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Official Matchday 17: Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham Hotspur, Fri. 15th December 2023 @ 20:00hrs

FOREST v SPURS

  • Total voters
    92
  • Poll closed .
B

brianmac1

Youth Team
Thats it then, the bookies the pundits, the papers, and some on here have us down for a thrashing!.
I for one will be putting 20 quid on them, and then wishing it was my first thought of £50.
 
G

garibaldi

Jack Armstrong
Potentially a big game for Toffolo who can be our most creative player due to Johnno's lack of tracking back as we may be able to double up on their RB if Elanga pulls wide. Conversely however, Toff will also have to deal with a speed demon, although that's where I like the 5 at the back and hopefully Murillo can stem Brennan's output.

We'd win this with Awoniyi, but without... Then I'm hoping to pinch a result, but I fear their front 3 too much and a significant loss.

Let's hope for more bite in midfield compared to the game at their place last season, because that was putrid!
 
Captain Sinister

Captain Sinister

Senior doom Monger
garibaldi said:
Potentially a big game for Toffolo who can be our most creative player due to Johnno's lack of tracking back as we may be able to double up on their RB if Elanga pulls wide. Conversely however, Toff will also have to deal with a speed demon, although that's where I like the 5 at the back and hopefully Murillo can stem Brennan's output.

We'd win this with Awoniyi, but without... Then I'm hoping to pinch a result, but I fear their front 3 too much and a significant loss.

Let's hope for more bite in midfield compared to the game at their place last season, because that was putrid!
Click to expand...
Spurs don't seem to be using Johnno as a speed demon.
They seem to want him to stand way up the pitch so that when the ball occasionally is played to him, he has no space to run in to, and invariably he has to play an instant lay-off to another player.
Why buy a greyhound and tell it not to run?
 
Rzar

Rzar

Bob McKinlay
Captain Sinister said:
Spurs don't seem to be using Johnno as a speed demon.
They seem to want him to stand way up the pitch so that when the ball occasionally is played to him, he has no space to run in to, and invariably he has to play an instant lay-off to another player.
Why buy a greyhound and tell it not to run?
Click to expand...
It's not about them not using him as a speed demon, top teams inevitably have less space to operate in because teams are more defensive against them.

Brennan had space to run into every week for us because very few teams parked the bus against us. It is one of the things I thought he would really struggle with moving to Spurs. I don't think Brennan has ever been a good technical dribbler so struggled against packed defences, I can't recall him beating many players with ball skills, only pace. I think that's one area where Elanga is significantly better than Johnson, but Johnson has that killer instinct.
 
sammy the snake

sammy the snake

Jack Armstrong
Captain Sinister said:
Spurs don't seem to be using Johnno as a speed demon.
They seem to want him to stand way up the pitch so that when the ball occasionally is played to him, he has no space to run in to, and invariably he has to play an instant lay-off to another player.
Why buy a greyhound and tell it not to run?
Click to expand...
I think their plan given he’s still only a whipersnapper is to work on his technical ability, they’ll then have the full package

Forest just didn’t have that luxury, we needed goals
 
valspoodle

valspoodle

Steve Chettle
Brennan felt at home here, had been here for years so felt a big fish in a small pond.

Now he's got to earn his spurs (!) before he can assume a similar position in the player hierarchy at his new club.
 
Statto

Statto

Free Kick Specialist
Stranger things have happened but I realistically can't see past a defeat here. If we had Taiwo or a decent striker outlet who we don't need to put balls into the box for, then it would make a lot of difference. But I can't see that Spurs will do that - they play a high line which would be perfect for the pace of Elanga to run in behind but then he needs an outlet and I don't see that in either Wood or Origi (though I rate Wood for what he does).

And I don't think even with a low block we will be solid enough at the back to keep their attacking options quiet enough for them to not score at all.
 
Redemption

Redemption

Agenda Benda
The key will be not to get sucked in to the chaos. They can have 5 players in attack at a time running in all directions.

To defend well, we will need to stay compact, defend territory and stay switched on.

Spurs do give away a lot of turnovers. So we need to be ready with the transition to rush them on the flanks, where they leave a lot of space. Winning the ball back in the middle of the park will need the midfield to come up with the magic: I think Mangala's escapology will be critical, combined with Yates' and Dominguez's hard press. We can win the ball back if they're all on form.

Spurs expose a lot of territory behind the two CBs. and the fullbacks push high and inside. We surely have the pace to counter this. The question will be can we link the ball from the transition into counter-attacks? If we can, I can see how we win this game. Or at least take a point.
 
M

'mist rollin in'

First Team Squad
I hoping for a good performance and a draw. I can see Cooper struggling to hold on to his position if we suffer a heavy defeat. Encouraging that we've appointed a set piece coach and the players do seem to be in support of Cooper, so hopefully it doesn't all come down to tomorrow night. Hopefully they've got MOK sorted (y)
 
Omar Devone Little

Omar Devone Little

Mr Realistic
I thought the cup game against Spurs last season was probably the one time across the entire season where we looked like a genuinely good side at both ends of the pitch. At the moment it feels like we're a long way away from that.

I fear with Spurs' gung-ho style it could easily get quite messy tomorrow night. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they stuck 4 or 5 past us.
 
C

Cloughie1975

John Robertson
Omar Devone Little said:
I thought the cup game against Spurs last season was probably the one time across the entire season where we looked like a genuinely good side at both ends of the pitch. At the moment it feels like we're a long way away from that.

I fear with Spurs' gung-ho style it could easily get quite messy tomorrow night. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they stuck 4 or 5 past us.
Click to expand...
To be fair-we played well in the home defeat to Tottenham in the league last season.A bit more
composure in front of goal could have yielded some reward.
I even heard some Spurs fans say (on the train home) that they weren’t sure that the best
team won.
 
Gyros Peter

Gyros Peter

Sauce salad?
Cloughie1975 said:
To be fair-we played well in the home defeat to Tottenham in the league last season.A bit more
composure in front of goal could have yielded some reward.
I even heard some Spurs fans say (on the train home) that they weren’t sure that the best
team won.
Click to expand...
We did play well last year v them, though I fear this year's spurs are a different prospect.
 
JohnnyCarey

JohnnyCarey

Viv Anderson
Spurs can be devastating in attack and it's quite possible that they'll just blitz us. But if we show as much fight as we did against Wolves, we have a chance to get something out of the game. We can expect to defend solidly and to work like demons in midfield, so a lot will depend on whether the wing backs can break forward quickly without leaving us too exposed. I'm going to be optimistic and go for 1-1
 
bono1975

bono1975

Viv Anderson
If and it’s a big if but if we can somehow contain Son we will get something out the game. He really makes that team tick and is a superb footballer. Everything good about them comes from and through him. Either man mark him for 90 mins or clobber him first chance we get.

1-1 (Yates header from a newly devised set piece)
 
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