our results the team have shown that they can compete against the best.  However, given the recent goal fest they have enjoyed against Huddersfield on Tuesday we should be weary.  They are vulnerable though as the 2-0 loss to struggling Bristol City earlier in the month showed.

Billy Davies on the Forest website has said “Charlton’s victory at Leicester on Tuesday is a perfect example of why we must treat every team in this division with the utmost respect".(http://www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/news/article/billy-well-treat-them-with-respect-670564.aspx).
This is the one phrase that sums up the Championship perfectly.  There are rarely any run away winners in this league and teams rarely perform consistently.

Given this I would like to see us start out again using a 4-5-1 formation with Dervite in front of the back four to provide additional cover until we are able to read how Forest are playing.  If and when the game settles down we can then get more adventurous bringing on Fuller or Haynes as an impact striker.

It will also be nice to see Andy Reid back at the Valley again.  By all accounts he is a genuinely nice person and has somehow managed to transform his previously stocky build to become a much better player.  I also liked him for his work effort on the pitch.  However, he's now with the opposition so polite respect is the order of the day.

I'm expecting a decent turnout from the Forest fans so in the famous words of big Dave Lockwood we really do need to "get behind the boys and make some noise" !!

COYR...