It was a frustrating afternoon down at The City Ground against Preston and coming away, it certainly felt liked we dropped the opportunity of getting 3 points.
On the balance of the game, a draw was a fair result. Forest came back into the game following Preston’s decent first half showing. I’ve read their manager and striker bemoaning the result but Preston were their own worst enemies in letting their 1-0 advantage slip. They were happy to sit on it for the duration of the 2nd half and it was unfortunate that we couldn’t muster any further momentum to claim all 3 points.
That brings me to letting the opportunity go of claiming a home win just before the international break. The manager felt his game plan was wrong in the first half but if I’m completely honest, I thought he was let down by one particular individual in Alfa Semedo yesterday.
Samba Sow had a storming game at Fulham last week and really should’ve started but the manager had given Semedo a chance to impress after an improved performance midweek. Unfortunately Semedo was casual once more and playing off the striker; he struggled to link any of our forward play up at all. When he looks disinterested, he becomes a liability within our midfield. It then further impacts on Ben Watson and Tiago Silva. Their deficiencies begin to show up and it highlights that this particular midfield combo is only as strong as its weakest link. We can’t afford to carry players if we’re promotion hopefuls.
It looked like Samba Sow was going to come on before the break given the problems it was causing. It was annoying that we couldn’t get to the break unscathed as Preston got their goal before half time. In fairness, it looked a decent enough goal with some clever skill from Bodin, that left our defenders on their backsides not once but twice in the build up.
The plan wasn’t right and the goal made it that much more difficult to recover from. It wasn’t a surprise to see Semedo hooked at half time and Samba Sow made an instant impact. Semedo will have lost some trust in his manager based on that showing. I can only speculate that Sabri was referring to Semedo as part of his post match thoughts. Sabri felt that his game plan had failed and that he will take responsibility for it. Be interesting to see if Semedo starts the next one. We can’t afford to be carrying passengers at Swansea after their start to the season.
I should point out that I’m not mindlessly bashing Semedo here. I think he’s a very talented player with all of the physical attributes to match it. My biggest bugbear with any player is seeing talent go to waste. If Semedo can get his attitude right, he can be a good player and could make a real difference to our team. We’ve seen glimpses. I just see him playing rather for himself than his team mates at the moment and we can’t afford that. We need him on board. As a collective under Sabri Lamouchi, I think this team can have a good season but the players need to be playing for each other.
Semedo wasn’t the only one who had an off day as the attacking three behind Lewis Grabban all struggled. Joe Lolley and Sammi Ameobi had really quiet games too and we didn’t get them on the ball enough to sharpen their play up. It was probably Sammi’s least effective performance in a Forest shirt and although Joe had a better game in the week, he stills looks a bit rusty to me. I wouldn’t go as far to say he’s being deliberately targeted, his usual dribbling prowess just isn’t at his usual consistent standards yet. He’s showed it in patches but hopefully he can pick up after the international break. Joe has set himself very high standards to maintain.
I couldn’t fault the rest of the team really. I thought our defence and keeper were relatively untroubled despite Preston carrying a greater threat in the first half. I couldn’t recall any real issues in the second period. All the more frustrating that we couldn’t get our act together further up the pitch.
Thankfully the cavalry from the bench arrived to change the game. Whilst Samba Sow was winning balls back straight after the break, Carvalho provided the moment of magic that we needed. A lovely through ball put two Forest players in on goal (it was that good a pass) and Adomah took his chance well, once more when coming off the bench. That’s 3 in 4 for Albert now and he’s looking a worthy investment with his experience and know how. He’ll be pushing for a start at Swansea but at the very least, he can affect things off the bench. He’s a decent upgrade in the weapons armory department.
Unfortunately, time wasn’t on our side to pick up the 3 points although the officials acknowledged the blatant time wasting from Preston with 6 minutes of injury time. We didn’t do enough to pinch it although it would have been harsh on Preston but we all know how momentum can win football matches alone.
It would be hypocritical for me to complain about Preston’s second half tactics, as Forest were just as bad at Fulham last week. It’s one of those things in terms of game management away from home but for Alex Neill to complain about it post match is tough luck I’m afraid. Preston had deservedly been in front as rewards for their possessional play in the first half but they’d have been better off sticking with it rather than time wasting and play acting for the second period. It was like watching two different sides. They were your tactics Alex; take some responsibility for it.
Despite my disappointment at throwing away an opportunity to build further momentum, it was good that we got ourselves back into it. I feel confident that we’ve got genuine quality to hurt teams but we’ve got to do it earlier in games if we’re serious about promotion.
There are lots of positives to take from the first part of the season though.
Carvalho came off the bench to try and get the party started and he may as well have had his Mexican party hat on with his silky moves. We’ve missed his quality and he made the difference in a game that we arguably would’ve lost last year. The boy is a class act. Welcome back Joao!
#nffc pic.twitter.com/jAPdAHVUNx
— Matt Boothright (@mboothright1) August 30, 2019
As a half term report, things have gone better than expected so far. Improvements are afoot off the pitch too with the City Ground vendors going cashless which should help the half time queues! Forest moving with the times? Oo-er.
The team seems to be in better shape than at this stage last season. With a raft of new faces and manager, the signs are looking promising. The keeper and back 4 look solid with a good partnership developing between Worrall and Dawson. Both full backs look good also. There are plenty of options in midfield to tweak things and whilst that remains a conundrum for now, the important thing are those options. Although it didn’t all come together against Preston, we can hurt teams from a number of areas; not just relying on Lolley and Carvalho to make things happen. It feels like it will be more of a team effort this season and I think it’s significant that we found our way through Preston’s coach car park. With players coming off the bench to score and make contributions; combined with our genuine threat at set pieces, there is plenty of potential for us to improve further and pick up wins.
So all in all, it’s positive. Another win might’ve put us on the radar of visiting teams immediately after the break so I’m happy that we can continue to go relatively unnoticed for now; stealth like in The Championship table. If it’s not teams coming to park the bus at The City Ground then our second biggest enemy is supporter expectation. It never goes well when we start to get carried away and so the steady progression will keep those hopes at bay.
Consistency is the key and bar another striker, I’d say we’ve got sufficient talent to continue moving in the right direction. We’re ticking over nicely and at this point, I genuinely think we can challenge for a top 6 place.
Well done Sabri.
RATINGS
Team performance – 6 – as a collective, we looked disjointed which was disappointing given than we were more than a match for Preston across all areas of the pitch.
Samba- 6 – Made a couple of good saves in the first half but was then relatively untroubled as Preston decided on a camping trip for the second period.
Jenkinson- 7 – solid performance and rarely looks flustered. I thought he had a good game.
Worrall – 7 – steady enough from Joe. No issues.
Dawson – 6 – again no real problems in the game. Got completely mugged off by Bodin for the goal with diving in. You’re never too old to learn Michael!
Robinson – 6 – quieter game from Robbo going forwards but no problems with the day job.
Semedo – 5 – disappointing that he didn’t repay the faith shown in him by his manager. Needs to wake up a bit in terms of his performances but also as a team mate and his role in the squad.
Silva- 6 – started well and continues to show moments of good quality. Tiago needs to stick to the basics whilst he’s finding his feet. He’s excellent at keeping the play simple. He was guilty of over playing at times yesterday.
Watson – 7– had a good game in midfield which was made that more difficult by carrying a team mate and supporting another who is still adapting to English football. Ben Watson is not your enemy.
Lolley – 5 – quiet game from Joe and looked a bit clumsy with his dribbling. Not his day.
Ameobi – 5 – surprisingly quiet given the start to his Forest career. We didn’t get him on the ball enough and he didn’t go looking for it enough either.
Grabban – 6 – Did ok up front but really wasn’t helped. All round game looks more confident in terms of holding the ball up. Lewis seems back onside with the game.
SUBS
Sow – 8 – Man of the Match. Made the difference. He simply has to start and should be one of the first names down in our midfield trio.
Adomah – 7 – looked lively when he came on and got the equalizer. Aye Aye Uncle Albert.
Carvalho – 7 – still getting up to speed so not everything is coming off just yet. Killer pass for the goal. What a player.