***
There’s an infectious buzz around the stadium. Nausea, sensation and apprehension fill the air. A legion of dreamers are debating, daring and dreading.
Then it begins. For some the butterflies explode; a draw will do Forest, just don’t let these bastards have their moment again. Others are knocked back by their own bloodcurdling roar and nothing but a win will do.
Before anybody can make sense of it, Radoslaw Majewski crashes the ball into the top corner and a violent ecstasy sweeps the stadium. The bed-wetters are already thinking about Chris Cohen’s impossibly early strike last season, most are crushing into the aisles in delusional joy.
The swamp of Derby supporters is still, save for the dissenting V-signs of those who cannot stomach the scenes.
Every Derby attack threatens to spoil the mood, every fleeting Commons touch triggers unspeakable fury.
And then it’s two, and it’s chaos and it doesn’t make sense. But it’s brilliant.
***
What followed defies satisfactory explanation. Derby looked to have scored, but their detestable celebrations were drowned out by City Ground jeers. Relief.
Tyson broke clean through and seemed to have shuffled off path, but the ball squirmed over the line and at that moment I was within spitting distance of optimum happiness.
The third goal seemed to bring guarantees. It seemed to confirm the result and rubber stamp the evening’s beer-soaked celebrations.
I was happy for half-time to never end. The first 45 had been among the best in living memory and the second half was only ever going to be awkward. I just had no idea how much.
The early goal that rolled over the line had everybody longing to avoid the drama and tension that seemed increasingly inevitable. The second squirming deflection sent us into meltdown.
I had little faith in our reeling defence, and I was alarmed by the sudden inability to string two passes in sequence. For a long time I had almost accepted an equaliser as inevitable, but I still dreaded it with everything I had.
The volcanic roar that followed Billy’s appeal for support dragged us over the line, and sheer grit hauled us through nine excruciating minutes of stoppage time.
The full-time whistle triggered relief akin to the promotion against Yeovil. I lingered in the stands with thousands of others to exalt in every precious moment of their dismay.
The wonderful thing about football is that it incredibly fickle. Derby had their moment in the sun last season – but it’s gone, it’s over, it’s a statistic.
All any one of them will be able to think about is the beautiful sight of Nathan Tyson sauntering by with his Forest corner flag, a subversive smirk stretching ear-to-ear.
The mêlée that followed showed the intensity of the occasion. The lifting of the Brian Clough Trophy showed that we are, finally, back on top of the old tussle.
The Forest fans who had the privilege of strolling back to their cars with hearts pounding and throats aching have been blessed with memories that will last a lifetime. Or at least until January 30...
Robert William Savage, how was it for you?
***
Ratings – is there any point? The only thing I can remember in any significant detail is launching myself into a writhing mass of red shirts after 58 seconds of this ridiculous, and stunning, afternoon.
Saturday 29 August 2009
Wednesday 19 August 2009
Hairdryer Blast
It’s fascinating just how much a goal can change a football match.
Crawling wearily toward half-time, a goal behind with stray passes everywhere, the home supporters were rousing from their slumber only to heckle. The side were never more than one unfortunate ricochet from a hairdryer blast from the terraces.
At 1-1 all four stands stood to sing in unison, roaring the side into the break and receiving the half-time whistle with rapturous applause.
A similar applause would have rained down in adulation at full-time had any one of Forest’s second half chances found the net. But they didn’t, and the first boo boys of the season prematurely cleared their throats comfortably ahead of the final whistle.
Forest were not very good last night, there is little point arguing otherwise. But the restlessness and impatience from the stands was typically misplaced.
Spurred by the surprising venom of Tyson’s byline in-swingers and profiting hugely from Majewski’s vigorous bursts, a win was always on the cards in spite of mediocrity in every department.
A fragile defence, burdened with a daydreaming Chris Cohen, were responsible for the collapse. And with it they were responsible for the premature fury of 18,000 Reds.
As for the performance itself, Forest were far too negative. As well as failing the physical battle there was far too much sitting deep, holding tight, and quite literally waiting for one of the various forwards on the pitch to make something happen.
For a long time our only outlet was Nathan Tyson, whose jagged runs and crosses were a rare sign of life. I initially blamed Lewis for failing in his role to weave defence and attack, but despite a strong individual display from Majewski it didn’t get a great deal better when he was subbed.
Billy favours a system of containing teams for long periods and his teams notoriously ride their luck before turning the screw.
If it brings success to the banks of the Trent, it will do for me. But it will never work if the side is going to ship four goals at home to Watford, and it will never work if dwindling home crowds continue believing they can boo us to the Premier League.
PS As an added bonus, I wasted £40 on the revolting new home shirt prior to the game and hated it so much that I left it under my seat at full-time.
Several curiosity-inspired calls to the club have confirmed that the stewards and populace of Nottingham have generously neglected to hand in said shirt. Evidently they are aware of my revulsion and are kindly shielding me from the embarrassment of wearing it.
Cheers.
Ratings
Camp – 6 – not his strongest performance, despite almost denying the second goal with his initial block. It’s easy to defend him because he spent most of the game roasting his defence. With Smith in goal, probably apologising, it could have been a massacre.
Gunter – 6 – reasonable if not brilliant performance from a player who is clearly a cut above his defensive colleagues.
Morgan – 6 – seemed to be caught in two minds all night. Several good challenges were nullified by his poor decision-making, and the fact that he was easily beaten in the air for the first goal.
Lynch – 6 – good in patches, poor in others. A lot of the Watford breakaways, especially in the first half, were via Cohen and Lynch’s side of the defence.
Cohen – 4 –played fairly well on Saturday but got absolutely everything wrong last night. Even simple passes failed him.
Anderson – 5.5 – one or two sharp moments, but generally he was just not involved.
McGugan – 6 – drifted in and out and relevance before being injured. With two months to sit out, he will be missed.
McKenna – 6 – the usual McKenna characteristics, but in a game where the central midfield might as well have watched from the sidelines.
Tyson – 7 – his crossing, which is usually fairly poor, was excellent for most of the game. When we stopped playing him into the channels, the chances dried up.
Earnshaw – 6 – he toiled and laboured but got nowhere. Sometimes he had to drop back to the half way line just to get a feel of the ball.
Blackstock – 6.5 – actually did a less efficient version of the job Adebola did on Saturday. But he scored.
Subs:
Majewski – 7.5 – planting himself high up the field, he was a real thorn in the side for Watford.
Adebola – 6.5 – bagged a goal and was unfortunate to be booked for his first action (winning a header).
McGoldrick – 6.5 – fairly anonymous, but created Adebola’s goal.
Crawling wearily toward half-time, a goal behind with stray passes everywhere, the home supporters were rousing from their slumber only to heckle. The side were never more than one unfortunate ricochet from a hairdryer blast from the terraces.
At 1-1 all four stands stood to sing in unison, roaring the side into the break and receiving the half-time whistle with rapturous applause.
A similar applause would have rained down in adulation at full-time had any one of Forest’s second half chances found the net. But they didn’t, and the first boo boys of the season prematurely cleared their throats comfortably ahead of the final whistle.
Forest were not very good last night, there is little point arguing otherwise. But the restlessness and impatience from the stands was typically misplaced.
Spurred by the surprising venom of Tyson’s byline in-swingers and profiting hugely from Majewski’s vigorous bursts, a win was always on the cards in spite of mediocrity in every department.
A fragile defence, burdened with a daydreaming Chris Cohen, were responsible for the collapse. And with it they were responsible for the premature fury of 18,000 Reds.
As for the performance itself, Forest were far too negative. As well as failing the physical battle there was far too much sitting deep, holding tight, and quite literally waiting for one of the various forwards on the pitch to make something happen.
For a long time our only outlet was Nathan Tyson, whose jagged runs and crosses were a rare sign of life. I initially blamed Lewis for failing in his role to weave defence and attack, but despite a strong individual display from Majewski it didn’t get a great deal better when he was subbed.
Billy favours a system of containing teams for long periods and his teams notoriously ride their luck before turning the screw.
If it brings success to the banks of the Trent, it will do for me. But it will never work if the side is going to ship four goals at home to Watford, and it will never work if dwindling home crowds continue believing they can boo us to the Premier League.
PS As an added bonus, I wasted £40 on the revolting new home shirt prior to the game and hated it so much that I left it under my seat at full-time.
Several curiosity-inspired calls to the club have confirmed that the stewards and populace of Nottingham have generously neglected to hand in said shirt. Evidently they are aware of my revulsion and are kindly shielding me from the embarrassment of wearing it.
Cheers.
Ratings
Camp – 6 – not his strongest performance, despite almost denying the second goal with his initial block. It’s easy to defend him because he spent most of the game roasting his defence. With Smith in goal, probably apologising, it could have been a massacre.
Gunter – 6 – reasonable if not brilliant performance from a player who is clearly a cut above his defensive colleagues.
Morgan – 6 – seemed to be caught in two minds all night. Several good challenges were nullified by his poor decision-making, and the fact that he was easily beaten in the air for the first goal.
Lynch – 6 – good in patches, poor in others. A lot of the Watford breakaways, especially in the first half, were via Cohen and Lynch’s side of the defence.
Cohen – 4 –played fairly well on Saturday but got absolutely everything wrong last night. Even simple passes failed him.
Anderson – 5.5 – one or two sharp moments, but generally he was just not involved.
McGugan – 6 – drifted in and out and relevance before being injured. With two months to sit out, he will be missed.
McKenna – 6 – the usual McKenna characteristics, but in a game where the central midfield might as well have watched from the sidelines.
Tyson – 7 – his crossing, which is usually fairly poor, was excellent for most of the game. When we stopped playing him into the channels, the chances dried up.
Earnshaw – 6 – he toiled and laboured but got nowhere. Sometimes he had to drop back to the half way line just to get a feel of the ball.
Blackstock – 6.5 – actually did a less efficient version of the job Adebola did on Saturday. But he scored.
Subs:
Majewski – 7.5 – planting himself high up the field, he was a real thorn in the side for Watford.
Adebola – 6.5 – bagged a goal and was unfortunate to be booked for his first action (winning a header).
McGoldrick – 6.5 – fairly anonymous, but created Adebola’s goal.
Saturday 15 August 2009
Welcome back...
On one hand, it’s great to have football back. On the other, I’d forgotten how anguishing a game it is for those who care for it.
I stormed from the ground in a rage today, foregoing all new season resolutions to take it all with a pinch of salt.
There was something frustratingly flat about the game. A sense of anticlimax perhaps, or just the indelible knowledge that things weren’t going our way.
On occasions like this every through-ball seems an inch off target, every flick-on seems magnetically averted from its destination and every shot seems fated for the stand.
Adebola twice swooned in front of a gaping net (the pundit sitting behind me explained why, turns out Adebola is a ‘bag of shit’), and several scything crosses across the coal face were gallingly swept away.
The most anguishing thing of all is that we were comfortably the better side. West Brom were drab; solid and organised but ultimately blunt and boring. In terms of chances, the best ones fell consistently to Forest. And the eventual winner was cheap by anybody’s standard.
It was obvious Earnshaw would miss. It was one of those games. Yes, those. And it became more obvious with every clumsy strut toward the spot. In the end he nearly picked out the corner flag.
A penalty miss at a crucial time is as debilitating as a red card. You could almost hear the air hissing from our pin-pricked bubble.
The fans lost hope and interest, the players called it quits. Five minutes of injury time proved to be more of an annoyance than an inspiration.
Still, we have something to build on. I’m not convinced we’ve found our strongest line-up yet, and I don’t think Davies believes we have for a second. We will still sign a decent defender before the window closes, and we have matched two of the sides earmarked for a top six finish.
I’d like to see the stats for Billy Davies sides that fall behind in games. His squads usually have the spirit to recover, but they are always tactically geared toward frustrating and containing for at least the first 60 minutes.
This is at least one of the reasons why our substitutes bench reads like an all star cast.
The mystery rise to prominence of Joe Garner seems as much to do with Davies dodging predictability as anything else.
Let’s hope he dodges the critics too. Another couple without victory and the legendary City Ground grumbles will begin...
Ratings:
Camp – 7 – I’d like to see the goal again before judging, but generally he was as restless and dependable as ever.
Gunter – 6.5 – generally solid and composed, and very difficult to beat on the ground. Beaten in the air once or twice.
Morgan – 7.5 – excellent game, hauling himself into blocks and staying sharp. Increasingly looks to avoided the usual 3-month ‘wearing in’ period which returns each summer.
Lynch – 6.5 – surprisingly solid defensively, poor distribution.
Cohen – 7 – some of his crossing was poor, but generally I thought he adapted well. Fairly solid at the back and picked out a few good passes coming forward.
Anderson – 7 – busy and hard-working, but not as influential as he would have liked.
McKenna – 7.5 – simple football, do or die tackling.
Majewski – 6.5 – I like him. He has some nice touches and excellent movement. At the moment he just isn’t getting involved enough.
Garner – 6.5 – I’m not convinced by Garner in this floating role, but he gave the usual masterclass in bad attitude football and worked hard to stay involved.
Tyson – 7.5 – final ball was sometimes poor, but his bursts of speed on the wing were our only outlet for some time. We’ll be seeing a lot more of him in this role this season.
Adebola – 6 – actually played fairly well in providing a target and winning physical battles. But there’s no excuse for any number nine to miss two chances like those.
Subs:
McGugan – 7
Earnshaw - 6
Blackstock - 7
I stormed from the ground in a rage today, foregoing all new season resolutions to take it all with a pinch of salt.
There was something frustratingly flat about the game. A sense of anticlimax perhaps, or just the indelible knowledge that things weren’t going our way.
On occasions like this every through-ball seems an inch off target, every flick-on seems magnetically averted from its destination and every shot seems fated for the stand.
Adebola twice swooned in front of a gaping net (the pundit sitting behind me explained why, turns out Adebola is a ‘bag of shit’), and several scything crosses across the coal face were gallingly swept away.
The most anguishing thing of all is that we were comfortably the better side. West Brom were drab; solid and organised but ultimately blunt and boring. In terms of chances, the best ones fell consistently to Forest. And the eventual winner was cheap by anybody’s standard.
It was obvious Earnshaw would miss. It was one of those games. Yes, those. And it became more obvious with every clumsy strut toward the spot. In the end he nearly picked out the corner flag.
A penalty miss at a crucial time is as debilitating as a red card. You could almost hear the air hissing from our pin-pricked bubble.
The fans lost hope and interest, the players called it quits. Five minutes of injury time proved to be more of an annoyance than an inspiration.
Still, we have something to build on. I’m not convinced we’ve found our strongest line-up yet, and I don’t think Davies believes we have for a second. We will still sign a decent defender before the window closes, and we have matched two of the sides earmarked for a top six finish.
I’d like to see the stats for Billy Davies sides that fall behind in games. His squads usually have the spirit to recover, but they are always tactically geared toward frustrating and containing for at least the first 60 minutes.
This is at least one of the reasons why our substitutes bench reads like an all star cast.
The mystery rise to prominence of Joe Garner seems as much to do with Davies dodging predictability as anything else.
Let’s hope he dodges the critics too. Another couple without victory and the legendary City Ground grumbles will begin...
Ratings:
Camp – 7 – I’d like to see the goal again before judging, but generally he was as restless and dependable as ever.
Gunter – 6.5 – generally solid and composed, and very difficult to beat on the ground. Beaten in the air once or twice.
Morgan – 7.5 – excellent game, hauling himself into blocks and staying sharp. Increasingly looks to avoided the usual 3-month ‘wearing in’ period which returns each summer.
Lynch – 6.5 – surprisingly solid defensively, poor distribution.
Cohen – 7 – some of his crossing was poor, but generally I thought he adapted well. Fairly solid at the back and picked out a few good passes coming forward.
Anderson – 7 – busy and hard-working, but not as influential as he would have liked.
McKenna – 7.5 – simple football, do or die tackling.
Majewski – 6.5 – I like him. He has some nice touches and excellent movement. At the moment he just isn’t getting involved enough.
Garner – 6.5 – I’m not convinced by Garner in this floating role, but he gave the usual masterclass in bad attitude football and worked hard to stay involved.
Tyson – 7.5 – final ball was sometimes poor, but his bursts of speed on the wing were our only outlet for some time. We’ll be seeing a lot more of him in this role this season.
Adebola – 6 – actually played fairly well in providing a target and winning physical battles. But there’s no excuse for any number nine to miss two chances like those.
Subs:
McGugan – 7
Earnshaw - 6
Blackstock - 7
Sunday 9 August 2009
COSMO
Reading is a fairly dour place to visit. The closest fans get to sampling the character of the area is by riding the buses to and from the car park – which I didn’t.
The ground is the archetypal flat-packed number, constructed in 34 minutes by a bald man with a toolbox and positioned on a hill in the middle of a motorway.
Its inhabitants are a queer sort too. Some are abrasively cosmopolitan, riding their bikes to the stadium and ‘taking calls’ mid-game. Others fancy themselves as cockney mobsters.
All of them are boring.
What made the day enjoyable was the vast army of travelling supporters; an ocean of red and white flooding the visitors end. This was one of those occasions where everybody, young and old, fat and thin, stands to sing in unison – generating the kind of volume that makes home fans screw up their faces in embittered respect.
Robert Earnshaw was given such a boisterous welcome I’m surprised Federici in the Reading goal wasn’t partially deafened.
After several months of idling in shopping centres and pretending to enjoy cricket – this was bloody good fun.
And the game? A solid but never outstanding start to the season, and a performance that laid bare a fundamental weakness that’s no secret to anybody – our defence.
Reading are a tight unit with lofty ambitions. Earning a point in their back yard is a satisfactory opener, but they had the lion’s share of the chances.
Gunter and Morgan were solid, but Lynch and Chambers - grimace-worthy names at the best of times – were responsible for persistent backside-clenching in the away end.
Both held their own in the air, but Reading’s forwards regularly left them sprawling with fairly tame advances.
Elsewhere we were competent, despite an eyebrow-raising team selection that left our bench looking stronger than it has for a decade or more - arguably as strong as the starting eleven.
We were set up to contain and niggle, clearing our throats for impact players to steal points from the bench late on. It nearly worked.
We rode our luck, allowing the home side too close for comfort several times. But Earnshaw was only denied a late winner by a remarkable right-place-right-time save by Federici.
It isn’t champagne stuff, but this is the Davies way. And it’ll do for me.
Camp – 7 – solid, mouthy, and always on hand to gobble up crosses – even if he has to have a bit of a juggle first. Camp is a great all-rounder, and the couple of gaffes he’ll make per season will be more than compensated by his general excellence.
Gunter – 7 – dependable at the back with several excellent last-ditch tackles, eager to get forward, and extremely hard-working for a young player whose ego has been consistently massaged for several years.
Morgan – 7 – usually starts the season with two months of overweight lumbering, but this was a tough performance.
Chambers – 5.5 – not a calamitous display and he was solid in patches. But he was stupidly red-carded and never looked far from an error. He is beaten too easily when the ball is at an opponent’s feet.
Lynch – 5.5 – as ever, he was a lot more dependable in the final third than in his defending.
McKenna – 8 – throws himself into wild challenges without fear or apprehension, breaks up attacks and distributes sensibly. He’s what Sammy Clingan should have been but never was. I hope this is what he’s always like.
Majewski – 7 – I liked him a lot, despite wondering off the radar once or twice. When he is involved he buzzes incessantly between the strikers and the midfield, eager for possession, eager for a sight at goal. He always looked agonisingly close playing a remarkable pass or through ball, only to be a couple of inches out. He’ll be very useful, I’m sure – although he was lucky not to be sent off.
Cohen – 6 – he’s never quite at home on the left, and his usually indefatigable engine seemed rather subdued. Injury interrupted his pre-season, he will be fine.
Garner – 6.5 – a dismal first half in which he looked as confused as the rest of us to be on the right wing. Perked up in the second 45 with a gutsy display, no doubt inspired by Davies was screaming into his ear from a yard away.
McGoldrick – 6.5 – some nice touches and decent movement. He’s a good footballer, but will he and his counterparts be happy about the timeshare agreement awaiting them?
Adebola – 7 – played a vital role in bruising his way to flick-ons and making something from very little when we had to clear our lines quickly. We’d have lost without him.
Subs:
Earnshaw – 7
Tyson – 6
McCleary – 6
The ground is the archetypal flat-packed number, constructed in 34 minutes by a bald man with a toolbox and positioned on a hill in the middle of a motorway.
Its inhabitants are a queer sort too. Some are abrasively cosmopolitan, riding their bikes to the stadium and ‘taking calls’ mid-game. Others fancy themselves as cockney mobsters.
All of them are boring.
What made the day enjoyable was the vast army of travelling supporters; an ocean of red and white flooding the visitors end. This was one of those occasions where everybody, young and old, fat and thin, stands to sing in unison – generating the kind of volume that makes home fans screw up their faces in embittered respect.
Robert Earnshaw was given such a boisterous welcome I’m surprised Federici in the Reading goal wasn’t partially deafened.
After several months of idling in shopping centres and pretending to enjoy cricket – this was bloody good fun.
And the game? A solid but never outstanding start to the season, and a performance that laid bare a fundamental weakness that’s no secret to anybody – our defence.
Reading are a tight unit with lofty ambitions. Earning a point in their back yard is a satisfactory opener, but they had the lion’s share of the chances.
Gunter and Morgan were solid, but Lynch and Chambers - grimace-worthy names at the best of times – were responsible for persistent backside-clenching in the away end.
Both held their own in the air, but Reading’s forwards regularly left them sprawling with fairly tame advances.
Elsewhere we were competent, despite an eyebrow-raising team selection that left our bench looking stronger than it has for a decade or more - arguably as strong as the starting eleven.
We were set up to contain and niggle, clearing our throats for impact players to steal points from the bench late on. It nearly worked.
We rode our luck, allowing the home side too close for comfort several times. But Earnshaw was only denied a late winner by a remarkable right-place-right-time save by Federici.
It isn’t champagne stuff, but this is the Davies way. And it’ll do for me.
Camp – 7 – solid, mouthy, and always on hand to gobble up crosses – even if he has to have a bit of a juggle first. Camp is a great all-rounder, and the couple of gaffes he’ll make per season will be more than compensated by his general excellence.
Gunter – 7 – dependable at the back with several excellent last-ditch tackles, eager to get forward, and extremely hard-working for a young player whose ego has been consistently massaged for several years.
Morgan – 7 – usually starts the season with two months of overweight lumbering, but this was a tough performance.
Chambers – 5.5 – not a calamitous display and he was solid in patches. But he was stupidly red-carded and never looked far from an error. He is beaten too easily when the ball is at an opponent’s feet.
Lynch – 5.5 – as ever, he was a lot more dependable in the final third than in his defending.
McKenna – 8 – throws himself into wild challenges without fear or apprehension, breaks up attacks and distributes sensibly. He’s what Sammy Clingan should have been but never was. I hope this is what he’s always like.
Majewski – 7 – I liked him a lot, despite wondering off the radar once or twice. When he is involved he buzzes incessantly between the strikers and the midfield, eager for possession, eager for a sight at goal. He always looked agonisingly close playing a remarkable pass or through ball, only to be a couple of inches out. He’ll be very useful, I’m sure – although he was lucky not to be sent off.
Cohen – 6 – he’s never quite at home on the left, and his usually indefatigable engine seemed rather subdued. Injury interrupted his pre-season, he will be fine.
Garner – 6.5 – a dismal first half in which he looked as confused as the rest of us to be on the right wing. Perked up in the second 45 with a gutsy display, no doubt inspired by Davies was screaming into his ear from a yard away.
McGoldrick – 6.5 – some nice touches and decent movement. He’s a good footballer, but will he and his counterparts be happy about the timeshare agreement awaiting them?
Adebola – 7 – played a vital role in bruising his way to flick-ons and making something from very little when we had to clear our lines quickly. We’d have lost without him.
Subs:
Earnshaw – 7
Tyson – 6
McCleary – 6
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