Forest 1 Newcastle 0 – the law of averages?
Posted on October 18th, 2009 | 24 Comments |
Well what a miserable bloody night…..stuck in a pub where I could only just about see and hear the game in the first half and where the locals seem to treat the bar as a place to lounge rather than a place to buy a drink. I was already hacked off before the game kicked off. And of course my mood didn’t improve with the events that followed.
The law of averages suggested that our luck was due to run out sooner or later again, and that when playing badly, some team at some point would take advantage. That team was Nottingham Forest. Of course it didn’t help that our, surprisingly, solid defensive start to the season was shattered with the news that both Steven Taylor and Coloccini would be missing. Really, of all the recent admissions I’ve made over things I’ve said which I never thought I’d say, to say that I never thought we’d miss Colo is right up there with the corkers……
But it’s a fact, he’s settled in a unit and has looked half decent at this level so missing both him and the combative Taylor was sure to spell trouble. Particularly when Forest came into this game with some decent form and two strikers proving to be a handful. However that aside, staying with the word ‘average’, does the whole set-up still not smack of something distinctly average?
As a club, we’ve got to come to terms with the fact that we’re a Championship club and we have to earn our right to be here and to challenge for promotion. Therefore, it stands to reason that we shouldn’t expect to roll teams over and perhaps we should accept that our players are of a lesser standing.
But that first half was awful.
We didn’t have any answer to Forest’s football and to be fair, in my opinion, Billy Davies is a good guy and a decent manager but he hasn’t got a set of world-beaters there. They just played some neat football and got about us and we just didn’t have anything to offer in return other than our hopeful long ball. With Chris Hughton opting again for Carroll and Harewood upfront, the long ball largely came to nothing but wasteful flick-ons or spurned possession.
The front two were well shackled by Forest’s defence partnership of Morgan and Wilson throughout really and never looked in any real danger of troubling the keeper. However, Forest’s front two looked much more lively and Dexter Blackstock could have had Forest in front twice in the first ten minutes, once with a shot saved by Harper and another pushed onto the post after a header where he out-muscled the defence all too easily. With a snapshot volley from Tyson midway through the first half, a goal looked inevitable.
However, despite the early pressure from Forest, we did manage to trouble them with a free kick from Ryan Taylor which eluded everyone and bounced back off the post and into the grateful arms of the keeper. That was about as good as it got though, other than some hapless headed chances from Carroll and speculative and hopeful shots dragged across goal, we once again looked fairly toothless.
And so their inevitable goal came, just at the time you never want it, right on half time. With the central defence inexplicably absent Smith had to chase down Blackstock who ran onto a through a ball. He was played onside by both full backs and outsprinted Smudge to clip the ball past Harper and watch the ball roll agonisingly slowly into the bottom corner.
The second half was more us than them and we definitely tried to force the issue but once again relied on the long ball game with no real success. Lovenkrands spurned a great chance late in the half when he failed to follow the tried and test method of strikers who lean forward not back, get the head over the ball and strike through a ball not tickle it. That seemed to be just about all Hughton could take, and Lovenkrands quickly made way for Gutierrez who once again seemed to look busy but without anything to show for it. Save for two wayward strikes and his standard tumbles to the floor.
We had the ball in the back of the net when Nolan finished a flick-on from Alan Smith but the linesman had, just about, got his decision right when he flagged for offside. Harewood eventually made way for Ranger with less than ten minutes left and though either striker could have been dragged off, I think Carroll was the most likely having failed spectacularly to do well the one thing we recognise for him, his heading. His head was literally a cliched fifty pence piece. Ironically, given my support of him, Ranger then missed a half decent header himself and within a few minutes, the home side were celebrating an important win and a big scalp.
With Taylor and Colo out for long periods and with the squad looking more and more fragile, I only hope this isn’t the beginning of a crumble. There are a lot of average players in that squad and when they’re not 100% up for it and/or we need to swap things around, they’re found wanting. I have much respect for Hughton but I was genuinely concerned with footage in the game yesterday where he looked perplexed and unsure of his options or any plans. I just hope he can prove me wrong in the coming weeks but he’s sure to be tested further.
One thing which sort of made me smile was their goalkeeper and his top which read Camp 1. There were plenty of lads swapping tops at the end but I imagine he didn’t get involved for fear of accusations of shirt-lifting.
Ah well, there’s always Scunnie on Tuesday……
Us –
Harper, Ryan Taylor, Simpson, Khizanishvili, Jose Enrique, Guthrie, Nolan, Smith, Lovenkrands, Carroll, Harewood
Subs – Krul, Geremi, Butt, Kadar, Gutierrez, Donaldson, Ranger
Forest –
Camp, Gunter, Morgan, Wilson, Cohen, Anderson , McKenna, Majewski, Moussi, Tyson, Blackstock.
Subs – Smith, Chambers, McGugan, Adebola, Garner, McCleary, McGoldrick
Att – 29,155 – approx (4,000 Mags)
worky
i sent ahmed bilal of soccerlens an e-mail just to make him aware of the site and to recommend it as a contender for new blog of the year a and he replied with
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Had a look at the site – very nicely done. Will be included in the contenders for sure, but can’t confirm the category yet.
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so congratulations worky you could win an award for the site