Match Day Thread Nottingham Forest @ The City Ground 8/3/2016

A quick turnaround and it's off to Nottingham on Tuesday night to play Forest, one of my favourite trips good ground to watch football on although saying that have note won there on three visits. Forest lost 1-0 at Deepdale earlier in the season, with that defeat there was pressure on Dougie Freedman with results not going well and a lot of unrest within the home support, fair play to him he turned the results around and went on a lengthy unbeaten run which propelled them onto the edge of the play off zone, but the run ended and they have now lost their last couple of games and like most of Sky's favourite teams are now below us in the table. Assambalonga has been out all season a massive loss as he has the ability to score on a regular basis which is the only thing that we lack. They lost to the Tractor boys yesterday although they were unlucky having run up against a goal keeper in exceptional form. Goal scoring does seem to be a problem they have netted one less than us, Oliveira main striker, with the speedy Mendes providing the support.
With the hint of the play offs still in the air suspect there will not be many changes for North End although hopefully Lindegaard is over his virus as Kirkland seemed to be struggling with his back yesterday and does not overly inspire me with confidence, possibly a little harsh as he has only played twice all season. Expect a close game with not many goals in it.
Last time I went to the City ground was the FA Cup game two years ago, it poured down and we crawled at a snails pace on the A435 Derby to Nottingham road, they hadn't finished the roadworks when I went to Notts County last April, it will be interesting to see if they have finished the roadworks on Tuesday night because it really is a ball ache travelling at 1mph..

 

The last time I saw NE play NF was in the famous FA replay when a young Howard Kendall, RIP, scored a scorcher during extra time. The same night it started snowing. I was eighteen at the time. A deciding scorcher from Browne or Johnstone would do me fine. Believe it or not, I saw Freedman play at Underhill. The Bees got a decent packet from QPR: £800k which, for a lot of teams below the Premiership is still quite a load of dosh. Just demonstrates the gross inequality between Premiership and the rest. Mind you, Leicester do not match the 'big' clubs for spending and look where they are!

 

According to some bloke linked to Miami Dolphins, Leicester do not deserve to be top, apparently their brand image won't make millions in TV deals

 

My first night away defeat since the Rotherham play off defeat nearly two years ago, as North End lost 1-0 to Forest at the City ground in a match that was there for the taking. It was an odd performance by North End good in parts , indifferent in others but something we need to address is to input some pace into the team especially down the flanks and also add someone who can put the ball into the net on a regular basis.
Act 1 Can we not shoot?

On a cold still night on the banks of the Trent, North End kicked off and pinned the home side back for long periods in the first half hour, with Forest looking exceptionally shaky, North End really should have put the game to bed but with the build up pace of an OAP with two arthritic hips, Forest were able to amble back get number behind the ball an generally deny North End any space in the box and with North End's inability to shoot from distance this made defendinding easy. Saying that though De Vries was lucky with an effort which he grabbed at the second attempt and a Huntington header from a corner which went narrowly wide probably should have hit the target. Meanwhile Garner was becoming wound up getting his usual cluster of serious head injuries and his 10th booking (two match ban)

Act 2 We are playing in yellow lads

Forest took the lead 8 minutes before half time when ironically North End had a shot from outside the box, following a bit of pinball the ball broke clear to a Forest player, three on two in favour of the home team, you could hear the alarm bells going off within the away support as there only looked to be one outcome, the ball ended up with the speedy Mendes, he advanced towards goal before passing to the far post were Oliviera had a simple tap in.
North End were rocked and the passing which was not brilliant all night got worse, passes seem to find Forest players with regularity.
North End made changes and went to 433 instead of 352 and for 20 minutes struggled to get a grip with the simple Forest getting the ball behind the defence to let Mendes run riot. He missed a simple header from a free kick, then was denied by a brave save by Lindegaard he put the rebound out for a throw in 50 yards away. However he was unlucky when a fine Mills pass found him 25 yards out, he volleyed the ball narrowly over the top.

Act 3 Doris

With the withdrawal of the injured Oliviera it dawned on North End that they could possibly still get something from the game, they would have done so but for De Vries in the Forest goal. His first save from a Hugill header was superb as was Mills tackle to deny Robinson from the rebound, he then pulled off another wordly from Reach which was arrowing into the top corner of the net. Tesche had an effort tip over by Lindegaard as Forest saw the game out although we had the traditional comedy moment of visiting keeper going up for late corners in the dying minutes of the game.
We really should have got something from this game but whether we deserved anything is another matter.


Nottingham Forest 1 Preston North End 0 Att16747

Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman:

"I am very pleased - I thought we deserved to win.

"We could have scored a few more, we created a few chances, although it was a bit nervy towards the end and credit to Preston for that.

"I thought we threatened their goal all night from start to finish, but we had to make sure we got the win after four defeats and we did that."

Preston boss Simon Grayson:

"There wasn't much in the first half, I thought we looked quite comfortable and they didn't threaten us too often.

"We were unfortunate for the goal - they broke quickly on the counter and before you know it the ball's in the net.

"We changed it at half-time to give us a bit of a threat going forward because we have to try and win games at this stage of the season."

 

Why 3-5-3? Does flooding the midfield ork if midfield are to lethargic to tackle?

 

352 but changed to 433 nearly worked apart from the keeper having a blinder