Like you itfcptc I hate to pick out individuals but I similarly think the other Clarke hasn't done enough to justify his hype (or fee)Maybe it's just a question of confidence and game time but hoping he'll prove me wrong.
Both Clarkes struggle to make a difference, all agreed on that! Just hope Tuanzebe's injury is not serious, tho he was on a yellow.
I also think that we struggled with their physicality. We are learning each game what the Prem is all about. When it is an open, more skilfull footballing game, it suits our style, like in the 1st half.we dominated for good spells. More enjoyable to watch too.
Agreed Gaffer I thought Forest squeezed us out of the game 2nd half. Probably the worst team entertainment wise I've seen in a while...some teams in the Champ play better football.
Only singing when you’re winning springs to mind with Spanish. Sky commentary reported a few times it was all Forest and you were under some real pressure, scanning through the posts on here it looks like maybe that wasn’t the case, was it close?
First half was end-to-end and had a good tempo to it. The second half wasn’t a good advert for Premier League football. It didn’t feel like one of those games where I thought we looked good for a win or a draw, really. To be fair to Forest, as soon as they scored they sat back a bit and defended well. Attacking wise, we didn’t have the answers and had a 5-to-10 minute spell late in second half which we didn’t turn into shots or credible chances. Forest had the better opportunities over the 90 minutes. It wasn’t a game I thought we’d win. Think it’s going to come down to our home form and turning draws into wins.
We got murdered down our right hand side in the first half and it didn’t give them a goal but it gave them confidence. They are injured for Palace but Tuanzebe with Johnson in front is our best formula there. Other than that we look solid at the back now. McKenna needs to get the forward line firing now and I reckon part of that equation is Broadhead on the left.
The right hand side of Tuanzebe and Johnson did well against Spurs. Yorkie makes a good point that we’re more solid with those two down that side, as Hutchinson’s not as good defending and Burns has massively struggled when tracking back this season. That will mean we either start Hutchinson or Chaplin in the number 10 role. For me, Hutchinson’s looked much better in that position (Spurs and Man United games in particular, where he ran the show). Not saying Chaplin’s been bad - he impressed against Leicester and arguably would’ve scored yesterday, had Delap not nicked the ball away from Hutchinson’s rebounded strike. But I’m starting Hutchinson over Chaplin if the choice is just between the two.
Omari tends to fade in games. We are quite predictable and making it easier for defences to know what they will be up against. I think we need to mix it up more in those areas and occasionally have Omari come on as a sub and put sides under pressure in the final half hour of games. Szmodics naturally is a number ten so you have three excellent players to choose from in that position. For now I’d drop Szmodics to the bench and have him play the number 9 when Delap gets tired late on in games.
