Nottingham Forest are heading towards the final countdown. Ten games left in which to secure a top-six finish.
Steve Cooper’s side are back in action after the international break as they make the trip to Blackpool this weekend. And they will be aiming to finish the season in style.
Ahead of the Championship run-in, Reds reporter Sarah Clapson answered fans’ questions and responded to comments on our Forest Facebook page. Here’s how it played out.
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Q: It would be great to see Richie Laryea given a chance soon.
A: I’m sure he will be buzzing after helping Canada qualify for the World Cup. He’s had a really good international break.
Whether he will get a chance as soon as he comes back to Forest, however, I’m not so sure. He’ll certainly have given the manager food for thought with his performances, though - and that’s all he can keep doing.
Cooper has generally stuck with the same group of players, even if that means using the likes of Jack Colback in a different position. And when Djed Spence and Max Lowe are both available, there’s been no unseating them.
It would be good to see Laryea get a few minutes at some point, to see what he’s about. But at this stage of the season, when there’s so much at stake, it would be a big call to include him in the starting XI, given he has no experience of English football.
Forest have built up momentum with the players they’ve utilised. So if Laryea does have a part to play in these final games, initially at least, it will most likely be as a substitute.
The manager has been vindicated in his selection decisions so far, so you have to trust his judgement. He’s picking the team and the bench he thinks can get a result. More often than not, he’s got it right.
He’ll know when he thinks is the right time to give Laryea or Braian Ojeda or Loic Mbe Soh or Jonathan Panzo a chance. He’ll be constantly assessing how they’re doing.
Those players only have to look at the likes of Joe Lolley, Cafu and Tobias Figueiredo to see that the opportunity can come at any time. And when it does, you have to be ready to take it.
Q: Can we expect any of the injured players to return? Hopefully Lewis Grabban will be ready.
A: Grabban is the closest. It was hoped he’d be back soon after the international break, although it may be that Blackpool comes a little bit too soon.
We’ll get an update from the manager later this week, in his pre-match press conference. But the last we heard was that Grabban was on track, with early April the kind of time frame for a return.
It will be a massive boost to have him back soon. He’ll be so integral in the run-in - not just with his goals, but also with the influence he has as club captain and mentoring the likes of Keinan Davis.
Forest are not the only ones having to deal with injuries to key players. It’s all about how you handle the situation. Forest have coped very well so far - others have stepped up and the squad’s strength in depth has come through.
Losing Grabban at the end of January could have been a turning point in the season. As could losing Max Lowe, Steve Cook or Scott McKenna. But other players have done really well in their absence.
The international break will have taken a chunk out of the recovery period for Lowe, Cook and McKenna. Those three were scheduled to be out for between four and six weeks.
There is a little bit of hope that at least one of them might be back quicker than predicted, but Forest certainly won’t want to take any risks over them. The last thing you want is to bring someone back for a massive game then they suffer a setback and miss out on even more big games.
It was great to see Cook and McKenna at the Liverpool match. And a real positive that Cook was without the protective boot and crutches he’d had when he came to watch against QPR.
Q: Do you think 75 points will get us a top-six finish?
A: It’s so difficult to predict the points tally needed to get in the top-six this year. The average over the last 10 years is about 74 points.
Whether that’s going to be enough this season, however, is anybody’s guess. There are still a lot of teams in the mix, and it’s not just Forest who have been in good form.
It’s going to be tight. I can see it going right down to the wire.
Forest are on 58 points at the moment. They’re definitely capable of getting to 74, it’s just whether that will get them over the line.
We’ve asked the manager before whether he has a specific points tally that he’s aiming for. Publicly at least, he said ‘no’. He just wants to go into every game aiming to win, then see where that takes them.
Sometimes it can be counterproductive setting that kind of goal - Forest could hit 74 points, for example, and still not necessarily finish in the play-off places. It can be dangerous to have a certain figure in your head.
The good thing is Forest won’t fear anybody at the moment. They’ve shown they can live with Liverpool, so that’s got to be a confidence booster. Hopefully the international break hasn’t disrupted the momentum they’d built up.
They’ve shown they can win in different ways. They can grind out results. They can blow teams away, like Reading. They can come from behind and cope with adversity. All the tools are there to get where they want to be. There’s a lot to be positive about.
It’s going to be an interesting, tense, exciting and nervy run-in.
Plenty of teams will be looking over their shoulders worried about what Forest are doing. They are the ones coming up on the rails.
Q: This season is a freak one. The loans have made every bit of difference. My concern is over the state of the team next season, when none of these loanees are here and there has potentially been one or two extra sales.
A: It’s going to be a big summer whatever happens. And a summer of change.
Forest are likely to explore getting at least some of the loanees back. And, for some, they will have a decent chance.
Even if they do lose some or all, though, and even if the likes of Brennan Johnson or Joe Worrall get snapped up, Forest under Cooper and Dane Murphy have shown they can make good use of the transfer market.
The business from the last two windows has generally been very good. That’s got to give a lot of hope for the future.
There has been a change in transfer philosophy. You’d have to back the club to make good signings again.
They have started to put in place a group of players to build around. That was something the manager stressed he wanted in January - bringing in some permanent additions. And since then, Ryan Yates has committed his future with a new long-term deal. The foundations are there.
Long-term, Forest don’t want to rely on using loans. But they are well aware in the short-term that it’s an avenue they will still have to go down.
Other clubs will be looking at the progress James Garner, Keinan Davis and Djed Spence have made under Cooper. Forest will be seen as a good place to send talented young players for loan spells.
