15/11/2008 - Anderson: Forest will fly out of bottom three
Paul Anderson has a dream. One day he wants to play for Liverpool; to grace the Premiership stage. But, unlike thousands of young footballers around the globe who share that ambition, the 20-year-old actually has a chance of one day playing alongside the likes of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.Having recently signed a fresh three-year contract at Anfield, Anderson knows he is held in high regard on Merseyside. But, for now, such thoughts have been put to the back of his mind. Ambitious Anderson has no time for daydreams. Instead, the winger has a mature, realistic view of his future that belies his tender years.
And he understands that, by performing in a more modest - albeit no less historic arena - he can take a big step towards eventually achieving his goal.
"I have come here to do a job and I want to play well for Forest," said Anderson, who will remain at the City Ground on loan all season.
"I don't want to leave here in the future and have Forest fans say 'what a waste of a loan he was'.
"I want to leave with people thinking 'wow, what a good player, hopefully he can go on and play for Liverpool'.
"I want people to think I am good enough for that level. But part of football is that there is pressure every time you play. People have paid to watch you and you have to perform for them.
"My main target is to play for Liverpool one day, I want to be a Liverpool player. I don't think anyone would disagree with me saying that. They are one of the best clubs in the world and any player would want to do that.
"But I am here to do a job first."
And, having tested himself against a Birmingham side that themselves enjoyed Premiership football last season, Anderson believes that Forest - and he himself - have proved themselves capable of flourishing at Championship level and quickly bringing an end to their relegation struggle.
"We do not class ourselves as a bottom-of- the-table side," he said. "We feel we can compete against anyone in the league. We have shown that against Reading and Birmingham. Now we have almost a full squad to choose from - aside from Julian Bennett and Guy Moussi - we'll be looking good.
"We feel like we are playing really well, we felt we were the dominant side against Birmingham for most of the game.
"We have matched ourselves against the top teams and we feel we can compete against anyone.
"We had a tough start but we feel we are on the way out of that now, with a win and two draws.
"We hope we are on our way up the table and we are looking forward to getting out there and playing again."
Forest face a mid-table Bristol City today, in a tough game at Ashton Gate.
Beyond that, they have what looks like crucial fixtures against Norwich, Doncaster, Barnsley and Coventry, who are all involved at the wrong end of the table.
"Given the situation we are in these are probably bigger games than the ones we have against the top sides," said Anderson.