Newcastle United Fan View: Let's cut down Forest

It has been a tough week for Newcastle United but the two out of two losses suffered should not mean we are hitting the panic button just yet.

The home defeat against Blackburn Rovers was unexpected and whilst the performance wasn’t great, we were unlucky to lose.

The away game against Hull City in the ¼ finals of the EFL Cup was heartbreaking as the game was there for us to win - we should have won and we should be looking forward to a semi final in January.  I thought we played fantastically well, especially in the first half; we dominated them and were playing some superb football - despite not scoring I was transfixed, we piled on the pressure and pressed Hull further and further back - I’ve not seen us play like that all that often.  We had some chances and generally had them pinned back for all of the first half.  The second half was different and Hull started getting in to the game a bit more and when their lad was sent off a couple of minutes before the end of the game, I thought we would push on to win.  I can’t be too hard on them though, we were playing a Premiership side away from home, we dominated the game for the most part and we lost on penalties; heartbreaking yes but overall I was pleased with the performance.

Tonight’s game against Nottingham Forest is huge though and we need to prove that the loss against Blackburn was just a blip and not the start of a downturn in form.  Forest are an odd side, they sit towards the bottom of the table but they are the leagues second highest scorers (behind us) with 32 goals.  They have also conceded the second highest number of goals in the league (behind Rotherham United), again 32 - I think one thing is for sure, tonight will not be 0-0.

I have to admit I have a little soft spot for Forest, as a kid they were a team I always looked out for.  I used to love Stuart Pearce and Des Walker and have fond memories of Bryan Roy when he signed for them at the start of the Premier League’s existence.  I was even a fan of Stan Collymore in his early days (yes, it pains me to admit that).  I also remember very well the game in 1996 when we drew against them away from home in the “12 points clear” season; a game that a lot of people say lost us the title.  I do have a lot of football memories based around Forest and I am hoping tonight will be a new positive one.

The bottom line is we should win the game, we go in to the game off the back of two unlucky defeats.  Games where we have lost but generally played well; we need to take heart from that.  The EFL Cup run in over and a positive of that means we can put all our focus on the league.  We have 6 games in December, 3 at home, 3 away and I firmly believe we can take maximum points from all of them.

As for the team tonight, it is as ever anyone’s guess - I suspect given some of them played 120+ minutes of football on Tuesday, there will be some switching around.  Mo Diame was dead on his feet towards the end of the game at Hull so I would imagine Ayoze Perez will come in to the number 10 role.

I like Perez a lot as a footballer and he comes across well off the pitch too but he needs to step things up this season.  Last season we were an incredibly inconsistent side, some players played well in some games, but those performances were rare.  This season we have seen a huge upturn in consistency across the pitch but for me Perez is still hugely inconsistent.  At times he is wonderful (QPR away for example) but in most games he has been pretty anonymous and that needs to change.  He has built himself up a lot since he first signed so he should be able to handle the physical demands of this league but he needs to make more of a nuisance of himself; in a similar fashion to Dwight Gayle.  He needs to be more clinical in front of goal and he needs to stop dwelling on the ball so often.  There is a great player inside of Perez and if anyone can help him reach his potential it is Rafa Benitez.