Two 2-2's

I’d like to say the lack of reports for either the last games has been down to me being busy, and although partially true, that isn’t the case. I’ve just largely been lazy.

That said Forest have managed to have back to back draws, both of which 2-2 and both of which saw us falling behind.

Against Middlesbrough, the game was marked more by Phil Dowd than much more else. That’s how it will be largely remembered save for a good come back when we looked dead and buried. Davies took a risk and stuck Reid and Lansbury in a deeper role. The whole structure of the side changed, moving from the more 4-1-3-2 formation we’d used to a 4-2-3-1 formation. It didn’t work.

For a start the midfielders in those 2 deeper roles are not players used to that role. Reid and Lansbury are not defensive players. Further forward it accommodated Majewski in a central role behind the front man, with Mackie going wide right and Abdoun playing on the left. The defence was untouched.

However that defence would need reshuffling not long into the game with the injury of Kelvin Wilson. His role at the back coordinating is vital, always was when he was here before and it’s arguable he bought the best out of Wes Morgan. Halford replaced him and he isn’t as good as marshalling the defence. It soon showed.

The main problem was the lack of the shielding midfielder who knew what he was doing. Moussi had done a mixed job against Barnsley, but due to him giving away the fouls which contributed Barnsley’s gals Davies removed him from that role. And a huge glaring gap opened up between defence and midfield which caused problems you could drive a bus through.

The first goal was simply Halford being turned easily, the ball getting centred and Boro taking the lead. The second was again just rank bad defending, standing off (which is to the point where the defence might do ordinarily) but without that shielding midfielder offering support, inviting Boro on and giving a lot of space. George Friend gladly lashed home the second, and finished well.

We looked dead and buried. I tweeted as much, saying that the change of structure hasn’t worked and we got it wrong. But then Davies redeemed himself. Derbyshire and Henderson both came on, and both scored, with close in finishes from crosses and we could have had more. Of course Reid had missed a penalty in first half and we should have had second half penalty for when Henderson was felled and then booked for diving, wrongly. I wanted t deliver a long vicious diatribe about Phil Dowd on Wednesday morning but bit my tongue.

So this weekend we came up against Doncaster and a lot of fans seemed to be assuming the win had already been decided before we kicked a ball. Donny away is always a tricky little customer of a fixture.
Macheda fresh from Manchester United would be our main tormentor in chief, scoring both the goals. Between these Chris Cohen had lashed in an equaliser, and after Reid scored.

Halford came in for Wilson and Chalobah the new signing made his bow for Forest, wearing Guedioura’s 7 shirt. It will take longer than 2 days for him to get to know us and blend in, but that’s all he had for this game.

To be honest a few people have said that this is a horrible result but that’s taking a game by itself and looking at it based on a resource and league position basis. That’s far too simplistic to judge an opponent, forgetting form, spirit and the basic fact that we struggle at the Keepmoat, which psychologically plays it part. To be fair getting a late equaliser is a good result in my book, we won’t be the only top team to lose points there this season, and so it’s nothing be ashamed of. I just tend to think a lot of our fans get far to built up on the idea of teams we will own and destroy, rather than realise some times you will struggle against perceived weaker opposition.

What it does, and forgetting the League Cup game, is set us up for the Derby game, whereby we aren’t on the best form, and yet here we are scoring a lot of goals. We don’t fail to net, but defensively looking like we are shaky. But that’s going to happen when you lose someone of Wilson’s calibre.

This season isn’t based on 3 games in September. It feels like some think it is. There are both plenty of positives as well as negatives to take from these games. Onward Forest, onward.

A Weeks a Long Time in Football

Just a week ago we were on the crest of a magnificent Garibaldi coloured wave. A wave that had washed over Birmingham and Coventry. A wave that has now needed. Even on Saturday things seemed somewhat rosier.

Then came Tuesday.

After a somewhat fortunate at times draw v Barnsley, as they did lay siege to our goal in the second half which lead a charmed life for so long, we felt confident. That was a game we would have capitulated in 1-2monhts ago.

And then for such a miserable timid performance like what we played for Doncaster is not just frustrating but damned criminal. One wonders if we went out there with our minds made up we would win. Or whether the tinkering of Cotterill affected us.

Some tinkering was enforced. How two injuries come about in a warm up somewhat worries and shocks me. Tudgay pulling up pre match brought in Findley, and we will return in detail later about Findley and the post match comments from Cotterill, but Findley was not Tudgays equal in quality.

Reid had been surprisingly "rested" which saw Gunter move to right wing and Wooton to centre half to allow for Chambers return. Again players in positions that aren't natural when there is natural alternative. It frustrates me no end. Gunter is a marauding full back true, but he is that, a full back. Spurs may have had success with Bale moving up the flank, but Gunter is not Bale.

Donny may be struggling but they had dangerous players, Diouf well know, and Piquionne has topflight experience, as does Chimbonda, and Giles Barnes was very highly rated as a youngster, so they aren’t push over’s. They also are players who when the goings bad you don't want on your team, problem is the going was good for Donny. And Diouf is not a man to give time and space.

And that something our defence and midfield seem to enjoy giving the opposition. Space and time. Space and time for Piquionne to get into, pick a spot, shoot, and the ball move about a bit away from that spot and bamboozle Camp, who seemed to pull some 1950s dance move with hands waving about as he flapped at a ball that had moved course from where he was. It can hardly be a surprise, the modern ball does this, and Camp should have done better, but additionally, the space and time should not have been afforded for this chance to even have existed.

And that was right on halftime. Was the team already on half time mode, seeing out time for the end of the half? Who knows? One thing for certain their heads must have still been in the dressing room as we started the second half as Doncaster then scored a second. Diouf allowed turning and crossing and the ball allowed to bounce twice without a defender dealing with it before being put away. Absolutely criminal defending. And Luke Chambers wondered why we booed before? Well Luke if you decide to put in half hearted pathetic attempts to clear balls and don’t do your job, people will get upset.

We pulled one back but it was more than we deserved. We barely ever looked like causing danger. Robbie Findley with an immensely frustrating night of miss control and poor passing. Moussi had one of his schizophrenic performances where he does something good followed by something so abject that even school children would be embarrassed.

Donny of course could have more. Should have had more. The long range effort that was tipped on to the post. Scary that we were so bad.

Dexter’s goal, well it was scrappy. It was a false dawn too. It gave us that hope, but even the changes failed to improve us. McGugan came on and did nothing. As usual. The lack of attacking options on the bench restricted us massively and it showed having to leave an ineffectual striker in Findley on.

And back to Findley, Cotterill's strange almost Megsonesque comments at the end about alluding to dressing room issues but not mentioning specifically what, was odd. If you’re going to say there were dressing room issues mention them or don; mention them at all. Don't allude to it to have fans gossiping, and then just try and cover it up and leave it. If you’re going to mention it, then don't leave it hanging in the air Steve, that’s what creates issues and disarray.

All in all very very frustrating. The tactics were wrong; we just tried humping it up, which limited us. Findley can’t control them. We should have started with Reid. It doesn't help to see McGugan sulking that he didn’t get to take a free kick. There are team orders Lewis, obey. Although not back in the relegation zone, it brings those doubts back, whereas we should be putting daylight between us and the drop zone.

Defeat and Victory

Well, we just played two games in quick succession away from home with polarised results. On the one hand we lost to Millwall. I'd like to comment on this game, but I missed it all completely, having to be at work. So I didn't even get to listen. So all my views are based on what people who DID listen have told me, what people said on the forum and of course the highlights and match reports.



Basically as Forest went into this game I expected nothing and we got nothing and sound like we deserved nothing. 38% possession in a match isn't good enough at any level no matter the opposition, but thats what we had. OK, we had some good chances, Findley striking the outside of a post and Garner forcing the Millwall defence to backtrack. But Millwalls goals were all so familiar. A header from a corner, how often have we seen that. The other goal was simple enough finish from across. And even the Millwall could have more.



It set alarm bells ringing amongst many Reds fans. Millwall I suppose were a good team last season,top half anyway,but they aren't a heavyweight team and to be so outplayed is somewhat embarrassing for a team still trying to find it way.



And so we move on to the second of the weeks fixtures. A win against Doncaster, which saw the team juggled with again in this early weeks. This time though was bringing in new faces, Matt Derbyshire starting upfront with McGoldrick whilst Miller,signing the day before took a spot on the bench.



The lead came after half an hour when Maloney, who was in at right back, with Gunter playing left back, crossed for the the Welshman to score. The juggle around seemed to work allowing Cohen to get his energy back into the midfield. There was the vaguely perplexing decision to bench McGugan but if this keeps him fresh then I don't mind. After a win it looks a good brave decision, had we lost of course there would be questions asked about this decision. Miller came on and sounded active and strong. Seems a lot like Harewood, with hopefully more of a sense of direction.



I promise that normal match report duties will be resumed soon. This start of the season has been hectic for me, but from Saturday for the Leicester game,proper match re pots and pod casts will resume on behalf of Forest 24-7.

Post Doncaster Match Podcast

For your entertainment and enjoyment here is the latest podcast

http://www.sendspace.com/file/86nert

and in Youtube format

Forest Toil to Scoreless Draw

Another day another drab performance by Forest. At City Ground yesterday the Reds put on a nervous skitty performance, failing to beat what was a poor Doncaster team.

The team sent out by Davies was a relatively strong team, the trusted partnership of Tudgay and Earnshaw up front, and with McCleary bought in for Anderson who has been poor of late. Cohen was moved to the wing, Majewski playing in the central midfield role.



I have to be honest at this point and admit I missed the first 3-4minutes, traffic on the A614 and the resulting sprint to the ground, had me missing the beginning of the game.

The performance put out by the Reds was as I say, nervous, players are not performing in the normal natural way they usually do. Either panicking and playing blind balls, like a lot of Majewski's passes yesterday, or dallying too long when a first time shot would be better.

The first half saw several chances for Forest, and also for Doncaster. Donnys best effort was a free kick that went narrowly over. In fact the fans of Doncaster thought they had scored as it brushed the back of the net and from the position at the other end of the pitch appear to have billowed the net. This resulted in ironic cheers and jeers from the Forest fans directed at the Donny fans.

Forests best chance fell to Earnshaw, when a defensive error left him free in the box. A combination of poor control, good goalkeeping and the pressure from a defender saw Earnie put the shot at the keeper, and it was saved. Other efforts saw a Cohen shot blocked, and McKenna shoot wide from 20 yards or so. Perhaps a ball to Gunter would have been better, and the irony being Forest fans had implored players to take a shot, and when they do, the fans deride the effort.

The second half didn't really improve. Forest still toiled to try and score to no effect. Doncaster had a packed midfield that made it hard to break down the Yorkshire side. Earnshaw had been replaced by Tyson, another injury picked up by Forest. Tyson would a speed element to Forest's attack. Seeing more balls attempted over the top.

The one nice change from before is that McCleary was beating his man and getting in behind more and more,and certainly more than Anderson has of late. The final ball wasn't always the best however, but there were a notable couple of cases where Forest should have done better. McCleary at one putting the ball right across the six yard box and cleared off the line, it was dying for anyone else to be able to prod the ball home.

McGugan and Boyd were introduced. Still it made no difference. Forest continued to make progress to the final third with little or no end product. Poor passing in the box, on one particular occasion by Tyson, when getting into the penalty area, his attempted pass to Boyd was to obvious and easily cut out.

McCleary was set up with a free shot from 12 yards, but he controlled the ball rather than shooting first time. This gave defenders a chance to get into position to stop the effort. The touch he took was also poor, actually taking it backwards and getting the ball stuck in his feet. McCleary will be remembered as the villain here, if he had taken the chance first time,. as a confident player would, we would surely have won. But players aren't confident.

Another final missed opportunity saw the ball crossed to Boyd, his air shot summed up the day for the Reds, Missed opportunity. We really should have won this game, but the players seem to lack belief and panic far too often. Too many lapses of concentration or simply bad performances are costing us big time. We no longer look like we will finish in the top two, and even the playoffs are in jeopardy as our form slumps. In fact based on the last six games, we have the second worse record in the table. Relegation form.

Is it bad selection? Or players just not being good enough. Well maybe both. The way the front line was chopped an changed in the second half, was somewhat confusing for me, never mind the players. Adebola who is on form was dropped. When we are struggling for goals, the one guy who has been getting them was dropped. Makes no sense to me. But it wouldn't be Forest if it made sense.

Onward and hopefully upward though Forest. Swansea next week will be a good challenge, and we have to up our game.