Smoulders has been veritably gushing with praise in the aftermath of the spanking Forest unleashed upon Crewe Alexandra in a devastating first half earlier today, with a ten minute hattrick for Nathan Tyson being the highlight of proceedings. Crewe boss Dario Gradi has first relieved us all by clarifying that self-harm is not on the agenda, and conceding that he couldn’t conceive of a way to combat a rampant Nottingham Forest.
Smoulds was furious after we capitulated to Bournemouth, but was clearly thrilled with what he saw at Gresty Road as his side demolished their opponents:
“I wanted them to go and show their ability that I see from Monday to Friday on the training ground. And boy they did.
“It was a heartwarming display. I loved the way we played. It was pleasing to watch as I have seen from any team for a long long time – even when we go scouting.
“Christian Gross, when he was in charge of Tottenham, used to go on about hitting a sixth gear and we used to scratch our head and wonder what he was on about but I think we found something towards our top level.
“We’ve been cautious with Nathan. He was fresh after not really playing much in the week and we can see him getting back to the level of fitness he needs to be playing.”
Dario was good natured about the defeat; the experienced manager conceded that the hefty scoreline wasn’t flattering to Forest, who finally dominated a game from start to finish, giving Crewe only fleeting chances in the game, and whilst winning heavily, created further chances to extend the lead both before and after scoring.
“I’m not going to commit suicide,” he said. “At the end of the day they are a club that has won the European Cup, we’ve won the Cheshire Senior Cup.
“It was a fair scoreline. We were beaten by the better team. I don’t know if they took their foot of the gas in the second half or if we played better but there wasn’t as much pressure on us.
“Forest were very good. Their front three were very dangerous and they had a lot of possession. I couldn’t see how we could play any differently.”
I don’t think you can use our European pedigree as an excuse, Dario – I can’t see our current squad being much cop on a European stage! 
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…mind you, nffc, I bet at least three Forest old boys were there (I know McGovern was commentating), and it would only take three of our European squad players to wipe the floor with any division 3 team!