Bridport
Red has always been very positive in his reports, and I have
never tried to censor him at all. He sent in this report asking
me whether or not we should send it out? He has taken a lot
of flack for his optimism over the last few weeks, and to
write this report he has had to dig deep into his loyalty
bucket. I know that the people he was with today were Red
through and through, and were as objective as he would always
be. You do not travel the miles that Bridport does without
having a passion for the Club, but this report is from the
heart.
Report by Bridport Red
Regular readers will know by now that I am essentially an
optimist. Indeed, I have received a few emails saying I have
been way too kind to the team this season - but then these
reports have never pretended to be anything more or less than
the opinion of one fan. All the same, I am a "glass half full"
kind of bloke. Well today the glass was half full for about
10 minutes. Then the bottom fell out of it and I was struggling
to identify anything in it at all. Same team as Wednesday,
bar Gray in on the wing and Prutton moved to right back. Similar
performance? Not even close. But it all started so well. I
raved about the fantastic debut of Stern John against Pompey,
and after 5 minutes of today's game he received the ball with
his back to goal, took it down on his chest, spun Andy Linighan
with ease and thundered a left foot screamer against the bar
from fully thirty yards. Digby got nowhere near it.
We all settled back and thought this was going to be fun.
Instead it was a nightmare. Palace took 25 minutes to score,
but frankly it had been coming for a while. Firstly Leon McKenzie
blazed over from 4 yards with Norm in No-Man's Land. Then
Norm flapped at a cross and Jon Hjelde saved his bacon with
a brilliant block. Then David Prutton cleared the ball off
the line. Finally yet another cross from the right exposed
Norm's Dracula qualities, Bart blocked the first effort, Norm
saved well at the near post and the ball broke lose to McKenzie
in a position so close that even he couldn't miss. 1-0. Sigh.
Immediately before half time we suddenly woke up and created
two chances - both the result of Beck's hard work in winning
the ball in midfield. From the first Brennan passed infield
to Stern on the edge of the box, he skinned the defender and
got to the by-line, Beck and Bart both had goal-bound efforts
cleared off the line and finally Andy Gray put it wide. To
be fair to Gray it was on his wrong foot and he was under
severe pressure from Linighan, but he still might have done
better. A minute later Beck won the ball again, Rogers got
free on the left and Stern headed narrowly over.
Half time. Not happy. Platty obviously agreed with our half-time
Bovril verdict, namely that we were being overrun in midfield,
because he took off Gray, replaced him with Doig and played
3-5-2, presumably to get more bodies into midfield. It didn't
make a blind bit of difference - all that happened was that
we had three players giving the ball away in the centre, rather
than two. Sureenough, after an hour Bart played a pass woefully
short to Johnno, it was intercepted and played out to Terry
Phelan (yes - THE Terry Phelan; I thought he had retired years
ago) on the left and from his cross Doig was caught ball watching
and Matt Svensson left Norman with no chance. 2-0, game over.
Game over because we never really looked like scoring. Stern
was living off scraps and getting zero service - even so he
did manufacture a couple of half chances all by himself, including
our first sighting of the so-called "Stern Turn" that Columbus
fans used to go on about; it looks suspiciously like the Cruyff
turn to me, but it still left Linighan tackling thin air while
Stern fired narrowly wide behind him. Our best chance fell
to Beck - Tank finally got free on the left and crossed to
the near post. Beck was unmarked, tried to volley it and missed
the ball completely. It about summed up our afternoon. There
was no excuse today. No poor referee, no dubious penalties,
no offside goals, no dodgy sendings off to change the game.
We were just comprehensively outplayed in midfield. Not good
enough. No fire, no guts, no glory (ah, the old ones are the
good ones, eh?) Although this report is all me, today's match
was a bit of a gathering of the Forest internet clan. Half
a dozen of the Talkback regulars foregathered for a few pre-match
refreshments and went to the game together. Between us we
can muster WELL over a century of watching Forest and, without
wishing to put words into other people's mouths, post-match
conversation suggests they would all agree with what follows.
Bearing in mind that we are not the sort of fans who have
been booing, calling for Platty's head or generally being
mardy, it might give you a clue about how much our spineless
performance today annoyed a lot of long-suffering die-hard
supporters. I have been positive about them for weeks - now
it is time, as my late dear father would have put it, to tap
a few people on the collar-bone.
Don't blame the defence. Riccy (yet again) and Hjelde played
well. Jim Brennan got forward less than we have sometimes
seen, but that was largely because he had his hands full at
the back (and what else do we pay a full back for if not defending?).
Prutton, playing in what feels like about hisfifth different
position for us, once again did not let us down. Chris Doig
was at fault for the second goal, but young players do make
mistakes and he saved us twice after some dreadful Norm kicks
straight to the opposition. I have increasing doubts about
Norm as a long term prospect - every time they had a corner
or wide free kick today my heart sank. But you can't blame
Norm for any of our goals conceded this year that I can think
of (maybe number three vs Huddersfield), and he is easily
good enough for this division.
The attack? Stern struggled manfully and, as I have said,
created chances virtually on his own (just as well, because
he wasn't getting chances from any other source). Beck had
easily his least effective game for us and missed a sitter,
but he was at least running his heart out and trying to get
into positions - it is not his fault if the ball never arrived.
No, in my view it is the midfield - especially the central
midfield - that is failing us badly. We all know Tank is a
fine player - but occasionally (like any player) he has games
when nothing works for him and the ball seems to bounce off
at the crucial moment - he had one of those games today. Fair
enough.
At least we know he doesn't play like that very often. In
my opinion, when a manager takes over a recently relegated
team, he is perfectly entitled to think that at least SOME
of the players he inherits are going to be able to do a job
for him in the lower division. Tank is. Hjelde is (against
many expectations). Dougie is (though some would disagree).
Uhhhh.... the rest? We could play Viv Anderson, Des Walker,
Kenny Burns and Stuart Pearce at their respective peaks in
our defence, but still get nowhere at the moment. Why? Because
whenever the ball is played out of defence it comes straight
back. Keep that up for 90 minutes and sooner or later the
other lot are going to score.
The midfield - no, let's not beat about the bush here; Johnson
and Bart-Williams - seem incapable of hanging onto the ball
for more than about two seconds and are consistently either
passing to the opposition or selling their colleagues hideously
short so the ball is easily intercepted. These guys aren't
rookies - one is an international, the other has more talent
than almost anyone else at the club, and between them they
have almost 200 appearances for Forest. So what on earth is
wrong with them? Why (with the greatest respect to Tranmere
and Palace) are we getting consistently and comprehensively
outplayed in the centre (even overrun) by essentially journeyman
midfields? OK, Johnno's game is based largely on movement
and energy and he missed pre-season with a serious injury
- maybe he will improve with time (after all, he is about
to have a three-match holiday to concentrate on his fitness).
But even so. And what about Bart?When did we last see him
split a defence? He may not be blessed with massive pace,
but neither was Nigel Clough, and we all know what a player
he was Bart can pass with the best of them - it is high time
he started to do so. Why is it that two of our best chances
were created when the centre forward dropped back into midfield
to win the ball? What were the midfield players doing? It
tells you something when easily our most - arguably our ONLY
- consistent midfield player this season has been an 18-year-old
playing his first few games for the first team.
I know he is a very talented 18-year-old, but surely our other
more experienced midfielders ought to be capable of matching
his commitment and range of passing. They certainly (and this
is what seriously riles most fans) ought to be able to give
the impression that they care as much as he does - who were
the two guys clapping their hands and shouting at the team
today? The Captain and David Prutton. It ought to tell you
even more when I say that today I found myself thinking we
could use Gemmill - and I wasn't even fussed which one! Even
Scottie could pass to a red shirt (sometimes). As for his
Dad... I wish I could tell you what the answer is. We could
do worse (especially in Johnson's suspension period) than
give Prutton, Quashie and Gareth Williams a run in the middle
- they could hardly do any worse than those two today. Or,
for that matter, for the manager to dig out his boots himself.
I hasten to add that I emphatically do NOT think the answer
is to change the manager.
Platty has done a lot of good stuff - not least the signings
of Scimeca, Matrecano, Brennan, Petrachi and John. (But how
long, if we keep playing like this, before even these guys
get dragged down to the lowest common denominator?) If there
is a criticism of Platt, it might be of his powers of motivation
- but some of the players seem to be wound up enough; why
not all? (Indeed at Sheffield and Tranmere you could say some
of them were too wound up). I don't know any of the players
personally - I have no idea whether they would benefit from
one of Mr Clough's nettle runs, an arm round their shoulders
or (it being the Season of Goodwill soon) some sort of rectal
Christmas tree fitting. I do know that I and thousands like
me are pretty fed up with paying shed-loads of money and driving
hundreds of miles to watch our midfield capitulate away from
home every other week.
I stayed last night with a mate who is a Fulham fan, and he
was bemoaning the fact that they are drawing too many away
games. I should perhaps point out to him that our away record
is now Played 11, Won 1, Drawn 2 (and one of those entirely
thanks to Norm), lost 8 - the worst in the division. I am
annoyed with them tonight. It seems so spineless - as though
they don't care. I am sure that isn't true, but a small tip;
don't annoy your customers, boys! It is time for a few of
our senior pros to stand up and be counted. Yes, that means
you.
