Barry
Where's me hammer?
Lots of new faces sat round us yesterday
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Official Matchday Thread: Nottingham Forest v Everton: Saturday 2nd December.
- Thread starter Red Dog in a Forest
- Start date
Professor Wolfgang Schnell BSc. PhD.
Fulchester United
Or "No one knows who's fault that is yet."
Mr. Blonde
Jack Burkitt
Performances are quite obviously down to both players AND manager
Not sure why this is even being debated
Not sure why this is even being debated
Captain Sinister
Senior doom Monger
Ignore everything else you have read on here, and elsewher. My report tells you exactly how it was!
Saturday 2nd December 2023: Nottingham Forest v Everton (Premier League; Kick Off 17:30):
Rising from my sick bed, I donned many layers to keep out the cold on a wintry evening down Trent-side. Armed with a flask of strong black coffee laced with a double tot of Wood’s Navy rum, a hot water bottle, and fluffy blanket for the Mrs, she and I took our usual seats in the LBC to witness the thrill of a Forza Garibaldi display, and, hopefully, a return to winning ways at Fortress Forest. How hopes and dreams were dashed upon the frozen landscape, as firstly, the DJ cocked up and failed to play MOK, and then the Forest team failed to play any sort of cohesive team-based football.
As many had hoped, Yates was restored to the starting line-up, and to the captaincy. Sangare, supposedly laid low by a combination of Lassa and Deng fever (with a smattering of swine flu for good measure) made an unexpected start as well. Steve Cooper kept faith with the Greek flapper in goal, now known to one and all as “the Greek Dracula” because of his fear of crosses, ignoring my own suggestion that he put Turner in between the sticks to cope with Dyche’s expected Israeli-style aerial bombardment of the Forest penalty box. Cooper did switch Niakhate out, and put in Willy Boly, but that change was put to a half-time end following Big Willy’s excessive stretch to make a crucial block on 30 minutes. Cooper’s other change to the starting line up was to rest Aina and restore Aurier to the fray at right back, with Toffolo continuing to have a decent run in the side at left back. Boly’s centre-back partner was Murillo, who, until he makes a Dominguez-sized cods of things continues to vie with the recuperating Awoniyi for a Sainthood, or at least a Knighthood.
The first half kicked off, and to be scrupulously fair Forest for the first 10 minutes looked to be positive, pressing high on Everton, and exploiting Elanga’s pace and trickery down the left-hand side. Unfortunately, that initial flurry yielded nothing in terms of attempts on goal, and as Everton found their feet and started their own high press the limitations of Forest’s midfield were cruelly exposed. Yates battled manfully to try and put some steel into the middle of the pitch, but a clearly struggling Sangare, and an out of form Gibbs-White made misplaced passes in abundance, and it was the Toffees who looked the more likely to open the scoring. Beto, a £26m summer acquisition by the FFP-cheating Scousers blasted high, wide and not-too-handsomely mid-way through the half, when it looked easier to score (still, £26m doesn’t buy you anything decent in these inflated times, so what can you expect). Forest failed to muster a single shot worthy of the name on target, and Jordan “I’ve got girls legs” Pickford won’t have had an easier 45-minutes in his career. Gibbs-White was played in on one of the few occasions Forest mounted an attack down an otherwise depopulated right-wing, but the angle was tight and MGW found the wrong side of the side netting with a scuffed shot as an Everton defender closed down the angle even more.
The half ended with Everton almost taking the lead. Following more comedy in the Forest defence, McNeill on the Everton left went clear, flashed a low shot past the Greek Flapper, only for the brilliant Murillo to race to the goal and clear the ball off the line, cleverly directing his clearance off the face of the far goal-post, so that the ball went out for a throw, and not a corner.
And how did the Greek Dracula acquit himself from the few corners and crosses in that first 45-minutes? Well, he went for one, flapped at it, dropped it and thankfully the danger was cleared. For the rest, he did a sterling imitation of one of the 37,000 trees planted by EON/Forest in their attempt to save the planet, staying firmly rooted to the goal line, dead centre between the posts.
There was a bit of positivity when Felipe made his first appearance of the season, replacing the injured Boly for the start of the 2nd-half. His impact was immediate, with he and fellow Brazilian, Murillo, looking for all the world like great Brazilian central defenders. Forest, whose first half performance was lacklustre, were even worse for most of the second half. The obviously unfit Sangare was substituted on 62 minutes and it was a surprising choice of replacement with Callum Hudson-Odoi coming on. I hope he doesn’t take these things personally, but he stood out wide right in the prairie-sized spaces down Forest’s right wing, but might as well have stopped in the dug-out for all the passes he received out there. When he did get the odd ball to him, he looked quite dangerous but with Forest having started with only 9 outfield players (Wood starting, but taking no active part in the game) there was seldom a team mate anywhere near the Everton box for him to set up. Pickford was still able to do what he does best: mouth off at every team mate, none of whom are actually worthy of lacing his boots.
Midway through the half, the inevitable happened. A cross from the right wing was ignored yet again by the Greek vampire, and McNeill (a thoroughly nasty little shit) fired home a half volley, unmarked at the far post.
Eventually, the only Forest contender for a “MOTM” award, Murillo got so fed up at the dire goings on in front of him he took the ball from the edge of his own penalty area, through the whole Everton attack and midfield, before unleashing a low shot that Pickford did well to save, diving full length, and dirtying his shorts in the process. There was a flurry of Forest activity to try and get back into the game, Murillo shooting again but hitting the post. Cooper then brought on Origi to take up a striker’s position. So invisible had Wood been throughout the game, even Cooper hadn’t noticed he was on the pitch, and he brought off Harry Toffolo. Origi touched the ball less times in those final 12 minutes than the ball boy in front of the Brian Clough Stand, and the game drifted to its end, with the horrible experience of the home fans booing loudly as the players left the pitch, not looking all that bothered to have lost a second home game in succession, and to leave us with 3 defeats on the bounce, 1 win in the last 10 games, and the prospect of 2 tough away games in the coming 7 days.
Yes, it is tough without Taiwo, but to continue to start Chris Wood, whose strengths appear to be… well, I’m not really sure, must mean Origi or the lad in the U21s (Osong?) are both completely useless. Wood actually could have been awarded the Everton MOTM rating so bad was his performance for Forest.
Player Ratings:
Odysseus: 1 – I wanted to see Turner for this one as he can come for crosses, catch the ball and is a decent shot stopper. Odysseus is a poor goalkeeper;
Aurier: 4 – not a patch on the player of last season;
Boly: 4 – looked lethargic, and sadly, injured himself on the half hour and was replaced at half-time;
Murillo: 9 – MOTM and the only player on the pitch for Forest who had both skill and passion, and who looked like he actually cared. Enjoy him while we have him, because we won’t have him for long;
Toffolo: 6 – another solid and committed performance from the chap we got as a “make-weight” in the deal to bring in his midfield mate – now gone;
Mangala: 5 – solid game again, covering the back 4 well but he lacks a cutting edge to open up the opposition;
Yates: 5 – had the passion of Murillo, but doesn’t have the same level of skill. Denied a stonewall penalty;
Sangare: 3 – this lad was simply not match fit after a nasty virus and big weight loss;
Gibbs-White: 4 – something is wrong here – the lack of a summer break, the new baby, the lack of class around him and the lack of a decent striker ahead of him seem to have taken the joie de vivre out of his game;
Wood: 1 – he’s had some shockingly bad games in the Garibaldi. Some say we don’t play to his strengths. Personally, I think we need a plumber because he looks like a busted flush;
Elanga: 5 – some flashes of skill, but his crossing was woeful today, but then again with our pitiful strike force what was the point of crossing most times anyway?
Substitutions:
Felipe (on for Boly): 6 – a welcome return for the aging maestro! Looked a bit ring-rusty but he’s been out for a while. Should he have got to McNeill to get a tackle or block in?
Hudson-Odoi (on for Sangare): 6 – looked bright when passed to, but was ignored and lonely out right for much of his time on the pitch;
Origi (on for Toffolo): 3 – desperation substitution. Boy, this lad must be absolutely crap in training if he can’t get a start ahead of Wood!
Conclusion: it is never a good idea to change horses in the middle of the stream, if Tower of Power are to be believed, but those stats of 1 win in 10, consecutive home defeats, only 1 win away from home, and 2 tough away games without any sort of creativity or a goal-scorer being available could result on EM ignoring the advice of the once popular pop song. According to my mate in the village, the bookies have a list of odds for the next Forest manager… names like Scott Parker, and Jesse Marsch tell you that we ought to be keeping faith with Cooper. And Cooper should be telling his players that what they are delivering isn’t good enough!
Finally, apologies to those around me who had to put up with my constant rasping cough… I’ve not missed a home game in 6 years, and Eddie went and got a ticket elsewhere, so I couldn’t sell him the use of mine!
Saturday 2nd December 2023: Nottingham Forest v Everton (Premier League; Kick Off 17:30):
Rising from my sick bed, I donned many layers to keep out the cold on a wintry evening down Trent-side. Armed with a flask of strong black coffee laced with a double tot of Wood’s Navy rum, a hot water bottle, and fluffy blanket for the Mrs, she and I took our usual seats in the LBC to witness the thrill of a Forza Garibaldi display, and, hopefully, a return to winning ways at Fortress Forest. How hopes and dreams were dashed upon the frozen landscape, as firstly, the DJ cocked up and failed to play MOK, and then the Forest team failed to play any sort of cohesive team-based football.
As many had hoped, Yates was restored to the starting line-up, and to the captaincy. Sangare, supposedly laid low by a combination of Lassa and Deng fever (with a smattering of swine flu for good measure) made an unexpected start as well. Steve Cooper kept faith with the Greek flapper in goal, now known to one and all as “the Greek Dracula” because of his fear of crosses, ignoring my own suggestion that he put Turner in between the sticks to cope with Dyche’s expected Israeli-style aerial bombardment of the Forest penalty box. Cooper did switch Niakhate out, and put in Willy Boly, but that change was put to a half-time end following Big Willy’s excessive stretch to make a crucial block on 30 minutes. Cooper’s other change to the starting line up was to rest Aina and restore Aurier to the fray at right back, with Toffolo continuing to have a decent run in the side at left back. Boly’s centre-back partner was Murillo, who, until he makes a Dominguez-sized cods of things continues to vie with the recuperating Awoniyi for a Sainthood, or at least a Knighthood.
The first half kicked off, and to be scrupulously fair Forest for the first 10 minutes looked to be positive, pressing high on Everton, and exploiting Elanga’s pace and trickery down the left-hand side. Unfortunately, that initial flurry yielded nothing in terms of attempts on goal, and as Everton found their feet and started their own high press the limitations of Forest’s midfield were cruelly exposed. Yates battled manfully to try and put some steel into the middle of the pitch, but a clearly struggling Sangare, and an out of form Gibbs-White made misplaced passes in abundance, and it was the Toffees who looked the more likely to open the scoring. Beto, a £26m summer acquisition by the FFP-cheating Scousers blasted high, wide and not-too-handsomely mid-way through the half, when it looked easier to score (still, £26m doesn’t buy you anything decent in these inflated times, so what can you expect). Forest failed to muster a single shot worthy of the name on target, and Jordan “I’ve got girls legs” Pickford won’t have had an easier 45-minutes in his career. Gibbs-White was played in on one of the few occasions Forest mounted an attack down an otherwise depopulated right-wing, but the angle was tight and MGW found the wrong side of the side netting with a scuffed shot as an Everton defender closed down the angle even more.
The half ended with Everton almost taking the lead. Following more comedy in the Forest defence, McNeill on the Everton left went clear, flashed a low shot past the Greek Flapper, only for the brilliant Murillo to race to the goal and clear the ball off the line, cleverly directing his clearance off the face of the far goal-post, so that the ball went out for a throw, and not a corner.
And how did the Greek Dracula acquit himself from the few corners and crosses in that first 45-minutes? Well, he went for one, flapped at it, dropped it and thankfully the danger was cleared. For the rest, he did a sterling imitation of one of the 37,000 trees planted by EON/Forest in their attempt to save the planet, staying firmly rooted to the goal line, dead centre between the posts.
There was a bit of positivity when Felipe made his first appearance of the season, replacing the injured Boly for the start of the 2nd-half. His impact was immediate, with he and fellow Brazilian, Murillo, looking for all the world like great Brazilian central defenders. Forest, whose first half performance was lacklustre, were even worse for most of the second half. The obviously unfit Sangare was substituted on 62 minutes and it was a surprising choice of replacement with Callum Hudson-Odoi coming on. I hope he doesn’t take these things personally, but he stood out wide right in the prairie-sized spaces down Forest’s right wing, but might as well have stopped in the dug-out for all the passes he received out there. When he did get the odd ball to him, he looked quite dangerous but with Forest having started with only 9 outfield players (Wood starting, but taking no active part in the game) there was seldom a team mate anywhere near the Everton box for him to set up. Pickford was still able to do what he does best: mouth off at every team mate, none of whom are actually worthy of lacing his boots.
Midway through the half, the inevitable happened. A cross from the right wing was ignored yet again by the Greek vampire, and McNeill (a thoroughly nasty little shit) fired home a half volley, unmarked at the far post.
Eventually, the only Forest contender for a “MOTM” award, Murillo got so fed up at the dire goings on in front of him he took the ball from the edge of his own penalty area, through the whole Everton attack and midfield, before unleashing a low shot that Pickford did well to save, diving full length, and dirtying his shorts in the process. There was a flurry of Forest activity to try and get back into the game, Murillo shooting again but hitting the post. Cooper then brought on Origi to take up a striker’s position. So invisible had Wood been throughout the game, even Cooper hadn’t noticed he was on the pitch, and he brought off Harry Toffolo. Origi touched the ball less times in those final 12 minutes than the ball boy in front of the Brian Clough Stand, and the game drifted to its end, with the horrible experience of the home fans booing loudly as the players left the pitch, not looking all that bothered to have lost a second home game in succession, and to leave us with 3 defeats on the bounce, 1 win in the last 10 games, and the prospect of 2 tough away games in the coming 7 days.
Yes, it is tough without Taiwo, but to continue to start Chris Wood, whose strengths appear to be… well, I’m not really sure, must mean Origi or the lad in the U21s (Osong?) are both completely useless. Wood actually could have been awarded the Everton MOTM rating so bad was his performance for Forest.
Player Ratings:
Odysseus: 1 – I wanted to see Turner for this one as he can come for crosses, catch the ball and is a decent shot stopper. Odysseus is a poor goalkeeper;
Aurier: 4 – not a patch on the player of last season;
Boly: 4 – looked lethargic, and sadly, injured himself on the half hour and was replaced at half-time;
Murillo: 9 – MOTM and the only player on the pitch for Forest who had both skill and passion, and who looked like he actually cared. Enjoy him while we have him, because we won’t have him for long;
Toffolo: 6 – another solid and committed performance from the chap we got as a “make-weight” in the deal to bring in his midfield mate – now gone;
Mangala: 5 – solid game again, covering the back 4 well but he lacks a cutting edge to open up the opposition;
Yates: 5 – had the passion of Murillo, but doesn’t have the same level of skill. Denied a stonewall penalty;
Sangare: 3 – this lad was simply not match fit after a nasty virus and big weight loss;
Gibbs-White: 4 – something is wrong here – the lack of a summer break, the new baby, the lack of class around him and the lack of a decent striker ahead of him seem to have taken the joie de vivre out of his game;
Wood: 1 – he’s had some shockingly bad games in the Garibaldi. Some say we don’t play to his strengths. Personally, I think we need a plumber because he looks like a busted flush;
Elanga: 5 – some flashes of skill, but his crossing was woeful today, but then again with our pitiful strike force what was the point of crossing most times anyway?
Substitutions:
Felipe (on for Boly): 6 – a welcome return for the aging maestro! Looked a bit ring-rusty but he’s been out for a while. Should he have got to McNeill to get a tackle or block in?
Hudson-Odoi (on for Sangare): 6 – looked bright when passed to, but was ignored and lonely out right for much of his time on the pitch;
Origi (on for Toffolo): 3 – desperation substitution. Boy, this lad must be absolutely crap in training if he can’t get a start ahead of Wood!
Conclusion: it is never a good idea to change horses in the middle of the stream, if Tower of Power are to be believed, but those stats of 1 win in 10, consecutive home defeats, only 1 win away from home, and 2 tough away games without any sort of creativity or a goal-scorer being available could result on EM ignoring the advice of the once popular pop song. According to my mate in the village, the bookies have a list of odds for the next Forest manager… names like Scott Parker, and Jesse Marsch tell you that we ought to be keeping faith with Cooper. And Cooper should be telling his players that what they are delivering isn’t good enough!
Finally, apologies to those around me who had to put up with my constant rasping cough… I’ve not missed a home game in 6 years, and Eddie went and got a ticket elsewhere, so I couldn’t sell him the use of mine!
Monkman
Grenville Morris
Yes, so why is it so difficult to criticise Cooper on here when we perform so badly?
Have you been at the sherry again?
Captain Sinister
Senior doom Monger
Overdosed on Benylin and Paracetamol.
You won't believe how long i took editing that report!
Col Steve Austin
Viv Anderson
That's a very fair point. To an extent it doesn't really matter if we finish 10th or 17th this season, and maybe it's better to finish 17th with Cooper and give him another learning season than 10th with A.N.Other as a flash in the pan.
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stantonred
First Team Squad
Very generous with the Wood score Cap, I’d got him at -6. And thought I was over scoring at that
Sandiacre Red
Viv Anderson
Wood was terrible last night, we'd be better off hammering a Wooden post into the the pitch than play him, at least there's a chance the Ball will hit the post sometime during the Game.
ARedChester
First Team Squad
A well experienced football fan neutral friend of mine watched this game on TV and said Forest were not bad, but very much not good. Keeper is a liability and they had no confidence in the Greeks ability.
They also made comments over MGW being way off and should be rested. He is not offering much this season.
They did say there was some good play, but Everton were so much more hungry for it, clearly done their homework and peppered our defence with long diaganol
balls and quick to the 2nd ball.
All sounded like the commentary and by those on this forum. SC is a must but a new defensive coach wouldn't go a miss and a striker in Jan would be appreciated.
I will see them at Fulham, albeit not from the section of fans I would prefer to stand with.
Keep the faith.
They also made comments over MGW being way off and should be rested. He is not offering much this season.
They did say there was some good play, but Everton were so much more hungry for it, clearly done their homework and peppered our defence with long diaganol
balls and quick to the 2nd ball.
All sounded like the commentary and by those on this forum. SC is a must but a new defensive coach wouldn't go a miss and a striker in Jan would be appreciated.
I will see them at Fulham, albeit not from the section of fans I would prefer to stand with.
Keep the faith.
It’s a very similar trend to last season that whenever we start with Wood we are shit.
Awful, awful performance yesterday from top to bottom (Murillo aside), It really was like a time machine to watching us in the Championship. I’ve been saying all along that the Greek keeper is no good, the scariest thing of all is on the replay he actually tries to punch the ball where he collided with Boly. He is allergic to catching the ball. He is the worst keeper I’ve seen play for us since that mad Serb we had.
I’m going to Fulham so hopefully I bring us some luck, 3 points there and all is forgotten. Cooper really needs to pull a few results out the hat now as I imagine Marinakis is getting twitchy.
Awful, awful performance yesterday from top to bottom (Murillo aside), It really was like a time machine to watching us in the Championship. I’ve been saying all along that the Greek keeper is no good, the scariest thing of all is on the replay he actually tries to punch the ball where he collided with Boly. He is allergic to catching the ball. He is the worst keeper I’ve seen play for us since that mad Serb we had.
I’m going to Fulham so hopefully I bring us some luck, 3 points there and all is forgotten. Cooper really needs to pull a few results out the hat now as I imagine Marinakis is getting twitchy.
Malwood
Geoff Thomas
Hmm, don't think so. Look at McNeil wandering past CHO into the area. CHO just points at him, assuming the magic marking fairies will pick up McNeil. Good finish from a good player sure, but if we don't bother tracking back into our area then eventually we're going to concede when the ball drops to their unmarked guy.
Wes' Organ
Biggles
He gave Felipe a 6 for yesterday's performance, I'm betting on crack.
There might be something in this!
Lord Wazzock
First Team Squad
Dominguez needed to play yesterday. There were times in the game when the crowd were willing the midfield to press. They looked like they didn't know what to do.
I agreed with the changes to defence but unless Dominguez was injured/ill he should have started. If anything, Yates should have been in place of Sangare
I agreed with the changes to defence but unless Dominguez was injured/ill he should have started. If anything, Yates should have been in place of Sangare
apondaway
Viv Anderson
Need to go back to Mangala - Sangare - Dominguez and just let them build as a unit - that's the future. I'd like to see MGW central with CHO and Elanga on either side. Feel Aina needs to be the RB
All that said, Cooper needs to commit to a system and a lineup as Forest look like a team searching for an identity.
All that said, Cooper needs to commit to a system and a lineup as Forest look like a team searching for an identity.
Issue is that that's the exact same midfield that's been responsible for this run of form..
Redemption
One less gobshite...
So you're playing without a striker?
Or just 3 at the back
Or is there some other way you'll be accommodating 6 in the middle?
Rzar
Bob McKinlay
Agree with this, we are halfway between styles. For me we have looked at our best with those 3, we need to tweak around them.
apondaway
Viv Anderson
Correct, no striker - Elanga and CHO flow in and out and around MGW in my scenario. Ideally you have an overlapping Aina or Toffolo that allows Elanga or CHO to run a channel in front of MGW giving him two options to one side and another to the other - thus potentially causing confusion for the defense.
Omar Devone Little
Mr Realistic
I'd go 3 at the back against Fulham. If Cooper is going to stay we need to strip it all back to basics. Clean sheet is the first priority.
Alf-engelos Mindminackers
The Artiste formally known as "Wanksy"
These are the key things right there. Turner isn't great, but Odysseus is flat out bad,
Wood needs far too much to go his way to be effective. It ca happen, but it's not likely to happen often enough.
Tricky Tourist
Viv Anderson
This was what incensed me, even more than the debacle of a performance that preceded the players leaving the pitch. It was appalling, seeing some of our team laughing and palling it up with the scouse opposition after that display.
Oh, excellent report again, Captain, although I'd have bumped Yatesy and Mangala up to 6 as I thought both did the best they could given the dross around them.