Nearly a month into the new season, and it’s fair to say (on paper at least) that it’s been a pretty good start for Forest under new boss Colin Calderwood. The mighty Reds are sitting pretty at the top of League One at the time of writing, but things haven’t exactly been plain sailing.

Take, for instance, Forest’s rather dismal ‘assault’ on the League Cup – a trophy which, lest we forget, has had the Reds’ name on it no less than four times in the club’s illustrious history.

Of course, times have changed, and no-one would have realistically expected Forest to go all the way this year. But nevertheless, you’d assume Calderwood and his players to be giving it their very all in the competition – not least because a bit of a cup run would help boost the club’s coffers, right?

 Wrong! Presumably having decided that last season’s cup humiliations against Macclesfield, Woking and Chester just weren’t enough, the Reds decided to go one better and limp out of this year’s League Cup against Accrington Stanley. Yes, that’s THE Accrington Stanley; the team who are universally regarded as the epitome of hopelessness, after they were famously namechecked in a TV ad for milk in the 1980s.

The word ‘embarrassment’ doesn’t even come close.

But hey, at least we can concentrate on the league now – although Forest have already suffered one major setback, what with the loss of Nathan Tyson through a knee injury just six minutes into the opening game of the season. The star striker will be out of action until at least Christmas, and many were quick to question where the goals are going to come from in his absence.

Happily, lack of firepower doesn’t seem to have been a problem so far, mainly thanks to Grant Holt having grabbed the opportunity created by Tyson’s injury with both hands.

Impressively for a man who began the season on the bench, Holt has already hit the back of the net four times, and is quickly becoming a bit of a legend on the banks of the Trent thanks to his tireless performances. Not to mention the fact that he looks a bit like a monkey.

But despite the ascendancy of Holt, Calderwood still seems keen to bolster Forest’s attacking options, judging by his attempts in recent weeks to sign Bristol Rovers striker Junior Agogo.

The arrival of Agogo certainly won’t do the Reds any harm, and he also has quite an amusing name - but then again, similar sentiments were expressed a few years back when Forest signed Brusque Crapper, AKA Stern John. Clearly, an amusing name is by no means any guarantee of a new signing turning out to be a good one.

Hopefully though, Agogo will at least be capable of taking penalties – as Forest’s record from spot-kicks has been utterly abysmal so far this season. The Reds’ ‘feat’ in managing to miss penalties in each of their first three games is surely some sort of record, and one that will go nicely alongside some of the other dubious accolades already bagged for the club’s ‘hall of shame’ (first team to be relegated from the Premiership, first former European Champions to drop into the third tier of their domestic league, etc).

Fortunately, Grant Holt managed to break the penalty hex by scoring from the spot against Brighton – and what’s more, none of the misses actually cost Forest any points.

Let’s just hope though that, come May, the Reds don’t end up missing out on automatic promotion by three goals - though if current results continue they should hopefully have their return to the Championship sealed by Easter…

Left Brian season preview

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