Jason: We must not let Reds kick-start season
JASON Shackell has warned that struggling Nottingham Forest will come to Pride Park on Sunday looking to kick-start their season.
Forest sit second bottom of the Championship and five points adrift of safety ahead of the big East Midlands showdown against Derby County.
-
Derby County defender Jason Shackell battles with Nottingham Forest's Matt Derbyshire at the City Ground in September.
The Reds are in a relegation battle but Rams defender Shackell feels they are still dangerous opponents.
Shackell starred for Derby in their 2-1 victory over Forest at the City Ground in September and he is surprised that the Reds have not picked up since then.
"They have a lot of the same players who got them in the play-offs, they have got a talented squad," he said.
"At the minute, they are finding it hard and once you get in that losing habit, it is difficult to turn things around.
"But they are a dangerous side and this is the game they will be thinking can kick-start their season.
"We have to make sure it doesn't happen."
Derby's defeat at Barnsley on Tuesday was their first in six League games. They have collected 13 of the last 18 points on offer and find themselves five points outside the top six.
Forest have won only one of their last 11 League games have and scored only four goals in that sequence.
As a former Norwich City player, Shackell has experience of the East Anglian derby clash with Ipswich Town and says the A52 derby between the Rams and Forest is right up there with others.
"This is a huge derby. You saw what it meant to the fans when we won at Forest earlier this season," he said.
"It was a great day for everyone.
"We know how important Sunday is."
Shackell joined Derby from Barnsley last summer and the 28-year-old has been ever-present this season.
He is enjoying his football and believes the Rams are capable of finishing in the top six.
"Yes, I honestly do and we have given ourselves a chance," he added.
"We are past the halfway mark and we are not a million miles away.
"Now is the time we have to make sure we pick up a few points and push on.
"If we can do that, there is no reason why we can't slip into that top six come the end of the season.
"I am loving it here at Derby. The club is fantastic and the fans have been brilliant.
"I am very, very happy. It is the most settled I have been for years since I left Norwich."
Sunday's clash is set to be a sell-out.
2 Comments
by gordonskitbag
Friday, February 03 2012, 1:41PM
“Just the right attitude from Shacks.
We can go into this game with confidence, but have to avoid complacency. It's a cliche to say the form book goes out of the window in derby games, but like all cliches its well rooted in fact.
An example ...
... older supporters (and I hope NC, who was about 13 at the time I think) will remember Forest coming to the BBG in 1979. They were flying high under NC's dad and we were preparing for relegation at the end of the season. That day the form book was well and truly discarded with Derby winning 4-1 and outplaying Forest from beginning to end. For years afterwards I had the match report from the Sunday Times pinned to my bedroom wall - the headline was "The petrified Forest" - it was a great day in a bleak season. Let's hope the mind set is right and we get a similar result on Sunday, setting us up for a much better position at the end of the current season.
While we're reminiscing - if anyone out there was at that match do you remember what the weather was like? The sun was definitely shining metaphorically on Derby, but when I think of the game my mind's eye tells me it was literally shining. As it was late November that seems unlikely and I may just be further embellishing a golden memory - can anyone enlighten me?
COYR”
by wilko10
Friday, February 03 2012, 9:15AM
“Transfer that talk onto the pitch please boys. Go Go get them Red dogs”