Kenny Burns: It's great to see the passion back again at Nottingham Forest

THERE is one word I kept hearing and a trait that was so evident from Nottingham Forest at the weekend was passion.

I said when Billy Davies arrived on "unfinished business" that he would get in among the players.

There are some very talented lads in that Reds squad and knowing the fiery nature of Davies, you knew he would be straight in there, getting them pumped up.

And on Saturday, at the City Ground, that is what we saw.

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To be successful, you have to play with passion and fight for everything, be prepared to make things happen and that is what we saw from Forest.

And with Davies in charge, I do not think that will be a flash in the pan. It will not be a case of everybody trying to impress during his first game in charge – far from it.

The minimum Davies demands from his players is passion and I think we will see them get better and better from this point.

Yes, it only ended in a draw, with Bolton equalising to make it 1-1 but it was a starting point and I would fancy them to take all three points when they entertain Huddersfield tomorrow night.

Davies has obviously been watching DVDs and his team selection proved that as he dropped captain Danny Collins.

I don't think the centre-half has lived up to the expectation after joining from Stoke and for me, he has not been commanding enough or tough enough at the heart of the defence.

Davies is not going to accept that and while he might get his chance again, he will have to make sure he comes back with a much more no-nonsense approach to his game if he is to have a future under the Scot.

Also Chris Cohen played out of position at left-back and that must make Dan Harding somewhat twitchy, but the big one for me was Henri Lansbury.

The club paid a six-figure sum for the midfielder back in the summer yet hardly played him. He has pedigree, having won promotion with West Ham and Norwich into the top flight.

On Saturday, he was excellent and I for one want to see him playing week in, week out. If you have good, talented players then play them. It is that simple.

Also, Simon Cox looked a lot sharper and got a great assist for the goal for Andy Reid and he is another one who can really look to make his mark now.

The striker demonstrated earlier in the campaign how he can be a nuisance and make things happen and it will be that tireless work-rate and hustle and bustle that Davies will look to utilise.

Obviously the manager knows some players from his earlier spell in charge at the City Ground but when it comes to the others, he has certainly done his homework.

He has not just come in and started from scratch, he has hit the ground running and that is why you know he will soon be dabbling in the loan market to make additions.

Before, when at the City Ground, he had the likes of Paul Anderson and Garath McCleary to inject pace and width on the wing, to torment full-backs.

Finally, I think we will be seeing that again at the City Ground because Davies will want to bring those qualities back through new personnel. As I have said in the past, it has been lacking this season.

And, in midfield, he will bring in a holding man, a mouthpiece, that Paul McKenna-type player to boss the team on the park.

Davies knows his own mind, he knows what he wants and he will always set his teams up to be hard to beat and to try and capitalise on the opposition's weaknesses.

He will demand 100 per cent from his players in terms of attitude and commitment and expect everybody to put in a shift. If you don't, you'll be out before you can catch your breath.

But, above all, he will bring a passion to the team. We saw that on Saturday and if you add passion to a talented group of players, you can go places.

Whether promotion can happen this season remains to be seen. But it is nice to see passion back at the City Ground.