Looks like Masky has thrown Teddy from the pram after Saturday's abject performance. Here's a start for tonight then. No Tomlin or Uncle Albert for us with NML and Vassell still long term injured. Matt Connolly must be a ghost around the club. Joe Ralls expected to play no. 10 role with Ward benched. We might see one of Brad Smith or Sanderson at full back. Forest have their own problems with Sammy Ameobi and Lewis Grabban both doubts. Will Archie Gemmill, John Robertson (I nearly played against him once in the final of the Barclays Veterans Cup but we lost 11.10 on pens in the semi. I scored mine before you ask, in off the post, perfectly placed) and Kevin Hector be in their squad? Whitts expected to be amongst their subs. Feel free to join in.
Tonight's ref is Stephen Martin from Staffordshire. He has been a Football League referee since 2012 but never gone above Championship level. Hmmm...... Last reffed us twice in 2017/18. A 0.0 home draw with Millwall and 2.2 away draw at Reading. I was at that one. Tomlin scored a late equaliser for us. Previous more notable games - a customary thrashing - 3.0 at Preston, a 4.3 away win at Direby and a 3.2 home win v Blackpool. He did the Swans 5.1 cup stuffing at QPR so not all bad then. 67 yellows and 2 reds in a total of 28 games this season. Apart from 7 yellows and a red in a Derby v Sheff Weds game not normally a disciplinarian but 13 yellows in last 3 games.
Will miss masky's blethering. Thanks for stepping into the breach blue. So, who plays on the right tonight, whyte? Would like to see glatzel get some game time, though better for him if tomlin and unc were playing. The season is getting away from us a bit.
Just testing to see who was awake Nin. Blame Brian Clough. He managed both clubs. In fact Gemmill and Robertson played for both clubs. We'll have Gary Birtles instead of Hector then.
Excellent job in stepping to the plate BfB I've optimistically gone for a sneaky 1-0 win but don't know where the creativity will come from. Perhap bs will baffle brains.
Wasn't going to bother tonight what between the weather and that shambles at Stoke but I just can't keep away. Looking at the other Champ games scheduled for tonight got me thinking again "what if.........?" Of course we've got to do the business ourselves, but Forest, Wurzels, Brentford and Preston are all away. Tomorrow night the Jacks are at Fulham so whatever happens up there, something's got to give - another chance to get a bit closer? One thing I don't like is that we're clear favourites to win tonight - how do they work that out.
Haven't we won 9 out of our last 10 against this lot? That suggests to me that we'll probably lose this one... but hey, you never know, maybe we've become their version of our Preston hoodoo? Have a mate who's a Forest fan. He's not confident and thinks they are also going off the boil at totally the wrong time and have been too reliant on Money Grabben. I am concerned that if Whitts starts for them then the game could be beyond us by half time.
What's the opposite of favour? Sparkey's fault. Giving me hope with his "what if" comments. All the "if's" are happening with the exception of one!
The thing to do is sleep. Because we can't be sure they are trees when we sleep. Oh god. Ive got Masky syndrome.
Could have gone 7th and been playing for a top six place against Brentford. I guess realistically, it was never on.
Well in fairness I was semi encouraged by the overall performance. With the exception of poor decision making in the final third and wayward finishing I felt we did OK. Murphy had a shocker sadly but after a slightly shaky start I thought Sanderson did well. Vaulks was doing his best to pull the strings but sadly is not Tomlin's standard. Definitely felt we were marginally the better team but they managed to finish one of their chances. Felt the ref was way too lenient to all their niggly fouls... yellows a bit slow in coming for them.
How are Forest in the top 4? Average beyond belief but better than City. Another limp display with no quality at all. The ref didn’t help but we can’t keep on blaming the officials for the absence of quality. When will we score from a cross? Hopeless delivery again all game.
After a fairly neutral pre match vibe about the ref, my view has totally changed. What a useless twat. Happy to make decisions and give yellows where they didn't matter but totally bottled it on the big decisions. Does anyone who watched on TV have a view on the lack of decision on the Murphy penalty appeal. It looked nailed on from my seat. If he dived why wasn't he booked? Only 4 minutes added time? 6 subs, several injuries and their keeper time wasting at every opportunity. Mind you we could still be playing now and not score. But as Brizzle said, overall not a bad performance with the exception of Murphy who again had a shocker. Pack and Paterson bollocked him first half for his poor covering and ineffective tackling. He just turned his back on both of them. A team player, I don't think so. Also gave the ball away in a key position resulting in their goal. It is no surprise that Bennett's game picked up when Hoilett switched to left wing. Bennett can trust Hoilett but with Murphy he doesn't know whether to stick or twist. Midfield was okay and Pack and Vaulks, in the main, seem to be developing a partnership. I also thought Pato and Glatzel had the makings of a partnership. Glatzel still gets a lot wrong but I saw an improvement in him when he is not playing up top on his own. Very good debut by Sanderson. He got forward really well and wasn't embarrassed in defence. Understandably he was knackered after 65 minutes or so. Forest are not all that. Very ordinary. However they had the one thing we now lack without Tomlin, a playmaker. Their no. 28 Tiago Silva, my man of the match, controlled their offensive midfield and scored their goal. We couldn't get a boot on him. Finally, what were the handbags about between Pato and Bacuna at the end? I think Bacuna didn't read Pato's run for a through ball towards the end and then Bacuna took time to clear the ball upfield right at the death. Pushing, shoving and head to head? I like commitment but really? Hope they sorted it out after. We really don't need a split in the camp now.
Just read a WoL report. TV pundits Jobi McAnuff and Danny Gabbidon both thought we should have been given a penalty after Murphy went down. They thought the ref was poorly positioned. If so what was the linesman doing? We didn't get that but Bennett made a clean tackle first half, nicked the ball and their player fell over him. Free kick to Forest. WTF!!!!
