Posted February 16th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
I admit that I am not well-qualified to comment on the Reds’ level of performance this season, purely because I haven’t been to that many games. I went to the poor season-opener against Bournemouth, the decent-for-about-60-minutes daylight robbery against Leeds at home, and the frankly dire and uninspiring dirge of Walsall away.
However, even a deaf, dumb and blind person would realise that something frankly stinks about the level of performance and results away from home. I was actually quietly confident that a big away match at Elland Road would cause the players and fans to raise their game sufficiently to break the hoodoo.
I saw the highlights on Stan Collymore’s “Central Soccer Night”, and the fact we didn’t win was down to one thing – the law of averages. The referee and linesmen denied Leeds penalties for handballs (both ball-to-hand in my opinion, but if it happened at the City Ground, you know that we would all be shouting for a pen), but then caved in at the end; if you had 27 000 people yelling at you for 90 minutes, I suppose you might feel the pressure too.
Let’s try and look at the positives – when I saw the personnel on duty, I thought that CC had gone too far with his “tactical genius”. However, many people who were actually there said that the 5-3-2 worked quite well, and it seems as though the experience of our much-maligned skipper helped to keep Leeds at bay. The bottom line is that away from home, 4-4-2 did not work, the diamond has not worked, 4-3-3 has not worked. So give CC some credit for trying something different to stop the rot.
I think that Jules is now staking a claim for player of the season – as far as I can tell, he is the most improved player. His clearance off the line at Elland Road was frankly incredible, the kind that I used to dream about making as a young defender. I also thought that his goals in the last couple of matches have been great, strong, powerful headers. Nice one.
But why did Radio 5 and the commentator on ITV both think that fatty Grant had scored?
Posted in General
Posted February 7th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
I am writing this just before Ghana’s semi-final with Cameroon – unfortunately I am unable to watch BBC Interactive when I am at work…
Junior said this earlier in the week:
“Over here football is the be-all and end-all, so when we play it helps people to forget about their worries in their life and it brings so many people together.
It gives us that extra energy to go out and play hard.
After every game we think, ‘it can’t get any better’, but it’s like the sky’s the limit at the minute.”
So he loves playing for Ghana because the fans love their football and give the players extra energy and positive vibes – how do you think he feels when he pulls on the Garibaldi?
In other Agogo news, this was reported on the BBC’s Gossip Column:
“Ghana international striker Junior Agogo was offered a wife after firing his side in to the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final. An 82-year-old fan turned up and the team’s hotel and promised his “very beautiful granddaughter” to the player”
He will have trouble getting his head through the doorway when he returns to Trentside…
Posted in General
Posted February 6th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
I bet that headline got your attention!
For the first time that I can remember, Mark Arthur has said something sensible:
“When previous managers have come into the club and had their ideas about signing players, we ended up not having any structure or policy to what we were doing. So, looking to long-term acquisitions is far more strategic for us now than it has ever been before. Normally a manager will just go to the chairman and say ‘I want to sign so and so` and we ended up, a few years ago, with a number of what I call pension players in our dressing room. They did not really care about Forest, they just wanted a nice fat contract and were probably coming towards the end of their careers. We are trying to put something in place whereby ourselves and a group of players can grow together and bond in the dressing room.”
Posted in General
Posted February 6th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
Lots to report upon, from being top (briefly) of the table at Christmas, to abject performances and a slide down to fourth place – I hope to post more on this soon.
Firstly, Neil Lennon has left. I was disappointed, but not surprised. Of course it would have been fantastic to keep someone with his experience and ability to control the game; but he did walk out on the club with no notice, and let’s face it, he knew before he signed that Nottingham and Glasgow are not exactly next door (and Wycombe is even further away!) – how many employers would tolerate that? Coupled with the fact that Paul Lambert is his mate, and rumours of Lenny putting in less than 100% effort on the training ground (utterly unsubstantiated), it is not surprising that a high-wage earner who is not getting in the team has been released.
Manuel Junior Agogo is banging ‘em in for Ghana – nice one!
Will Hoskins will join Forest on loan. His family live in Nuthall – I discovered this when visiting the in-laws over Christmas and I saw a BMW with a “HOSKINS” number plater whizz past – my other half (who doesn’t have any interest in football) confirmed that yes, a lad from around the corner did become a professional footballer. A fee has already been agreed should things go well between now and the summer, and the wags on the message boards are already suggesting that CC will play him at right-back or something equally ridiculous. I think this is potentially a great signing, and in the medium- to long-term will seal Grant Holt’s exit.
Finally, breaking news from BBC Nottingham – Mark Arthur has admitted that a failure to seal promotion this year may well cost CC his job, and therefore once again can be awarded a star prize for stating the bleedin’ obvious. Both Baz and I have stated before that Mark Arthur appears to be one of the obstacles to putting the broken pieces of this club back together again, and I have seen nothing to change my mind…
Posted in General
