eighteensixtyfive

Not looking good

Donny have just beaten Forest, it was apparently an inept performance and they didn’t even manage a shot on target. To add injury to insult, Brett Ormerod has joined his fellow loanees in picking up a nasty injury.

For the first time, I feel that maybe the honourable thing would be for CC to resign. I don’t want to see the man lose his job, in some ways I quite like him, and I also think that he has had a positive influence on the club in general. But managers will always be judged on results and performances, and neither have been consistent enough (that is without mentioning his ridiculous pre- and post-match soundbites).

My Dad, a season ticket holder, says that there have been a couple of matches where the football has been fantastic. Unfortunately there seem to have been at least as many matches where the performances have been dreadful - if you cannot even muster a shot on target, there is something very wrong indeed.

Most people agree that we have a decent squad at this level, but the formations, tactics and substitutions suggest that the fault lies with the manager. I did not join the clamour for CC’s head after Yeovilgate, because I hoped that he would learn from his mistakes. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have managed it.

I know that this could be viewed as a case of middle-class angst, because we are still in the play-off places. Under Megson we were in serious danger of falling into relegation trouble, but now we still have a chance of getting promoted (but it seems to be getting slimmer every week). I am sure fans of some other clubs don’t know what we are so unhappy about, but there seems to be little confidence amongst the fans that Forest have the ability and bottle to go up.

If we don’t manage promotion, I would expect a new manager next season. I don’t know who it should be, but they will need to be an inspirational figure; someone who doesn’t get bogged down in tactics, who doesn’t over-coach, but can help the players believe in their own abilities, and play them in the right positions. Unfortunately the only Forest manager who has done that during my lifetime passed away in 2004. There is still a shadow hanging over the City Ground…

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Schadenfreude

After a potentially damaging defeat, and the realisation that I have another long day of work ahead of me, I have resorted to using Derby’s plight as a means of cheering me up:

“I don’t like losing. If you ask anyone who has been around me, I am probably one of the biggest losers.”
Alan Stubbs

“For those standing up there will be free seats in a minute as many people will be leaving for Pride Park. For those of you going to Pride Park I want you to remember the following - it is not the winning that matters, it is the taking part that counts.”
Train manager on the 13.23 train to Derby for the game against Sunderland.

Both of these have been shamelessly lifted (as ever) from the BBC’s Quotes of the Week page.

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Don’t mention the "S" word

So the curse of Sky strikes again. Naturally there will be some questions asked, although I have not looked at any message boards (it would be futile, I can pretty much predict what they will say).

I was at work until 9 last night, so can only really comment on the 25 minutes I saw, in which Clingan looked decent, Perchio and Jules were trying to get forward from full-back, although the two centre-halves and Chris Cohen all looked slightly more ponderous than I have seen before. The triumvirate at the front didn’t quite seem to be on the same wavelength as each other, or indeed the rest of the team.

Apparently Perchio was getting stick from the fans, I don’t know what the first hour was like but he looked OK to me. Smudge made an awful error, but from what I have seen and heard, he has been one of our players of the season - getting on a keeper’s back after a mistake is not going to help him stop more going in. Dare I say it, Kelvin (also apparently excellent all season) should really have booted it away if he wasn’t sure that Smudge was going to get there (I have not played much 11-a-side in the last ten years, but I know that no-one can score if the ball is in Row Z).

The criticism I don’t understand in this case is with regard to the formation. If CC had stuck with 5-3-2/3-5-2, who would have played at the back? Breckin was suspended and Chambers injured - although Jules could slot in at the back with Lockwood coming in on the left, that would prevent Jules from making his effective forays forward. Choosing this formation with the same result would only have led to the usual cries of “negativity”. Criticising the 4-3-3 is understandable, a lot of the time the forwards look isolated, but on the other hand, it seemed to create plenty of chances in the first half, which were spurned by the Reds or saved by the keeper. Strikes me that the formation can’t have been too much of a problem if the chances were there.

I would make one criticism of CC though, in that he made his substitutions too late. Davies and McCleary both looked willing when they came on, but neither was able to see enough of the ball to do much.

Finally, Carlisle will be delighted. They obviously came to stick nine men behind the ball, and even in 25 minutes, I lost count of the amount of blocks and tackles made in their own box. They also scored from their one shot on target (so I am told).

I can’t be bothered to speculate on the possible consequences of this defeat, although I agree with much (not all) of Through the Seasons Before Us’ precis. Suffice to say, I wouldn’t mind if Sky never cover a Reds match again…

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Dobie has a rant

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