Posted March 6th, 2010by Rahoul Baruah4 Comments »
A six-pointer against the team in fourth place. Lose and their game in hand puts them in pole position. Win and we gain some breathing space.
However, Billy was forced into some changes today;
Campo
Gunter Morgan Chambers Cohen
Anderson McKenna Moussi Boyd
Majewski
Blackstock
Wilson and Earnshaw had both injured themselves in training yesterday, meaning we essentially ended up playing our away side at home. New boy Georgie Boyd slotted in on the left wing, finally allowing left-footer Chris Cohen to take the left-back slot. But disaster struck early as McKenna sustained a serious injury, only to be replaced by Lewis McGugan who had a point to prove.
A welcome victory against a team that we NEVER seem to beat (albeit one who are on a poor run away from home). We have now won eight on the trot at home!
Billy Davies reverted to the more normal home line-up:
Campo
Gunter Morgan Wilson Perchio
Cohen Majewski McKenna Anderson
Blackstock Earnshaw
Forest started well, with Chrissy Cohen coming in from the right to fire wide from the edge of the box, and it wasn’t long before we took the lead. Raddy’s corner was headed in by Ando (Ando?!) and little Robbie Earnshaw poked home on the goal-line. Only four minutes on the clock!
Forest continued their good play, with a return for some of the one-touch “champagne” football, although we did not realyl work their keeper enough. Raddy wasted a good opportunity on the counter-attack after a superb through ball from Chrissy Cohen, as the young Pole took one touch too many rather than having the shot, and Dex directed the ball straight at Mark Bunn in the Blades’ goal from another corner.
What was starting to take the eye was the rather, erm, physical approach that our opposition were taking. Rahoul couldn’t make it, so when he asked for a text update, I replied that they had “reverted to type i.e. dirty”. Darius Henderson is your archetypal “big strong lad up front”, and he is not scared to use his physical presence. I am not quite sure how he escaped a booking for repeated fouls in the first half, although the only caution in the first half was to Raddy, who committed a late tackle and chopped his man in the process. I am not quite sure how their centre-half escaped a red card for a challenge on the edge of the box which looked two-footed to me (reminded me of Garath McCleary’s deserved red on Saturday), but I sit in the Trent End, so perhaps any readers who are up in Victor’s Veranda could help me out?
Sheffield United almost scored when Nyron Nosworthy’s deep cross was misjudged by Perchio and forced Campo into a late intervention to palm the ball away from the far corner, but Forest should have scored with the best move of the match; excellent play from Gunts and Chrissy set up Ando just inside the box, but his first-time shot was just over when should really have hit the target. I was hoping that we wouldn’t regret the missed opportunities.
The second half started with the dismissal of Darius Henderson. I don’t know what for as I watched the ball, but two or three Forest players went mental at the ref and the linesman was flagging. Oddly enough, the ref produced the red card without consulting the lino, even though he clearly didn’t see the incident but his assistant did. Seems strange to me, although Henderson didn’t seem to argue too much.
I have to say that ten-man Sheffield United were excellent in the second-half. I guess the red card galvanised them, and their workrate was exceptional. However, they ratcheted up the dirtiness, and the referee failed to show any real authority. As an example, Lee Williamson fouled his man, and then kicked the ball away; I think the booking was for dissent, rather than the foul, but the ref called Williamson towards him, and then as the midfielder continued to back away, the ref walked towards the player instead. Way to go to stamp your authority on the match, Mr Referee! Also, the Blades were constantly stealing yardage at throw-ins, which would have been fine, except the ref kept telling them to move back, then failed to act when they took another ten yards.
Nonetheless, Yeates followed Williamson into the book (again, apparently for dissent, rather than the foul), and I don’t understand how makeshift right-back Jamie Ward did not get booked for repeated fouls on Ando. Towards the end, Sheffield United’s left-back Kallio took down Gunts in full-view of the ref and lino, and the ref was not going to punish the defender until the assistant encouraged him to do so. Well done linesman, and although Kallio argued his case, he missed the ball and took the man.
Back to the actual football, and we were being pressed back by the ten men of Sheffield United. As so often, Forest were guilty of sitting too deep, and they looked a bit tired and backed off too much, allowing space to the opposition. There were a few hairy moments, although Campo did not have too many nasty moments to deal with, other than a couple of mid-rangers from the dangerous Yeates (one missed and one saved). Forest did create a couple of chances on the break, a decent effort from Chrissy was parried by Bunn, and Ando, looking knackered and on his wrong foot, could only direct the rebound into the side netting. Ando was soon replaced by Tys, and the least-popular-man-in-Derby soon forced an excellent save from Bunn as he drove for the far corner after a good pass from Earnie (who soon made way for Goldie).
With Forest looking tired, Raddy was withdrawn for the Mooooossssse, who made a decent cameo as an energetic box-to-box player in the last five minutes, but there was still time for Perchio to make the tackle of the day, as Stephen Quinn bore down on goal in stoppage time. An excellent intervention from a player who still looks rather uncomfortable to be playing on his wrong foot, and one that probably earned us two points. Well done James.
Billy commented afterwards that we look tired, and I don’t think many Reds fans would disagree with him (although he also used the interview as an opportunity to remind everyone that our squad in weaker now than a month ago). Ando has only just come back from a rest, and looked knackered after sixty minutes, Robbie Earnshaw was in a similar position, and while Chrissy was his usual industrious self, he seemed half a yard behind at times today. Fortunately, we have a better squad than last season, so can still call on the likes of Lewis, Goldie, Tys, G-Man and Big Dele. Man of the match today is probably between the two central midfielders: Raddy showed some amazing skill in the first half and a prodigious workrate in the second, but for me the main man today was the skipper, who showed that he still has it with some superb tackling and imposing himself on the match even as the Blades threatened. Nice one.
Posted February 12th, 2010by Rahoul Baruah7 Comments »
Following our lack of activity in the transfer market this January, a lot of people are wondering why the club haven’t sealed our most likely arrival – Radoslaw Majewski. The knee-jerk reaction seems to be that this is proof, if ever proof was needed, that the Acquisitions Committee is broken and needs to be dismantled immediately.
But there’s a lot that we do not know.
For example, a number of people are saying we have “first-refusal” on his transfer. If we have, then we’re safe to wait till summer (as I said during our Sheffield Wednesday match report, I didn’t see any evidence of Raddy’s head being in bits on Saturday). But I’ve hunted back through our archives and I can’t see a reference to this, so maybe we need to move quickly.
Another consideration is the deal itself. Blackburn offered 3m Euros for him a couple of years back. The Evening Post was saying that we can have for for £1.5m – but I also remember hearing the figure of 6m Euros being bandied about (can’t find the link unfortunately). No matter – if we go up then there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s worth 6m Euros (what’s that – about 4 or 5 million quid?).
But what if we don’t go up? What are his wage demands going to be (remember he’s probably got an agent whispering in his ear about how he is in the shop window)? I have no idea what our wage structure is nowadays but can we afford to offer him £20K or £30K a week, given we may well still be in the Championship next year? Remember, we would have taken a mid-table finish at the start of the season.
And that’s probably the most important point of all. What does he want to do?
He knows, like the rest of us, that he’s too good for the Championship. I’m sure he’s grateful to us for putting his career back on track (a source on Twitter said that his progress has been greeted with astonishment in Poland as he was going nowhere back in Warsaw) but given the choice between another season in the Championship with us or a season with a mid-level Premiership side; which would you take? If I were him, I’d be waiting till summer as well.
None of this is to say that I don’t want him. He’s by far and away my favourite player, our absolute star and our greatest talent. I would love to see him signed up permanently and terrorising Premiership defences. But, just because we haven’t got him yet, doesn’t mean that the blame necessarily lies with the Acquisitions Committee. At least as far as we know.
As we already know, Forest didn’t sign anyone in the transfer window (Just Got Back has expressed this far more eloquently than I could, before reporting on last night’s match against Coventry), and Billy had a rant about the lack of signings, especially the failure to tie up Raddy “Radi” Majewski. And worse than that, we have started to lose games, when only a couple of weeks ago, we felt like we would win every … single … match … we … play.
Has the bubble burst? I hate to say it, but possibly:
Billy playing mind games with his superiors in the media suggests that he is frustrated, and a frustrated manager may not stick around for long.
We have the perennial “square pegs in round holes” situation, a weaker squad than we had three weeks ago, and Billy’s apparent willingness to tinker with the balance of the team to make a political point.
Chris Cohen was apparently decent at left-back last night, but he has driven our midfield for the last four to six weeks, and with Tys and G-Man McCleary apparently out of favour/form, he leaves a gaping hole on the wing that is, unfortunately, not the same shape or size as Joe Garner.
The players are starting to look tired, particularly Paul McKenna, and against Sheffield Wednesday, there were indications that, having been beaten into submission at D*rby, they have got the fear.
The reason why our players are good, but not necessarily great, is that some of them are either brilliant, or rubbish: Moose, Earnie, Ando, McKenna, Garner, Goldie, even Dex – all of them either make an amazing contribution or look like rabbits in the headlights. McKenna and Moose, in particular, have really flattered to deceive in the last week or two. Our form since October was usually about the team playing greater than the sum of its parts, but all the proverbial cogs do need to be working for the machine to function*
What does this all mean? Firstly, that I am probably feeling unnecessarily negative after a hard week and a half for the Reds; secondly, that it is worth remembering that only two or three months ago, we were all saying that upper mid-table would be a victory this season, and even Billy was saying only a couple of weeks ago that promotion in one season is too much; all is not lost, as we are still only four points from the top of the table, and the play-offs would hardly be a disaster… Finally, remember that there is always the emergency loan market (ahem)!
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In other news, Amy Fearn coming on as a supersub referee last night was the first time a woman has officiated a League match. Our luck against Sheffield Wednesday has been recognised (especially as both Billy and Alan Irvine admitted that it shouldn’t have been a penalty), but nonetheless, Dex-On-Fire took his chance and ended up in the Football League Team of the Week (NB this link opens as a PDF). Finally, Radi Raddy Majewski’s thunderbolt against Derby has been nominated as one of the top 20 goals of 2009 in the Football League – vote for it here!
Posted January 27th, 2010by Rahoul Baruah2 Comments »
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:
Campo
Gunter Morgan Wilson Perchio
Cohen McKenna Majewski Anderson
Earnshaw Blackstock
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.
Some bloke called Stuart Pearce who says that he used to play for us is now saying that we are going to win the league as we have “spent a few bob in the summer”.
As we are planning on spending, not selling, Forest have rejected a “derisory” offer from Newcastle for James Perch, with Billy Davies not holding back (that makes a change for him) on his disappointment at the story being leaked. I say quite right too, and unless we can retain Shorey, we will need Perchio even more.
Speaking of Nicky Shorey, it has been confirmed that he will miss a single game following his red card against his old club. Unfortunately that is the last scheduled game of his loan period, but interestingly there is no comment such as “Shorey is likely to have played his last game for the club”.
Billy Davies is making a case that his signings have proven excellent value for money, and it is hard to argue if Campo really cost £250k; my Dad was also suggesting that £250k for Ando is proving to be a bargain. In fact, out of the players that Billy has signed, only Joel Lynch has not made a real impact this year (although he played well at centre-half during the early season injury crisis, and is potentially one for the future), and Goldie has been the only one who has looked overpriced at times (although he has made excellent contributions at others).
It is with a sense of inevitability that Arron Davies has left the club, although with a little more surprise that the powers-that-be have also decided to release Joe Heath, Aaron Mitchell and James Reid. Good luck to you all (especially Heathy – he looked OK I thought).
Finally, this little gem from the Championship Manager website: “Radoslaw Majewski is too good for the Championship”!
Posted January 17th, 2010by Rahoul Baruah2 Comments »
After our cup exploits against Birmingham, Billy reverted back to his (probably) first choice line-up, in an orthodox 4-4-2 – with a surprise return for Earnie and no place, even on the bench, for the Moooooooooooooooose.
Camp
Gunter Morgan Wilson Shorey
Cohen McKenna Majewski Anderson
Earnshaw Blackstock
The first half was as good a performance as I have ever seen; obviously brimming with confidence and ability. But the second half saw complacency sink in and if it wasn’t for Lee Camp it could well have no points, not three.
Transfer rumours abound, with Ipswich interested in Dele Adebola, and Billy Davies quashing rumours about Victor Moses, while reflecting on our cup exit to Birmingham. In the meantime, Billy also says that we should “make the most” of Nicky Shorey before his likely return to Aston Villa.
Elsewhere, not-actually-Irish former striker Tony Cascarino is so impressed by the Reds’ form that he suggests that we are going up, while Lee Camp is keen for a promotion push. There is an excellent appraisal of our current situation on LTLF, showing that there is much to learn from our defeat the other night, that might help maintain our imperious form in the league.
In other news, James Perch is delighted to be back ahead of schedule, whilst poor old Paul Hart is looking for a job again after just five games in charge at QPR.
Finally, I am not sure that I will ever get bored of this goal from last week
Posted December 28th, 2009by Rahoul Baruah4 Comments »
Another game undefeated for Billy’s men.
Five changes from the draw at Watford saw us line up, initially as a 4-4-2, but later as a 4-3-3 (Cohen moving to left midfield and Tyson joining Dex and Earnie up front).
Coventry set out to make life difficult for us and it worked – for most of the game, things were pretty dour. But two fantastic goals, pretty much out of nothing sealed yet another victory for us.
Points to note: both Earnie and Dexter were outstanding, Raddy got his own chant as he was substituted and McCleary, Lewis and Dele terrified the knackered Coventry players when they came on at the end. But it was the defence winning the plaudits today, with both Morgan and Wilson truly outstanding.
