What's your mood ahead of Forest?
The break has been nice, hasn't it? With our eyes bloodshot, bodies gently rocking in a corner, nothing could hurt us there.
But back to it. I’m feeling absolutely numb to football right now in truth, but that will doubtlessly change when the fear sets in on Monday morning. We've all felt pretty shell-shocked since Forest skittled us in the FA Cup last season; not the beginning of this sorry decline, but arguably the absolute manifestation of it.
These, however, are the games you feed off as a football fan. Not necessarily just because there’s local bragging rights at home, but because we need something here. And that’s the kind of night where memories can be made, good or bad – whether that’s a life-giving victory or… gulp… complete mutiny.
Let’s remember that Forest are utterly inept at the back too, though – and their fixtures haven’t been anywhere near as tough. Predictions are futile. Just get behind ’em…
Joe Brewin
My overwhelming mood is one of trepidation, but with a strange hint of excitement.
The football has been mostly awful so far this season, and confidence on the pitch and in the stands is at rock bottom. Forest will sense an opportunity to kick us while we’re down and certainly won’t be fearful of a team that has conceded 22 goals in seven games.
The excitement is mostly down to the Day of Reckoning narrative of this game. Rodgers has hung on for longer than any rational person anticipated, but another poor performance surely forces the board into a change. On the other hand, an unlikely solid performance and three points could kick us into gear at the start of a ‘slightly easier’ run of fixtures.
It’s also the first time these two clubs have met in the Premier League for 23 years, and despite the pessimism around the team, the atmosphere is guaranteed to be lively whatever the result.
Matt Jedruch
There are two scenarios here: Leicester win, and the comeback is on, or Leicester don’t win and Top is barricaded into the stadium until he gives Brendan the boot. Neither of those scenarios can hurt me.
Maybe it’s the power of not having to watch us for a fortnight but I’m more hopeful now than after the Spurs game.
Forest stink. Spurs was our best attacking game of the season. Wout Faes put in a dominant performance, if you exclude the six goals conceded. Danny Ward probably isn’t going to play. The tides they are a turning.
James Knight
Although I’m firmly in the camp that says Brendan should have been relieved of his duties prior to this game, I certainly don’t feel the anger and vitriol that some have displayed online towards him.
I do want him to turn it around, and I desperately want us to win this game. However, I can’t help but feel it’ll be a massive papering of the cracks, as the fundamental issues (defence, transition, chances created and set-pieces) have been going on for far too long, especially for someone who is supposed to be an excellent coach (one clean sheet in 30+ away games?!).
A fresh start with a new manager would have lit the blue touch paper atmosphere-wise, whereas with Brendan still on the touchline, I fear there won’t be much patience. I really don’t want him to get what’ll come his way if we lose. It’ll be a horrible end to a golden era.
I live on the Leics/Notts border, and for the first five years here it’s felt very balanced – far more Leicester fans than I expected. Since promotion, though, a fair number of Forest shirts seem to be appearing from the woodwork. We need a resounding win to kick-start the season and help me keep my head high on the school run…
Iain Wright
The first word that came to mind is ‘indifferent’. I just have little to no motivation to watch us at the minute – there’s a strange apathy around the whole place and it’s definitely crept into me and a few other regulars I go with.
Sadly for me, however, I work in the centre of Nottingham, surrounded by Forest fans and with pictures of the Trent End in our office, so there’s a lot on the line for this one. As it gets closer to game day, I hope I’ll become more excited. I do also think there’ll be a buzz around the ground and a need for some ‘revenge’ after last season’s humiliation.
Ultimately, if Brendan could choose any game on paper to try to save his job, surely it’d be this one against the (second) worst team in the league. If we fail to win, though, I feel like it’ll likely be the most toxic atmosphere we’ve seen at the KP for a long while.
Chloe Dexter
Most of us have our post-match victory rituals – whether that’s watching Match of the Day, sounding the horn going through Southgates Underpass or sacrificing a goat to the ghost of Septimus Smith.
Personally, I find myself replaying a key moment in my head the following day as I walk from one room to another and clenching a fist in quiet celebration. I can’t remember the last time I did that, in the same way that others have forgotten the MOTD theme tune, or how their car horn sounds, or what life was like before all those goats started stacking up.
Not having these opportunities must be affecting us all before a game too. I’m pessimistic at the best and worst of times but that reaches a whole new level when there’s so little recent success to call upon for confidence.
On the plus side, that lack of expectation means an absence of nerves so far. I’m sure I’ll get to that stage on Monday evening though, reaching the outskirts of Leicester en route to our biggest game since the FA Cup final and starting to feel the buzz of anticipation. We’ve got to try to forget about how the season has gone so far and play our part in lifting the players. I don’t even want to think about how it’ll feel if we don’t win.
David Bevan
I have genuinely done all I can to forget about football for a bit, such is my general feeling towards this Leicester side at the moment. It’s got to the point that no game is a better result for both my club and my mood – if you don’t play, you can’t lose after all.
But, having said this, I need this game to come around quickly. Monday’s result is a hugely significant game in the overall direction of our season. A loss, you’d suspect, will be the end of Rodgers at Leicester, the reaction at full time will border on a full-blown riot, and this will have a significant bearing upon Top’s decision.
A win, however, buys him more time and maybe even gives us some momentum to kick-start a desperately poor campaign. Either way, you feel our much-needed recovery can’t really begin until either of these scenarios come to pass.
Some, I’m sure, would even contemplate accepting a loss if it hastens Rodgers’ exit. For me, though, it’s simply a must win. Given the opposition, the context of the game and the potential lift that one provides, it’s absolutely crucial to get three points.
Jamie Thorpe
Very indifferent, which makes me pretty sad. There's a real stale air around the club right now and that cloud is looming over my head.
I think it could be very toxic in the stands – Spurs (A) gave a taster of that – which I'm equally here for and not sure I'm ready for all in one. If we go 1-0 down it'll be vile, and there are always a few who take it too far.
It's a very strange scenario. There's no way I'd ever want us to lose a game, particularly against Forest, but there is an unnerving comfort in the thought that if we do lose, surely that's the end of Brendan? Surely? Which in the long term would keep us up and hopefully I'll look forward to going to games again.
When I think about it, I'm more excited about a pre-match Nando’s than the game. That sums it up pretty well.
Becky Taylor
Nervous. Anxious. Apprehensive. The reality is that the joy has been sucked out of watching Leicester City. It’s not just the results, nor the performances, though both are woeful and major causes of the situation. It’s this feeling that the club is in complete freefall, with zero recognition of the trouble that we’re in.
The situation surrounding Brendan and his future at the club is close to turning into a circus – it’s beyond comprehension that he remains in place. Talk of the board having faith in his ability to turn it around is also worrying, since all the evidence points towards the opposite. The thought of having to watch another disasterclass against that lot fills me with utter dread. Despite their protestations that they don’t care, we all know the opposite is true. They will know the opportunity to inflict more chaos on us, at home in a relegation battle fixture, is too good to turn down.
Such little evidence that we look even vaguely competent is not a massive pull to go to the game, even though we’ll all drag ourselves there. The toxicity if we lose isn’t going to be pretty, even though it’s probably needed for change to take place. What a mess.
Elliott Butlin
Nervous. Pessimistic. Terrified. Our first league East Midlands derby in god knows how long, and we couldn’t be in much worse shape going into it.
Win it, and there just might be some hope for us to cling on to. A confidence boost for a set of players who very much need it. Lose it, and there could be riots.
Ryan Hubbard
