Forest post match 3-1 loss

[Dr The Singh]

Spoke to quite a few of my Forest fans buddies.  The feedback is fair.  

 

Before the match, they were expecting a 'baptism of fire', with the team really up for it and wanting to avenge Coops sacking, but that didn't happen in there eyes.  First half the feedback is that it was quite even, they felt our wingers were marked out of the game by there fullbacks.  Defensively we looked suspect.

 

Second half, they believed Nuno, smelt blood, pushed the team 10 yards forward.  But the early second goal gave them the impetus, and they were surprised that Nuno didn't go all defensive and felt they were better in the midfield, and it was too easy to expose our full backs.  The third goal was the nail in the coffin, and after that they could have scored 5.  They felt it was typical Cooper, throwing on players without any tactics and hope for the best.  In the second half they didn't feel Leicester could score.

 

Overall, first half even, our defence was pants, special mention of Fae's.  Cooper had no plan B.

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

I thought he got the tactics fine on Friday. Of course I have some bias but I don't think the changes were why we lost and the goals we conceded we would have done however we wanted to play. 

 

I think we looked pretty good for large parts of the game, especially early on. Our right hand side looked no more exposed with an inverted full back than it already has all season with a conventional one. 

 

But what we gained was the ability to build properly for almost the first time this season with Ricardo and Winks combining well to help us beat the press and get out. The goal we scored was a great example of that, it was a superb move and the kind of football we've barely played at all in any first half this year. 

 

In defence of Cooper, there's just absolutely nothing you can do as a manager about a goal like the first. No tactical system, however progressive, however much you want to play out from the back, involves Facundo doing that. It was one of the stupidest bits of play from any player all season and he's one of our best, everyone here - Cooper in, Cooper out, Enzoball or "PrAgMaTiSt" would have Buonanotte in the side. 

 

The second is just, ugh. You can defend every goal better but sometimes a ball is just destined to go in. I think every footballer has at least one of these spells in his life, that rare purple patch where everything they touch turns to gold. Like that three months Jesse Lingard at West Ham was Maradona. It wasn't the worst defending you'll ever see (I'm not claiming it was the best) but he put it on the postage stamp he needed to hit to get that in. Like it or not it was just a great finish. 

 

And the third we're chasing the game, we're obviously vulnerable to a counter attack and Faes and Okoli just completely fail to deal with a route one hoof down the middle to a man Jannik Vestergaard could probably out-sprint.

 

I don't really think any of these are about tactics, they're about players losing their one on one duels. You could debate for ever about whether or not concentration or decision making would be better if the morale in the squad was better or if the players were better coached but you're talking about fan speculation there. 

 

All I can say is that for the first time this season, in a first half, in possession, we actually looked like there was a plan and we knew what to do. 

 

In the first half we 7 shots, 1 on target and 0.45 xG - this is the trouble, even when we look ok under Cooper we barely create anything apart from individuals creating something from nothing.

 

We conceded 20 shots, that's a result of poor coaching and tactical decisions - players did make individual mistakes but that happens when you can't defend transitions.

[pmcla26]

Hope we don't abandon this set up after one match. We played well in the first half.

 

I'd like to see McAteer back in amongst the subs, though. We need some pace off of the bench in the wide areas with Mavididi and Fatawu starting. 

[The Doctor]

2 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Hope we don't abandon this set up after one match. We played well in the first half.

 

I'd like to see McAteer back in amongst the subs, though. We need some pace off of the bench in the wide areas with Mavididi and Fatawu starting. 

yea, honestly I'd rather see Kasey Mac coming on than Ayew or BDcR, he's an exciting young winger who can put in a decent defensive shift and does feel like he can create something 

[worth_the_wait]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I thought he got the tactics fine on Friday. Of course I have some bias but I don't think the changes were why we lost and the goals we conceded we would have done however we wanted to play. 

 

I think we looked pretty good for large parts of the game, especially early on. Our right hand side looked no more exposed with an inverted full back than it already has all season with a conventional one. 

 

But what we gained was the ability to build properly for almost the first time this season with Ricardo and Winks combining well to help us beat the press and get out. The goal we scored was a great example of that, it was a superb move and the kind of football we've barely played at all in any first half this year. 

 

In defence of Cooper, there's just absolutely nothing you can do as a manager about a goal like the first. No tactical system, however progressive, however much you want to play out from the back, involves Facundo doing that. It was one of the stupidest bits of play from any player all season and he's one of our best, everyone here - Cooper in, Cooper out, Enzoball or "PrAgMaTiSt" would have Buonanotte in the side. 

 

The second is just, ugh. You can defend every goal better but sometimes a ball is just destined to go in. I think every footballer has at least one of these spells in his life, that rare purple patch where everything they touch turns to gold. Like that three months Jesse Lingard at West Ham was Maradona. It wasn't the worst defending you'll ever see (I'm not claiming it was the best) but he put it on the postage stamp he needed to hit to get that in. Like it or not it was just a great finish. 

 

And the third we're chasing the game, we're obviously vulnerable to a counter attack and Faes and Okoli just completely fail to deal with a route one hoof down the middle to a man Jannik Vestergaard could probably out-sprint.

 

I don't really think any of these are about tactics, they're about players losing their one on one duels. You could debate for ever about whether or not concentration or decision making would be better if the morale in the squad was better or if the players were better coached but you're talking about fan speculation there. 

 

All I can say is that for the first time this season, in a first half, in possession, we actually looked like there was a plan and we knew what to do. 

 

Thanks for putting that.   Absolutely 100% spot on IMHO.   I just couldn't articulate it properly.

[CrazyKopCorner]

1 hour ago, pmcla26 said:

Hope we don't abandon this set up after one match. We played well in the first half.

 

I'd like to see McAteer back in amongst the subs, though. We need some pace off of the bench in the wide areas with Mavididi and Fatawu starting. 

I hope you're not advocating bumping Bouba .... we can't forsake him trotting around 

[pkonline]

Forest are a well organised team but if we want to stay up (comfortably) we should be aiming to beat teams like them at home. The result, especially the 2nd half performance, is a red flag - which is a shame after 2 decent victories on the bounce prior to that.

[JimJams]

In terms of the VK injury, was this news to everyone else?

Genuinely interested if it was something known about long before or if there's an inkling that with the switch to last seasons setup, in which he didn't want to play, that he's been made unavailable?