On the train on our way home. A good point but we must start taking our chances. Kranjcar was awful. I'll post more later.
Obviously Col can't expand on his comments now, but what is the general feeling about Niko's performance. I actually thought he played some nice passes. He does look at bit chunky for a footballer, though.
Joseph Barton ‏@Joey7Barton 4m Good point. On another day. Could have been 3. Their keeper was outstanding. Get well soon amigo @alefaurlin please log in to view this image
Just came back. Nice ground. Overall a good point but we need to dare more. AJ superb when he came in.
Couldn't be more wrong, if we'd taken our chances we'd be at least 2 up at half time. We have to start taking our chances. I like Austin, he's our first real natural striker in a long time but when you just can't put them away you need to have a plan B.
Mackie puts Forest 2 ahead at Leicester, brilliant result if it stands. And Burnley being held (they won't win today I've predicted).
When you have to make two enforced substitutions by the start of the second half, options become rather limited. Besides, when we went one down, HR put AJ on and changed the shape of the team. We scored. Plan B worked.
Like you said yourself that was forced not planned & it doesn't change the fact we're not putting chances away, especially during the first half .
But that's down to the individual (Austin) not 'the plan'. There was absolutely no reason to change the side (other than what was forced on HR) when it was playing well, Austin included. Besides from perhaps subbing Austin, what would you have done. Changing one player for another isn't finding a plan B.
Have you just contradicted yourself there? Perhaps playing with 2 genuine strikers on the pitch when playing a side that have just shipped 5 goals to a ****e Wednesday side? Maybe it's a good job I do what I do for a living a not manage a football team!
No contradiction. You're suggesting we had trouble converting our chances and I assumed you must have been referring to Austin. Had Austin scored with, say, his first half header then there would be no criticism of the plan.
Ok. Had a nice cup of tea and looked back through the main bits of the game now. I stand by my comments on Krancjar.........although my view is probably clouded by the fact that I've never really rated him. He played one or two decent passes, but honestly........he looks the slowest footballer ever!! Clint would hammer him in a sprint!! I'm still waiting to be convinced. Anyway..........we MUST take our chances if we're to go up automatically. Austin was unlucky with his header, but he should have buried the chance from the middle of the box. He worked hard, but he really is missing some chances! It feels like 2 points dropped to me, as we could have been 3 up after 15 minutes. However, as we had to play the last 10 mins with 10 men due to Hoilett's injury, a point could be huge by the end of the season. Our fans were noisy, but we got a little subdued after missing those early chances. Their home support was awful!! Player ratings and comments: Green - 7 - Couldn't blame him for not stopping such a cracking shot. Good save when we were 1-0 down. Simpson - 7 - Made lots of good forward runs and is mister reliable. Dunne - 6 - I said to the lad that I didn't think he looked fit.......he clearly wasn't! Hill - 7 - No-nonsense reliability as usual. BOA - 7 - Superb on the ball, but got caught out of position a couple of times. Philips - 6 - Seems to lack confidence and doesn't look as quick as I thought he was. Not sure about him. Barton - 8 - Played well and scored a cracking free kick. O'Neill - 7 - Looked ok till his injury. Jenas - 7 - I thought he linked up play well, before he went off injured. Hoilett - 7 - A very frustrating player to watch, but very unlucky with two great strikes. Injured...........AGAIN!! Austin - 6 - Worked hard.....but he must start to convert some chances. Subs: Krancjar - 5 - A couple of decent passes, but caught in possession time and again. Looks unbelievably slow!! Ned - 7 - Like he's never been away!! Welcome back Ned. Johnson - 8 - Completely changed the game when he came on. Made some excellent runs and always looked a threat. In conclusion then.............We must sort out these injuries. The medical staff MUST be questioned about all these hamstring injuries. Are we doing something wrong in our training/warm up etc? Harry needs to make a decision about Austin. I know one goal will probably lead to more, but how long do we leave it, especially with AJ looking so good? Maybe play them both.............as we didn't boss the midfield like we normally do with the 5 today. All in all, a very good point, especially with so many results going our way today. We now have a break to hopefully get some players fit......and get Kranky off the pies!!!
