I actually quite like Sean Dyche as a manager, and although I have frequently laughed at his wheezy raspy voice, he has a decent record, especially working on budgets.
That said his comments post match against Burnley left me feeling he’s just a bit moany and every time an opposition manager says stuff like this it just strikers of bitterness that they don’t have the resources. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well we’ll discuss this later after looking at the match,
We exposed last week that Burnley are a bit of a bogey club for the Reds, we don’t have the best record against them at all, but they aren’t the only club in that group. So going into this game against a club we do struggle against who now happen to be flying it was clearly a worry.
With the pre game news of injuries and viruses hitting the centre of defence there was a great many people commenting on the fact they thought we’d get battered. The usual array of positivity anyway, or those who either see triumphant win or resounding defeat as the only pre game possibilities.
Of course the truth was, as a number speculated that Hobbs would be fit. The problem with Billy Davies announcing these injuries in the way he did is that he’s tried it before; we all know when he says this he’s actually sure that he will have someone to play there. He’s a terrible liar! So many people kind of thought, well I bet that means Hobbs WILL be fit. Which he was. Lichaj came back in the side, and Jara moved into midfield to cover for Vaughan. The rest was as it was against Leicester.
Jara is starting to look quite an accomplished figure in that holding role, taking the ball down and playing it wide or forward. Rather than a Moussi figure of just putting his head on it or trying to get clear. Cox kept his place following his strike v Leicester, and with Majewski playing his advanced role in the gap behind the striker, it was quite an attacking shape.
And things went well, very well. We had the better of the game; with the highlight being a Lansbury free kick coming back off the bar which Majewski then put the rebound wide. It was a good effort and had the keeper beaten. It seems in the absence of Reid then Lansbury is the free kick taker extraordinaire.
But Burnley of course took the lead. A lot has been said, written and gesticulate about this decision. For me it’s a simple case of turning the tables. Had that been at the other end, had that been Forest crossing the ball and had that been a decision to be made at the other end, every Forest fan would have sure it was a penalty, and citing that his hand was in an unnatural position. That reason alone to me says penalty. The simple truth is if had your hand is anywhere outside of your body and it strikes it, there is a very strong chance it will be given. There will be days the same thing happens and nothing given, it’s just one of those things. What rankles is that linesman gave no signal at all and he had a better position and yet the penalty was given by the ref, behind play and not as well positioned. It’s a small point, but for me it is a little annoying. That said, for me, it was a penalty despite what anyone says. Jara had his hand raised, although only slightly, and that more than likely means penalty. And as I said, the strongly voiced opinions, those shouting loudest it shouldn’t be given would be up in arms had the same thing not been given for us had rules been reversed.
And for the next five minutes were extremely shaky. Heads had dropped. Visibly. It just seemed an air of “well we tried really hard, had the better, and yet we’re losing.... what can we do?” before after that period we rallied. And when we did, we scored. Laughably right after one reliable Twitter idiot, clearly never at games, claimed Paterson is useless and should be withdrawn. Because Paterson clipped in a delightful cross begging to be scored. There had been good movement around the area and slick passing on the right, in the manner we are used to on the left. Jara clipped it inside to Paterson who got past his man and sent the ball high to the back post. It was unmissable, and played on an absolute plate. Cox nodded home and we were level again.
The second half saw us retain the best of the game, and yet we still retained an element of risk and danger, Chalobah replaced Lichaj and Jara went to right back, but his first five minutes apart, Chalobah played very well. He even had a decent chance that at the time looked close and placed, but on a replay didn’t quite look as cultured and close.
Other close efforts fell to Hobbs, and Lascelles. A near post effort at the death was nearly back heeled in by Forest but was saved and then cleared. Had we scored it would be deserved, we nicked it, except we didn’t. It stayed level.
There was a dampener in that Cohen got injured, at first it looked horrific, a player staying down, not moving saving for waving frantically is almost always bad news. Cohen was doing just this, but after a couple of minutes he limped back in to play and tried to support Abdoun who had replaced Majewski. Paterson too had been replaced by Henderson, leaving us with no sub options, but that’s by the by, our captain and vital cog in the machine looked badly hurt, especially when limping off again after trying to play on. The news on that is still not clear at time of writing.
So all in all a creditable draw. For one a depleted team, a second we went behind, but furthermore we looked down and beaten and dragged our selves round and got the spirit flowing.
A word on Dyche comments. He was a bit snippy claiming he had a smaller squad which, yes he does, but he was taking a dig at Davies saying how despite our crisis, we still had 32 players to chose from, and how they’d offered only £4.99 for Paterson whereas we paid a million. Very clever and funny Sean, making you look like paupers. That £5mill for Austin must really hurt your pockets. Furthermore we didn’t have another recognised centre half. Chalobah can play there, but two 19 year olds a centre back? No. I’d like him to name those 32 players we could have selected from.
It just seems the wealth we have still seems to get resentment from other teams who can’t help taking digs. In attempts to big up their good achievement versus us, it’s now used rather than the illustrious past. Just celebrate your win/draw. Don’t start blathering on about each other’s wage bill.
