Forest 1 United 2 (Forest win 3-2 on pens) - report

[guancheblade]

Ndiaye 7/10 – Misses a big chance and then started to make poor decisions or give it away rather than be secure with his link up but huge credit to him he kept his head up and kept going. He worked for the team and was able to last not just 90 minutes but 120 minutes. He was a threat and he got in behind and was involved in both goals. The main knock is he missed three chances and the one at the end was gutting as it would have put us through. He needs to show more composure in these moments.

I'm getting pretty tired of this fan base going in so hard on Ndiaye. He's such a young lad and is still learning. Needs to show more composure? Samba had to make terrific saves, neither were straight at him. I don't think anyone in our squad does better with those chances in that environment. Also he's the only one who managed to bag from the penalty spot! So he must have some degree of composure that his more experienced team mates were lacking.

You say he had the opportunity to put us through to Wembley. I say the only reason we had a sniff of Wembley by that point was his two key involvements in both goals. Norwood, Hourihane and MGW had literal sitters they failed to put away that denied us in the end.

 

[Deadbat]

I'm getting pretty tired of this fan base going in so hard on Ndiaye. He's such a young lad and is still learning. Needs to show more composure? Samba had to make terrific saves, neither were straight at him. I don't think anyone in our squad does better with those chances in that environment. Also he's the only one who managed to bag from the penalty spot! So he must have some degree of composure that his more experienced team mates were lacking.

You say he had the opportunity to put us through to Wembley. I say the only reason we had a sniff of Wembley by that point was his two key involvements in both goals. Norwood, Hourihane and MGW had literal sitters they failed to put away that denied us in the end.

He's still learning and I think he will go onto be a great player but he missed 3 one on ones with the keeper. You should finish one of those. As for his involvement in the two goals,he kind of messed up the first one before we regained possession. The 2nd he did well to nick a ball away but Baldock had loads to do.

I do love Ndiayes work ethic,close control and natural ability but he does need to work on his composure as despite scoring a few chances he has missed at least half a dozen one on ones this season - his goals weirdly have been as Webding when he has less time to think.

I think he will go on and have a great career and probably higher than us but will know he missed some big chances and be thinking about those all summer.

 

[guancheblade]

He's still learning and I think he will go onto be a great player but he missed 3 one on ones with the keeper. You should finish one of those. As for his involvement in the two goals,he kind of messed up the first one before we regained possession. The 2nd he did well to nick a ball away but Baldock had loads to do.

I do love Ndiayes work ethic,close control and natural ability but he does need to work on his composure as despite scoring a few chances he has missed at least half a dozen one on ones this season - his goals weirdly have been as Webding when he has less time to think.

I think he will go on and have a great career and probably higher than us but will know he missed some big chances and be thinking about those all summer.

He messed up, ended up on the floor, got back up off the floor before their defender could get the ball and HE regained possession for us... this is exactly what I'm talking about, lad is totally under appreciated even when what he's doing is plain to see.

 

[Blades Glory Owls Down]

Not had much time to get online since the game.

I thought that we were very good in containing a Forest side that will have been full of confidence after the first leg. They played the perfect away game at the Lane. Sitting in, keeping it narrow and not over committing players forward, leaving their front 3 to counter attack us quickly and causing us problems.
At their place, we controlled the game from start to finish, dominating the flow and tempo of the game. It seemed that they were happy to continue the game plan of the first leg into the second game and again were tight at the back.
We did however create some very good chances and probably been a goal to the good before conceding from their first real attack. At this point I genuinely thought it was game over and that we would collapse. We didnt and continued to take the game to them and were rightly disappointed to go in a goal down at half time.
The goal just after half time was just what was needed and caused some nerves in the Forest team/fans and it was only a matter of time before we were going to get another with the lingering threat that one lapse at the back could end the game as a contest for us.
We deservedly took the game to extra time and with a bit of luck could have won it in normal time.
I was confident that we would get the winner in extra time as we looked fresher than Forest who seemed devoid of confidence and any idea how to get at us other than the counter attack.
It wasnt to be in extra time due to their keeper who produced another fantastic save to add to the ones in normal time and Penalties it was.
I was much less confident when it went to penalties and when Norwood had his saved, I was convinced that it wasnt going to be our night.
Penalties is such a harsh way to lose a game but it is what it is.

Every player deserves credit for how they battled back, particularly after conceding to make it 1-3 on aggregate.

Just a word on Ndiaye. I think that he is a tremendous talent who will only get better with game time. He has shown his undoubted ability and people have rightly pointed out that he seems further forward in his breakthrough season than David Brooks did in his first. However I think that the ones who have pointed out the issues that he needs to work on to improve are right to do so.
He did extremely well to get into scoring positions/1 on 1s with the keeper but you would expect him to take 1 of the 3 that I recall from the game. This isnt negativity. It is making a valid point. This is something that he needs to work on to get better as a player. Same too with his stamina. We have seen regularly that he seems to "hit the wall" around the 70 minute mark on a lot of occasions. Again this is something to work on. It isnt being negative. It is stating what has happened. I'm sure that he will address this over the coming season(s) and looks to have a fantastic future ahead of him.

Now the club needs to regroup and start putting things into motion for next season. There are obvious areas that need attention (Competition keeper, CB to challenge Bash/Egan/Robinson, More athleticism in Midfield/Replacement for Berge if he leaves and someone to fill the gap left by MGW.
There are positives in that hopefully we can get the likes of Brewster and Bogle fit as they were a huge loss (Brewster just started to show what he had to offer and Bogle was unplayable before his injury). We also have Lowe back from his loan spell. He was getting rave reviews at Forest so will be someone to have a look at to challenge Enda/RND for the LWB spot.
Reasons to be optimistic but we need to act fast.