 Tuesday, 15th Sep 2009 07:57 Town boss Roy Keane says he’s likely to make one or two changes for Tuesday’s home game against Nottingham Forest, the club where he started his professional playing career. The Blues have no new injuries as they continue to look for their first Championship victory of the season. Keane says he is considering a couple of switches of personnel: “It’s a different challenge for us, the way they play. It’s a home game and I tend to make one or two changes when we have two games in three or four days.” The Blues boss says the first win of the season will come as long as his players stick with the same attitude they have shown up to now: “We need to keep working hard. You look at the first goal on Saturday, the boy was two yards offside as the cross came in, so we need a little bit of luck as well. “We can’t fault the players for their efforts, but nearly every league game we’ve played so far we’ve given teams a helping hand. Regardless of whether the boy was offside, we gave the ball away cheaply. We’re making it hard for ourselves. “And we’re not scoring many goals, so the last thing we need to be doing is giving teams a helping hand.” Keane says he hadn’t anticipated scoring being a problem: “I’m surprised at the lack of goals we’ve scored, although obviously we’ve lost one or two people, Gio was a goal threat for us when I came to the club last season, David Norris is out and Pablo was injured at the beginning of the season. Priskin’s come in and I think he needs a little bit of time. “But you ask any manager and first and foremost he’ll tell you you’ve got to keep clean sheets and we’ve certainly not done that. Never mind conceding one, we’ve conceded a lot more, three again on Saturday, and we’re not capable of scoring four goals away from home. “I think from a goalkeeper’s point of view, Wrighty would like to keep a couple of clean sheets and hopefully the goals will come, especially now we’ve brought Carlos to the club and Grant, who will also bring us something going forward. “I thought in patches we did OK the other day, but we need to do better than OK. Barring 10-15 minutes against Palace and West Brom, who played a lot better than us on the day, there’s not been much between us and the teams we’ve played against.” Despite the poor start to the season, the Town manager feels that fans should be able to see what he is trying to achieve: “I don’t want to be patronising to supporters and say ‘give us a bit more time, a bit more patience’. I think, hopefully, they’re intelligent enough to understand what we’re doing, where we’re short and have a bit of faith in me. “That doesn’t mean to say they should be happy with results, of course not, it would be wrong for me to say that. Get behind the team, I think what the players need is the supporters behind them just now. We need the supporters, without a doubt.” The Blues have no new injuries from the weekend with David Norris and Luciano Civelli the only absentees with the knee ligament injuries which have kept them out of action for a while. Keane says both are doing well and that David Norris could be back earlier than had been anticipated: “David’s doing well, as you’d expect, he’ll be ahead of schedule. “You learn about players when they’re doing well, in terms of ‘does their head get too big?’, you find out them when the team isn’t doing so well — which players want the ball and who wants to step up to the plate - and you find a lot out about players when they’re injured. “It’s no surprise to me that David’s getting good reviews from the medical staff, that’s the type of lad he is. I said that from day one. When the surgeon was talking about three or four months, I knocked a month off that straight away. “I’m not a physio, but I know the type of lad he is and sometimes when you’re coming back it’s all in the head. Physically, he’ll do the work no problem, it’s about mentally staying strong and getting back quicker than everyone suggests.” Keane is yet to see Argentinian midfielder Luciano Civelli in action, but has been impressed with his attitude: “He’s doing well too. Luciano’s due to see the surgeon this week. He’s out running and is with us every day, not joining in but on the sidelines with [fitness coaches] Simon Thadani and Antonio Gomez. “It’s a big test for that boy. He’s had a lot to deal with and he’s handled himself very well. I’m delighted with him. “I’ve only seen him play on video and it will be nice for him to join in and if he were to come back with David, it would be like two new signings in two or three months’ time.” The Blues boss admits that getting what he wants from his side is taking more time than expected: “We’ve got some very, very good players, but probably we’re not quite a team yet because, to be fair, I’ve been chopping and changing. ”We’ve got lots of new players at the club, lots of players have left. There’s a change of environment, different training, different demands and it’s going to take a bit longer than we first thought maybe. “We’ll all have to deal with that element of patience. But, as I’ve said before, in football people don’t like to hear that word. We’re all guilty of it, the media, managers, staff. I know what I’m like, I want everything yesterday, so it’s a big test for me and my patience.” The side Keane fields against Forest looks likely to be essentially the same as the one which started at Middlesbrough. Richard Wright will keep his place in goal with Liam Rosenior, one of three players likely to make their home debuts, at right-back, Damien Delaney expected to continue at left-back and skipper Alex Bruce and Gareth McAuley in the centre with no loanees expected to sign until later this week at the earliest. In midfield, Lee Martin could come back in on the left for Jaime Peters, who returned from injury at the Riverside on Saturday and may not be ready for two games in a week. Another home debutant, Carlos Edwards, will continue on the right with the third, Grant Leadbitter, in the centre, probably again alongside Jack Colback, although Keane has hinted that Colin Healy could come into his plans. Up front, Jon Walters impressed Keane at Middlesbrough and will keep his place with Tamás Priskin perhaps coming in for Pablo Couñago, who like Peters may be a bit too short of fitness to play two games so close together. Connor Wickham didn’t make the trip to Middlesbrough after missing training for most of last week due to a groin injury. The 16-year-old was given a run-out in the U18s at Aston Villa, scoring a 92nd minute equaliser, but still appeared to be hampered by the problem. The game sees Keane face the club where his professional career began and which changed his life: “It had massive impact in the sense that Brian Clough brought me to England and gave me an opportunity. I had three absolutely brilliant years there. “It was a great club for me at that time of my life and my career. I’ll always be grateful to Nottingham Forest, there’s no doubt about that. I was 18, 19 years of age and I thought I’d maybe missed the boat, but they gave me that opportunity, looked after me and threw me straight into the first team. “It’s a wonderful football club and it’s good to see them getting back up the table, although obviously not on Tuesday night.” Forest manager Billy Davies expects Keane to have Town progressing in a similar direction as the season goes on: "We will go there expecting a tough match tonight. "He will know that once you hit December or January in good form there is no doubt that you can make the play-offs or get promotion. "It will not bother him because he has been there before when he took over at Sunderland. You just need the breaks in this division. But he will know the situation. "It is a sticky start for them but Roy will be quite relaxed because he will know that, come the end of the season, his squad are capable of being in a better position. "It was the same a few weeks ago when QPR fans were calling for Jim Magilton's head after a few bad results. "Roy Keane is in the same boat now — but then it is the same for any manager. You just need a couple of defeats then people start talking about changing the manager. "I have no doubt that, during the course of a long, hard season, he and Ipswich will be there or thereabouts. "We don't expect any favours at Reading, QPR or Ipswich. We don't expect people to hand us an easy game and three points." Forest striker Nathan Tyson became a father on Saturday morning and missed the weekend 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday. He will talk to Davies before a decision is made on whether he’ll be play. Definitely out is midfielder Radoslaw Majewski, who has a knee problem. Julian Bennett (knee) and James Perch (shin) are also sidelined at present. Defender Joel Lynch is a doubt with a back problem. Aside from manager Roy Keane having spent time at the City Ground, Lee Martin was on loan with the Tricky Trees last season and coach Tony Loughlan was a Nottingham Forest player between 1989 and 1993, injury limiting him to only two appearances and a goal scored after 36 seconds of his debut. No current Forest player has played for Town. Historically, the visitors very much have the upper hand, winning 28 of the games between the two sides (25 in the league), 13 (12) ending in draws and Town winning 18 (17). Last season, a Tommy Miller penalty gave the Blues a 1-1 draw at the City Ground, Garath McCleary having scored for Forest. At Portman Road in February, James Perch netted an own goal and David Wright added a second for the Blues before Nathan Tyson pulled a consolation back for the visitors. Forest are currently 16th in the table having drawn all three of their away games so far this season. Tuesday’s referee is Gavin Ward from Surrey, who has shown 16 yellow cards and no reds in six games so far this season. A National List official since last season, Ward has not previously taken control of a Town game. Probable squad: R Wright, Lee-Barrett, Rosenior, D Wright, Delaney, McAuley, Bruce, Smith, Balkestein, Leadbitter, Colback, Healy, Edwards, Trotter, Quinn, Martin, Peters, Walters, Couñago, Priskin, Stead.
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