Pundits are paid to give opinions and Nottingham Forest were one club firmly in the crosshairs of plenty of these so-called experts during the summer.
The Reds narrowly avoided relegation last year and during the club’s maiden season back in the Premier League for 23 years.
Jamie Carragher has praised a lot of aspects of Forest since a return to the Premier League in 2022 – but he doesn’t always get it right.
In March 2023, Carragher raved about Steve Cooper. He claimed that the club were fortunate to have him and that Forest could go places under him.
Last December the Forest head coach cleared his desk and was replaced by Nuno Espirito Santo who revived the club’s fortunes somewhat.
It seemed this summer as though his friendship with Cooper tarnished his view on Forest and Carragher made some comments that now look pretty silly.
Forest proving Jamie Carragher badly wrong
Ultimately any season predictions won’t actually be proved right or wrong until all 38 games of the season have been played.
Like most other pundits though, Carragher is perhaps guilty of underestimating the work that has been done by Forest this summer.
Carragher said on the first Monday Night Football of the season that Forest would go down – and his reasoning was pretty poor from such a good pundit.
He said: “I think Nottingham Forest have been close every season. And I think eventually, the trapdoor opens for them.”
The Reds landed 11 new players in the summer with two of them – David Carmo and Marko Stamenic – joining Olympiacos on loan.
Chris Sutton predicted this week that Forest would be fine this season and the start the team have made makes a mockery of Carragher’s comments.
How Nottingham Forest have started Premier League campaign
The Reds currently have 10 points from seven matches in the Premier League and remain unbeaten on home soil.
Bizarrely it’s the home form that is proving troublesome, with just two points claimed from games against Bournemouth, Wolves and Fulham.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 9 |  TottenhamTottenham | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 10 |
| 10 |  Nottm ForestNottingham Forest | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 11 |  BrentfordBrentford | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 10 |
Forest have played Southampton, Liverpool, Brighton and Chelsea away from home picking up eight of the 10 points that have been claimed so far.
The Reds are quietly going about their business and the performance levels have been vastly improved across the board.
Carragher is looking very much as though his prediction will prove to be nothing more than a lazy comment come the end of the season.
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