25 shots 3 on target reflects the game well. Too many chances at key stages missed. Played beautiful football first half and deserved a point from pressure in second half
Hang on. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah - practically every early season since we got back into the championship. Usually followed by a gradual slide as confidence evaporates and we realise we are in a relegation scrap - again. Would be nice to think it will be different this time but somehow I doubt it.
We played well and missed on a couple of good chances despite having a large slice of the possession, however it isn't time to panic just yet. I see a squad that is better than last time out and after some more time to gel we will get our fair share of good results. In five or six more games it will give us a better idea of what we are all about and I will reserve any criticism until such time as it may be warranted but I don't think we need to jump the gun.
My view on today- First half we were quick,and very dangerous,the tempo was fast. Second half Brum were much better and quicker to every ball. Our tempo had reduced considerably. Fielding kept us in the game with some fantastic shot stops.-I still think he needs replacing though. Bobby Reid just needed a tap in with the open goal at his mercy,however tried to hit it hard which then went past the post.That would have put us 2-1 up and potentially could have changed the games result We then took Patterson and Brownhill off for O'Dowda and the new lad from Sweden,neither had any effect on the game sadly. For me after watching the Barnsley and Brum game we have improved 100% on last year. A draw would have been a far result,us better first half,Brum better second half. I thought we would get something at Brum,sadly we came away with nothing.Another day we would have taken the points on that performance. I thought the new signing from Sweden struggled to come to terms with the gamehad no impact at all. Let's hope we get back to winning ways against Brentford.
That was against Forest - who have a manager with a track record at this level. I am expecting us to play some nice football - and lose. LJ is not the answer to success in this division imho.
It was a frustrating day for us - some good play, but issues too. I think the fear is that we're seeing what we saw a hell of a lot last season, which was playing well, having more shots, but ultimately losing by the odd goal. I don't think we ought to rip things up and start again - Bournemouth are a good example of having success with a style of play that we're trying to achieve. It seems to me that on the few occasions we were defending they had way too much time on the ball and we sometimes stood off them when it would be better to force a challenge. Like I wasn't carried away before, I won't get too down now (though I'm still a bit pissed off). On the plus side, the more I see of Diedhiou the more I like - he's not likely to score as many as Tammy, but he gets a lot more involved in the build up, creating opportunities for others.
Sometimes the most dangerous team is one that has just been beaten heavily. They've not won this season so will want to put it right in front of their fans. That said I think we can pinch a point.
Having watched the highlights it seems that we are still too prone to giving the ball away easily when a simple pass would maintain possession. At times we played some great stuff but the silly mistakes either break down an attack, giving the opposition the chance to get back behind the ball or needlessly give the ball away. Whilst Reid has started off well, it does seem that he missed a couple of gilt edged chances which would have turned the game but then every striker does that...and he's not really a striker anyway. Makes the Gustav loan seem odd now. The second Brum goal looked saveable from what I saw but then Frankie did make some fine stops elsewhere. On the balance of play, we should have at least got a point if not 3.......but if we keep having to say this too often, then we're back to last season's relegation scrap. I fear that Brentford will be a different proposition than what Forest played....I'm sure they'll be fired up to make amends and they are a pretty good team, so a point from this will probably be a good result.
Forest should be looking up, now that they've finally been sold. The new owner had accusations of match-fixing with regards to his other club (Olympiakos - Greek Champions more often than not over the past decade), but maintains his innocence and clearly passed the highly reliable 'fit and proper persons test' of the Football League (!). They've underperformed for a few years now, so it could well be that they actually press on now that they theoretically have more stability. I rate Warburton from what I know about him, but I don't know if he would be the difference between us achieving whatever we do under LJ and something significantly better, such as reaching the playoffs or more. No doubt that the manager of any club has a huge bearing on it's fortunes, but they're not miracle-workers either. There are plenty of talented managers in the league, so finding one so significantly 'better' than anyone else is unlikely - you'd think with todays technology we could just whip up a Brian Clough clone and have him take us to the Champions League!
