Former Derby County favourite Craig Ramage has taken a pop at Nottingham Forest’s squad ahead of Saturday hotly-anticipated East Midlands-derby clash.
Ramage has told Derbyshire Live that there is nothing for Derby to fear within the Forest squad, despite a decent start to the campaign for the Reds.
Sabri Lamouchi’s men sit in fifth place in the Championship at the moment, four points ahead of their fierce rivals.
A win tomorrow would give Forest a catalyst to regain some momentum and continue looking upwards at the other promotion hopefuls.
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Ramage isn’t at all fazed, however, and says there is ‘nothing’ in the Forest squad to fear.
He told Derbyshire Live: “I am hearing things, and it seems that for the first time in a long time Nottingham Forest seem really confident going into the fixture.
“It is usually Derby in the top six or expected to be in the top six.
“Forest are in there, at present. They are above us, but I have looked at their squad and there is nothing to fear.”
In a further dig at Derby’s rivals, Ramage also stuck the boot into Forest’s current form, citing Lamouchi’s men as being inconsistent.
He continued: “We are not going to Manchester City or to Liverpool, we are going to Nottingham Forest, who can be hit and miss.
“They lost their last home game and their form this season is the reverse of our form.”
Ramage played 42 games for the Rams in six injury-hit years. A midfielder by trade he would eventually leave permanently for Watford in 1994, before finishing his career at Notts County.
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It seems a little naive of Ramage to stoke the fire ahead of an East Midlands-derby clash and his comments won’t sit well with Forest.
He doesn’t really have a point either. Forest have the likes of Joe Lolley, Lewis Grabban, Matty Cash and Joao Carvalho who would probably all waltz into the current Derby side.
On their day Forest have a formidable squad which has been proved time and time again this season. The Reds won at Swansea and Fulham this season, whilst they claimed a point from their trip to Leeds.
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He is right that coming to play at Forest isn’t really like facing Manchester City or Liverpool, but to say there is nothing to fear for Derby is just bitter.
Lamouchi certainly has more matchwinners in his squad that Phillip Cocu does in his and the Frenchman will hope to return to winning ways on home soil by defeating the Rams for the second time this season.