Football News: Nottingham Forest v Brentford Review

Image from: freelargeimages.com

Nottingham Forest v Brentford Review

Brentford have in the past proved to be a stumbling block for us and have the reputation for playing slick, quick passing football but today for virtually the entire game they were quite simply also rans against a Forest side who were in control from start to finish and for my money never looked like conceding a goal.

The first half, whilst not exactly uneventful, produced some lively football with Silva, who seemed to be playing the more central role, going close with a free kick with Carvalho starting out on the left.
The back four one again looked immense snuffing out Brentfords attack and forcing them wide whilst Cash, who arguably had his best game at right back, and Ribiero stormed forward at every opportunity showing great resolve and energy in getting back into position quickly and not leaving us exposed.

Sow oddly enough seemed to have an unsettled start to the game with some of his passes going astray but this was a minor blip on what became a usual day at the office for him ie doing the simple things well and putting in the yards.

Both Watson ( oh how I wish he was 5 years younger ) and Worrall were simply outstanding and Chema slotted into the line up seamlessly as though he had played the last 6 games . The concern with Worrall and maybe even Samba is that if they continue to perform in this way then Premiership clubs may well come a calling come January but that will be a hurdle to be crossed further down the line .
Samba was called upon to make a good save from a deflected effort with the last kick of the first half and you felt that it was only a matter of time before we would break Brentford down which duly arrived via an excellent corner from Silva and a perfectly weighted header from Worrall to allow Watson to volley home and really that was the game pretty well sewn up.

We began to create more chances on the break and to be frank could and maybe even should have capitalised on them to give the scoreline a little better balance because we really were more than one goal better than Brentford today and I for one at no time felt that they were going to " nick " one back in the dying stages which we have seen all too often in seasons past.
Both Lolley and Grabban were full of tireless running and pulling the Brentford defence all over the pitch and someone said that Grabban was Forests first line of defence which just about covers it for me.
The Carvalho / Silva pairing did give me the impression of being a little lightweight and Carvalho found the game difficult to get into at the start but who am I to argue with a manager who seems for the most part to have the Midas touch right now with pretty well every player he picks and substitution he makes paying off and having the humility to admit when his choices and selections are not quite right.

So with almost a quarter of the season gone we now sit joint top on goal difference and I for one will freely admit that I did not anticipate this at all and of course as we all know things can turn very quickly in this league but that said at the moment I firmly believe that we have as much of a shout at automatic promotion as 7 or 8 other clubs and the play offs are certainly far more achievable this year than ever before.
I see a group of players who are clearly enjoying what they are doing and playing AS A TEAM with nothing to fear, no opposition to seriously concern them with outstanding support and perhaps most importantly of all a very, very astute and underestimated manager ( and I happily include myself in the latter ) .

So an irritating International break coming up which at least will give Dawson and hopefully Sow some recovery time before the trip to Wigan and for those of you on here with long memories of my last visit to Wigan my dummy shall remain in my mouth and my toys in the pram so

As always

COYR.

Written by creepy1 October 05 2019 23:02:22