skipped the first half after reading on here
watched the second…
never in doubt…
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You did yourself a favour there 
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I am always afraid of saying that and definitely never say it three times in a row…
Had to catch a replay of this one. A few thoughts:
Negatives:
- Atrocious first half - one of the worst halves of the entire season. We were fortunate not to be down going into halftime - a combination of wasted opportunities from Forest and decent defending in our box. But we had no control. That Forest midfield just butchered ours.
- Relatedly, Elliot Anderson is a rolls royce midfielder and I hope we sign him. I would hate to see him head to a rival. He’s everything that we need in terms of strength, control, aggression, and intelligent play. He made our midfield look like it was nonexistent.
- Curtis Jones was shockingly poor, especially in the first half. He played like someone who wasn’t prepared to start today. He was off the pace. Appeared to lose every duel. It was embarrassing. I know he was a last minute replacement for Wirtz, but that’s no excuse. He wants to start, then you have to be ready.
- The front three were poor. Gakpo was a non factor. Salah’s legs are gone. Ekitike did not get much service, but when Rio found him, he should have scored.
Positives:
- Much better second half. More control. We played with intent and asserted ourselves, which was a far cry from a first half where we were flailing.
- Macca was very solid - a throwback to the player I saw last year.
- Rio barely had a touch, but he was outstanding when he got it. You can see how much of a difference it makes for us when we have a wide player who can actually take on a defender and beat them. He needs to see more of the pitch. He’s going to be a hell of a player for us. What a cross for Ekitike - put it on a plate for him.
Did we deserve a win? No, but even during our title run, we found a way to win matches like this one. I’ll take it.
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We deserved to win because we scored with our chances.
Our second half was much better so it did get better.
It’s tiresome as they aren’t going sack him however angry your post match post is.
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Macca said himself that it hit his elbow, and unfortunately the rules currently state that a goal is ruled out even if it has touched a players arm accidentally (i.e. it wouldn’t usually be a foul).
As Mac himself said, “It hit my back and my elbow. I understand the rule but if you understand football, that goal should have stood.”
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disappointed with the way our lads went about playing the game, but delighted we got the 3 points and a clean sheet. Forest were a kind of bogey team for us in the 80’s, so I am happy we won, and also taking into account we had a dodgy ref
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I think he is the best there is and I really don’t know why he gets so much stick from fans of every club. I thought he was fine yesterday.. .he lets stuff go but physicality for me is all part of the game and long may it be so. I don’t want to watch an anodyne game where every little nudge or tug is blown.
Did anyone else notice that if Macca hadn’t scored we would have had a penalty for the blatant shirt pull on VVD?
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Not personally as I had switched off in a huff, but would, should and actually getting a decision are wildly different things.
I have zero faith in getting any decision to be honest. From Taylor, even less, if such a thing is possible.
We wouldn’t have had it though most likely. Taylor’s missing and var was Tiernay wasn’t it?
It’s kind of why I’ve come around to the idea that VAR should only be used on none subjective or close to it so goal line tech errors and semi automated offside. The Macallister goal makes the laws of the game also a bit silly. Like that’s never a penalty but it chalks a goal off.
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Virgil was about to protest before he realised that we’d scored.
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How have we become so unbalanced. Weak midfield and a front 3 where only Ekitike scares anyone.
That is the right question imo.
If you would have looked at our squad at the end of last season, you would have told yourself that our midfield was probably the area that needed the least amount of work in terms of squad improvements.
Yet it is the area that has fallen off a cliff. All our poor performances this season stem from that area not performing in my opinion.
2 opinions in one post. I am on fire today
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The trouble is we rarely play much better. The odd decent performance. But at this stage its all about results not how great we look on the eye. Would I take 10 more of that with 30 points at the end of it - definitely
I didnt watch yesterday as was at daughters match but sounds like it was a good one to miss!
actually, i disagree with this bit…we need to play well, and win. To me theres no happy ending if we keep playing this way and winning…
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I fell asleep during the 1st half so slept through the second until there was some noise and the match went bonkers.
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I’m not convinced that the midfield aren’t experiencing a downstream effect of the front line just being woefully thin and allowing the ball to make its way into midfield under absolutely no pressure. I remember going to a coaching seminar on pressing a while ago, and one of the points being made was that one of of the hardest things to implement in developing a pressing system is that it’s a thankless task for your front players. 9/10 the pressing will seem like it has no impact. The defender will find a way to get the ball through the lines and into midfield. But the point is that in making that pass under pressure, you are increasing the possibility that the pass isn’t perfect and a ball winning situation is created in midfield.
With us at the minute, the opposition are passing that ball into midfield under very little pressure, which means the pass is perfect and the midfielder has it under control and our midfield has a more difficult job to compete for it.
Having Gakpo and Salah either side of Ekitike is like saying to opposition defenders ‘ Take your time lads, and pick your pass’
That said I thought some individual midfield performances were absolutely abject yesterday. Jones has had a lot of sympathy for his inability to get into the team of late. But he did nothing that suggested he wanted to grab his opportunity. It was a performance that reeked of arrogance and entitlement. I saw him get robbed of the ball three times, and his attempt to get it back was limited to waving at Anthony Taylor for a foul he was never getting.
The only plus for him was that Mac Allister was just as bad.
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The midfield were repeatedly losing possession long before the ball made it over the half way line. Only the switch to Dom in midfield improved the situation.
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Totally agree I was really irked by the narrative we didn’t deserve to win, they played well in the first half but were nowhere in scoring a goal then we played better in the second and scored two valid goals therefore we deserved to win. When they beat us before by parking the bus for 95 min we deserved to win even though we didn’t score and they haven’t stopped crowing about it ever since.
Yesterday the players at the end should have worn Halloween zombie masks.
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