United 1 Forest 1 - report

[sufcboy95]

Last minute goal is hard to take but overall we didn’t deserve the win. Tbh we didn’t even deserve a point.
Was a mixture of them playing well and having a good game plan and us just not getting going. The amount of times we passed them the ball was criminal. First half we didn’t get MGW and Berge on the ball at all and Billy may as well have been sat with me in the Kop.

One positive is we were only a 3/10 and still managed to get a point against an 8/10 Forrest.

One thing for certain is Spence and Davis won’t be at Forrest next season

 

[richblade]

The touch and passing of most players last night was down to being
dazzled by that luminous kit

 

[sitwell]

It's a penalty 8 times out of 10 from most refs I'd argue. The player is clever putting his body across and his leg but is there contact and he is wrong side after being skinned. When the ball is goal side and the attacker gets in front then contact means the defender will be penalised. Other way round and the Kop are baying for a penalty. He is giving away needless fouls every game that is costing us. He'd had a good few ganes recently but last two showed he struggles when one on one v pace/power.

Everything you have said there equals no penalty. Ridiculous decision by a weak incompetent twat.

 

[Deadbat]

Everything you have said there equals no penalty. Ridiculous decision by a weak incompetent twat.

I will try and explain (maybe better than my clumsy attempt above). Normally whoever has the ball and is in possession which Spence was will normally get the foul when significant contact comes. I do think Spence was clever and put his body across but Norrington Davies also clips him from behind if you look at it and Spence was running at pace but as I say the key is who had control of the ball in this situation. RND needs to ease up at this stage as we had men coming across. At real time and at pace I can totally see why he gave it and think most refs would sadly.

I am not even sure VAR would see that as an obvious error. I might be wrong. I am not sure it is a ridiculous decision and most reports (impartial) in the papers do not really allude to it being particularly controversial. We have to be smarter. Ultimately RND and Fleck let him him run through way too easily and put us in a bad position.

They should have had a much more blatant pen before so not sure we can really complain too much.

Agree the ref was rubbish though overall and he was so inconsistent in everything he did. I have no issues with a ref calling it tight or alternately letting things flow but this guy changed the way he reffed several times and it was hard to know what contact was acceptable.

 

[ZLB]

Well done on the reduced 'not sure' count. First one in para 22, and only 3 in total. Excellent report, thank you. xxx

 

[highgreeninjapan]

Cheers DB.

Considering the performance, a decent point, but it’s a sickener.

Not sure who’s at fault for the goal, but the sad thing is that they’d done the same routine a few times (header just wide at the start of the game, and the one on the bar in the second). We didn’t learn.

We never got going in midfield. I think that’s partly the decent pressing job Forest did, our panicked and inept attempts to evade it, and the ball never quite sticking up top. Apart from a couple of poor balls early on, I don’t think Norwood was too bad. He wasn’t great either. Fleck was keen to get involved, but he’s lacking dynamism. Berge was decent when on the ball, but for large spells he had one of those games where he seems almost emotionally distant from the game and content to amble around, near the action but rarely in it.

Midfield-wise to attack, that was our strongest side, which might be a worry, or it might be a sign of how important our wing backs are. I was pleased to see Seriki so advanced, but yeah, it wasn’t the time for him. His stats for the game are rough, with very little to show for the hour or so that he was on (only 5 accurate passes!). Could have easily been another pen, too, with the short pulling.

Some have praised RND’s performance. Some have criticized. I’m totally in the middle. It wasn’t a pen, Spence totally fabricated it, and that kind of play to me is a foul the other way. On the other shoe, RND’s at fault by a) getting done easily and b) grabbing the arm. He’s made it easy for Spence to ensure there’s contact, and probably made it easier for the ref to give it. I dunno. It’s never a pen, but it was also poor play from RND. I think RND is OK, but for all the left wing backs we have, I think we need one more. Glad to see Ozzy back, and hoping to see him get some time in what for me is his best position.

Anyway, cheers DB!

 

[Deadbat]

Are you sure that is right? I'm not sure myself.

 

[tincan]

I think the marks are all too low.Overlooking the atrocious ref: suckered by Spence kicking back to RND to make the pen, Davis jumping on to Wes. Worrall clattering Billy all game, had we been so cynical it would have been red card dipping once again.

 

[Deadbat]

Are you sure? I am not sure myself -response to ZLB

There's 4 with my double post so back to normal!

 

[metalblade]

Player marks about the same as what I would have given most of the team were below 6 for me. I don't know if it is just me but when you think we couldn't get a worse Ref along come another one to prove you wrong. I don't see how our player is wrestled to the floor by his neck and then gets booked for a foul WTF did the ref see?

 

[Rudders]

Not really a comment about last nights game or the match report, which I enjoyed, but on the opposition- Forest obviously have improved under Cooper, but they were poor in the return fixture at their ground. We dominated them with a Slav era team and I felt they were lucky to grab a draw in that game with another late equalizer. So not all that.

 

[Deadbat]

The Tufty Club

@tufty_club
After getting ahead of a good Forest side, United were left cursing the ref's watch (and their inability to stay awake on corners), conceding late in the day at the Lane

https://soundcloud.com/tufty-club/tufty-club-reaction-21-22-forest-home…

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2QLyp7QyM88IO6JTqhqJH4…

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/id1508158343?i=1000553017856… #sufc #twitterblades #shufor

 

[William Large]

We need a change of plan for the decent teams who press us high and close down quickly.

Against the shitter teams We have recently been able to pass round then but against Blackburn and Forest, we have looked terrible against these tactics.

We need pace up front to stretch the game and to counter the high press. Lumping if forward to Billy isn’t going to cut it.

Jebbo needs to either start or to come on earlier as he has pace and is not afraid to put himself about.

I would have played instead of Fleck last night as recently we have kept and used the ball much better with him and Norwood playing together.

Davies was as good as I’ve seen in an opposition striker last night. Strong, skilful and really caused problems.

 

[Addison]

Don't disagree with the scores.

" United were weak, small and slow, leggy and beset with injuries"

"Forest had energy, power pace"

Unfortunately the decision to cut corners and not appoint a Head of Sports Science is beginning to bite. The players had a week off with the benefit of an extra rest day but too many last night were treading treacle from minutes 1-95.

Prestridge was rightly criticised when he over trained the players during lockdown. Yet the previous 3.5 seasons we were the fittest team in the league. Watching Boro the other night it was their superior fitness that overpowered Spurs during extra time. It can't all be blamed on fixture congestion and it is costing us at the moment.

24 hours later I still can't work out whether it was our lack of sharpness that contributed to such a flat first hour, was it the right decision to give them an extra day off? Florist being considerably better than us or the Manager failing to realise for 60 minutes that Norwood had been pressed out of the game. The back 6 whilst struggling at times kept us in the game. We were forced back into a 3-5-1-1 formation and looked clueless on how to get out of the Florist press. When the belated change was made and we brought on an extra forward alongside Sharp with MGW dropping back to a 10 we instantly improved, took the game to them and created the better chances. Its fair to say both goals came against the run of play. Problem is we only upped our game for the last 30 minutes.

Yes young Jebbinson should have made that pass but his presence up top caused Florist problems they hadn't experienced all game. Agree its harsh to criticise him for the missed chance. He made a run to receive the pass from MGW that another forward on the pitch doesn't seem capable of doing at the moment.

As for Spence he looked head and shoulders above others last night. Any of our LWB would have struggled with him although it was a soft pen more akin to EPL than EFL officiating. How many times this season have we had our players told to get on their feet at the slightest touch when going down in the area. We are on a bad run with officials at the moment.

Onto Boro who will set up in the same way. We have to brave and if it isn't working make changes to formation and personnel much earlier. I sincerely hope our fans realise the importance of the game and that our support needs to be concentrated 100% on SUFC.

 

[Champagneblade]

I think we take some comfort from the fact that at their best and not far off our worst they were still incapable of beating us and didn't create all that much in total honesty.

I wasn't overly impressed with Johnson and would be loathe to part with 20m for him. He still looks very green, at least on that outing.

They were minus Grabban, though given Davis was man of the match, can't say that impacted their effectiveness, minus Samba, and no keeper would have saved Billy's header an minus Lowe.

Meanwhile if we get through this week unscathed we can expect to have both Baldock and Basham back as well as Goode soon enough for the run in though I still shit myself at the thought of Gibbs-White of Sharp picking up an injury. It really does need McBurnie, Jebbo or N'Diaye to come into some form in the next douzen matches to take off some pressure.

 

[Webding]

“Not sure” they were at their best. They were pretty good, intense and at us, but nowhere near the levels of that half hour or so against Leicester in the cup.

But yep, given our injuries etc, it was an encouraging result in the scheme of things.

 

[TJ blade]

I think we take some comfort from the fact that at their best and not far off our worst they were still incapable of beating us and didn't create all that much in total honesty.

I wasn't overly impressed with Johnson and would be loathe to part with 20m for him. He still looks very green, at least on that outing.

They were minus Grabban, though given Davis was man of the match, can't say that impacted their effectiveness, minus Samba, and no keeper would have saved Billy's header an minus Lowe.

Meanwhile if we get through this week unscathed we can expect to have both Baldock and Basham back as well as Goode soon enough for the run in though I still shit myself at the thought of Gibbs-White of Sharp picking up an injury. It really does need McBurnie, Jebbo or N'Diaye to come into some form in the next douzen matches to take off some pressure.

Not sure who's going to get the goals if Billy gets injured.

 

[bonobo]

I am hoping when he finishes his suspension, Goode is someone who strengthen us at both ends for the final 10 mins. As always, here is hoping...

 

[Deaneandagana]

Don't disagree with the scores.

" United were weak, small and slow, leggy and beset with injuries"

"Forest had energy, power pace"

Unfortunately the decision to cut corners and not appoint a Head of Sports Science is beginning to bite. The players had a week off with the benefit of an extra rest day but too many last night were treading treacle from minutes 1-95.

Prestridge was rightly criticised when he over trained the players during lockdown. Yet the previous 3.5 seasons we were the fittest team in the league. Watching Boro the other night it was their superior fitness that overpowered Spurs during extra time. It can't all be blamed on fixture congestion and it is costing us at the moment.

24 hours later I still can't work out whether it was our lack of sharpness that contributed to such a flat first hour, was it the right decision to give them an extra day off? Florist being considerably better than us or the Manager failing to realise for 60 minutes that Norwood had been pressed out of the game. The back 6 whilst struggling at times kept us in the game. We were forced back into a 3-5-1-1 formation and looked clueless on how to get out of the Florist press. When the belated change was made and we brought on an extra forward alongside Sharp with MGW dropping back to a 10 we instantly improved, took the game to them and created the better chances. Its fair to say both goals came against the run of play. Problem is we only upped our game for the last 30 minutes.

Yes young Jebbinson should have made that pass but his presence up top caused Florist problems they hadn't experienced all game. Agree its harsh to criticise him for the missed chance. He made a run to receive the pass from MGW that another forward on the pitch doesn't seem capable of doing at the moment.

As for Spence he looked head and shoulders above others last night. Any of our LWB would have struggled with him although it was a soft pen more akin to EPL than EFL officiating. How many times this season have we had our players told to get on their feet at the slightest touch when going down in the area. We are on a bad run with officials at the moment.

Onto Boro who will set up in the same way. We have to brave and if it isn't working make changes to formation and personnel much earlier. I sincerely hope our fans realise the importance of the game and that our support needs to be concentrated 100% on SUFC.

Some fair points made, only thing I think worthy to add to the debate was Forest’s energy levels - for 70 mins they ran their knackers off, last 20 they were out on their feet.