We are top of the league!
Hurray! However, let’s temper that joy with the knowledge that it is only the Third Division…
Gave BBC Nottingham a good excuse to use this picture of Colin Calderwood though…
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Steve Gibson
Steve Gibson’s response to this job application is fantastic. Thanks to Joe for the link.
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Inquest
OK, it’s not quite so bad that we need to call in Quincy to investigate, but last night was a stark reminder of what life was like under Megson: the wrong tactics and players who either underperformed or weren’t good enough.
Smith: Did well
Centre-halves: Defended OK, distribution was awful (especially Wes)
Wing-backs: Rubbish. JC can’t attack and Gino can’t defend. They would have been OK if we had played 4-4-2
Midfield: Holt Sr did OK, Thommo kept losing the ball, Sammy was poor
Forwards: Chopper looked like a striker who needs a goal, Spencer looked out of his depth
Subs: Nicky Southall played more decent passes in 20 minutes than the rest of the team managed in the first 70. Holt Jr looked as strong and threatening as ever, without actually managing to get near the goal. Jack impressed, dropping slightly deeper to try and create some more chances
Manager: Should have gone 4-4-2, and only changed shape at the end when it was too late. Reminded me of Megson playing 6-3-1, as Thommo was a defender playing in midfield, and Holt Sr and Sammy failed to show any attacking prowess.
In mitigation: The Forest squad needed this game like a hole in the head – it was a lose-lose situation. Not really an excuse at this stage of the season, but it was also telling that Accrington had an extra day’s rest after the weekend fixtures.
The lesson: These fixtures cannot be taken lightly. CC messed about too much with the team before the match, and not soon enough during. This also showed that while we have a squad rich in quantity, we still need more quality. SWD did not look good enough last night, and the full-backs proved that attacking and defending are much easier in a 4-4-2, when you have a midfielder helping you out.
BUT: Although Forest were below-par, congratulations to Accrington, for their work-rate and astonishing fitness levels. Given how well they closed down every Forest move, I suppose it would be ungracious to deny them the slice of luck they had with the goal. Well done.
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Junior A-no-go
So, Bristol Rovers have rejected our bid, and now reports suggest that he has resigned from the club.
I refer to my earlier post – we don’t need another striker, especially with Harris and SWD (both unproven so far in a red shirt, but doing well in the reserves) on the bench, and Dobie starting to play again.
Further to this, what is the point in bringing in someone who has proven that he is a troublemaker, and who has been accused by fans at various clubs of being lazy and only playing when he wants to?
On a brighter note, great to see Forest win again, even more of a relief to see Holt Jr finally score a penalty – I don’t know if I have ever heard of a team getting four penalties in consecutive matches, let alone missing three. I suppose it is always a possibility with Jack and Grant upfront, they must be tricky customers for third division defenders.
I have also noticed that CC likes to take off players who are on a yellow card – this is something I have always liked to do when playing Sensible Soccer, so in my mind it should be applauded.
Bring on Accrington Stanley…
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What’s the problem…
So what is the problem with taking penalties? I suspect that the rest of the team will not allow Jack to take any more as he has missed the target (by quite a distance) twice. At least Chopper got his on target. CC commented that a few of the players were practising on Friday, each of them took five and scored five – was there anyone in goal? My Dad suspects it could be to do with the “new ball” – a useful excuse but not good enough as they have had enough chance to practise even if they are playing with a Wembley Shoot ball.
On a different subject, reports from Bristol rather worringly suggest that Bristol Rovers are coveting Grant Holt as a possible replacement for Junior Agogo. Surely we should be keeping the player who has done most so far this season to create chances for us? Also, surely the whole point of signing Agogo (assuming the transfer goes through) is to give us cover in light of the injuries we have?
In my view we don’t need to sign anyone. We have three decent strikers at this level in Holt Jr, Jack and Chopper, plus young Spencer waiting as a pacy (if unproven) alternative. The only thought that occurs to me is that there is little hope of DJ and Dobie recovering to make any impact, at least this season – it certainly would not be a surprise if DJ has kicked his last ball in a red shirt, it also would not surprise me that much if he retired when his contract expires.
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Football Consultants Agogo
Calderwood is rumoured to be interested in bringing the excellently named Junior Agogo to the City Ground.
Meanwhile, one rumour that has been confirmed by the club is that David ‘Fernando Couto is playing as an out-and-out spare man at the back‘ Pleat has been confirmed as Forest’s “Football Consultant”.
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Forest v Bradford report
My latest report for the BBC Nottingham site is available by clicking here. Enjoy!
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Der der der doom
Things not looking good for Nathan Tyson with the early diagnosis being six months out. Time for Mr Calderwood (and Mr Harris) to earn their money.
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Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Bradford City
Prologue
I had to drop the family off at the in-laws. So I thought I’d add half an hour to my journey time as I’d have an extra thirty miles to drive. I left at 11:30 – two hours to do one hundred miles, a cup of tea at my brother’s and then off to the ticket office, at two, to collect my brand-new season ticket. I had specifically asked for collection, rather than posting – firstly to ensure that the ticket arrived in time and secondly, I didn’t fancy four hundred pounds worth of paper travelling uninsured through the Royal Mail.
Off the A1, onto the M1. A sign at Junction 37 warning of congestion ahead. Loads of time. Another sign warning of queues. I could turn off but I had time. No problems. And then I hit the queue. And stayed in the queue. What the sign should have said was “massive bastard long tailback caused by roadworks twenty-odd miles down the road at Junction 32. Turn off now or you’ll be sorry. I mean it you sad twat“. After sitting still for what felt like hours, I called my brother and told him to go straight to the ground. I sit in stationery traffic some more. I listen to Appetite for Destruction for the first time in years (OK, I skipped five tracks but still knew the words to a surprising number of songs). Eventually I clear Junction 32 and peg it down to Junction 26. I got confused driving through the city centre (bloody trams). Onto London Road. Bastard parking – the usual spot was out of bounds due to the Riverside Festival. I parked the car in Bridgford at 2:55. (Aside: what’s the betting that the town planners were called George Dunster and Henry Manvers in that part of the world?)
The Match
Run to the ground, pick up my ticket, I should only miss the first ten minutes. Get to the ticket office (slightly out of breath). A surprising number of people in there. Wait for someone to serve me. Five past. I can hear the cheers from inside.
“I’m here to collect my season ticket“.
“Mmm mm mmm mm m“.
“Sorry?“.
“Mmm mm got mmm ID?“.
“Oh, I’ve got my driving licence“.
I take my licence from my wallet. It’s an old paper one and needs very delicate handling. He looks at it and walks off into the back-room. A massive cheer from inside. That’s a goal then. A look at the watch. Ten past. Bennett is the scorer according to Sky Sports (helpfully on the TV in the ticket office). Rish texts me to say that Tyson was taken off injured. More shouting from inside the ground. No sign of the bloke with my season ticket. Quarter past. Someone walks by scratching his head, holding what looks like my driving licence. I angrily kick the apple core that has been left on the floor. The bloke at the next counter, after waving forty quid at the staff member, who has also since disappeared, says “fuck this, I’m off home – I’m not paying to get in now” and walks away. Twenty past. I’m still waiting. The ticket office person reappears. At last!
“Errm, you mmm paid mm it?“
“Yes I’ve paid for it” (somewhat annoyed)
He wanders off again. What’s going on?!? Chants of “Same old Forest, always cheating” from inside the ground. Twenty-five past. Again he reappears and hands me a single, normal, ticket.
“It’s mmmm the post“
“What?“
“Mmm in mm post – mmm’ll have to mmm this ticket mmm today“
“For fuck’s … oh fuck it“
I grab the ticket, thinking back to my words on the ‘phone to the ticket office.
“I would like to collect the ticket please“
“That’s no problem. It’ll be waiting for you on Saturday“
“Excellent. Cheers matey. So I just turn up at the ticket office before the game“
“Yup – turn up, quote this reference number and bring some ID. Your ticket will be waiting. “
“Nice one. Goodbye“
Bloody muppets. I run around the ground. No gates open at the Trent End. Bastard. I run up and down looking like a twat. Eventually I find a gate where the door was ajar. Sure enough, someone is manning the turnstile. Run up the stairs. Rather than get half a row to stand up to allow me to my seat, I find an empty one. The clock says “15:29″.
I can’t remember much of the game itself. Rogers got a fair amount of abuse. You used to play for a big club. Have you ever seen your dick? That kind of thing. Beyond that …
What’s new
Grant Holt has lost a ton of weight. He used to fill his shirt. Now he looks quite lithe and mobile.
We passed the ball. That’s not actually that big a deal. What’s more important is that, when a player received the ball under pressure, instead of getting rid, he would take a touch, compose himself and either try to beat the man or pick out a red shirt.
Smith pulled off a couple of excellent reaction saves. The one in the second half was especially good and won us the three points.
Southall, one of the few consistent performers from last year, is a bit stuck when putting in low crosses. He’s not bad at it, just not as good as his high crosses from last season.
Grant Holt still has trouble in front of goal. I like the look of him. I really want him to do well. Today he managed to break free of the defenders (movement in a way that was lacking last season) but hit his shot tamely wide. I fear he will leave after a poor season and then knock in thirty a year for whoever buys him.
We switched to a 4-4-2 at the end (when Curtis came on for Cullip). I don’t know why. We didn’t look any more solid, nor any better going forwards. I hope CC isn’t prone to Platt-like formation switches for the hell of it.
CC was dressed in black trousers, white shirt and red tie. Nowhere near as vocal as Megson, he definitely showed a fair amount of passion from the touchline, but kept it in check when giving instructions to his players.
No word on Tyson – CC said it looked bad but the scan will have to wait till the swelling has gone down. Seasons can be broken on the loss of a star striker.
What’s old
Still three defensive midfielders and a lack of creativity.
Still prone to embarrassing defensive lapses – the number of times that a cross bypassed our centre-halves and left Smith standing. If Bradford were any good we would have been done over.
Jack’s still a liability. He was alright until about half way through the second half when he suddenly lost the plot and was warned by the referee three times in quick succession. CC took him off and replaced him with Harris.
Harris still can’t score. It was an awful penalty, straight at the keeper.
The bloke in front of me (there’s always one) moaning – we had just spent about five minutes in all-out attack, camped around Bradford’s D. They broke and we pulled ten men back behind the ball. “Bloody hell, we can change the manager but the tactics never change do they? So bloody negative“.
Epilogue
3 points is a good start. A clean sheet is a good start. No complaints there. Calderwood, on the radio, talked up Bradford. “They made a real game of it. They didn’t come here to roll over“. I thought Bradford were shit and if they had anything about them would have torn us apart. However, I was very pleased with the player’s attitudes, if not the actual performance. They rarely stopped running for each other and they always tried to play to a red shirt (rather than last season’s hopeful punts into the channels). As CC said, there’s a hell of a lot of work to do, but if we can keep on grinding out the three points the champagne football can wait till the autumn (when we’ll need it to boost the confidence going in to Christmas).
No man of the match today. As you can see from the report, there wasn’t actually that much of note in the game. Maybe Smith for his second half wonder-save.
One final thought. The A1 is a far nicer drive than the M1.
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