Forest Draw With Burnley - Dyche Snipes.

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.

Capital One Cup: a Dilemma

To be honest I’ll admit from the outset that I couldn’t give a monkeys about this for now. In fact I had to be reminded this morning we were even playing. It has fallen down the priorities so much coupled with the fact we’ve not done anything much in this competition for so long that you just don’t contemplate a run.

That said, should we make it past and through a very tricky game tonight away at Burnley, then suddenly the realms of possibility open up. Obviously at this stage I will direct your attention at Bradford City. Bradford who of course were last years (heavily beaten) finalists. The journey and success of that run though will live long in many a fans consciousness; it is a League 2 team (at the time) on a fairytale story. It wouldn’t quite ring in the same way for us, but that said, it could add a gloriously nice touch to the season.

I assume we will ring the changes again tonight, Collins, Moussi, Lascelles, Jara, Miller and Tudgay and their ilk may well be implement, especially with the big derby with Derby looming. But writing this, and also considering what most people I speak to and immediate friends feeling are, this is all irrelevant. Irrelevant till we draw a big team, or make it to latter stages and then suddenly it’s all too relevant. Then we do care. Then the League Cup is a glorious opportunity to show what we can do, and (whisper it) a chance of glory or at least Europe.

That is making huge leaps of imagination, but let’s face it, half the teams in it think this is an annoyance and wield ‘B’ sides and exit the competition with a whimper. So by the time anyone takes it serious from the last 16 or 8, then a lot of teams have disappeared who may have been a risk.

That starts to ask the question well do you go for it, and try and get success. Well, the likelihood of finally winning the thing are remote, and so the weighing up of the benefits of a successful run versus potential injuries to key players keep the idea of resting players and using fringe players as a core idea. Why jeopardise the season’s main aim for a slim chance of success. The financial rewards of being in the Premiership far outweigh the benefits of a good cup run, an even winning the thing (even if it meant European football) and as I said, if we got so far as to take it seriously, as those other teams getting that start taking it seriously too.

However, in reaching Wembley as a gloriously huge underdog, Bradford had experience of the stadium; they had a chance to get that sense of being over awed out the system before their Lord Mayors show that was the playoff final. For them it had an air of familiarity, and rather than let Wembley over shadow them, instead they’d been there, bought the t-shirt, the novelty hat and the overprice hotdog. They won in the playoffs. I’m not suggesting that we focus on this competition as a vain hope to use Wembley failure as a springboard to playoff success. There are far too many other aspects to consider before that, but it is something else to even think about.

Winning causes morale to increase and increased morale increases peoples belief. Players feel better. So to try and cultivate a little success might do wonders. I just won’t be there to enjoy it until it gets interesting.