Bartman
Ever wondered what Chris Bart-Williams is up to? Well he is now 31 and after a season of playing in Cyprus, he is playing in Malta.
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The other side of the World
I’m off to the other side of the world, so no updates from me for the next few weeks. I’m sure Rish will keep you reliably informed.
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Forest 1 Port Vale 0
Please note that this match report will almost certainly also appear on the official Forest website, under Fans > Reds Reviews (sic).
After yet another humiliation (which led my normally quite reserved Dad to text “sack the lot of them, they are hopeless” to me on Saturday), Forest proved that at least they can win the points at home.
This result was ground out. I don’t care. We could play rubbish all season, as long as we get the results. However, there was a clear message to Gary Megson and the players: we only create chances when we pass the ball. That is how we created the goal, and that is how we created the three or four other decent chances that we had in open play.
Megson reverted to 4-4-2, with the almost ludicrous sight of Thommo (a defender/midfielder) at left back, and Curtis (a full back) in midfield. Nathan Tyson returned up front, and young Felix Bastians played on the left wing.
Very early on, a good break down the right led to Gaz laying off to Nicky Southall, whose cross was just in front of the onrushing, and offside, Tyson. Then Vale almost stole a goal, when they broke (poor defending), and a smart reaction stop from Gezza, low to his right, saved the day.
As the match went on, it became clear that the 17 year old wunderkind was going to have a real impact on the left wing - just as well really, because the only other noteworthy performances were those of the pedantic officials. The goal, when it came, was produced out of nothing. Sure, there had been lots of consecutive passes (some more deliberate than others), but Felix scuffed his cross somewhat. So Nathan was facing away from the goal with no support. He then turned, and from what looked like an impossible angle, fired past former Forest trainee Goodlad. With goals like these, the Stan Collymore comparisons become more understandable: power, pace, sharp on the turn and always wanting to head towards the opposition goal. He is not scared of having a pop, and even attempted a right-footed shot which Goodlad saved relatively comfortably.
The real lowlight for Forest was Curtis in midfield. He had clearly been put there as a “spoiler”, but it doesn’t make any sense to play someone in the middle who has little or no ability on the ball. Especially when you have a midfielder playing (somewhat uncomfortably) at left back. Thankfully Curtis’ passing and level of ambition improved in the second half; he even passed it forwards a couple of times!
The second half was notable for decent performances from young Wesley (who was only just wide with an overhead kick!), the skipper, Southall and Bastians. The two frontmen were also doing well, Gaz was looking more useful in bringing the ball down, and laying it off, although he is still cumbersome and slow at times. The most notable chances were Gaz’s header over (it was criminal to miss the target from there), Perch firing well wide after running onto Tyson’s throughball after good work down the right, and Tyson and Gaz combining well for a 20-yarder which was saved comfortably. However, the undoubted highlight was the performance of young Felix; lively and full of running (despite getting a good ol’ kicking from the Vale midfield), he looks skilful and able to cross the ball well. He got a standing ovation when he was subbed - this was another mystifying Megson change, with our best striker (Tyson) being moved onto the left wing so Jack (who has previously played in midfield) could go up front.
Still, I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies - in this case, three small mercies that keep us in touch with the play-off places. The match was dour, but a win is a win, and the man-of-the-match performance by Felix may well keep his fellow Deutschlander out of the team, and may even give Kris Commons a run for his money in a couple of months.
Frohe Weihnachten!
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Nigel Doughty
In response to the last post:
He is a fan. It doesn’t surprise me if he reads the boards. Many fans are unfair to him - he has said that he would happily step down if there was anyone else who was willing to support the club. But there is no-one around who is both that rich and stupid.
I am a fan, and I really do not know what the solution is. My head tells me that getting rid of Megson does not make sense, but my heart tells me that it is not working. Some of the players are undeniably decent, such as Breckin, Cullip, Commons, Perch, Bopp and Lester, but you can have all the talent in the world and still do crap unless you are working within the right system.
However, many of the players at the club are not good enough. And there are too many who might be good enough, but have not proved themselves (and it does get suspicious when players seem to be permanently injured). Every manager makes mistakes, I am not going to castigate Megson for that. But of his chosen players, none of them seem to know what they are doing - as Baz says, it is very reminiscent of TDDUP…
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Mr Doughty has a computer …
Apparently Mr Doughty spent Sunday night reading various Forest message boards …
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Half Empty
I didn’t go to the game. I didn’t even listen on the interweb (I was out transporting the kids in preparation for our Christmas Dinner).
Rish once coined the phrase “the dark days under Platt (TDDUP)” which I have since seen used elsewhere. And it got me thinking about TDDUP compared to today.
Every now and then, we would produce forty-five minutes of fantastic football. But never ninety minutes of fantastic football. We had a team that cost a lot of money for the division we were in. Every week the manager would say that we just needed to put a run together. The team appeared not to understand the instructions they had been given. Sound familiar?
And, apparently, the chairman left the game twenty minutes before time.
Oh - the Christmas Dinner was excellent. Ronnie Barker was this year’s unanimous God, Tom Cruise the suprise Goat. The food was great (nice work Simon) and as has fast become tradition, the quiz was cancelled because the quizmaster was leathered.
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You’ve got to love him.
“It’s shocking that people mention an absolute idiot of a novice in comparison to somebody that’s worked at it for 10 or 15 years and had success year after year.”
The way Mr Pearce conducts himself is class.
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David O’Leary
I never rated David O’Leary when he was Leeds manager, despite the entire rest of the world absolutely loving him.
He inherited a fantastic side that had been built over ten years by Howard Wilkinson and Paul Hart and then spent shedloads of cash (thanks Mr Ridsdale). However, I always thought that you can never tell about a manager till he is properly tested and, sure enough, as soon as the pressure hit , everything fell apart and he broke the dressing room with a stupid book.
At least someone else agrees with me now.
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