Through the seasons before us..

Nottingham Forest - 1
Blackpool - 1

We finally got to see some progressive, passing, flowing, attacking football today at the City Ground.  Unfortunately for the fans in Red, it was Blackpool who were really showing Forest how it’s done, marshalled by the excellent Hoolahan in midfield, the Lancashire side - in all honesty - deserved their draw at the very least.  Of course, they were to attain that draw in very controversial circumstances - but I won’t let that distract me from yet another disappointing showing from the Reds.

The first half saw Blackpool with plenty of passing and endeavour, with little end product (sound familiar?), although they forced a punched clearance from Paul Smith - which was hoofed clear by Jack.  It was at this point, about 20 minutes in, that Keith Southern made a real mess of things and allowed Agogo to nick the ball and burst clear - with plenty of time to confuse himself with the options open to him, the striker calmly passed the ball past the keeper to make it one nil to the Reds.

Blackpool were denied a penalty when the tricky Hoolahan looked to have been felled in the box by Prutton, but the referee not only waved the protests away, he booked the Tangerines midfielder for diving - which was certainly harsh, as it looked like a foul to me.  Shortly after this Agogo tried an audacious lob from around 35 yards on the left, only for it to return into play off the bar - a great effort.  Lester then also appeared to be felled in the box - again, the referee choosing to ignore the protests - although not booking Lester.

In the second half Blackpool continued to play attractive quick-moving football, and frequently looked capable of carving out an equaliser  - fortunately for us much of their chances fell to David Fox who seemed incapable of hitting the target.  Prutton had a blast from 12 yards at the near post, but the keeper always looked to have it covered.  Blackpool piled on the pressure from this point, and Forest - predictably - sat deeper and deeper and deeper as the half wore on.

Hoolahan (who I might’ve mentioned once or twice) seemed to be at the heart of everything, twisting and turning his way past Forest players repeatedly and carving out great opportunities for his teammates - Keigan Parker being one who won a corner thanks to a smart save from Paul Smith.  Kris Commons came on for Lester and almost had an instant impact, heading just wide - but chances for Forest were few and far between.

The penalty came with 3 minutes on the clock - Hoolahan appeared to just fall over, perhaps the referee was mindful of the poor decision he gave in the first half, so gave the penalty.  It had to be taken twice, Hoolahan putting it past Smith both times, much to the jubilation of the decent number of Blackpool fans (including the ‘Frank Gallagher from Shameless’ lookalike) who’d made the long trip on a tuesday night.  And the Tangerines hadn’t finished there - a great shot from Burgess on the edge of the area rattled the cross bar in the dying moments.

As I said above, I thought Blackpool were the better team - but that doesn’t stop me being furious at the Reds for their largely inept showing.  We scored a goal gifted to us, had one excellent moment of individual flair from Agogo, and not a lot else.  Blackpool repeatedly carved our defence apart, with Smith having to make several decent saves compared to the one save Prutts brought from their keeper - whilst I don’t like the booing we hear all too readily at full time, I can certainly understand the frustration.

The other slightly irksome thing from a Reds perspective was Julian Bennett’s unsporting behaviour during the penalty taking.  I realise that it was a shit decision by the referee, but he just made himself look foolish by trying to psyche out the taker not once, but before the original and the retaken penalty - particularly since he’d just picked up a booking for the initial protests.  So there we go, Oldham dropped points again, and we didn’t capitalise again - well done to Blackpool, definitely amongst the most positive (Scunthorpe aside) sides we’ve seen at the City Ground - they’ll be feeling unlucky not to have won.

This result has left me writing off our chances of automatic promotion - even though we gained some ground on second place, it wasn’t enough - if you’re reading, Smoulds or the players, then consider this a gauntlet thrown down - I don’t believe you’re good enough, for whatever reason, to finish in the top two.  I would be delighted for you to take exception to this comment, and go out and prove me wrong.

Oh yes, a sidenote on Gary Holt - since he’s everyone’s favourite scapegoat on the message boards.  I thought he did okay today, until the last 20 minutes.  Now whether that means he’s not up to 90 minutes anymore, who knows - but if people start prattling about him playing being some kind of reason for the poor result, see the bigger picture.  I’m not his biggest fan, and if I was picking I’d go for Clingan - but really, it’s quite childish to pick on one person.  There were a number of disappointing performances in Forest shirts tonight.

The manager is preparing to face the media after a disappointing defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion.  His side dominated the first half without ever finishing their chances, he had a striker sent off, took the lead before throwing the game away in a matter of 9o seconds.  He takes a deep breath and faces the microphone.

Smoulds: “I’m disappointed, but it was a positive performance - I’m still confident in my group and whilst we must work on the individual errors that lead to us conceding two goals so easily, I still feel that we will be promoted.”

Forest fans: “What a load of rubbish! Why does he substitute players when he does?  Why does he play that formation?  Why won’t he tell it like it is!”

Smoulderwood registers the fans feedback, and activates his time machine in order to face the media again with a clean slate…

Smoulds: “I’m appalled and ashamed of the team - they let me and the fans down, Nathan Tyson, what a complete idiot, as for John Curtis and Paul Smith - what were they thinking?  We’re rubbish and we’ll be lucky to get in the play offs at this rate!”

Forest fans: “What a shocking lack of professionalism and ambition!  Does he not realise we are the mighty Nottingham Forest and teams like Brighton should roll over and die for us - Calderwood out!”

Slightly perplexed, Smoulds once again triggers his time travelling device to return to the point when he initially faced the media.

Smoulds: “We should be beating teams like Brighton, I’m disappointed the lads couldn’t convert their chances today - because we were the better team, we were let down by a couple of uncharacteristic errors and some questionable refereeing - but we are the biggest team in this league and we will demolish Blackpool and Chesterfield to make up for this!”

Forest fans: “What planet is he on?  We’re rubbish!  We couldn’t beat our way out of a wet paper bag!  I don’t care if we were top of the league for ages, our players are all useless and the manager is clueless and the chairman lacks ambition - and don’t even get me started on Mark Arthur!  It’s all doom and gloom, frankly I’d be amazed if we can even avoid relegation this season!”

It’s no wonder Smoulderwood pulls faces like this:

Maybe it’s a good thing that Forest won’t have long to dwell on their disappointing (understatement!) showing down at Brighton at the weekend.  The Tangerines are our visitors tomorrow.  Forests’ form, as we are painfully aware, isn’t good - although our last City Ground outing was a win over Northampton.  Blackpool visit us on the back of three defeats including the cup, but prior to that had a decent run that sees them currently sitting in 8th place.

We are, of course, without Nathan Tyson following his red card against Brighton - so assuming Smoulds sticks with the same formation, we are likely to see either Agogo or Dobie stepping in for him - if it’s the latter that will get some sections of the support into “negative” mode before a ball is kicked.  Although with the availability of Kris Commons he may well change tactics or potentially put Commons upfront with Grant. 

Jack Lester has already had a good run against Blackpool, scoring twice against them at Bloomfield Road, and missed a penalty (god, remember all those missed penalties?) to boot!  So hopefully he’s on a similar vein of form tomorrow evening.  Blackpool’s main threat this season has been Scott Vernon, although he’s hit a bit of a dry spell lately - which isn’t always what we like to hear, after all, Brighton hadn’t won at the Withdean since early December!

All in all, this really does start to take the colour of a must win game.  Taking no points from Brighton really means that to remain a serious promotion contender we need to be taking maximum points from our next two games, and again, on that dreaded bit of paper that proves so inaccurate so often, we should be strong enough to bring home the points.

It really all depends on which version of our team turns up, but one thing is key - we need to use our supporters to our advantage, so no ridiculous booing at half time, please - teams WILL come to the City Ground to frustrate us, because they know what fickle sods we are (as a collective), don’t let them achieve it - back the lads and if they let us down, vent your spleen at full time.

Where is it all going wrong for Nathan right now?  Only a matter of weeks ago I was eulogising about his consummate professionalism, his brilliant attitude both on and off the pitch, his dedicated bid to return from injury earlier than we ever could have hoped - and now look, a booking against Northampton for a petulant kick out at a player after the whistle, and a red card for “running with his arm raised” against Brighton - that we aren’t going to appeal.

Now being one of our more high profile players, and being slight of build and whippet-like of speed, he is a target for some of the older, slower defenders in this league - he’s a target for niggles, kicking and general gamesmanship to either put him off or physically prevent him from doing damage to opponents.  That must be frustrating - it must be doubly so when the service he receives from our midfield reduces him to a few meagre pickings in terms of chances infront of goal.

But I can’t imagine that this situation has changed a great deal over recent weeks - indeed, since his days with Wycombe Wanderers in the league below.  So what has snapped for Nathan to start acting up and frankly, letting the fans and his teammates down with this level of unprofessionalism?  I can’t put my finger on it, but if you’re reading this Nath, sort it out mate - whatever negative things are going through your mind, cast them aside and remember that you have 20,000 of us willing you to do well and show your potential - and do damage to our opponents in the way that makes our goal tally increase!

Brighton and Hove Albion - 2
Nottingham Forest - 1

Oh dear.

I’ve decided not to dwell on this at all.

First half - lots of possession, lots of chances - sitters missed, still level at half time.  Tyson sent off for - as yet - unknown off-the-ball reasons, Lester scores a great goal, Grant is subbed for Junior, Curtis wrestles a Brighton player to the ground, wall with gaps in it, freekick scored, Forest kick off and hoof it to Brighton, Brighton attack and score again within a minute.

To say I’m pissed off is an understatement in the extreme.  What a tremendous let down this group of players are proving to be.  Surprising that Smoulderwood didn’t opt to make use of Clingan and Commons - particularly Clingan, and all in all, today has left me absolutely flabbergasted after a rollercoaster of a game.

A good first half, a sending off leaving us contemplating a draw being a good result, elation at Jack’s excellent intervention to be followed by absolute horrified disbelief at what was to follow.  Fair play to Brighton - who, I might add, hadn’t won at home since early December - they took their chances and grabbed the result - we certainly have nobody to blame but ourselves.

I feel like a bit of a stuck record now - but we need to sort this in our next game - at home against Blackpool.  I would have accepted 6 points from the Brighton, Blackpool and Chesterfield games - so now the gauntlett is down for the players to deliver them - do I think they will?  Do I bollocks.

Disgusted with the lot of them right now.

Although perhaps not in the way many Forest fans would hope, because rather than concentrate on his more famous times as Derby County or, more crucially, Nottingham Forest manager - the film is to be based on the excellent “The Damned United” - a semi-fictional book by David Peace detailing Clough’s ill-fated 44 day stint as a post Don Revie Leeds United manager, although does refer back to his previous playing and managing career.

So it will miss out Forest, and the book doesn’t really do justice to the Clough that us biased Forest folk knew and loved.  It’s true that he was probably at the lowest point of his managerial career at Leeds, and it’s also true that we have slightly green-jumper-tinted glasses too - but I do think that if the movie is to be like the book, then it’s likely to get a bit of a panning from certain quarters of the Forest and probably Derby fanbase if it’s not viewed with a certain amount of appreciating that this is only partially factual.

So Stephen Frears will be the director handling this sensitive movie timebomb, the writer Peter Morgan, and the Big Man himself to be played by Martin Sheen, as I previously noted.  This team, of course, all worked together to critical acclaim on “The Queen.”  It is already described as being quite a dark and compelling story, and I for one can’t wait to get the opportunity to see it (I must re-read the book, too, as it’s a bit sketchy now!).  Frears comments about it makes it sound quite amusing in itself:

Peter Morgan has said the Clough film might be really gritty, in black and white, with no female characters.

“Oh yes, it’s one for the boys,” says Frears, smirking like a gargoyle. “But then I’ve just made a film called The Queen.”

With no away win for two months, it’s pretty obvious that if we are - to coin a popular phrase - serious about promotion that we should be looking up to pick up all the points at the Withdean “stadium” on saturday. We’ve claimed 4 points from 6, and were unfortunate to only claim a draw at Bradford, whilst perhaps fortunate to claim three points against Northampton (although I think we deserved them) - so whilst results in the last two games have been okay - our performances have still been below our potential.

Brighton aren’t doing all that well, but as with us - their last game was a win - a 4-1 win against Leyton Orient. Before that they were really struggling to score - so hopefully our usually reliable(ish) defence can capitalise on this and all being well give us a clean sheet to build on. The drab surroundings of the Withdean will be boosted by a sell-out in the away end of hopefully vocal Forest fans backing the team, and Smoulderwood has a bit of a selection poser for the game.

Sammy Clingan is available again, as is new lad Luke Chambers after his forced omission from the squad to face Northampton Town. Kris Commons is also in the running for an appearance after completing 75 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly in which Chambers also featured (at right-back). Certainly Clingan would be straight in the team for Gary Holt for me. I’m not quite as vehemently anti-Holt as some fans, but Clingan does bring more to the pitch - but we would need to watch whether we’re covering back from midfield without Gary in the side.

I can’t really comment on Chambers but I don’t think our defence really needs tinkering with - if Commons is fully fit (or as close as fully fit as he gets) then I would be tempted to include him for his creativity - which is where the dilemma comes in - who would we drop to shoehorn him into the side? Perch? Harsh. Prutton? Harsh. Sacrifice a striker? Seems silly. It’s a tricky conundrum - I’d still just like to see a flat 4-4-2 formation, but without a right winger that means shoving Prutts or Perchy out on the right wing. Hmm. Maybe something like this could work:

Smith

Curtis Morgan Breckin Bennett

Perch Clingan Prutts Commons

Gr. Holt Tyson

But even then I’m forgetting Lester, who has worked hard to get back into first team contention and has made a difference in recent games. Maybe I would try to unleash the “wronged striker” in Grant and put him on the bench for Lester, hoping that it would trigger the best we’ve seen of him when he’s been inexplicably dropped or almost sold to Brizzle - as currently he seems to be entering the “moaning at the ref” cycle of his game.

All in all, tricky. I’m glad I’m a mere pleb and not the one who actually has to pick the team! But I digress from previewing this game, what of Brighton? They’re managed by Ray Wilkins’ little brother, although Dean doesn’t have the scary eyes thing going on. Another Dean is a player we might want to watch out for in midfield, Dean Hammond - he’s already weighed in with 10 goals this season.

It certainly won’t be easy, but on paper (ah, on paper - if only all games were played on paper we’d be promoted already!) we should have enough in the tank to win.  I think if we do get the result, and do it convincingly, it will be a much needed tonic for fans and team alike - too many of the doom-merchants are surfacing on the message boards despite us remaining in a competitive position - they soon go quiet when the team does well.  It’s almost like they enjoy failure more.

I imagine it will take more than a raised eyebrow of acknowledgement, a bronzen face just starting to line like a favourite Geography teacher, or any other charm offensive that Smoulders unleashed on Guardian journalist Georgina Turner.  Football fans are generally less susceptible to such things, and deal very much in the realm of quality of performance, points on the board and other softer measures like signs of ambition or signings of quality players.

Forest have a bit of a culture of impatience with managers in recent years - thinking back to Paul Hart, who got us into the playoffs on a shoestring before being turned on when it went wrong (with some justification, on reflection), Joe Kinnear arrived with a bang and left with the howling derision of the fans (self included!), Gary Megson had fans against him before a ball was kicked, turns out they were largely right, but still - and Smoulderwood seems largely the same in spite of us sitting pretty damn close to the top of the table.

The Northampton fans, despite his achieving a couple of playoff finishes and finally automatic promotion, don’t seem to miss life under him - and predictably had a fair few digs at him via the medium of chants.  For the record, I’m still undecided on him - erring on the side of being pleased with his contribution so far.  We’re still in touching distance of promotion, and whilst we’ve had a wobble (understatement!), it’s the coming months that will finalise my impressions of the manager rather than the past ones.

What puzzles me most is the fickleness of the fans - on saturday there were boos at half time, now I’m the first to acknowledge that it was hardly the most scintilating game of football I’ve ever seen - but it wasn’t anywhere near the worst either!  One of our biggest assets in this league is our fanbase, on our day we piss all over any other supporters in this league, in numbers and in backing - but it’s no good having 24,000 fans through the gate if they’re not going to back the team.

Now, I can understand the underlying issues - we’ve been struggling playing poor football for years - and whilst I would argue that Smoulds is certainly an improvement over Megson, and where performances may be lacking, results have followed sufficient to keep us only 2 points from the top so far.  Sometimes I wonder whether sections of our fans actually want us to do well.  I would prefer nice football, but frankly I can tolerate a bit of defensive football if that’s what it takes to get us promoted.

To take out 9-10 years of sub-mediocrity on a manager who’s only been here a matter of months seems somewhat counterproductive.  A manager needs at least a year to establish himself and his team, his sole remit this season is to get us promoted.  So far we’re firmly in the promotion race, we’ve had a cup embarrassment, but I’d counter that with an exciting (and ultimately disappointing) run in the FA Cup, and only went out of the TinPot cup on penalties to arguably the strongest other team in it - so far he is exceeding expectations on paper - assuming we maintain and achieve our promotion push.

Just think of the difference that 20,000+ fans actually backing the team vocally could add to our chances - it may only boost the players a fraction of a percent, and intimidate our opponents a similar amount, but surely if we have any opportunity to have a chance to positively affect what is happening on the pitch then we should grab it with both hands and get behind the lads?  Maybe I’m just too naive.

Nottingham Forest - 1
Northampton Town - 0

In stating the Cobblers goalkeeper as being man of the match would perhaps make you think Forest were in some way dominant in this game.  In truth, it was a scrappy game which I think the Reds did just about deserve three points.  Northampton did have some early pressure with a sequence of corners, and did have chances, but Forest created more and found their visitors more often than not content to frustrate us with some excellent defending.

The start of the match was certainly a load of Cobblers - and by that I mean the visitors went for it - but we soon started to come back into it.  The referee, who generally was one of the better we’ve seen, somehow missed an obvious foul on Jack Lester in the D - perhaps he’s familiar with Jack’s diving antics, and Grant missed a chance to volley us ahead from a Perch cross from the left.  Forest had a great deal of possession, although most of it was in defence or deep in midfield.

Prutton impressed in his second home debut in the first half - and seemed to conjure a shot out of nowhere that Mark Bunn did tremendously well to parry onto his post and win Forest their first corner of the game.  From this corner - taken by Perch - Wes Morgan sent a header goalwards only to be thwarted on the line by Kenny Deuchar.  Smith and Breckin had a bit of a mixup that could have seen the Cobblers profit, but fortunately Brecks was alert enough to clear up!

Johnson had a great effort in the dying moments of the first half - his curling effort looked to be heading into the top corner from the edge of the box but lucky for us it was just wide.  After this they gave us a further scare when ex-sheepshagging pensioner Ian Taylor hit the upright - so whilst we’d had chances, we also had scares from a very well drilled and disciplined Northampton side.  Amazingly, the Forest side went in to be greeted by boos - which surprised me as whilst it had been a frustrating half, it most certainly wasn’t bad - and we’d played some passing football too.  Forest fans mystify me sometimes.

The second half started with us having a chance - the otherwise excellent Bunn fumbled a cross and Breckin looked certain to score, but somehow the keeper got in the way of it whilst prone on the floor.  Shortly after this an excellent turn in the box by the impressive and resurgent Jack Lester was spectacularly saved by Bunn diving to his left.  For a smallish keeper he was a bloody impressive shot-stopped and on crosses too.

Tyson came on fairly early to replace the hapless Dobie.  Now I do have some sympathy with Dobie as he’s been almost constantly injured, indeed, he was holding his left thigh as he left the pitch.  But today Dobie demonstrated his knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time - he had a very disappointing game - summed up when the ball was played to him near the right hand corner and he managed a backheeled clearance to save the Northampton defence a job!

It was around this point that Northampton really stated their intentions of holding out for a draw, and Forest began to press - but the Cobblers defence did look able to withstand it for long periods, with the occasional forays forward usually instigated by the impressive Aiston, who played mostly on the right wing but seemed to have a free role enabling him to lose his marker regularly.  Prutton started to become more noticeable in midfield again, having been a tad anonymous earlier in the half.

Twenty minutes into the second half we finally made the breakthrough, as Perch lined up a freekick about 10 yards better than a corner on the right, I made a quip about it going straight into the arms of Bunn.  Fortunately my cynicism was misplaced, it went over Bunn and in a true Meadows bunfight, Julian Bennett managed to get there before Wes Morgan to bury a header and make the majority of the City Ground feel a great deal better!  It quietened the 3,000 or so Cobblers fans momentarily (how many did you take to Notts last season, Cobblers fans, before you start with the “not famous anymore” nonsense!).

Forest seemed content partially to sit on the lead, retreating ever deeper and letting Northampton attack them - with numerous backpasses to Smith causing consternation with the home fans, and seeming joy with the away fans with cries of “boring boring Forest!” and quips against their former manager Smoulderwood, who apparently they weren’t sorry to see the back of - there’s gratitude for you, eh?!  Last time I looked he got them promoted!

Grant seemed to spend more and more time getting frustrated and started mithering the referee almost constantly, and was duly substituted for Junior Agogo - a good move, I thought at the time.  Jack got his inevitable booking with a late challenge, couldn’t really argue it either - shortly after he was taken off to give Commons a run out, but frankly we played the final minutes far too deep and negative - as we’ve become used to - but fortunately today the defence held firm.

An incident on the left saw Bennett apparently punched and put in a headlock, but the referee either wanted to maintain the general calmness of the game or didn’t see it, as he simply booked both players which must have irked Jules somewhat - particularly when Aiston (I think) tried to cut him in half with a late challenge in stoppage time, and only picked up a booking.  Tyson also picked up a booking which I didn’t notice the reason for

All in all, a much needed three points - it puts us third, two points off 1st and 2nd with an equal number of games played.  It’s a shame Bristol equalised, but with Scunny’s game called off it enables us to keep the pressure on.  Whilst I said Mark Bunn was man of the match, for us it has to be Bennett, not just for the goal, but he put in a spirited performance in defence too - my favourite moment was his two thunderous challenges on consecutive Northampton players and yet somehow ending up with the ball at the end of it!

As if January wasn’t bad enough, Smoulds is teasing us with talk of loan signings, that aren’t due to be made for more than two weeks time!  He’s been characteristically quiet on who he is targeting, the Nottingham Evening Post - bastion of knowledge that it is - suggests a right sided midfielder might be one of the targets, and namechecks popular rumour-victim, Birmingham City’s Neil Danns.  But let’s remember that this publication once suggested we were signing Roberto Baggio when in fact we signed Robert Rosario!

The reason 28th February is the date we’ll be bringing players in from (hopefully), is because you’re only allowed to loan players for a maximum of 93 days outside the transfer window, which means any potential loanees will be available to play in the play off final.  What? I hear you cry!  We’re going for automatic promotion!  Surely such a delay is needless and unwarranted, surely we should bring in players NOW and secure the points we need for the automatic spot!

Well, on one hand it is disappointing to hear Smoulders acknowledge the possibility of entering the playoff lottery.  But let’s face it - we’ve all said it after a bad result or performance.  Our target still remains automatic promotion, but then again, I dare say that’s the case for Scunthorpe United, Oldham Athletic and Bristol City too - somebody of that quartet will have to be disappointed, and frankly, if we’re one of them, then I’ll be glad we prepared ourselves.

As for who the targets are - well, who can say?  It’s almost certain a midfielder will be on the cards - given the players Smoulderwood released, would a defender be likely?  I’m not so sure - whilst Cullip featured fairly regularly, Thompson was a bit-part player at best, and we’ve added Chambers who can play both centreback and right back.  Although given our luck with trying to loan Mark Yeates who went to the dirty place down Fosse Way, perhaps we shouldn’t be counting our chickens yet, anyway?  Particularly if they’ve been hanging around near Bernard Matthews’ turkey farms!!