eighteensixtyfive

Nottingham Forest 5 – 0 Queens Park Rangers

My first midweek game in ages against an “ambitious” side with lots of money and love of merry-go-rounds saw 23500 at the City Ground – a decent attendance for a cold Tuesday night, especially as QPR didn’t bring that many.

Mr Davies saw one change from the team against Reading, with James Perchio replacing the suspended Nicky Shorey at left-back. From the sounds of it we are working hard to secure a loan extension for Shorey, so I hope it’s not the last we see of him in a red shirt.

So the line-up was:

And again our unbeaten run continues, our fantastic form continues and our amazing football continues. The players look so confident they could beat anyone and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves – we barely broke a sweat as we banged them in.

One more goal would have seen us go top, above Newcastle – if I were a Geordie I’d be very nervous right now – when was the last time you complained about only winning five nil?

Lastly, Billy was on Radio 5 – he was stressing the importance of building your infrastructure slowly, of taking your time to go up. But the interviewer said if we carry on like this, we’ll have no choice – we’ll be up this year. To which Billy replied “I still have unfinished business in the Premiership – it holds no fear for me”. Absolutely awesome.

So what are you doing on Saturday?

 

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Tags: chris cohen, chris gunter, dexter blackstock, james perchio, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, Queen's Park Rangers, radoslaw majewski, Robert Earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

Returns: news roundup

Ryan Taylor returns for Newcastle, with Zurab Khizanishvili leading the line for them (I love Georgian names).

Ned Kelly is still looking forward to meeting his old club, while Billy Davies is hoping for an early return for little Robbie Earnshaw. Also on his way back is James Perchio who has now returned to training following his stress fracture.

Elsewhere, Matt Thornhill returns to the Brighton side after a period out, and Joe Heath steps up for Lincoln following an injury.

Tags: billy davies, david kelly, james perchio, joe heath, matt thornhill, newcastle united, rob earnshaw, ryan taylor, zurab khizanshvili   Posted in News

What’s in a number?

It’s been a while – thanks to Rahoul for holding the fort so ably (his detailed analysis of Lee Camp’s transfer was especially memorable). As usual, he deals with the facts and I am going to write a frothy piece about nothing in particular.

You see, the trouble with being a football fan is that you spend the summer waiting. Little things take on huge importance – take, for example, the revelation that the replica Forest shirts will not now be able to display the sponsor’s logo on child sizes, and it will be optional even on adult shirts. This is apparently because the display of Victor Chandler’s logo can be seen to encourage gambling, which is illegal for minors and immoral for various religious and ethical persuasions (I have shamelessly culled this information from the comments on NFFCBlog).

We also spend the summer looking for clues – this morning the official site continued to describe Perchio as the “Forest skipper“, which I for one was not expecting – well, to tell the truth I was expecting Rob Jones to be the new captain, but his move to Scunny has put paid to that. 

Then we get spoon-fed little titbits by the meeja, notably the esteemed Nottingham Evening Post, who proudly informed us of the numbers on the squad’s training kit – McGoldrick wearing 17 (which was his shirt number for Saints), but controversially Dele Adebola with a big number 9 (well not that controversial, as he is a big number 9!), and Smudge wearing 21 (before the signing of Lee Campo). Cue cries from people bored/sad/obsessive speculating whether this meant the end for Tys as a Forest player, and whether this meant a new keeper would be arriving (which duly happened about two days later).

Ignoring (for the moment) the fact that squad numbers probably won’t be officially announced until the team return from Portugal, you can see how this sets a certain type of fan’s mind racing (guilty as charged -not that I get obsessed with trivial details or anything). As it turns out, Tys seems to be wearing number 11, with Ando sporting number 7; Casual Kelv had a number 6 on his chest (does this mean that there won’t be a new centre half?), and I presume Campo would wear number 1. However, where does this leave Captain Perchio? His current number has gone to the young recruit from Liverpool, his previous number has gone to the new recruit from Southampton. There is no number 2 that I could see, so if Perchio is going to fill in at right-back then he might wear that, although I should imagine that the potential signing of Chris Gunter may influence that. If Perchio is to remain skipper then I am sure he would want a number in the first XI!

The most interesting one is that Joe Garner is wearing number 14 – does that mean that Billy is saving number 16 for Preston skipper Paul McKenna?

As I said above, it really isn’t that important unless you are someone like me who attaches unnecessary weight to this kind of thing (and of course the fact that I am a bit bored today doesn’t hurt). However, I find one aspect particularly fascinating: would there have been so much speculation about Tys moving on if Adebola hadn’t worn number 9? It is increasingly apparent that the lazier hacks often fish messageboards for some juicy gossip, regardless if this can be substantiated in fact.

The new season is now less than a month away – in the meantime, according to Marthur, we should hopefully see more new arrivals (Danny Fox?), we will see a new kit (actually it would seem as though they are changing the home and away kits at the same time and possibly going for a more 1980s theme – urgh!), and I am sure that there will be more twists and turns on the way, before a ball is even kicked.

Tags: billy davies, david mcgoldrick, dele adebola, james perchio, joe garner, Lee Camp, nathan tyson, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, rob jones, victor chandler   Posted in General, Opinion

News roundup: Pemberton on his way

It’s been a while … how you doing? Not much going on over here I’m afraid.

John Pemberton leaves the club as Sport Billy restructures his back-room staff. We’ve also got Bradford City in the first round of the Carling Cup.

Craig Armstrong (remember him?) joins Mansfield. And Ian Breckin has not been short of offers.

It looks like Dexter Blackstock may not be coming – as he looks forward to playing his former club in QPR’s pre-season.

However, we are after Donny’s Brian Stock and some say we are after style-over-substance winger Lee Martin – but I don’t believe that for a second.

Lastly, the excellent LTLF has an interview with James Perchio.

Tags: bradford city, brian stock, carling cup, craig armstrong, dexter blackstock, ian breckin, james perchio, john pemberton, lee martin   Posted in News

Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Coventry City

Billy chooses what, on paper, looks like a 4-4-2 but actually turns into a 4-5-1 for this “must-win” home game.

Smith in goal, with a back-four of Gunther, Morgan, Chambers and Perchio. In midfield, Anderson, McGugan, Cohen, Osbourne and Garner and Dexter Blackstock leading the line.

We forgot to mention it during the actual podcast, but we give the man of the match award to Luke Chambers. It was pretty close run, between McCleary, Blackstock, Chambers and maybe Cohen – but given the torrid season Chambers has had, this game (where he played in his favoured position for the first time) showed what a decent player he can be.

 

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Tags: chris cohen, chris gunther, coventry city, dexter blackstock, isiah osbourne, james perchio, joe garner, lewis mcgugan, luke chambers, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul smith, wes morgan   Posted in Match Reports, Podcasts

We’re Doomed!

UPDATE: I think I’m over this now – still not sure what that interview was supposed to achieve but I’m sure Billy has a masterplan in mind. Bring on the Sheep!

The knives are out. Billy Davies, Mark Arthur, Nigel Doughty; no-one escapes the wrath of the Forest fan in the run up to yet another game against the Sheep.

And the source of this malaise?

The fact that our small, injury-ravaged League One squad is still struggling in the Championship, was not strengthened during the transfer window and the fabled new-manager effect simply has not happened (or at least was very short-lived).

Before Calderwood went I said a change (of some kind, not necessarily of manager) was needed; at the very least a big centre-half, a big centre-forward and someone to offer some leadership. Now, in February, we have a new manager but no new players. Fair play to Billy – watch him from the touchlines and he is offering the leadership. He went for Rob Jones to play at the back and Dele Adebola up-front. So it looks, on paper, like he had identified the same weaknesses as me.

But we didn’t get either and the consensus is that this is the board’s fault. Could be, I don’t know enough about what went on. Is Jones worth more than £600000 or is he another Lynch? Should anyone ever pay any money for Adebola? Were the board just tight or did they just not want to pay over the odds for players who may not be good enough to keep us up (can you tell which one of those two I feel falls into that category?) If they were tight then it’s definitely a false economy – League One will cost far more than the extra £400000 that was reportedly the difference between our valuation of Jones and Hibs’ (although I’ve also seen it written that we offered £1m for him).

However, for whatever reason, we didn’t bring anyone in during the window. So we have to make do with what we’ve got (and what we can loan in).

And this is where my problems begin. We know that they are young and inexperienced. We know that the Championship is a big step up from League One. We know that we have an injury crisis on, forcing us to play players who aren’t first choices. But that is the hand we have – unless we loan four or five players in tomorrow, then that is the hand we will have when playing Derby. We are where we are.

So why slag them off Billy? We all know that confidence is a vital component of success in football. Do you honestly believe that telling the only players you have available that they will never make it at this level is going to make them perform better this weekend?

In goal we’ve got Smith. The best thing that Calderwood did this season (apart from getting us to play some pretty football that had been sorely lacking for quite a few years) was bring in Lee Camp. Whilst some people think Campo is the second coming of Peter Shilton, I’m not so convinced. The defence needed a kick up the arse and Campo gave it to them. But in terms of actual keeping ability there’s not so much in it (Smith’s terrible kicking aside) – witness Campo’s flapping at a cross when we played against QPR.

At centre-half we’re looking OK. Breckin and Wesley are the first choice pairing; having Breckin back in the fold is a definite bonus, but Calderwood wasn’t lying when he said the old man isn’t fit enough to play every week. Wes has been immense after a dodgy start to the season. Chambers is an able deputy (note, this is centre-half) but Wilson appears to be getting worse under Davies, and he wasn’t playing great to start with.

At full-back is where the real trouble now lies. Moloney has been a breath of fresh air this season, but Davies does not appear to trust the youngster to do the job. Leaving Chambers to play at right-back and we all know it’s just not his position. Things are worse on the left with Bennett out injured – leaving Heath who tries hard but isn’t ready, Wilson, who looks like someone playing out of position (funny that) or Lynch. Nuff said.

In midfield, it’s no secret that I am a great fan of Perchio – he’s not the best defensive midfielder in the world but it’s a vital (unsung) role and he does it well. The Moose should be back soon and he had a great start to the season, but seemed to go missing for a few games before his injury. Cohen is many people’s favourite for player of the season – certainly his work-rate is incredible. Thornhill is probably my favourite of the youngsters – intelligent, beautifully timed runs with excellent passing. And then there’s Lewis McGugan. Probably our most talented player, certainly the one we could sell for the most money. But he seems to have gone backwards recently. Billy plays him a bit deeper than Colin did and he looks like he’s struggling with it – and when Lewis plays badly, Forest plays badly.

And then, up-front. Earnie’s out injured and this is a big loss, as our only Championship-quality player. Tyson works his socks off but isn’t an out-and-out goal-scorer. And he can’t do it all by himself. Leaving Garner. The target for Davies’ post-match interview and another youngster with obvious talent but not necessarily the work-rate or application Billy wants. From the little we’ve seen of him so far, he appears to be one of those who does nothing for 89 minutes then produces a piece of magic that turns the game. However, I can’t see much more magic coming from him under this manager.

We’re in the shit. We know that. The players know that. The manager knows that. The board (probably) know that. And when you’re up against it you need to be pulling together. Unity can make up for a number of deficiencies. Unfortunately, I don’t see much of that around the City Ground at the moment. Sorry to be so gloomy, but things aren’t looking good.

Tags: billy davies, brendan moloney, doom and gloom, Guy Moussi, ian breckin, james perchio, joe garner, joe heath, joel lynch, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, lewis mcgugan, luke chambers, mark arthur, matt thornhill, nathan tyson, nigel doughty, paul smith, rob earnshaw, wes morgan   Posted in Opinion