Match Threads Nottingham Forest v Spurs

[Tony-Bish]

Just feels like they are rubbing it in:

| Nottingham Forest forward Anthony Elanga on the thinking behind the team choosing to play more on the counter-attack vs Spurs:

“There was space in behind. There was loads of space in the game, that is how Tottenham play - with the high line.
The manager is always able to adjust and we did that brilliantly.”

The idea, is that we play our way and if we’re not good enough it shows where we need to strengthen. It shows us which players are capable and which are not. It’s clear we miss VDV’s recovery ability for the high line we want to play.

so basically. Yes we could change to win this game but it doesn’t help us long term. For once we need to think long term

 

[Tony-Bish]

And though I can understand what your view is I'm a different point of view, you see there is no absolute right or wrong here. I've followed Spurs since we were in the 2nd division. I've seen us struggle with relegation, I've seen our best players leave, I've seen no hope of us competing with the premier leagues best, I've seen some of the teams that were contempories with us get relegated even when they splashed the cash and won things or nearly won things and I wouldn't swap with them. I've seen us improve from those times to a club with world class facilities who have made changes to try to get us on a footing with the cash rich, somethings are a lot better and we regularly compete at the top 6 level which we weren't before. From what I can see we are gaining a financial foothold though it hasn't yet seen fruition. I see the chairman's statements that he wants us to succeed, just because we haven't yet doesn't mean he doesn't want to. I have seen him make mistakes but I don't think its easy when you are planning for the long term rather than the short term that some clubs have. I would never take any part in any action that tries to dissemble that. I dislike and would never take part in any action that says 'drive the chairman out by making him and his family feel uncomfortable' (using abuse and personal insults). I hope you understand my point of view and don't take the stance that yours is the only correct one and you aren't condescending to anyone who sees it different.
BTW I am cautious with my money too and almost never will take risks, so you see we're all different as I've seen people take risks and be in a long term regret. I would rather play a longer game.
On the current situation I don't think Ange will get us where we want to be though I think he should see the season out, but have to accept that I may be proved wrong. We are struggling with injuries and fatigue at the moment but had a full and strong team in the first match of the season and through lack of game management in the 2nd half we were the 2nd best team and were lucky to escape with a point. Not the only game we have lost due to lack of game management, from my memory there is Newcastle, Brighton etc....

I agree with you on the first part, well said. I do have believe Ange is the man to see us through the rebuild. Bumps in the road are inevitable and we haven’t had keys players for the system.

The reason it’s important not to adjust your style is two fold in my view; one; we want to play a certain way, like Liverpool do, like city when they were dominant (not a reactive team like wolves under Gary o’niel) and two; we need to see which players we need to improve for the system. As we go it will get better, but we need players back and to make moves in the transfer market.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

We went to a tough place today with a team far off from 1st choice, I cant be as down about it some of you guys. I'm disappointed we didn't get more but I'm going to wait till we are near to full strength before throwing the baby out.

I’m not particularly down about today. Only checked the score twice during the game (wasn’t able to watch). This is mainly because I’ve lost all faith in this project. We were also shit when we had a near full strength side earlier in the season against Ipswich and Palace. We are just terrible under Ange full stop - consistently awful results for over a year.

 

[UbeAstard]

People saying we actually did ok to only lose 1-0 to Nottingham Forrest shows just how far we have fallen. We were in a champions league final a few years ago ffs.

And there is no respect for the oppositions rise and current form against our injuries and depleted.......?

 

[Trix]

I’m not particularly down about today. Only checked the score twice during the game (wasn’t able to watch). This is mainly because I’ve lost all faith in this project. We were also shit when we had a near full strength side earlier in the season against Ipswich and Palace. We are just terrible under Ange full stop - consistently awful results for over a year.

I lost faith months ago, and God knows why but I went today. I had a freebie in an exec box with food and drink laid on. The day cost me literally nothing and I still feel ripped off!

 

[hutchiniho]

I certainly can't say that isn't the case but in that situation, does the physio department or sports science department or whatever they're called these days have the nous or ability to know that and feed that over to Ange?

I just can’t imagine Postecoglou would do anything differently even if someone is proactively passing that information on.
He’s a clever guy, he must see it for himself.
Just chooses to continue with whatever this morning break four up, one back, strategy is.

 

[Ossie85]

The injury excuse is valid up until a point. We are getting more players injured than players back to fitness.
We have 4 CBs out now
What more proof is needed to understand who's responsible? It's def not bad luck
We are going to run out of players at this rate

 

[FloridaSpur]

Only the bottom 4 have lost more matches than us. That’s horrific.

I remember 1977 well.

Never thought that this would be remotely possible that season, "too good to go down".

As a single lad, I missed three games that season home and away and always thought that we would be safe, win the next one and we would somehow survive. Todays game reminded me of that season.

Please laugh at me all you want. Our next five fixtures, pick me a win?

Wolves
Newcastle
Liverpool
Woolwich
Everton

 

[FloridaSpur]

We need to start buying players that will go straight into the starting line up

That you Martin?

 

[FloridaSpur]

Yep, like sacking a manager, bringing in a new one and not backing them.

If anyone thinks sacking Ange and bringing in a new manager will improve things long term they are utterly deluded.

Results might improve for the short term but ultimately the same thing will eventually happen. Rinse and repeat.

Can Ange do better? Absolutely. But I don’t think we’ll see any kind of real success with Levy in charge regardless of what manager we have.

We’ve seen them all, young project managers, older experienced managers, ‘arms around the shoulder’ managers, strict and regimental managers, seen them all under Levy and if we are honest not one has really worked.

You mean like we did under Ange?

 

[Finchyid]

Yea and a month ago we were only 3 points off 4th but look where we are now.
In 5 weeks time we will be out of league cup and potentially the fa cup depending if we get a half decent side in the draw.

The lows just keep getting lower

Or we could be in a league cup final and still in the FA cup

 

[Gilzeanking]

On the match, I'm surprised at how Udogie has regressed since his dazzling first period with us, he doesn't seem to contribute in attack or defend convincingly these days (see Forest goal) .Is this a long term injury thing maybe ?

Solanke works hard, but there were a few times when our crosses came in and he wasn't in the danger area. A disappointing match for him. Hope he finds his groove soon.

I am a major disbeliever in Johnson, since I first saw his YT clips ! However yesterday I thought I saw some little bits of promise. He's no winger, but as an 'inside forward' (as we used to say), he has something imo. His shooting has a bit of the goalscoring greats about it, ie often low and accurate. He's intelligent often too . Yes, I'm grasping at straws for a player I've always disliked, but I think he could be effective as a squad player 2nd striker.

Disappointing match, just couldn't see where the goals for us were coming from.

 

[nedley]

Son and the revenue he brings is a no brainer for me at the moment but he shouldn't be a guaranteed starter and in an ideal situation would be getting less game time, however we are thin on the ground.

Agree.

So if him signing an extention means he contractually has to start a percentage of games, I'd rather not give hin that extention.

I will add though, that's under Ange's football. Ange goes and we could be having a different convo...

 

[Dov67]

But if you've 3 out of 4 CB's out injured their quality isn't relevant because they're not available anyway and now it seems we've got all four out!

Sure, but our problems aren’t limited to freakish injury crisis at CB. They precede this season by many years, they relate to who we recruit, who we dont, the culture of mediocrity and acceptance and expectation of failure, the fact that we used to be a club that regularly won things and are we now known and ridiculed as the club that wins F**k all.

It’s not about our CB and who’s injured and fit. Nobody described the current state of the club better than Conte in his last press conference. Some people cheered him on, some were horrified but in my opinion he spoke the unvarnished truth, for which he of course got fired.

Ange could be doing better for sure, the players could be playing better for sure, notwithstanding the crazy injury crisis we have right now combined with natural fatigue, but again, in my opinion these are minor issues when set against the bigger picture of what’s truly wrong at our club.

 

[Terry & Terry]

I remember 1977 well.

Never thought that this would be remotely possible that season, "too good to go down".

As a single lad, I missed three games that season home and away and always thought that we would be safe, win the next one and we would somehow survive. Todays game reminded me of that season.

Please laugh at me all you want. Our next five fixtures, pick me a win?

Wolves
Newcastle
Liverpool
Woolwich
Everton

So do I and I have been having the same thoughts.

 

[Dennism]

Wasn't Anderton apparently just keeping himself fit for England duty? Phnar phnar.

That sounds like Romero for Argentina.

 

[McFlash]

Yesterday was my Christmas day so I was round my sisters with the family and while I managed to get the game on the telly, we were all playing games and having fun so I didn't really get to see any of it.

I know we lost but how did we play because every time I managed to catch a glimpse at the TV, we looked to be quite dominant?

There were some strange results all over yesterday.

 

[McFlash]

Mate we didn’t even have a shot on goal in the second half! It was god awful and we can’t play or have any idea how to play against a team with a low block.

I didn't watch the game and I'm trying to catch up on this thread to see how we played but this comment has raised a question.
Was it mainly that our wide players were their often seen weak and pathetic selves? Failing to create anything for themselves or their team mates?

Only I did get to see some of the early game and while City are in a sticky patch themselves, they really struggled with Everton's incredibly well organised low block as well.

That's why the "lesser" teams play that way, because it makes it hard for the oppo to score, we need better quality out wide.

 

[McFlash]

A big concern of mine at the moment is that if we do sack Ange, what sort of manager is going to look at this club and think "yeah, I could make that work?".

There going to look at our past managers, what they've said and done, glance up at Levy on his little perch and think "fuck that!".

What manager is going to think he can do what Jose, Conte and Ange couldn't?

 

[olliec]

I didn't watch the game and I'm trying to catch up on this thread to see how we played but this comment has raised a question.
Was it mainly that our wide players were their often seen weak and pathetic selves? Failing to create anything for themselves or their team mates?

Only I did get to see some of the early game and while City are in a sticky patch themselves, they really struggled with Everton's incredibly well organised low block as well.

That's why the "lesser" teams play that way, because it makes it hard for the oppo to score, we need better quality out wide.

Our wide players didn’t even attempt to beat any man. Johnson sometimes gets into good positions but he can’t take on anyone on. As for Son I love the guy but the less said the better. It was really really poor!