View from Forest

[Gezza]

Thought this was a reasonable summing up from their match thread.

Re: Official Matchday #14 thread: Nottingham Forest Vs Fulham.
Captain Sinister's Match Report and Player Ratings

They say it is better to travel in expectation than to arrive at reality! Today Steve Cooper's Mighty Reds welcomed Marco Silva's high flying, parachute payment receiving yo-yo club (yo-yoing twixt Championship and Premiership), who given their current league position, wealth of highly paid players, and run of recent results (bar a 4-1 reverse at Coventry) would have travelled in the hope of extending their winning run. Forest, for so long a sleeping giant, but with rather less in the way of financial resources and a squad which, while still highly paid, are not quite in the Premiership money glut level, were also on a winning run of their own, and playing a new, entertaining and wining brand of Cooper ball.
27,409 spectators attended the game this afternoon, with a decent showing from the traveling Fulham fans. And it was those fans that were destined to the ones travelling back home with smiles on their faces. From the kick-off Fulham were in Forest's faces, pressing high and hard. On the ball they were quick and slick, and while Forest found space hard to come by when in possession, Fulham on the contrary looked to have space to spare as Forest failed to press in the same way. The gulf in class of the 2 sets of players may not have seen Fulham create any more than Forest in the first 45 minutes, but it was apparent that the team in the white shirts were quicker in thought, more confident in each other, and the home fans came to the realisation pretty quickly that Steve Cooper, for all his excellent results and work to date has a lot more to do to turn around the fortunes of our beloved club.
However, Fulham's opening goal on 7 minutes was really not illustrative of their greater quality, but was down to unpunished obstruction in the Forest area that prevented Joe Worrall from tracking Mitrovic who tapped in from the near post corner, owing to Worrall being blocked off when trying to run with him.
Forest though showed resilience following that goal and if Brennan Johnson has not miss-kicked at a beauty of a low cross, then he may well have put Forest level soon after Mitro's opener. There was little else of note in a first 45 minutes then where Forest continued to stay in the game, neither side creating another chance in an absorbing first half.
The second half began in much the same way. Spence in particular was enjoying some decent runs down Forest's right wing, and following one such run he found the unmarked Grabban towards the far post, 10 yards out. With Grabban's recent goal touch having seemingly returned in recent games I expected him to lash the ball home. Instead he snatched at the chance and blasted the ball high over the cross bar. That was the turning point of the game. To go 1-1 then would have set up an exciting finale. Fulham, who had continued to play slick and pretty without creating anything were then gifted a second goal. The ref, who had a shockingly bad game, awarded a Fulham free kick that should never have been, and from the right side, 15 yards back from the edge of the Forest 18-yard line the ball was threaded through onto the box. Figuerido and McKenna performed a Keystone Cops routine, tripping each other up as they both went to clear an easy ball, leaving Mitrovic with a tap in from 8 yards for 2-0. The madness didn't end there either. Cooper took off Figuerido, brought on Mighten and changed the formation to 4-2-3-1. Colback, yellow carded in the first half for a late challenge, was replaced by Garner, and finally the inconsistent Zinckernagel was withdrawn and Joe Lolley took the stage. Forest hadn't settled into their changed formation, and following the break down of a Forest move, Fulham broke swiftly with Diver Wilson releasing Kebano with a sweet through ball. Kebano made no mistake, netting Fulham's 3rd. It was clearly game over, but not before Joe Worrall conceded a penalty, which Mitrovic converted for his hat-trick, and Fulham's 4th.
Crtedit where it is due, Forest didn't roll over and play possum. The players kept on pushing, but there was to b no consolation goal.
There was never 4 goals between the 2 teams, but despite Fulham playing as they did, other than the easy goals presented to them by Forest's naïve and clumsy defending, they didn't force a single save from Samba, who must have been left wondering how, in a game where he had so little to do, he had had to pick the ball out of the net 4 times – and not a single one down to him making errors.
Just going back to the ref, his dreadful performance was capped when he booked diver Wilson who went down on the edge of the Forest box, having been well and truly clattered by McKenna.

Player Star Ratings

Samba: 6 – conceded 4 and not a single goal did he have a chance with.
Worrall: 6 – gave away a penalty; allowed himself to be bullied for their 1st; played some great diagonal passes and made some decent interceptions, tackles and blocks.
Figuerido 3 – the comical tangle for their 2nd goal summed up his afternoon; he is so slow in distributing the ball it is like he is giving the opposition the courtesy of time to get into their defensive formation. I hope Ely or Soh get back to fitness soon.
McKenna: 5 – played Hardy to Figuerido's Lauel for their 2nf goal, and overall had a poor game.
Spence: 6 – got forward well and provided the only crosses of note to the Forest strikers. Defended well.
Yates: 5 – never got hold of the Fulham midfielders, but stuck at it throughout.
Colback: 5 – struggled with the pace of the game; yellow for a late challenge, and looked a prime candidate for a 2nd yellow if he had stayed on.
Lowe: 5 – a quiet game for Lowe; didn't get forward in the way he has previously.
Zinkernagel: 5 – a real mish-mash of a game; conceded possession too often (again), and didn't beat his man often enough, but when he did he did produce a decent low cross that no-one could take advantage of.
Grabban: 6 – worked hard, but Fulham's defenders had well marked most of the time; the miss in the 2nd half was a bad one!
Johnson: 4 – struggled to make an impact and his first half miss-kick was as telling as Grabban's second half one.
Subs:
Garner (on for Colback): 6 – gave us a bit more pace in midfield.
Mighten (on for Figuerido): 6 – injected a lot of energy, but at times we had Spence, Lolley and Mighten all trying to occupy the same space down the right wing, which made it easy for Fulham to snuff out any real threat.
Lolley (on for Zinckernagel): 5 – found it difficult to get the right weight of pass; created a couple of slight openings, and was unlucky to see the Fulham keeper smother a chance on the goal line.

Ref: was Fulham's 2nd best player after Wilson, who ran midfield for much of the game.

[Lighthouse]

Other than giving Mitro a hattrick I agree that it pretty well sums up the game.

Fulham looked dominant without ever being dominant and but for a few bad misses and mistake at the right time by Forest. The result may well have been very different. Still football is like that.

[SP]

The ref must be the only one who thought Wilson dived.

[Andy S]

To me that was a totally biased piece of journalism. Fulham deserved the result even though Forrest gifted us two goals. We were happy to sit back and hold on to our lead. They were not very good. The referee was not as bad as the reporter made out. However like the journo I cannot see how he felt he had to book Wilson for simulation unless he did it because previously he had let one go

[Gezza]

To me that was a totally biased piece of journalism. Fulham deserved the result even though Forrest gifted us two goals. We were happy to sit back and hold on to our lead. They were not very good. The referee was not as bad as the reporter made out. However like the journo I cannot see how he felt he had to book Wilson for simulation unless he did it because previously he had let one go

It wasn't a Journo. Simply a post from a Forest Fan on their matchday thread. Therefore not really surprised by the bias, but still thought overall a reasonable post.

[Nero]

it pees me off clubs moaning about parachute payments, a lot of the clubs in the championship have had parachute payments it how you manager them, and fulham have always done it well enough to get promoted again

[Carborundum]

Sounds like Harry Wilson's all round contribution continues to grow.  Welcome news. 

[Fulham 442]

it pees me off clubs moaning about parachute payments, a lot of the clubs in the championship have had parachute payments it how you manager them, and fulham have always done it well enough to get promoted again

I agree. How many times does this argument get trotted out?

[Jules]

it pees me off clubs moaning about parachute payments, a lot of the clubs in the championship have had parachute payments it how you manager them, and fulham have always done it well enough to get promoted again

I agree. How many times does this argument get trotted out?

I agree as well. Nobody goes on about Cardiff, Huddersfield and others getting parachute payments. It's always about us for some reason.

[Somerset Fulham]

it pees me off clubs moaning about parachute payments, a lot of the clubs in the championship have had parachute payments it how you manager them, and fulham have always done it well enough to get promoted again

I agree. How many times does this argument get trotted out?

I agree as well. Nobody goes on about Cardiff, Huddersfield and others getting parachute payments. It's always about us for some reason.

I don't know, but I would guess that those clubs mentioned don't moan about FFP so much.  Clubs such as Forest have never had the payments so I can see why supporters would use it.  From their point of view it is an unfair advantage I guess.

[Bill2]

Didn't mention the clear pull on Mitro's shirt in the first interview of.tje highlights, but was quick to mention every supposed  foul or refereeing mistake.

[Bill2]

Didn't mention the clear pull on Mitro's shirt in the first minute of the highlights, but was quick to mention every supposed  foul or refereeing mistake.

[cmg]

Reasonable account, considering the circumstances.

We have now got away 3 times with the NFL-inspired, "Oh, I'm sorry you appear to have accidentally run into me" defender taking-out move. Very slickly done, resulting in a goal each time (although the defender's finishing touch was probably not part of the scheme) and unsurprisingly not shown on those fun training videos. I'm thinking we might not get away with it in future.

[Cookie6262]

Reasonable account, considering the circumstances.

We have now got away 3 times with the NFL-inspired, "Oh, I'm sorry you appear to have accidentally run into me" defender taking-out move. Very slickly done, resulting in a goal each time (although the defender's finishing touch was probably not part of the scheme) and unsurprisingly not shown on those fun training videos. I'm thinking we might not get away with it in future.

To be honest if our player just stops and holds his ground there is nothing wrong with this tactic and teams will have to work out how to stop it... if our blocking player steps across to block the defender then that's a different matter. I think it's a great tactic that we have used well one payer makes an early run and then just stops and a second players makes a run past him but so close to him it squeezes the defender out.

[Twig]

Reasonable account, considering the circumstances.

We have now got away 3 times with the NFL-inspired, "Oh, I'm sorry you appear to have accidentally run into me" defender taking-out move. Very slickly done, resulting in a goal each time (although the defender's finishing touch was probably not part of the scheme) and unsurprisingly not shown on those fun training videos. I'm thinking we might not get away with it in future.

To be honest if our player just stops and holds his ground there is nothing wrong with this tactic and teams will have to work out how to stop it... if our blocking player steps across to block the defender then that's a different matter. I think it's a great tactic that we have used well one payer makes an early run and then just stops and a second players makes a run past him but so close to him it squeezes the defender out.

Yes, as long as the blocking player simply halts it's perfectly legitimate. Only obstruction if he actually moves to make the block.

[bencher]

I found it odd that GJ kept criticising Seri's delivery of the corner that led to the goal as a poor corner. If it led to a goal, how can it be a poor delivery? The Odoi/Mitro move was clearly pre planned and then Seri had to deliver the ball to the near post. It worked.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Forest are very average mid table side.

We played as well as we needed to to beat them, the early goal helped and allowed us to play comfortably within ourselves.

Some could say the ball fell nicely for us on occasions but good teams will generally get this through their work rate and teamwork.

I believe we are playing a cautious game at times with a view to the long and arduous season ahead.

[bobby01]

Reasonable account, considering the circumstances.

We have now got away 3 times with the NFL-inspired, "Oh, I'm sorry you appear to have accidentally run into me" defender taking-out move. Very slickly done, resulting in a goal each time (although the defender's finishing touch was probably not part of the scheme) and unsurprisingly not shown on those fun training videos. I'm thinking we might not get away with it in future.

To be honest if our player just stops and holds his ground there is nothing wrong with this tactic and teams will have to work out how to stop it... if our blocking player steps across to block the defender then that's a different matter. I think it's a great tactic that we have used well one payer makes an early run and then just stops and a second players makes a run past him but so close to him it squeezes the defender out.

Yes, as long as the blocking player simply halts it's perfectly legitimate. Only obstruction if he actually moves to make the block.

Totally agree, Denis was standing still when the defender ran into him, good coaching imo, no foul committed.

[Bassey the warrior]

I found it odd that GJ kept criticising Seri's delivery of the corner that led to the goal as a poor corner. If it led to a goal, how can it be a poor delivery? The Odoi/Mitro move was clearly pre planned and then Seri had to deliver the ball to the near post. It worked.

Good point, he clearly didn't realise that.

[cookieg]

Reasonable account, considering the circumstances.

We have now got away 3 times with the NFL-inspired, "Oh, I'm sorry you appear to have accidentally run into me" defender taking-out move. Very slickly done, resulting in a goal each time (although the defender's finishing touch was probably not part of the scheme) and unsurprisingly not shown on those fun training videos. I'm thinking we might not get away with it in future.

To be honest if our player just stops and holds his ground there is nothing wrong with this tactic and teams will have to work out how to stop it... if our blocking player steps across to block the defender then that's a different matter. I think it's a great tactic that we have used well one payer makes an early run and then just stops and a second players makes a run past him but so close to him it squeezes the defender out.

Yes, as long as the blocking player simply halts it's perfectly legitimate. Only obstruction if he actually moves to make the block.

Totally agree, Denis was standing still when the defender ran into him, good coaching imo, no foul committed.

There is an angle on the extended highlights which suggests that Denis made a move towards the defender to block him. Denis wasn't looking at the ball. If the goal had been disallowed I wouldn't have been surprised.