Steve Cotterill - Nottingham Forest need toughness for relegation fight
STEVE Cotterill believes he has added some much-needed toughness to his Nottingham Forest squad with his three most recent signings.
And he today insisted: "We needed a few players who are willing to get stuck in."
-
George Elokobi playing for Wolves
Rock solid Wolves defender George Elokobi – ironically nicknamed 'Gentle George' by the fans of the Premier League club – joined on loan this week and could make his debut alongside fellow new additions Danny Higginbotham (Stoke City) and Scott Wootton (Manchester United) when Forest face Watford today.
Cotterill admitted he had been desperate to add some steel to his Forest ranks – and believes the addition of Elokobi in particular will help to achieve that.
"He is a top player and a tough, tough man. Nobody is going to boot him, are they?" said Cotterill.
"And maybe we need a few players who are going to boot people themselves, to send them back down the other end of the pitch for a while, with something to think about.
"I have been after him for a couple of months. We are very short back there, we have been unbalanced.
"We needed to bring in some experienced heads, to help us through this tough time.
"George is big and he is tough. I don't think people like playing against big, tough defenders.
"He comes into that category, for sure. He is a folk hero at Wolves and hopefully he can be that for us.
"He is a top guy. He is a really nice man. I just don't want him to be nice between 3pm and 5pm on a Saturday."
Forest go into today's game five points behind Millwall, who occupy 21st place in the table and the final position of safety.
But Cotterill says focusing on the final points tally required at the end of the season is more important, as Forest head into a run of games that includes home fixtures against all of their immediate relegation rivals.
"Hopefully we can put a few good results together. If we can collect wins now, we are also denying other teams around us wins," he said. "But it is not the gap, so much, that I look at. It is the final points total.
"The points are the bigger picture. It is not how many you are adrift, it is the total you have.
"Nobody is going to stay up with 30-odd points. The teams who are on 34 points now are not safe.
"But I do not want to say, publicly, what I believe we need to stay up.
"The next batch of games are important for the total. We have to start doing well now."
41 Comments
View all
by Smith1980
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 9:43PM
“.
"It's not Cotterills fault really - appointed way beyond his pay scale. Frank - you have to step up and take control. You are Chairman - appointed by Mr Doughty, take responsibility and relieve incompentent Cottterill now."”
by jonsol
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 8:58PM
“Given up the ghost...relegation imminent and bankruptcy looming.
Club reforms as fans' cooperative and start in Northern Counties league 10.
Situation is abject...”
by Smith1980
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 8:46PM
“Because the idiot cannot win foootball matches.”
by Smith1980
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 7:55PM
“Cotterill will take us down.”
by yepitsthepigs
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 5:02PM
“Maybe get the old world champion Carl Froach down. Didnt he say he wants to fight at the city ground infront of 5,000 forest fans anyway. Just make sure its not on tv ***”
by YodaNFFC
Monday, February 13 2012, 3:09PM
“Mutch improved profomance saturday, gutted the game wasnt a sell out to give Doughty the send off he deserved. i think we had 13 attempts on goal that game and 8 on target its a shame the best ones fell to Gunter who is not known for his goal scoring i think he has only got 2-3 goals in his career, could have done with them falling to a striker, put it was also a shame we didn't keep a clean sheet because we deserved to win 2games with the ammount of chances we created, 8 on target we should have at least put 2-3 in the net. Bring on the Borough hope we can go up there and get a win but would be happy with a draw.
Hope the likes of Harewood, Blackstock, Derbyshire, tudgay and defently FINDLEY stay behind a few extra hours on the training ground and do some finishing practice, And Gunter aswell if he keeps getting forward like that.
The game on saturday made me happy for once this season”
by Slade1
Monday, February 13 2012, 8:41AM
“buddybonny and SillyGilly
Your superiority complex has taken hold, you didn't read what I said. I never said he regretted winning the European cup etc.
We all make mistakes in our lives that we regret, the measure of a person is how they recover/respond, BC came back stronger.”
by buddybonny
Sunday, February 12 2012, 4:16PM
“DOHHH What have i said.......???? Well, its not far is it ? pmsl”
by jillycarol
Sunday, February 12 2012, 3:52PM
“Well said BuddyBonny although a slight slip of the finger from you. Twas of course Munich and not Hamburg where we first won the EC.....direby still the WTIH though heh heh heh heh heh!”
by Red_Mike
Sunday, February 12 2012, 3:31PM
“We have now got the best squad we have had in the past 5 seasons (with the additions of the 3 new loan signings). We finished in the paly offs for the past 2 seasons and what is the difference in playing staff? Earnshaw only scored 9 goals last season so we are not missing him - we are not that bad, horrendous refereeing decisions, misfiring strikers, run of the worst luck ever have all played their part. We have enough for this season with 16-17 games left to get out of this and I expect us to do it confortably. Good strikers do not become bad over night. It does feel like a new start so lets see what Cotterill is made of....”