. It was not tactics, formation or line up. Holmes and Brooks got a fair spell. Clarke and Sharp had plenty of time. No-one took advantage.
We have some good players and some very average ones. Today the good ones did not turn up and allied to the average players playing ahem…average; we got an average to poor performance and result that mirrored that. They cannot blame the slippy pitch or lack of movement or anyone else. They had the chance; just one of them to step up and show a moment of quality and beat quite an average side (table proves that) and get in the top 6 they blew it. We could have been joint 5th but now are 9th and are running out of chances you feel.
Now we have 3 really tough games. I would love to see us get some results but our form against the top sides had been mostly poor. I cannot see us getting much at Brentford and we have two hard home games against Cardiff and Boro. It is still tight but today was a game we had to go and win and put in a proper performance against an ordinary side. We did not that do that and were lucky to even get a draw. The next 3 or 4 games will see if the players have anything left but today suggested they probably have run out of steam.
Forest – Karanaka has got them more solid and this is the third successive 0-0 which shows they are not conceding and not quite the soft touch they were. They have stiffened up the midfield with the two red heads Watson and Colback and the defence are not making the errors they were earlier in the season. They have been very up and down all season and had some big wins and even recently scored a lot of goals (QPR away) but he seems to have concentrated mainly on getting the defence right and more discipline. Today showed that. They did not come and shut up shot though and had 2 up top in Murphy and Bereton. They had chances and will be disappointed not to have won. Better finishing from some guilt edged opportunities and they would have got the 1 or 2-0 win they deserved.
I felt they pressed us and worked really hard for a team with little to lose. Sure, the keeper took his time first half but then they realised they had little in front of them and had a real go. At the end they were pressing and looked the more likely which is odd when we are the playoff chasing team. The full backs were more effective than our wing backs and even though they went 4-4-2 although it came a 4-5-1 when they did not have the ball; they actually had more of the ball than us and the midfield were better at times. They gave it away quite a bit like us and at times the game lacked real quality. The weather did not help but the pitch played quite well considering and they at least got behind us and created something. We created nothing by comparison really second half save for a few half chances.
Opposition Man of the Match: The two centre backs played well. The full backs pressed up on our wing backs and the strikers worked hard. The keeper was largely untroubled. I felt the two midfield lads though won many of the loose balls and controlled the game; both Watson and Colbakc have played largely Premier League and sadly today they showed up against our midfield who have never played a Premier League game in their life.
Opposition Weak link: I expected more of Murphy up top but like with Clarke the ball did not stick. I also thought the two young talents Cash and Dowell would do more but neither got that involved really.
Blackman 8/10 – Our man of the match and not even close. If he has not made the saves he has in the last week we would have got 4 points and may have been lucky to even escape with one. Made two good saves Tuesday and bettered it with one in the first half today and two really good ones second half. He was the only player for United (maybe Stearman) who can say they were pleased with their performance and was left badly exposed for the 2nd time in the week. Worrying when the away side create much clearer chances two games running.
Baldock 6/10 – Marginally better than Stevens but not sure it was his best game today. He got forward a few times but his final ball also was not quite good enough. He overplayed a few and then second half put one too close to the keeper. He also was too far off his man and they got in a number of decent crosses. He kept plugging away and seemed as frustrated when he sprinted forward and did not get the ball but second half he was having to defend more than attack which shows how the game went.
Stevens 6/10 – He got into so many good positions and so many times hit the first man or put a poor ball. He did ok at times defensively but other times was way too far off his man or did not mark. First half he gave it away and they nearly broke and scored and then he did the same second half. He makes too many mistakes and is too inconsistent at the moment. Played well Tuesday but overall post Xmas his play defensively and attacking has not been standards it was in 2017.
Leonard 7/10 – Best I have seen him play for United. He played right centre back and was really solid. He used it well and looked comfortable coming out. He made some good interceptions and was able to bring it out and find a shirt. He looked better in defence than he has in midfield for us. Showed this might be his better position on the evidence we have seen. Thought he was unlucky to go off and we got worse when he came off.
O’Connell 7/10 – Did ok but with the ball he was just smashing it away or out and I felt he did not get forward much either due to the way Forest pressed. He did alright defensively and I felt he kept to his position and was able to do what he needed. The problem was in front of him today.
Stearman 7/10 – Our best outfield player and he just did his job. Summed up how poor the rest of them were. He made a few interceptions and blocks. He used the ball better than most and looked more composed than the rest. Although the defence did lose a few men in the box, I felt the problem came more from our midfield and wing backs not marking and allowing the ball to come across- it was inevitable chances would drop.
Fleck 6/10 – Thought he was our best midfielder of a bad bunch really. He worked hard and at least pressed them and tried to tackle (although got booked again). He at least ran at them a bit first half and tried to penetrate. He was the only midfielder to actually carry the ball and try and draw man. Put in a great cross for the Fleck chance. Second half he never really got going either and save for a few runs near the end; his play dropped off and I felt we had no control of midfield at all. We just tossed the ball away again and again. Really disappointed with our midfield and front players today.