Deep Trouble

There was something special about today. An old foe, a big crowd, glorious sunshine – and an air of determined spirit bubbling beneath the entire afternoon.

It felt a bit like the good old days. Or at least the average old days that look so appealing when set against our current plight.

The players felt it, the supporters felt, and for long periods the game went as well as we could have hoped. And yet it all came to nothing – again.

It was a scrappy game with very few chances. Wolves played a surprisingly basic long ball game, hoping to cash in on the physical presence of Iwelumo and Ebanks-Blake.

Forest held firm, feeding occasionally on scraps, and Wolves were restricted to no more than two efforts on goal.

But just as Tyson and McCleary gave Forest fans license to dream of a cheeky winner, Wolves mustered a goal from nothing.

Their 5,000-strong support were in party mood for the final minutes as their team marches unhindered to the Premiership. Forest face an uncertain future.

At least half of our remaining games have to be wins, maybe even more. It is a lot to ask of any side.

Like most, I have spent the season waiting patiently for the predestined turnaround and peaceful mid-table run-in. But after several false starts, the run-in has arrived long before we are ready for it. Only now is the reality of our peril starting to become clear.

Star exits at basement prices, shrinking attendances, the return of the tedium, the terraces and the “you’re not famous anymore”. It could be just around the corner.

Turner – 7 – a steady performance from a goalkeeper keen to impress. His distribution was fairly average, but he immediately demonstrated that crosses and communication are no problem. This will appease the Smith critics.

Gunter -7 – a steady performance as part of a back four that looked worlds better than it did at Burnley last weekend.

Morgan – 9 – perhaps guilty of losing his man for the goal, but this was a titanic display from Forest’s outstanding player of the second half of the season.

Wilson – 8 – an efficient and industrious performance to keep a tough Wolves strikeforce quiet.

Lynch – 7 – continues to look a lot more settled in his role under Davies.

McGugan – 6 – not the battling performance that Davies’ rant might have inspired.

Cohen – 7 – played out of his skin and never shirked a challenge. This kind of metal was essential if Forest were to get a result today, and Cohen will be as disappointed as anybody that his efforts were not rewarded.

Perch – 6.5 – stood tall and threw himself into some vital challenges. We missed Osbourne or Moussi’s creative input in this role.

Earnshaw – 7 – worked extremely hard but had very little to work with. Earnshaw is desperate to avoid the drop.

McSheffrey – 6.5 – flashes of excellence, again, but struggled to sustain the quality against a strong Wolves side.

Anderson – 6.5 – looked a little bit lightweight at times, but his poise on the break continues to be a major asset.

Subs:
McCleary -6
Tyson -6
Garner-6

It could have been 10...

Another 250 miles, another disgusting performance, and another bold stride in the direction of League One.

I cannot begin to understand how Forest contrived to follow their best week of the season with by far the worst. But that is exactly what has happened, and performances like the last two are not worthy even of the league below.

Burnley is a miserable place for visiting supporters; a sprawl of decaying back-to-backs, crumbling community centres and a stadium screaming for demolition.

The wind and fits of drizzle painted the vulgar scene in a morose grey hue, adding to the despondency. But nothing ruined this afternoon quite like Forest did.

Squad depletion and bad luck are no longer valid excuses. We are being humbled by teams that are not even noteworthy by Championship standards.

One of the most frustrating things about this afternoon is that we allowed a leggy Burnley side to stroll through us as though they are Brazil. The difference between the two sides looked greater than it did last Sunday when Burnley played at the Emirates - the outcome was a deserved embarrassment.

They had total freedom to dismantle and disgrace us on their own terms. Our defending was, yet again, as poor as it ever has been.

Going forward we had nothing short of dead-end runs, and occasional flickers of life from Osbourne were about the only outlet.

A team including McSheffrey, Earnshaw, Tyson and Cohen should never be quite as useless as Forest were this afternoon, but useless is no exaggeration.

If Burnley had delivered the kind of performance that saw Chelsea defeated it would have been double figures this afternoon.

Our supporters, raucous in the early stages, began to show the strains of the peril we are facing. Pockets of supporters audibly booing Paul Smith almost came to blows with those who took offence to the dissent. Some were driven to heckling, others simply buried grey faces into their hands to shield their eyes from the carnage.

It is all seems terrifyingly familiar.

Champions elect Wolves are next in line. It could get worse before it gets better.

Ratings:

Smith – 4 – seven more games as Forest’s first choice keeper. Poor distribution all afternoon, and a howler that pulled open the floodgates.
Chambers – 4 – allowed almost every attempted cross to reach the box, melted into literal insignificance as they walked their second into the net.
Morgan – 5 – not as many gaffes as Chambers, but a defence conceding 5 goals is capped at a rating of 5. At five o’clock I’d have been inclined to set the glass ceiling at 1.
Perch – 5 – as above.
Gunter – 5 – he’s a good footballer, and potentially twice the quality of every other full-back at the club. A few training sessions with Super Luke and co should hammer him down a notch or two.
McCleary – 4.5 – one or two stepovers that succeeded only in ending our attacks. When he plays like this there is simply no point in him being out there.
Osbourne – 6 – his occasional breakthrough passes were our only hope.
Cohen – 5 – of course he battled and grafted, but he didn’t get anywhere.
McSheffrey – 5 – largely anonymous. I’m starting to think that we will never see his talent flourishing in a Forest shirt. He is a top quality player at this level, but we are very poor.
Earnshaw – 6 – I had a lot of sympathy with him today. Service?
Tyson – 5 – could not get involved.
Subs:
Garner – 6
Thornhill -6
McGugan - /

Buzzards

An evening of rampant and unfathomable nonsense from a Forest side lacking any of the qualities showcased over the last week.

Davies dropped Earnshaw for the game, but his biggest mistake was dropping the work rate, movement and common sense.

This kind of performance not only thrusts Forest back into relegation peril, it also alienates supporters.

I travelled a total of 340 miles to see the game. My wallet feels somewhat dainty. Some squandered annual leave on afternoons away from work, while others will be patching together excuses for their day off school.

And for what? From the first minute Forest were second best against a team that boasts no upgrade in ability. I do sometimes wonder if football players have any real grasp of the sacrifices people make to watch them go to work.

The pitch was a squalid mass of ploughed turf and divots. Forest had trouble making 5-yard passes across it, but Watford somehow strolled through the handicap whenever they reached the final third.

It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that Forest’s defending tonight was the poorest in living memory.

Oh how they reeled at predictable through balls and sidewards passes. Smith blushed and shrugged, his vacuous comrades fell weak at the knees and Watford’s forwards skipped and sauntered through meadows of space.

The opening goal was the result of hilariously bad marking, and only minutes later the defence waved in a Don Cowie for Watford’s second. He spurned his shot impossibly wide from 10-yards, and Forest somehow lived on.

A gaffe from Guy Moussi, who played with his head floating in the clouds, should also have made it two. A little while later Smith was forced into a close-range block as Forest’s defenders attempted some kind of panic-stricken offside trap from a corner.

Matt Thornhill finished beautifully on 17 minutes, squaring the scores against the run of play. The 2,000 travelling supporters saw a lifeline, but their men gracelessly refused it.

Watford looked frail defensively, and the opportunity to seize the game was dangling in perfect snatching distance.

But at no stage did Forest look capable of taking advantage. Lynch’s injury landed another blow, and his replacement Ian Breckin was responsible for the second goal.

The veteran was left appealing for offside in piteous desperation as he staggered yards behind Rasiak and watched the goal from afar.

Earnshaw’s introduction at half-time showed spirit and ambition from Davies, but it proved misguided.

I would love to tell the story of a resurgent Forest battling to the death and missing out on a draw by sheer bad luck. It simply isn’t the case.

Had anybody left during the break, they would have missed out on absolutely nothing.

My enduring memory of the second half is Paul Smith kicking the ball as hard as he could towards midget Robert Earnshaw, catching the ball 20 seconds later, and then kicking it as hard as he could ad infinitum.

There are not many games to go now, and despite showing so much promise over the last week it looks as though our season will go the wire.

I have genuine faith in the manager’s shrewdness and ambition, but it will count for nothing if we cannot weather the storm and survive in this division.

One or two more performances of this standard will bring the buzzards to the City Ground. No question.

Ratings Vs Watford [A]

Smith – 5 – without mentioning his ‘commanding’ or ‘dealing with crosses’, his distribution tonight was awful. His throwing has improved of late, but tonight we saw an unwelcome return for the Smith that daren’t pass to anybody unless they’re in a different time zone.

Chambers – 5 – struggled, and his passes invariably found yellow shirts.

Morgan – 6 – held together a sinking ship at times, but he can do better.

Wilson – 6 – a couple of important last ditch tackles, but without them his rating would be a lot lower.

Lynch – 5 - lost his man several times before retiring with an unfortunately-timed injury.

Thornhill – 6.5 – plenty of graft and a lovely goal. He wasn’t as involved as we needed him to be, but tonight was not his fault.

Moussi – 4.5 – one of those days where the imperious Moussi is replaced by one that plays like a blind man.
McGugan – 5 – several telling cries of “oh, is Lewis playing” when he occasionally stumbled over the ball. We aren’t in a position to carry this type of player.

McCleary – 6.5 – several pacy runs from deep that caused problems. He was probably the only player likely to create anything all night.

Tyson – 5 – he’ll feel still tomorrow morning. Running into broader shoulders and dead ends all night.

McSheffrey – 6 – there are flashes of real quality, but he fluffed too many important moments.

Subs:

Breckin – 5
Earnshaw - 6
Osbourne - 7

New Stadium...again

It's coming. I have little doubt about that.

Forest have been conditioning supporters to embrace the change for some time.

The new stadium was pitched as a dangling carrot during desperate times and a new Main Stand has only ever been spoken of as a severe hindrance.

Calls for the rusting and faded crevices of the City Ground to feel the stroke of a paint brush have been rejected numerous times - fans are less likely to defend the virtue of a sagging rust bucket.

Of course, like most fans, I don't trust the incumbent regime to handle the move in a way that manages the club's dignity.

I expect a name sponsor, I expect a boring design, and I expect an out-of-town lump surrounded by £9 car parks and commercial plazas.

A new stadium that puts excitement and atmosphere before leg room and profits would suit me. But the reality could well be a half-empty box; all concrete and Starbucks, with supporters lounging peaceably in spacious seats. Those of us with years of service at the City Ground will be left rambling about the good old days.

I'm barely getting started and already I'm wisened enough to lament places like the Ricoh Arena in contrast to their predecessors.

The new stadiums are striking off the last remnants of football's golden age and the next generation will know no better. The trouble is, if we don't buy a ticket we will very quickly be left a long way behind.

A Galling Affair

Not too many Forest fans would have turned up their noses at the prospect of seven points from our last three games.

It has been a challenging week, crucially coinciding with two overdue arrivals and a return to fitness for the likes of Guy Moussi.

I am satisfied with a point this afternoon. Swansea are a class act; they move the ball expertly and force results by dominating possession. In Jason Scotland they have a ballistic missile leading the front line.

But for the third time we coped, and at times a little better.

We are starting games with vigour and tenacity under Davies and, other than Cohen’s opener against Derby in the cup, I can scarcely remember a brighter start to a game.

Unfortunately it did not last. Swansea took control of the game and asked a lot of questions of a defence that sagged and swayed in Morgan’s absence.

There were problems going forward to. Moussi was a spare part for the opening 20 minutes, touching the ball twice and wandering without purpose.

He and Osbourne tucked in and, eventually, made good in a difficult system. But at points in the first half we were breaking with only Earnshaw and Cohen to aim for.

It is a credit to the seasoning of real quality we now have in the side that we managed to create so many chances.

There were flashes of excellence from McSheffrey, and players like Paul Anderson are never far from action.

But largely this was one of those galling affairs where every second ball squirms to the opposition and every firm shoulder solicits attention from the referee.

When Swansea cashed in on Paul Smith’s daydreaming meander I could not see an escape route. Not at all because Swansea had outclassed us, but because nothing seemed to be dropping in our favour.

However, Davies’ resurgent Forest side is made of metal and not perspex. We kept asking questions, and Joel Lynch’s scything ball proved the perfect compliment to a beautifully-timed McGugan run.

It did not cross Davies’ mind to press for three points. Osbourne was urged to slow down his passage to the bench, and Perch was thrown into the middle at the expense of a baited Joe Garner.

There is no way of knowing if it was the right decision to make, but the spirited reaction to the point indicates that it isn’t too much of a problem.

There are no easy games left now, but the side is bursting with possibilities and the 10-15 points we will need are not beyond our ability.

With a full compliment of players and shrewd management from Davies we are really only two or three faces away from settling into a class above the turgid sides we are competing with.

Tuesday is a big game. Bring it on.

Ratings Vs Swansea [H]

Smith – 5 – not a bad performance, but from my end he looked to be at fault for the goal.

Chambers – 5 – struggled defensively this afternoon and allowed too many crosses into the box.

Wilson – 7 – I thought he did a fairly good job of keeping Scotland’s influence to a minimum. A player capable of 20 Championship goals will always slip through the net once or twice.

Breckin – 6 – stretched to breaking point at times, but he just about coped.

Lynch – 7 – another strong performance, following up two steady displays. Frankly he looks a different player to the dithering lump responsible for so many errors before Christmas.

Anderson – 6.5 – his decision-making let him down, as it often does, but he is an incessant threat.

Osbourne – 7 – another fairly droopy opening, followed by another solid performance. He is largely of the bread-and-butter variety, but his occasional forays show that he is closer to Lurpak than he is Soft Spread.

Moussi – 7 – he looked rather like a surplus volunteer in the opening 20 minutes, but his range, ambition and accuracy proved useful. He can do better.

Cohen – 6.5 – three games in seven days took some of the zest out of his display. His box-to-box approach could prove vital if Moussi and Osbourne are to be combined again in future.

McSheffrey – 7 – strokes of excellence, marred by one or two patches of rust. With five games under his belt he will bury chances like those he squandered today.

Earnshaw – 7 – always a threat. He continues to cover twice as much ground as he did under Calderwood. Keep it up Rob, or Billy will return you to the lonely corners of the bench.

Subs

McCleary – 6.5 – did a little bit too much backing out of challenges for my liking, but his pace and strength are excellent qualities.

McGugan – 7 – did what he was asked to do.

Perch – 7 – one thumping tackle of note.

A win that's bigger than Parkin (almost...)

Just about the only thing capable of cheering up a dark, moody and sodden evening at the City Ground was three points. And Forest probably deserved them.

Swirling winds and torrents of rain are usually a nod to misery and silence at Forest, and as Preston passed rings around us in the opening minutes it was looking uncomfortably familiar.

But the visitors rarely followed up on their bright start, and our pace on the break offered an olive branch.

It was a turgid affair complete with scrappy tackles, balls disappearing into churning clouds of rain and ‘Pieman’ Parkin thrusting his bulging midriff into every challenge.

Forest did well to stay composed, even at the back, and the likes of Joel Lynch – a worthy scapegoat so many times previously – performed when it mattered most.

Preston are a strong side. They move the ball well, they are physical, and in their bloated centre forward they have a player surprisingly adept in his control – and lethal in his finishing.

I felt the first goal would prove crucial. A Preston opener would invite the usual collage of confusion and unrest, but on the night they were below par and a Forest opener held promise.

Chambers, Earnshaw and Cohen all came fairly close.

The raging winds and soaking rain subsided over half-time, excusing the Preston the task of battling against it the way Forest had. In the end it didn’t matter.

Earnshaw’s goal was an excellent team move, demonstrating perfectly the functional and satisfying football we have shown since the moment Tyson’s injury took long balls largely out of the occasion.
Cohen rescued something from nothing, Lynch’s dipping ball was exceptional, and Earnshaw’s header – while asking questions of the Preston defence – was buried with conviction.

The equaliser had to come from a corner. How the ball was allowed to bounce across the six-yard box I am not entirely sure, but bulbous Parkin’s zealous celebrations made the eventual winner especially satisfying.

It was purely the result of defensive calamity, but Earnshaw took it beautifully. And isn’t it about time we had a bit of good fortune?

The equaliser had rapped our knuckles, and the second goal thumped Preston squarely in the gut. The game was Forest’s thereafter.

We are made of slightly sterner stuff than we were before Christmas and we bossed possession admirably. Shrewd Davies and his delightfully obnoxious mind reeled down the clock.

Left-back Lynch dumped himself far over on the right hand side before the substitution, allowing for a long and pondering walk to the bench. Billy’s bouncing and shrieking made sure that McGugan and Earnshaw repeated the trick.

The fact that teams around us took points again leaves a sour aftertaste, but their wins only make it more important for us to be looking after ourselves.

This is a poor division, composed of at least 14 sides who have very little to choose between them. With a bit of fortune in terms of injuries, which we’re certainly due, we have a side more than capable of the 10-15 points that will secure safety.

Two more additions on the back of two mammoth wins would be a timely and crucial boost. Here’s to hoping.

Ratings Vs PNE [H]

Smith – 7 – one or two heart attack moments, but he played as though responding to criticism. Quicker to leave his line and quicker to bowl the ball out. A more animated Smith is no more confident, but it’s an improvement.

Chambers – 6 – fairly solid defensively, but it went no further. Some of his distribution, which consisted of absurdly optimistic balls towards Earnshaw, let his display down.

Morgan – 8 – another brute-like show of resilience from Big Wes who shaded the intriguing battle with the Pieman.

Wilson – 7 – one of his stronger performances, crowned by a vital late challenge in the first half.

Lynch – 7.5 – his best display for Forest without reasonable question. Had their winger under wraps all game and played some good balls into the box. Just one or two clumsy moments.

Anderson – 7 – his final decision-making continues to let him down, but his pace and industry on the break are an incredible outlet.

McGugan – 6 – drifted in and out of the game. If Davies can whip McGugan into shape and channel his moments of brilliance into real consistency then we will have a player of remarkable quality.

Osbourne – 7 – a couple of mistakes in the first half, but otherwise I thought he was impressive. Calm and collected in possession, he wriggles his way out of danger and plays sensible balls with impressive accuracy. He doesn’t have the livewire quality of Moussi, but he seems to be a very good signing.

Cohen – 7 – he gave possession away a couple of times but his legwork and relentless spirit are vital in close games like this one.

McCleary – 7 – caused a lot of headaches with his jinking runs and pace. I was concerned that his, ahem, gamesmanship late on was going to be a semi-serious injury.

Earnshaw – 8 – you cannot ask anymore from a 5ft centre forward on a night like this. Two very well taken goals, and his record at Forest continues to be as brilliant as it has been everywhere else.