Formation

The biggest lesson I have learnt in what formations work and what don't was given by Kevin Keegan. However, as suits 'King Kev', it was a lesson in 'how not to do it'. When Keegan was made England manager, his tactical ineptness was on show for the whole nation. Never famed for a great understanding of formation and strategy (the Baddiel & Skinner sketch where Kev has to look up the word 'defence' in the dictionary springs to mind), Keegan made a complete arse out of himself in spectacular fashion. Not only did he pick a 22 man squad full of people called Neville, he then proceeded to invent magical new formations and force the players to fit into them, often with some force required. In the opening game of Euro 2000 against Portugal, he tried to play two different formations at once, giving Steve McManaman an unenviable role that involved playing left wing-back when the team were defending, then dropping in behind the forwards when an attack was formed. This had two major draw backs. Firstly, it left gapping holes all over the pitch when Portugal came on the break, leaving a certain Mr Figo thinking it was Christmas. Secondly, the poor sod McManaman was knackered after about 5 minutes of charging from one end of the pitch to the other, then back again. But he did score so what do I know.

The moral of the story is that you should build your formation around your team, and not the other way round. Play to your strengths and disguise your weaknesses. On the whole, I prefer 4-4-2 but it only works if your defence can play the off-side trap and you have some wingers. Forest have been wanting on the right side since Steve Stone left (briefly distilled by Ben Olsen). As we have no real quality in the right-wing and right-back position, I've decided to at least half the problem by combining the two positions and play with wing-backs. This also lets me move another man into the centre of midfield, where we ironically have too many players fighting for positions.

Players

Goalkeeper

Darren Ward as the obvious choice goes without saying. I've seen enough of him at Notts County to have faith in his ability. However, it is a bit worrying that we only have two first team goalkeepers, as it's the only position where we don't have a third choice.

Sweeper

Chris Bart-Williams perhaps plays his best football when he is positioned between the defence and midfield, but his form in the sweeper position last season has convinced me to put him here instead. He adds another element to the centre-backs, able to distribute the ball better than any of our defenders so we don't have to resort to a long ball game every time we win the ball. The same goes to Scimeca, and both players have captained the side in the past two years so show leadership qualities needed to organise the back-line. Also, Bart's scoring record from free-kicks and penalties gives him another advantage over Riccy.

Central Defence

Tony Vaughan still has to prove himself after his disappointing disciplinary record last season, but no-one can question his commitment and ability to make hard tackles count. He is also rock solid in the air, and would compliment Chris Doig's quality marking and tackling well. I'd keep Edwards as first reserve as his game is built around a mixture of the other two, and playing him might make the defence a bit one-dimensional. Hjelde is my all round back-up, as he can play sweeper as well, but he is too inconsistent to warrant a starting place.

Right Wing-Back

As I said, Forest aren't over blessed with right sided players. My choice of Gray might not be everyone's cup of tea, but recently he has put in good performances in this position. Edds and Louis-Jean, whilst having the pace needed, are too defensive in my opinion and might not be able to help the attack as much as I would like. As an aside, I expect Gray to show more of the promise he had at Leeds under his old mentor of Hart.

Left Wing-Back

Alan Rogers wasn't a hard choice for this role. The lack of creativity in the side after his injury last season was incredible. He is a perfect wing-back and we also have adequate back-up in Brennan and Foy, both very capable in this role.

Midfield

Forest suffered a lot last season from the lack of creativity coming from the centre if midfield. This is mainly due to it being packed with defensive players such as Scimeca and Johnson. To slole this problem, I have moved two players who featured last season as strikers, back into midfield. Lester used to play right wing for Grimsby, and Reid was a left winger for the U19s. They are not ideal, but I am making use of what I've got and this at least allows me to get 2 of the club's best players into the side when their positions would otherwise be taken. They both have pace and ball control to move the ball forward, and can also score good goals.

This attacking element is complimented by David Prutton. I decided not to include Andy Johnson in my line-up, instead opting for the younger, and arguably better, model. Prutton may lack some of the attacking skills, but he can win balls in midfield and anchor the players on either side of him.

My back up comes in the form of youngsters such as Freeman, Williams and Jenas along with the experience of Johnson if it was needed.

Forwards

With Reid and Lester occupied behind them, there could be no other choice than Johno and John. With a combined value of £6m, and both with respective proven records, assuming they can stay fit and they get the right service, these two could form a deadly partnership. They played together well at the end of last term and showed signs of an understanding developing. Marlon is my supersub, able to come on and add a bit of pace and strength to the attack if needed. However, I don't think he would make many starts as I would rather push Reid or Lester up front should either of my strikers become unavailable.

Strategy

Although I expect Hart to make Forest play a passing game based around build-up work, I would plump for the counter-attacking style that Platt used. This may upset the purists, but I feel it would work better with the players available and the formation I have chosen. Also, adopting Platt's style may be a bit risky, but I look to our winning streak back in October / November of 2000 for evidence that this would work.

If all goes well, the defence would sit back and soak up pressure from the opposition, able to handle anything that might be thrown their way (obviously my team play in the Utopian Premier League). Once in possession, the ball would be moved as quickly as possible via my wing-backs or midfielders up the pitch to hit the other team on the break. This is why I have chosen players with pace above all else. David Johnson likes to chase through-balls along the floor and Stern John is deadly when given the chances so this would work very well.

This style of play is better suited to away games, where you are expected to be put under pressure. However, at home, if you don't put pressure on the opposition yourself then you will be torn apart. In this case, I would like to see my defenders pushing themselves furthur up the pitch and keeping the ball in the opponants half in the way they failed to do last year. I might also be tempted to start Williams as he is more likely to provide a killer pass to breakdown the enemy barracks.

Of course the difficult bit comes when you try and convince the players to play how you want them to. Thankfully I don't have to do that. I don't have to convince anyone else either, at least not the extent that I will lose my job if I don't. The end result is that this is the kind of debate the no-one will ever be proved right (or, with equal ambiguity, wrong) unless their name is Paul Hart. Let's hope he gets it right.