A much needed three points..............but

[Mick De Lyons]

And there's always a " but " isn't there !!

 

Overall, today was a much needed three points, especially after the disappointment of last weeks result. We were the better side and Forest looked quite average, apart from one or two periods in the game, notably just after they scored and towards the end. We never really looked in trouble or were overly pressured, but the performance at times was a bit stop start and not particularly fluid. We certainly didn't deserve to lose a game like that and if anyone deserved to win it, then it was us. However, through out the game, there where a fair few issues that i'd like to raise. I'm not saying that they are new issues, but one's that we seem to keep repeating and they don't seem to be getting addressed as quickly as they should be in my opinion.

 

We seem to set off too slowly in games. We appear to play at a slow tempo until we are forced into action. The tempo of the second half was noticeably quicker than in the first half. I don't think the 4-4-2 formation suits us when we don't have any natural wingers playing. The midfield is too easy to bypass at times because of this. We seem to pass for the sake of passing at times. There were quite a few opportunities to play the ball into a forward position today, but many times the safe option was preferred of passing the ball backwards. Now, i don't mind playing a ball backwards under pressure, but at times today, particularly in the first half, the ball was moving sideways and backwards, when there were opportunities to play it forward for an attack. It seems as if we are almost looking for the perfect pass and don't want to risk a forward pass in case we loose possession.

 

On quite a few occasions today, Wallace as an example got into a position to cross or take his man on or step inside and chose to play the ball back. When you add this kind of play style to the fact that at times we can look a pedestrian, it becomes quite predictable for the opposition to work out what we are doing. Also, at times the movement was a bit static and loose passes were given. All this improved in the second half. The tempo increased, the ball was moved a lot quicker, the movement was better and as the game wore on we were getting better service on the wings as Reach moved up a little further. Obviously, Forest like a of teams this season have set up a certain way to try and get a result. They sit back, flood the midfield and try to hit us on the counter attack. It was a good strike for their goal, but they didn't look particularly threatening and perhaps came for a point.

 

On the plus side, we showed great spirit to come back, particularly when we lost both Lees and Bannan. Adam Reach showed today that he will be a real force down that left hand side for us. He has pace, looks to go forward, can see a pass and delivers a good cross. He also has technical ability as well. Kieran Lee is an unsung player, who has a tremendous impact on the team and is one of the best finishers. He took his second goal superbly and always looks calm and assured on the ball. Today was a much needed three points, but i still think Carlos doesn't yet know his best eleven or the right formation to play. However, it certainly made up for the disappointment of the last injury time loss of last weekend, that's for sure :-)

 

Thoughts ?

 

[Paul..]

First 23 or so minutes I thought our tempo was much better than the last game and we stopped passing it around for the sake of it and had a decent cutting edge and created three or four really decent chances and we should have scored, then we dropped off and let forest into it and they got lucky with a very flukey goal, over the course of the first half we deserved to be one if not two goals up, Forest's only real threat was Carayol who was superb for them.

[torryowl]

i thought we played some good stuff , missed some good chances,westwood's save was the turning point , lee showed that those who want him at full back are wrong .....deserved win

[gurujuan]

32 minutes ago, Mick De Lyons said:

And there's always a " but " isn't there !!

 

Overall, today was a much needed three points, especially after the disappointment of last weeks result. We were the better side and Forest looked quite average, apart from one or two periods in the game, notably just after they scored and towards the end. We never really looked in trouble or were overly pressured, but the performance at times was a bit stop start and not particularly fluid. We certainly didn't deserve to lose a game like that and if anyone deserved to win it, then it was us. However, through out the game, there where a fair few issues that i'd like to raise. I'm not saying that they are new issues, but one's that we seem to keep repeating and they don't seem to be getting addressed as quickly as they should be in my opinion.

 

We seem to set off too slowly in games. We appear to play at a slow tempo until we are forced into action. The tempo of the second half was noticeably quicker than in the first half. I don't think the 4-4-2 formation suits us when we don't have any natural wingers playing. The midfield is too easy to bypass at times because of this. We seem to pass for the sake of passing at times. There were quite a few opportunities to play the ball into a forward position today, but many times the safe option was preferred of passing the ball backwards. Now, i don't mind playing a ball backwards under pressure, but at times today, particularly in the first half, the ball was moving sideways and backwards, when there were opportunities to play it forward for an attack. It seems as if we are almost looking for the perfect pass and don't want to risk a forward pass in case we loose possession.

 

On quite a few occasions today, Wallace as an example got into a position to cross or take his man on or step inside and chose to play the ball back. When you add this kind of play style to the fact that at times we can look a pedestrian, it becomes quite predictable for the opposition to work out what we are doing. Also, at times the movement was a bit static and loose passes were given. All this improved in the second half. The tempo increased, the ball was moved a lot quicker, the movement was better and as the game wore on we were getting better service on the wings as Reach moved up a little further. Obviously, Forest like a of teams this season have set up a certain way to try and get a result. They sit back, flood the midfield and try to hit us on the counter attack. It was a good strike for their goal, but they didn't look particularly threatening and perhaps came for a point.

 

On the plus side, we showed great spirit to come back, particularly when we lost both Lees and Bannan. Adam Reach showed today that he will be a real force down that left hand side for us. He has pace, looks to go forward, can see a pass and delivers a good cross. He also has technical ability as well. Kieran Lee is an unsung player, who has a tremendous impact on the team and is one of the best finishers. He took his second goal superbly and always looks calm and assured on the ball. Today was a much needed three points, but i still think Carlos doesn't yet know his best eleven or the right formation to play. However, it certainly made up for the disappointment of the last injury time loss of last weekend, that's for sure :-)

 

Thoughts ?

 

 

I'm not sure he has the right players to achieve the right balance between defence and attack. I've always thought we could accommodate Abdi better in a three man midfield. Playing wingers doesn't really seem to make us more of a threat going forwards, and probably makes us more vulnerable at the back

[Mick De Lyons]

3 minutes ago, Grimbarian said:

First 23 or so minutes I thought our tempo was much better than the last game and we stopped passing it around for the sake of it and had a decent cutting edge and created three or four really decent chances and we should have scored, then we dropped off and let forest into it and they got lucky with a very flukey goal, over the course of the first half we deserved to be one if not two goals up, Forest's only real threat was Carayol who was superb for them.

I certainly think that Hooper and Fletcher could have done better with their shots. They seemed to ****** at them almost. Fessi seemed to lose his balance and crash into their goalkeeper for his chance, which he maybe should have done better with.

[vulva]

We are far too open for a promotion winning side. Flair will not get you promotion. We are getting away with it at the minute as we are playing bottom half teams.  

[debram]

3 minutes ago, Spaceball_One said:

Win at Blackburn and we're on our way.

 

Sets us up nicely to get one over Brighton (again)

 

 

Blackburn could be a banana skin, we need to treat the game as a cup final 

[Mick De Lyons]

3 minutes ago, torryowl said:

i thought we played some good stuff , missed some good chances,westwood's save was the turning point , lee showed that those who want him at full back are wrong .....deserved win

We always look good on the ball, but i sometimes feel that we are a little too pedestrian at times with it. Lee is a class player and the type that goes under the radar. But to be in that position at the end and finish like he did was pure class, under pressure.

[Guest hazza88]

We played Norwich who are top of the league and took a point which could of been all 3? We are capable of getting in the play offs

[Mick De Lyons]

5 minutes ago, Spaceball_One said:

Win at Blackburn and we're on our way.

 

Sets us up nicely to get one over Brighton (again)

 

 

Three points at Blackburn would be a huge boost for us. It would be nice if we can go 2-0 up and be on top all the game and not have to worry about conceding first lol.

[Mick De Lyons]

7 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

 

I'm not sure he has the right players to achieve the right balance between defence and attack. I've always thought we could accommodate Abdi better in a three man midfield. Playing wingers doesn't really seem to make us more of a threat going forwards, and probably makes us more vulnerable at the back

I agree. I too think it makes us more vulnerable at the back, because the midfield can be wide open at times, particularly after an attack. I would think that a variation of say 4-3-1-2 would be better.

[Guest mrbluesky]

That`s a big but!

[torryowl]

4 minutes ago, vulva said:

We are far too open for a promotion winning side. Flair will not get you promotion. We are getting away with it at the minute as we are playing bottom half teams.  

maybe,maybe not  .....but we are good to watch.

[Costello 77]

Imo the summer signings are done with an eye to the near future. I think Wallace has been marked out to be phased out.

[vulva]

David Jones has been brought in for a reason. Eventually, it will be him and 3 others in midfield. 

[Mick De Lyons]

6 minutes ago, vulva said:

We are far too open for a promotion winning side. Flair will not get you promotion. We are getting away with it at the minute as we are playing bottom half teams.  

I agree Vulva. We have gotten away with it a few times this season. I personally think that Carlos needs to mix up our style of play a bit, because at times we are becoming a bit too predictable.

[dumboldowl]

12 minutes ago, Mick De Lyons said:

 

 

We seem to pass for the sake of passing at times. There were quite a few opportunities to play the ball into a forward position today, but many times the safe option was preferred of passing the ball backwards. Now, i don't mind playing a ball backwards under pressure, but at times today, particularly in the first half, the ball was moving sideways and backwards, when there were opportunities to play it forward for an attack. It seems as if we are almost looking for the perfect pass and don't want to risk a forward pass in case we lose possession.

 

This applies week after week. If there was a league table plotted of yards advanced against passes made we would be rock bottom by a mile.

 

12 minutes ago, Mick De Lyons said:

 

 

[Mick De Lyons]

6 minutes ago, hazza88 said:

We played Norwich who are top of the league and took a point which could of been all 3? We are capable of getting in the play offs

Thing is Hazza, we all know that in this league, you can beat a top side and then lose to Rotherham, like last season. I think that is where we can improve. Beat more of the top and bottom sides this season.

[Mick De Lyons]

3 minutes ago, mrbluesky said:

That`s a big but!

I like big but's Bluesky !!

[Mick De Lyons]

4 minutes ago, Costello 77 said:

Imo the summer signings are done with an eye to the near future. I think Wallace has been marked out to be phased out.

But he has signed a new deal and Buckley is only on lone ? Unless he intends on playing Fessi on the left. dropping Wallace and playing Reach on the right.