Football News: Nottingham Forest v Leeds 11 August 2019 Match Review

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Daylight robbery of a point, battling defensive performance or ying meeting yang with the balance restored could all be used to describe yesterdays game and pretty well covers most peoples view of the match .

I was, it has to be said, a little surprised to see the same starting line up from last week and had expected to see Jenkinson playing at right back in place of Cash but the manager kept faith with his line up.

From the off it became apparent that we were in for a tough afternoon with Leeds pressing and pushing us further back which was to be the case for most of the game.

Muric did look to me somewhat edgy and nervous and his usual good distribution seemed to have deserted him but this MAY have been his first taste of such a vocal and intimidating arena and he did settle as the game grew on but still gave me the impression of being a little edgy.

Leeds pretty well bossed most of the pitch for the first 45 and we were no doubt fortunate to go in at half time level but that said Leeds final ball into the box, of which there were many, was on the whole a poor one, and Dawson in particular had an outstanding game and won most of the balls he went for.

Bamford was for the most part profligate in front of goal and the half finished with neither side having an effort worthy of the name on target.

Leeds came out for the second half with renewed vigour and it came as no real surprise when they took the lead courtesy of Hernandez and I must admit I feared that the floodgates may open but the introduction of Ameobi saw the balance of things tip slightly away from Leeds and perhaps for the first time in the game give them something to think about and he made good use of the ball with some strong and powerful runs on the right side showing no small amouts of skill and good touch along the way.

Whilst not exactly a game changer for us at least thay were not having things entirely their own way and with Bamford continuing to spurn opportunities and showing poor touch and thinking they appeared to become slightly more frustrated and when Grabban netted it was to my eyes a body blow which took the sting from them for pretty well the rest of the game and barring a frantic last couple of minutes looked a little bereft of ideas and quite frankly shellshocked at the position they found themselves in.

Robinson seemed to have one his slightly ill disciplined games with one yellow and on another day perhaps a second and a resultant penalty ( of which more later) and seemed to lack a little pace .

I may go against the grain regarding Cash but I don't think he had a particularly good game at right back in a defensive capacity and was constantly being barked at by Dawson to get back into position with his tendency to wander towards the centre of the pitch ( probably his more usual game to be fair) .

Worrall though doing nothing majorly wrong is still to me perhaps not our best pairing at centre back and his passing out from the back was poor to say the least although in fairness Dawsons was not great either but then again for the most partr they were being pressed quite high up.

Silva tried manfully but for the second week in a row was bullied off the ball but at least he always comes back for more with his sleeves rolled up and cerainly puts in no small amount of effort.

Watson appeared to run out of a steam and was perhaps guilty of wasting one of the few clear cut chances in the game when a little more composure may have reaped a reward.

Unforyunately little can be said of Adomah and in particular Lolley because for the most part that's what they both offered and provided, very little, with Lolley probably having his worst game I have seen in a Forest shirt with the simplest of passes or knock doens going astray and it is to be hoped that he finds his form of last season sooner rather than later.

Semedo was a tower of strength in the first half and was responsible for most of what we did right in the midfield and he looks every inch a quality player.

As I inferred earlier for me the player that turned things around albeit slightly was Ammeobi whose introduction proved a handful for Leeds who had for the most part bossed the game and as others have said he could well prove suited to a more central role.

Grabban was for me my man of the match yesterday and had one of his best games for us.
I cannot recall him tracking back so much in a game and several times took the ball, forward from just outside our area.
For a player whose attitude has been questioned on here, myself included, it was an indication of what he can provide us with when the mood suits as it were.

Clearly mention has to be made of the officials today with so many contentious decisions but at least the referee was consistent with his actions.

On viewing the game on tv there's is no doubt in my mind that we were lucky not to concede a penalty from a rash Robinson " tackle" but equally I think the tackle by Phillips for which he recived a yellow was a carbon copy of the one in the reverse fixture last season for which he recieved a straight red.

So back to where I started and for all Forest fans justice was seen to be done following Roofes goal last season and a point away at Elland road is something this early in the season I would have been happy to take but for me the everything in the garden is not exactly rosy either and we really did ride our luck .

I am sure that that Mr Lamouchi will have learend a lot about the players on view and would expect some changes next week against Birmingham ( Fleetwood to me is just a sideshow I am afraid ) but I still think its a mistake not to have sigend a striker and would still expect a free agent to be signed sooner rather than later but the quality of those can be a little hit or miss.

All in all a really good game to watch, particularly for the neutrals, with the travelling support being very much on form and vocal so yes in truth it was a lucky point for me but its something early in the season to build on and at the very least we did show guts and determination against a pretty classy side who granted has a bit of an off day in front of goal but that's the way this game can go.

So the Blues next up and hopefully three points to be taken so

As Always

COYR.

Written by creepy1 August 11 2019 17:52:15