Hopefully a new dawn.

The starting eleven against Brizzle is our best. So not many changes to the starting eleven. With the squad we have we are more or less forced to play a narrow midfield. BD may want to change that by bringing in wide players.

I think we should be careful who we bring in and how many.

Already we are looking at replacing Jara, Ward, Ayala, and Sharp in the summer. The more loanees we bring in the more we will have to replace, unless we get loanees who sign a pre-contract agreement to sign in the summer.

We know Billy prefers to look to the short term though, so I would expect 3 or 4 loanees.

My biggest hope though is that he can sort out his back four. When he was here last he was able to leave out his best central defender and without a LB still get the defence playing not too bad. Surely he can get Ward and Collins playing better than Wes and Chambo did; and Halford is a better LB than whoever BD had last time around.

Don't expect the playoffs though

RE: Loanees
I don't think you can send them back unless they are injured or if we have a recall clause by the other club. If that were the case then you'd have to ask them to call the player back.

We need a left back and right winger more than anything. Then at least one CB. If we are still in this division come May we should try to keep Jara and Sharp. As for Ayala and Ward, there is better out there. I doubt we will go for an experienced keeper before the summer. Darlow seems ok at the moment.


As for the playoffs. My hopes at the beginning of the season was a top ten finish. I am still hopeful that we can do a little better. To get top 6 though is going to be a tough task.

My prediction is 8th

Webbo, I don't think your fears of relegation are justified when you say "if we are still in this division come May" Even I, a Derby fan, think you will stay up OK

Well that is good to know.... Just looked at your fixtures too.

All things being equal, I think you might manage to stay up too

like to be a fly on the wall when billy has a few words with them

If they stay up.............. this lot want to go up this season

Oh here he is. Filter boy having a giggle.

This lot?.... being your lot then Wagbo?
....
I've put 8th as a prediction, but it is not impossible to go up, or as pointed out by one of your fellow sheep, go down. So my comment of "If we are still in this division come May" actually holds up.

Just a little bit of tweaking and we could go on a run. We have a manager who knows this division and although I'm not a fan of his I believe he is committed to getting the best out of our players. Although it is not in our hands, we have 15 games to go

Anyway fellow Reds, Wagbo rates our players:

Dexter Blackstock.....
by WassaBBGroundRegular (U2584) 18 January 2013

Serious question, would you sign him, yay or nay?? For me I would sign him. He's still got hunger for the game, and can score goals.

Had Forest won on Saturday you would all be saying they were motivated by the thought of having BD back as manager. Instead it's an article that it is first day back at the office.

I will be very surprised if there is a significant change in the form of Forest. Managers do not work miracles. The general rule with a change of manager is that an initial improvement in the results is followed by a slump, unless you are Alex McLeish where you go straight into the slump.

Red for 50 Years - are you forgetting that Billy had class left backs almost throughout his tenure - they may have been on loan, but still...

Spartacus....

Anyone has to be better than McCleish.

Those players battered Leeds on boxing day. Now they have a big lack of confidence. Hopefully Davies will motivate them in the way we all know he can. Add a couple of decent players and who knows

You're right donk, I stand corrected. Bertrand was obviously top class. I can't remember who folllowed him. Was it Shorey or Konch - bit dodgy though. But Halford is OK at LB at this level.

It will be interesting to see h

It will be interesting to see how Kelvin Wilson performs tomorrow against Juve

Red for 50 years. It was Shorey before Konch and Bertrand. Shorey being the best out of that lot.

Red for 50 years.

Says Billy likes to look at the short term!

(sic - not play-offs) he doesn't. He gets a 4 year deal. When things don't go perfectly (when do they ever?) He starts to blame the owners/investors. Becomes so unpleasant they can stand things no longer and fire him. He collects the next few years of pay without needing to stir himself. That's long term planning.

It's never been Billy's fault has it??

Always someone elses!

There's only one Steve Davies, Lewin Nayatanga and Stephen Pearson.

Great job boys.

Red for 50 Years - are you forgetting that Billy had class left backs almost throughout his tenure - they may have been on loan, but still...

-------------

I'm not so sure he had class LBs throughout his tenure. For the majority of Davies's time here, we didn't have a LB. Either Joel Lynch or Cohen played out of position. Shorey was brilliant but only stayed for a month was it? Bertrand was decent but was here for half a season. Konchesky was terrible.

Lynch was brought in as a left back. Yes, he played CB too but Davies should have played him at left back in the playoff semi.

Hopefully he will have learnt his lesson and finish off what he should of done back then

There's only one Steve Davies, Lewin Nayatanga and Stephen Pearson.

-----------------
That's three people AJ you tool.

Webbo,
Lynch was never a LB and proved that many times for us! He may well have been considered as a defender who could play there when we signed him but CB is his best position. I certainly wouldn't have put him at LB for the play-off games.

Billy boy's biggest mistake was not playing him there and expecting Lewis to play a defending role in midfield. But as I say he will have learnt his lesson.

Don't want to dwell on the past. It's the next 15 games that matter at the moment

I think starting McGoldrick and Tyson upfront was a bad mistake too a lot of his team selections were dodgy towards the end

Bang on Webbo

The game against Bolton is going to be tough, especially if we allow Kevin Davies to bully our defence again. Need a bit more grit and determination.

Not WUMming guys, but why on earth wouldn't your new manager bother to attend the game? Could it have been that he didn't want to hear the (Forest) fans chanting for SoD?