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"We're a good team - the players are better than what they showed on Tuesday and I think they believe that. We've got to make sure they're confident and don't go into their shells. They've got to be brave enough to go and take the ball and play their football and show their ability.
"We need a reaction to what happened on Tuesday; we need a good result. A win will keep us top of the table but we know it will be a real test against Carlisle. Tomorrow's result will determine what people think about how well we have reacted to losing to Oldham.
"We had a real good sit and think because there are a lot of things we need to do better. There were some glaring things on the video. We didn't do the things we had done well previously. We will look at the areas we let them get the ball into and the reasons why Oldham scored.
"The nature of their game was quite direct and what we didn't do was win enough of the second ball, and when we did we gave the ball away within three or four seconds. When they regained it, they always produced a good forward pass; when we regained it, we did not.
"But we want to dominate a home game and we want to put a very good team under more pressure than we did to Oldham. I also want the players to lift the supporters out of their seats with their effort, attitude and willingness to work, run and tackle and also with their willingness to pass the ball, pass it early, create angles, create crosses and have shots. I want them to be eager to get a result. When you looked at it at the start of the season, we didn't know that this would be a tough period, but it will be."
Experienced centre-halves John Curtis and Danny Cullip will be both be absent tomorrow for Forest, former Manchester United man Curtis still recovering from a tight hamstring, caused by a problem in his back, picked up in a 1-0 win at Yeovil seven days ago. Cullip also suffered an injury in the first-half of that victory at Huish Park, the ex-Sheffield United and Watford man tearing a muscle in his thigh which will keep him out of contention for three to four weeks.
Kris Commons will also be missing from the game despite making his comeback in a reserve friendly defeat against Coventry on Wednesday, the 23-year old midfielder having been out for six weeks with knee and ankle injuries. Upfront for the Tricky Trees there are plenty of familiar names to United in the news, Carlisle-born Grant Holt will be fit to play and ex-Blue Scott Dobie is likely to be on the bench as he continues his return from a year out with a hip injury. Meanwhile Junior Agogo may get his first start for the League One leaders after signing for the club from Bristol Rovers in August for a fee believed to be in the region of £125,000. Also in the forward ranks well-travelled Jamaican international striker David Johnson announced his retirement this week on doctor's advice, the 30-year old suffering from a long-standing disc problem in his back.
I'm afraid the referee for tomorrow is infamous red card whistler Richard Beeby from Northampton and he will be assisted down the lines by Dave Birkett from Lincolnshire and Geoff Russell, again from Northamptonshire, meanwhile the fourth official is Mark Hutchinson from Nottinghamshire.