Forest 2 United 1 - report

[Deadbat_DB]

It was a disappointing result but not performance from the Blades on the banks of the River Trent of Nottingham. United took an early lead for the second weekend running but could not go on and build on this superb start and two sloppy goals saw them somehow go in behind at the half despite being the better side. Second half the game became a bit scrappy but United still had enough of the ball and play to get at least a point although Forest will argue they had several chances to kill it on the break as United tried to throw caution to the wind.

Manager Wilder tweaked his line up trying to freshen things up with Donaldson, Duffy and Lundstram coming in for Clarke, Wright and Brooks. Duffy started playing just behind Donaldson. Forest’s form had been poor particularly at home and featured a mix of young and experienced players. Former Blades manager David Weir was on the side-lines as Mark Warburton’s assistant. Ex United player Jamie Ward was not involved due to an injury.

United came out of the traps fast yet again and were swarming all over Forest and penned them back. The first real chance and the ball was in the net. After patient build up from Fleck and Duffy, Stevens knocked in a good ball and LUNDSTRAM clinically converted at the Trent End. The 2,000+ United fans went bananas at the other end of the ground. United continued to dominate and Stevens, Baldock and even O’Connell were bombing forward. Duffy nearly played in Donaldson and then Coutts almost got his shot away.

Despite the great start, United were undone by a poor error with Forest’s first real attack. They won a corner and when it came over and Fleck’s poor tough saw him robbed and within an instant. CUMMINGS hit a fierce shot that beat Blackman to his right. It was an equaliser out of nothing.


United went back on the attack and Duffy had a curling shot before Lundstram was blocked. United kept piling men forward but Forest were also dangerous on the break with Cummings lively and Traore getting down the left well. Duffy’s curling cross came in and Baldock motioned to the ball which regardless of him touching or not would have influenced the assistant who raised his flag as the ball went into the far corner.

United’s excellent performance continued but the clinical and ruthless nature of the league showed when good play from Forest saw them lead. Darikwa’s was not challenged and allowed to get his cross in and Murphy cleverly played the ball back for DOWELL who smashed it into the corner. It was a score line not fitting the game and United were undone by slopping defending but credit to Forest for two well finished goals.

United had not been as clinical at the other side and Fleck and Coutts both lacked power on their shots.

Baldock pulled up twice before having to limp off with Basham going to right back and substitute Wright playing at centre back. As United were reorganising, Forest had a couple of chances with Blackman parrying a Cummings shot Murphy heading over. The half time whistle came soon after and United will still feel they had a great chance of a result.

Bouchalakis came on for Fox in a change for Forest who started the second half better as United once again began slowly to start a second half. A shot was deflected wide and then Bochalakis headed wide when should have done better. United had not had the same fluency of the first half and Wilder opted to make changes. Two came in quick succession as Evans replaced Donaldson and then Brooks came on for Lundstram.

United had a lot of the ball and were moving it around but Forest were defending in numbers and crowding United out. The away side had not really tested the keeper and at times maybe were guilty of overplaying. Forest nearly caught them out on the break as Dowell fired over. Forest had men over on another attack but O’Connell got back well.

Clough and Brereton came on for Forest for Cummings and Dowell as the game entered the final ten minutes. United won a free kick and repeated the routine from Charlton away last season but Duffy’s low cross was blocked before the same man then had a powerful shot that was acrobatically turned round the post. Brooks was looking to get on the ball when he could and was clumsily brought down before United had two bookings for cynical fouls as Forest looked to break.

The game entered an additional five minutes stoppage time and United were really pegging Forest back now. At the death United were so close to the leveller. Stevens knocked in cross and with bodies forward, Carter Vickers header looked goal bound but hit the inside of the post and bounced across the goal agonisingly just out of the reach of the waiting Basham. A few minutes later with Forest having the entire side behind the ball, the final whistle went. Forest celebrated wildly but United fans gave the team a great ovation for a very good performance if not result.

United – Disappointing after a great week. We really ought to have drawn or even won. We played quite well but at the ***** areas of the pitch were not good enough and that decided the game.

We had 58% possession, 9 corners to 4 and dominated big chunks of the game. We started brilliantly and scored and should have used this to go on but gave away two really sloppy goals. Half time was a ridiculous score line really. We ought to have been winning for our play and domination of the football. Second half I felt we never got going and even though we had a lot of the ball and got into the last third often, we did not work the keeper enough and left it too late to properly pin them back but had two great chances to get a goal and equaliser that we deserved.

Forest may argue they had many more chances but a lot were on the break when we were throwing men forward second half. They actually could have made it 3 or 4 but missed a few big ones but that would have given it a daft look. I think United may play worse than that and win games but I do say we have to be more clinical and decisive in the ***** areas. We continue to give sloppy goals away whilst we are a bit shot shy still at the other end. Some of the football was excellent but at times we became like Arsenal as we tried to walk it in. I do believe I would rather watch a footballing side like that though but we do need to shoot more! They did and scored two.

On reflection the changes did not work but not going to argue with Wilder as he gets most things right and wanted to freshen things up. The two lads that came in were probably our worst players despite Lundstram scoring. Fleck made an uncharacteristic error and teams at this level punish you for this.

I am really enjoying watching United to play. Some of the football is great and players like Coutts, Fleck, Duffy, Brooks or a joy to watch. I still feel we lack some pace at the top of the pitch meaning our football has to be oh so precise and be nice to play a ball over the top for someone to chase now and again and get them turned. Overall it has been a great start. What is more annoying is we have been better than Norwich and Forest in the game we have lost. We should have drawn at Boro and only Cardiff have deserved beat us. That shows how well we have played.

We now have a break and will have everybody fresh and hopefully fit although will be without Coutts for a game and probably Fleck soon enough (bookings) and of course Evans won’t be around as he is having his operation. I expect we may see Sharp come back in after the break and possibly Stearman as we have looked a bit shaky at the back recent times. Jake Wright may feel unfortunate not to be playing at times as we do seem better when he does. Carter Vickers still not fully convincing for me and makes too many mistakes. I love the way United are going about things though and are going for wins. Replicate the performances we are doing and we will finish in the top half comfortably. I think today showed teams who get their shape right and press us can beat us if we make mistakes but does show how far we have come when I come away and think we were better than an established championship side and gutted we lost.

[Deadbat_DB]

Forest – You saw how much they celebrated at the end and what a tough game it had been. Shame they had lost the last few and struggled at home but got on track against us. Credit to Forest. Today we out footballed them for long periods and looked the better side but they scored two clinically taken shots, broke on us when they could and maybe could have scored more on the break. After we swarmed all over them to start the game once they got the two goals, they upped the work rate and pressed and harried us. I felt they really put a lot of effort in, denied us space and defended well. They had the run of the ball (the one that hit the post) and several balls just did not fall to us. However, they did better than I thought they would on and off the ball. Despite them beating us and working so hard, I am not sure I saw a side that I think will finish above us and if they finish mid table they will have done well this year. They are going through a bit of an evolution with new management team (saw some of Weir influence to start the game - the slow kamikaze defending at the back) and some young players coming through.

Opposition Man of the Match: Impressed by the lad Dowell who did well and scored a well taken goal and the other young lad at the back but I thought the midfielder Bridcutt worked very hard to deny us space and played well. He would do very well for us behind Coutts and Fleck – it is ironic that as good as those two are I still feel we need that type of dirty, mobile break up player just in front of back four. I think he thought Leonard would be that player and maybe we may still go for someone like that. Traore played well and got up and down the left side and caused a few problems. Indeed, both goals came from play down this side in the build-up. The big lad Worrall also headed and cleared a lot away after a shaky start from the backline.


Opposition Weak link – Not sure too many were poor. I thought Mancienne was erratic though and started the game really badly and made a few errors. Darikwa, on loan from Burnley, also got in some bad positions and we attacked well down that side.

Blackman 6.5/10 – I am not sure on the first goal as he seemed a bit slow to react and went in at a nice height. The second he had no chance. He made a few decent saves second half as they hit us on the break. Will say a lot of shots seem to going in though and don’t see him saving many like the Forest one did at the end today.

Baldock 6.5/10 – Started game well and I felt he caused real problems for Forest running down the right. However, the lad down the left Traore ran at him and they caused a few problems going the other way. Pulled his calf and had to go up meaning Basham had to go right back and we did not look as effective after this from an attacking point of view.

Stevens 7/10 – Probably an 8 for attacking but 6 for defending. Started the game really well and got forward bombing down the wing and involved in so many of our good attacking play. Got booked for a cynical foul near the end as we tried to bomb forward and they caught us on the break. He set up the goal and played a few other decent balls in. Like Baldock, not quite as good going the other way and got beat once or twice second half as they attacked us on the break.

Basham 6.5/10 – Began at centre back and I felt a bit culpable of ball watching on the second goal as he did not get tight enough to his man. He was put into right wing back and tried to get forward and support had a few runs where he darts forward. Sadly, he seems to panic when he gets to the moment of delivering the ball or final piece of play. We started playing balls in the air to him down that side but he did not win that many so we should have stopped. Showed his commitment when

O’Connell 7/10 – Steady game. Won most balls that came his way and often always on the front foot. He is a real colossus at times. However, like the rest of the defence caught static a few times as the ball came in. I think he has been very consistent this season though.

Carter Vickers 6.5/10 – Did ok. Very strong lad and made a few good tackles. Some of his defending at times was a bit slow and he got caught a few times again. He was very unfortunate at the end with a great header that hit the inside of the post. Would have been a great last second

Lundstram 6/10 – He got forward to score a well taken goal. He began the game well and got on it but I felt as the game went on he seemed to get lost and cannot remember him being involved that much. The game seemed to pass him by quite a bit. He is very slow and lacks mobility. Decent touch on the ball but at this level I feel he does not quite have the legs for our high pressing style of play off the ball. On it he takes too long to move it on and tries to play the harder ball a lot. I am not sure about him at all. He needs to lose a few pounds and get much fitter. Like Carruthers they need to do a lot more when they do play or they will be backs up at best.

Fleck 7/10 – To be honest he might have been United’s best player but of course made a big mistake for the goal where he was robbed and they scored instantly so loses a mark for that. Aside from this he was excellent so it was a real shame. He got on the ball, moved it around, covered so much ground and showed some lovely skill. He will know what a poor error he made but again showed what a top player he is as did not hide after this.

Coutts 7/10 – Another good performance generally where he helped us play some lovely football. We dominated the ball for long stretches and he was at the heart of much of what we did. I would say he got a bit sloppier second half and seemed to be obsessed with playing the diagonal ball to the right in the air for Basham. Another daft booking and now is definitely suspended. It is great to see him getting stuck in but he has been guilty of being over zealous at times this year.

Duffy 7.5/10 – Forest fans were raving about him after the game. You could see why for the first half where everything good came from him as we played very well. Got in great areas and caused problems on the ball when he had it. They did not know who (or where to go) to pick him up and caused lots of problems. Unfortunate with that drifted cross that went in and allegedly touched Baldock. I was not sure it did at the time and maybe should have counted. He did not quite have same impact second half but they started to double up on him when he had it. Chopped his man down on the break at the end as we had sent men forward and they picked us off. Tired towards the end but he still showed what an asset he will be for us this year even if he does not start or finish every game.

Donaldson 5/10 – Maybe our weakest player. He did not have any chances or create much and was never in the game at all and a big drop off from Clarke’s performances recently. Ball did not stick with him and he was behind his man a lot. Just looked half a yard off the pace and question if he was fully fit. Despite this he had one or two decent link ups early on. Came off and we did improve when Clarke and Brooks came on. He will have to play better than that to stay in the team.

[Deadbat_DB]

Subs:

Wright 7/10 – Steady enough when he came on. The issue was missing Baldock who had offered a real threat down that side. Wright will feel unlucky to be dropped. We got caught as they broke a few times near the end and at times you can see he lacks pace but we do seem better when he plays.

Clarke – Played half an hour and the ball did stick more when he was the focal point of things. Sometimes he dithered a bit when it came to him and the ball got crowded out but for the final 10-15 minutes we gave it a really good go and he linked well.

Brooks – He got half an hour also but despite a few tricks and bits of play, not sure he showed what he has done in the last few games. He did get kicked badly once and also, they surrounded him with players. He maybe should have moved it on a bit quicker. Still you can see the threat he is when he gets on the ball and glides on the surface. Think him and Duffy will rotate a lot over the coming weeks.

Manager: Wilder 6/10 – Giving him 6 may seem harsh but he made 2 changes and they did not work. Another day they might but he opted to freshen things up. Of course, you never know if he had played same team if they would have made the difference. I would have left the midfield as it was as it had done so well the last few games. Still he made the changes fairly early and they had half an hour to make an impact and it did not quite happen as we got crowded out a lot despite having all the ball. A setback but overall as he said, it was a decent performance save for two poor mistakes and lack of cutting edge/final ball up top. Between the boxed United were the better side. Overall it has been a great start and the way we go at teams and just attack is so refreshing.

Officials – Andy Davies. Not sure he was that great to be honest. He went through a spell of giving them everything second half. Every 50/50 went their way. I do not normally say that and think I am quite fair on referees and never say they were biased against us but he gave us very little in general play I felt. No arguments on any of the bookings; all four were poor fouls. The two they committed also were bad ones, especially Osborn on Brooks – an awful tackle.

Crowd / Day Out – Been to City Ground 5 or 6 times and never seen us win. Missed the 5-2 win in the Prem and the 2-0 win in Clough’s final home game. Somehow seem to pick the ones we lose! I think I saw a draw when Devlin scored a late goal. The ground looks very tired on the outside and a bit like Hillsborough seems to need a lot of work doing to it. Surprised they have never upgraded the stand where the dug outs are as it is very tired. The side we sat in we were in the lower tier. I have been here when we have had bigger followings but they get 25,000 most weeks so can restrict the away numbers, much like we and many others do. The days of taking 5 or 6,000 to Championship teams seem long gone for most now and probably rightly so as clubs should look after their home fans even if it means I may miss a few more games due to not getting a ticket. There was a decent atmosphere in the ground. The Forest lot always make a decent noise especially those above us (glad there is netting there now – remember getting pelted with coins in a miserably 3-0 Jack Lester inspired defeat in the Warnock days). United fans did their best to get behind the side and the start was excellent of course. Some great singing in the concourse pre- game with the Four Seasons (Clock covered it in the 90’s) song, ‘Oh what a night’ belting out for what seemed like forever with lyrics referencing the late September Derby Day win. Sure, you can find it on social media.

Another cracking away day. The result of course put a dampener on things quite literally as it lashed it down post game as we stayed in Nottingham. Still it was a really good day out. We set off from Sheffield on the 10.30ish train and got to Nottingham around 11.30am. We went for a breakfast at Junkyard and had a few nice ales (cannot remember what they were!). We then moved onto Das Kino and played Ping Pong (I was comprehensively beaten by my mate who I have never played before and it seemed like he had played the sport a few times before). After a pint here, we moved to Bunkers Hill for another drink before heading to the ground for a beer inside.

Post game we went to the Hockley Arts Club which was decent and then after this we found a few ‘secret’ bars. Not that secret as you can find them easily but you kind of have to know where the doors are. The first one Boilermaker you get to a door and it looks like a laundry room and you speak to a woman who has a head set in and then you are ushered in. All a bit pretentious but it was nice inside and packed. We had switched to cocktails at this point. The next secret bar was a bit more ‘secret’! A man outside ushered us down an alleyway and then we had to push a door that did not seem to be there and go downstairs. It was called Lost Property. Was a bit crap in here. Not many in and just seemed like somebody’s lounge. People were a bit up themselves too. A debate about music with one woman saw her not wanting to engage with us at all. She probably was right. We were well on our way (drink wise) by this stage. We then headed for the Station via getting some chips and back into Sheffield where we finished the night in the Last Picture House on Abbeydale Road. Very tired this morning but enjoyable day/night. Great company, good drinks and good chat all day. Watching United has become fun again.

[Longshortandtall]

Spot on as usual DB. As you say we should have got something out of the game. Agree we need that dirty midfielder addition maybe Leonard but Basham has done that job for the last two games and done it well. I don't understand why he wasn't doing it yesterday. We would not have lost that game with Basham in midfield and more importantly Jake Wright at the back. Lundstram was disappointing and I hope we go with Basham in midfield against Ipswich. These changes for me away from home were more telling than resting Brooks and Clarke. I'll accept when we get outplayed by Cardiff or get robbed by refs at Middlesbrough and at home to Norwich but we missed an opportunity against Florist.

Yesterday our offensive play warranted a victory, defensively at times we were all over the place until Wright came on and its at least a point lost as a result.

[diode_blade]

Cheers DB for that have a like sir
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