After a completely bizarre 2012/13 season, I am, as always when unoccupied on a Saturday in the close season, yearning for the new season to start down at the City Ground. Forest went through 4 permanent managers last season, if we include Mr Cotterill, and you could throw in an extra one for the games Rob Kelly took charge of. It was a season that never quite got Shelby Harris Jersey going, every time it looked like we had turned a corner, thrashing Leeds on Boxing Day, Billys unbeaten run then struggle to turn draws into wins, circumstances such as injuries, sackings made us take two steps backwards. Whilst not completely enamoured with the re-appointment of Billy Davies, I can say that he is a solid Championship manager whose teams have always been in the top half either in or just mi sing out on the play offs. Given the right tools I think he could achieve promotion with Forest at the third (fourth if you count last season) of asking. But what tools does he need?Look at any Forest forum and the fans are all crying out for width and pace. Pace I would say is a nece sity as we had absolutely no pace anywhere at all in the team last season. We have powerful runners like Guedioura, Lansbury and Cox but nobody who will petrify a flat defensive line. Width I would say is le s important. The typical number nine is falling out of popularity in the modern game. What teams are looking for more and more is a player who can contribute to build up and a teams overall style of play rather than hanging around on the six yard box. If you look at the top ten goalscorers for the Premier League last season none could be cla sified as Lineker esque number nines. Van Persie, Suarez, Bale, Benteke, Michu, Berbatov Lambert et al all contribute far more to the team than merely hanging around the oppositions goal. As teams become seemingly more competitive and flood their midfield areas, the luxury of having a poacher seem to be all but disappearing. Bent has fallen out of favour with Villa, Defoe had an unremarkable season, Hernandez played only a bit part at United, Owen never really did anything at Stoke, and at my own club, Billy Sharp quickly appeared to fall out of favour with Davies. As much as I like Sharp as a person and acknowledge he is an accomplished finisher, he did not really contribute in terms of build up or style of play for Forest. Davies quite clearly preferred to use Cox and another. Cox pops up everywhere on the pitch and is a willing runner and grafter and has a little more creativity about him compared to Sharp yet his goal tally was disappointing for a player who cost a fair bit Minnesota Vikings Face Mask .Of course, Spain have famously played without forwards at all. Fabregas occupying the false nine position up front backed up by the likes of Iniesta, Silva and Xavi. Of Course, I could not imagine Forest playing say Majewski up front with Reid, Lansbury and Guedioura behind him and having nearly as much as succe s but Del Bosques revolutionary tactic gives us pause for thought especially in the English game which is dominated by a flat 4-4-2 system with pacey wingers whipping in cro ses for 6 foot plus strikers. Was Davies use of three central midfielders behind a front two and without a proven finisher a decision borne out by circumstances, i.e having no players at the time who are recognised wingers, or a tactical decision he made about how he wants his teams to play in the future?In his first stint as manager, he often played McGugan drifting in from the right and Cohen on the left despite having at the time recognised wingers in McCleary and Anderson. Indeed McGugan displayed his form for Forest whilst in this position under Davies. Anderson, McCleary and to some extent Tyson were more often than not used as impact substitutions, their pace used to frighten tired opposition in the last 20 minutes or so. Reid in his second spell at the club is a completely different player. He used to hug the touchline whereas now he is much more of a central player perhaps no longer having the legs to track back and get forward in wide areas. The evolution of Reid is one we see now in many wide players. Bale started out as a full Kevin Byard Women Jersey back and became a true winger whereas now he seems to play more centrally drifting in from the left. Ronaldo tormented full backs but again now appears to adopt a more central position. Giggs in his thirties has also, more often than not adopted a more central role at United and Young has followed suit. Chelsea play without wingers yet have three very creative players in Oscar, Mata Marcus Peters Youth Jersey and Hazard. What we are now seeing is the utilisation of the pardoxical term central wingers . Forest have history in this. John Robertson, the playmaker at the time, would often pick the ball up in a wide area and drift inside with O Neill on the other flank keeping the width. What this demonstrates is the increased importance of movement rather than the old mantra of sticking to your position. In Lansbury, Reid, Majewski, Cohen and Guedioura, we have a very fluid looking midfield with players who are comfortable with the ball anywhere on the pitch and have excellent movement. In most other teams, Navas would be a sure starter yet for Spain, they rely on a fluid midfield with the likes of Silva, Iniesta, Fabregas and Mata drifting and utilising movement rather than depending on a player getting to the touchline and whipping in a cro s. Bayern have Ribery and Robben supposedly as wide players yet, again, these players are more likely to drift in and contribute more than touchline sprints and far post cro ses. Davies is a known student of the game, a revealing interview about what he did when he left Forest is interesting in that he looked at every aspect of what he and his coaching team had done whilst at Forest. Perhaps he is moving towards this more developed and tactical form of football. It is difficult to know whether Cox is a midfielder or Jaylon Ferguson Men Jersey a forward but he is used in a more wide position by Trappatoni for Ireland and was played in a similar position whilst at West Brom underlying the potential for him being more of a false number nine. Of Course a plan B is needed and we have that in Blackstock and Henderson just like Spain have it in Fernando Llorente. Of course I am not comparing Forest to Spain in terms of ability, (that would be ridiculous) but in terms of tactics they could be heading in that direction under Davies. In terms of width this leaves a large emphasis on the full back. In Lihaj a cracking and under rated signing to me, and Jara, we have players who can get forward and we saw a lot of this from Jara last season. If Cohen remains at full back he was also pushing forward a lot last season and is obviously comfortable in the final third of the pitch. With a holding midfielder in Guedioura or Gillett (criminally under-used in the second half of the season) we have a player who will cover the full backs forays into the opposition half also and this seemed to b