4-3-3 Is The Way Forward For McClaren

It was like a Who’s Who of the British footballing press at the official unveiling of new Nottingham Forest manager Steve McClaren yesterday, when he gave his first press conference at the City Ground.

The great and the good from every national newspaper, as well as TV and radio were in attendance. However, it was a bit of a damp squib for fans of the Reds’ tuning in to watch the events unfold on live TV, with the press more interested in McClaren’s failure to land the Aston Villa job, than the more pressing matters at hand, concerning Nottingham Forest.

Apart from McClaren paying tribute to former manager Billy Davies and acknowledging that he could smell the tradition and history at the club, he was pressed very little on how things were going to work or change at the club now that Davies has gone.

The only comment of note in an hour long press conference, was his intention to play with a 4-3-3 formation when ever he could. McClaren stated that it was a system that served him well during his time at Twente. He also said that he would play with whatever system it took to get the club out of the Championship and gain promotion to the Premier League.

McClaren came across as very confident and was in a bouyant mood as you’d expect. He was very upbeat about the task at hand and was unphased by the prospect of progressing the club. Welcome to the City Ground Mr. McClaren.