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Football League Championship 2010/11 Official Thread

Rex Grossman

By Rex Grossman,
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elmo

elmo

Posted
Posted

If Norwich, Milwall and Leeds all finish Top 6 is that the best performance for promoted sides since the play-offs began. (Not expecting anyone to look it up!)

I imagine that if 2 went up it certainly would be?

you can scrub that, Millwall wont make the play-offs. Still, it's been a fantastic season for us. One that we can work on next year.

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CJ.

CJ.

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you can scrub that, Millwall wont make the play-offs. Still, it's been a fantastic season for us. One that we can work on next year.

BELIEVE!!!!

But, yeah, play offs would require 9 wins at least. Can't see that happening. Next season is the big push.

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elmo

elmo

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The home or away game? I missed both, but I really wanted to go to the away game as I live round the corner from Loftus Road.

Was talking about the home game. The away game was mental. Police treated us like shit and supporters were clashing outside before and after the game.

But the home game was utterly amazing. One of the best nights i've ever had at The Den.

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DeadRussian

DeadRussian

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On today's form Forest wont make the playoffs.

Well, durrrr. We're shite.

I heard we did almost make it 3-3 in the dying seconds, hitting the post. That would've been swell.

Forest are so annoying. I'm fairly confident we've got the best goalkeeper in the league, the two best full-backs in the league in Gunter and Konchesky, and some splendid midfielders in Cohen, Moussi, Anderson, McGugan, McKenna, etc.., but some decent players are being woefully inconsistent, as per usual, and our whole team, minus perhaps Camp and Konchesky, lack any sort of belief or swagger. We need a bit of swagger (without being a cock). A couple of strikers who can score would be nice. When was the last time Forest had a 20+ a season striker? David Johnson? Pierre Van Hooijdonk?

The future looks...mediocre.

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Herbalizer

Herbalizer

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Well, durrrr. We're shite.

I heard we did almost make it 3-3 in the dying seconds, hitting the post. That would've been swell.

Forest are so annoying. I'm fairly confident we've got the best goalkeeper in the league, the two best full-backs in the league in Gunter and Konchesky, and some splendid midfielders in Cohen, Moussi, Anderson, McGugan, McKenna, etc.., but some decent players are being woefully inconsistent, as per usual, and our whole team, minus perhaps Camp and Konchesky, lack any sort of belief or swagger. We need a bit of swagger (without being a cock). A couple of strikers who can score would be nice. When was the last time Forest had a 20+ a season striker? David Johnson? Pierre Van Hooijdonk?

The future looks...mediocre.

Your fullbacks got totally ruined today. Dyer and Sinclair were beating them for fun. 3-3 would have been a travesty, we were by far the better team.

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Ork1927

Ork1927

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We had the crazy 3-3 game. I'll take it, especially as at one point we were 7 points behind Norwich, but Jay went off hurt and more worryingy Hudson. We are screwed if we lose him or Kevin Mc.

I'm almost certain it's play-offs at best now, but it is still close.

I'd rather you lovely Jacks leapfrog Norwich now and go up automatic if we can't. Much rather Norwich and Reading in the play offs than Swansea and Leeds. Will make it slghtly less painful when we lose with the bonus of not having to fight all the way to Wembley and back.

Still, we've got Derby at home next - if we win that then we could be back up there and if we don't then it will be all over for us.

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Ork1927

Ork1927

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You'd rather take on Norwich City, as opposed to Leeds United and their shonky defending? Really? I'd avoid Norwich like the plague if Forest manage to get in the play-offs. Leeds or Cardiff would be my preference.

On paper then Id rather take on Leeds - I think Norwich would take us apart.

But, Id rather not go to wembley again and if I had to then Id much rather play a 'nice' club as we did last year so pre and post match isn't a chore as groups of fuckwits act up all around Wembley and the Met batter everyone who moves (Cardiff vs Leeds would be a nightmare).

And Leeds owe us big time. They were top of the Prem when we beat them in the FA Cup and then they began to fall. We failed to beat us in the Championship including a crazy game at Ninian when we only had 9 men and we sort of put them down by losig at home to Hull. And we embarrassed them earlier this season at Elland Road.

They have to get some sort of revenge at some point and beating us at wembley to return to the Prem couldn't be any better.

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trickytree

trickytree

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Well, durrrr. We're shite.

I heard we did almost make it 3-3 in the dying seconds, hitting the post. That would've been swell.

Forest are so annoying. I'm fairly confident we've got the best goalkeeper in the league, the two best full-backs in the league in Gunter and Konchesky, and some splendid midfielders in Cohen, Moussi, Anderson, McGugan, McKenna, etc.., but some decent players are being woefully inconsistent, as per usual, and our whole team, minus perhaps Camp and Konchesky, lack any sort of belief or swagger. We need a bit of swagger (without being a cock). A couple of strikers who can score would be nice. When was the last time Forest had a 20+ a season striker? David Johnson? Pierre Van Hooijdonk?

The future looks...mediocre.

You're being quite complimentary there, of those midfielders I'd say only Moussi and McGugan have the talent to actually make a difference to a game, the others are average at best. As for swagger, Lewis had that earlier in the season when he was playing off the striker, but since being stuck on the wing he's been completely wasted and his confidence is shot.

3-2 was extremely flattering for Forest yesterday, even if we did hit the post in injury time. Can't see us staying in the playoffs really, big clearout in the summer coming.

Now we've no chance of second place, I really hope Swansea can pinch it - one of the few teams in the country who try to play exciting football rather than that percentage-based bollocks most teams go for.

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incapable hulk

incapable hulk

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Your fullbacks got totally ruined today. Dyer and Sinclair were beating them for fun. 3-3 would have been a travesty, we were by far the better team.

It was the complete reverse of the last game. When forest beat swansea 3-1 at home that scoreline flattered swansea, and it shouldve been 7 or 8 to forest and swansea are still the worst team ive seen at the city ground this season.

This time, it completely flipped around and its obvious swansea took that performance and decided to rectify it for the rest of the season. I watched the game on saturday on the web, and swansea then were by far the best team i've seen play forest all season.

We didnt deserve those 2 goals as we were utterly woeful. 3-2 seriously flattered us.

Good luck to the swans, they were outstanding on saturday.

God knows what forest need though. They just seem to have completely fallen apart.

I dont think it can just be tiredness, or the tactics. People keep saying billy is going defensive, but hes employing alot of attacking players who just arent delivering.

When you watch chambers hoof it forward, you see billy on the touchline yelling at him to stop doing it.

Mckenna had a poor game on saturday, but im not sure its all his fault as he was pretty much abandoned by cohen whos been awful this season.

Ive got a feeling, people are expecting miracles from the moose and this 2 week break. The moose takes a while to get going, and will probably pick up another injury anyway.

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trickytree

trickytree

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He's too injury-prone yes, but when fit he's a huge presence in the centre which is something we badly lack at the moment. We also don't have a playmaker, a centre mid that drops deep to get the ball from the centre halves to play it out wide or though the middle - Raddy should be doing this but he's been uninterested all season, hence why the centre halves end up lumping it most of the time. We also won't get scoring again without playing McGugan through the middle, he's the most natural goalscorer and creator in the squad but has no pace so can't do anything from the wing.

I do blame the tactics too, we play attacking players but ask them to be defensive. Anderson is the best example, goalscoring aggressive winger when at Swansea, some kind of deputy full back at Forest. No width means no crosses, allowing the opposition defence to narrow and block any play through the middle. When we do get a cross in there's usually only one player in the box, as the team are told not to overcommit. Of course there's no need to be this cautious as apart from 4 or 5 teams this league is mostly rubbish full of teams asking to be ripped apart. At the moment though we're one of those teams, as Saturday showed.

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DeadRussian

DeadRussian

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The tactics do seem totally off a lot of the time. Anderson is a proper natural winger, and looking at Forest's strikers, we should be playing with more width. I wouldn't mind seeing Adebola and Tudgay start upfront together (how has Boyd looked?), as they're both strong in the air. Shame about the distinct lack of another proper winger. Tyson is woeful on the left, and McCleary is disgustingly bad. Cohen can't play there either, he's got no pace.

If we go up, or don't go up, there's got to be a major overhaul. I'm assuming now that Tyson is gone. I know Earnshaw and Moussi are out of contract, but I wouldn't mind signing Earnshaw to a cheaper contract and giving Moussi a better contract. I'm happy to see the back of McCleary, Tyson, McGoldrick, Lynch and I think McKenna and Adebola have probably had it come the end of this season too.

Bring back Joe Garner.

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incapable hulk

incapable hulk

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You know what, im going to be in a minority here- but I dont think he is asking the players to be defensive.

Hes putting alot of attacking talent out there, and they are just not performing.

I think the confidence is gone.

They visibly panic. You can see them far too keen to move the ball forward.

Ive said it on 606 today, but last season we played brilliant, patient,flowing attacking football.

We were experts in keeping the ball. Wed hold onto it, pass it around, try and find an opening and create something.

This season, forest started sluggishly, now confidence seems to have evaporated as they just arent doing that.They panic, shove the ball out wide to tyson and we go down the flanks and throw in an aimless ball at our short strikers. Mcgoldrick and earnie are never going to win headers.

You could see against derby, when the confidence returned forest were playing patient football again. Passing it around beautifully. Once derby got that second goal, the panic set in and forest started just hoofing it forward or giving it tyson to just get it down the other end of hte pitch and derby dominated much of the second half.

This season, the prevailing tactic from the forest team seems to be to just get it to tyson, gunter or ando and run as quickly as possible down the flank just hoping the cross finds someone or bounces off of something.

Or luke chambers hoofing the ball to the shortest man in football.

Theres no thought or patience behind it.

Earnshaws waiting for through balls that never come. Tudgays watching all the crosses fly over him and out for goalkicks or straight into the keepers arms. Lewis and raddy struggle to get involved and all they can do is hit wild shots from 30 yards.

Confidence to play our own game has just evaporated.

You take raddy and earnie as the example. Theyve struggled this season, but why is that? Last season raddy was the heart of our team. He made everything tick, and he pulled all the strings. Everything went through him, and the football at times was spectacular.

The football was patient, and wed build up, get to final third play a through ball through for earnshaw whod run onto it off the last man, and dink one over the keeper.

How many times have you seen a throughball for earnshaw to run onto this season? I cant pick one out off the top of my head.

Now we have the ball going straight out wide to tyson, who out paces his team mates, or to gunter or ando and they just go down the flank and whip crosses in to no one. Earnshaw is never going to get that, and raddys being completely bypassed.

I think that spell of swapping raddy out for mcgugan has damaged the teams ethics to a degree. Whereas before they would pass it around,and raddy would dictate play- now they are relying on mcgugan to do something special, and raddy to do something similar- when they are very different players.

Mcgugans goals carried the team to results, but the football was dreadful.

Theres too much of a reliance on tysons speed, or lewis scoring a fluke goal from 35 yards.

For me thats all it is- the confidence is shot and they are desperate to get the ball into the net.

That is not this teams strength. Im not sure how much davies is to blame, because every time chambers hoofs the ball he screams at them, and you usually see him barking at them to slow down and use thier heads.

Which they inevitably dont do. It comes back, chambers picks up the ball has players all around him to pass to, so instead he bizzarely hits the long ball to earnshaw whos surrounded by 3 defenders all 2 feet taller than him.

If we can get that sorted during this 2 week break, and get back to playing football on the ground, patiently- we will win every game and waltz up to the premiership.

Footballing wise, when we are playing properly there is not another team in this division who can touch us. But this season, for whatever reason, the confidence has just gone and they are not doing that.

Earlier in the season, we battered this swansea team with proper football and shouldve won 7 or 8. This week we were low on confidence and just desperate to get the ball away, and they shouldve won by 7 or 8. Forest looked like amateurs, when they shouldve at least put up a fight and not just turned up for the last 5 minutes.

We are crumbling against the bottom 3, because of the pressure and expectation to win. They are too scared of losing, to try and play.

For me, its all down to confidence - and thats not something i'd usually say or believe is a factor.

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trickytree

trickytree

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Epic post :)

I'd say it's a mix of confidence and tactics. Billy does put attacking players out there, but that doesn't mean we play attacking football. This season we've got this awful habit of parking the bus, with all players in our own half defending. There's no way the players are deciding to do this themselves, it's the manager's call. Defending corners is a clear example, often we have everyone back in our own box with no outlet - that's tactics not player choice. Playing wide midfielders on their 'wrong' side is also negative, meant to narrow the play. Don't forget also at the start of last season Davies had the pitch narrowed considerably. It's all about containment and sneaking a goal, rather than having open exciting games which our squad does actually have the talent to win. Billy's teams have always been cagey and while it keeps us in the upper half of the table, it'll never be good enough to go up. Playing that way can't be great for confidence, which long-term stops us playing well.

Bring back Joe Garner.

Bring back Scot Gemmill or Gareth Williams more like, we need a playmaker desperately. We can't bring Garner back, he's a bit of a prick unfortunately and disrupts the squad. He'll be out on loans until we can either sell him or his contract expires.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Just seen the Evans tackle. If that had been by a Carragher or Gerrard it would have been called a horror tackle. Brutal. "50/50" some say yet Holden was not leading with his studs at all. Evans was ; yeah he could/almost/might have ended someone's career.

Where's the outrage?

Compare now to Nani who flailed about, cried a bit, and is now perfectly fine and back in action - it's a terrible, terrible outcome.

Unlike Nani, Holden took a phone call from Evans and accepted an apology. Just shows you the mark of the man, and he's been upbeat on twitter about it too.

Somewhat surprisingly (??) ferdinand on twitter said it was a fair tackle between two people and not a red.

Just shows you we really don't have anyone who's a decent shout for an England Captain at the moment. They're all scummers.

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incapable hulk

incapable hulk

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Epic post :)

I'd say it's a mix of confidence and tactics. Billy does put attacking players out there, but that doesn't mean we play attacking football. This season we've got this awful habit of parking the bus, with all players in our own half defending. There's no way the players are deciding to do this themselves, it's the manager's call. Defending corners is a clear example, often we have everyone back in our own box with no outlet - that's tactics not player choice. Playing wide midfielders on their 'wrong' side is also negative, meant to narrow the play. Don't forget also at the start of last season Davies had the pitch narrowed considerably. It's all about containment and sneaking a goal, rather than having open exciting games which our squad does actually have the talent to win. Billy's teams have always been cagey and while it keeps us in the upper half of the table, it'll never be good enough to go up. Playing that way can't be great for confidence, which long-term stops us playing well.

Heh. You know me, I never miss an opportunity to vent about forest :D

Your right of course, but I do think the players need to take some responsibility. The wingers on the wrong side thing winds me up, but the idea is to cut inside and cause problems that way. Quite how he expects tyson to do anything other than run though blows my mind :D

Im concerned more that its panic thats causing forest to play so defensively- even on the part of the manager. Its just at times this season the great footballs come out for a brief cameo in these formations that davies has set up. Which makes me think its not the formations or tactics fully to blame, as occassionally it reappears, then something happens and the players panic again.

The derby game is my favourite example. In the second half, when we were 4-1 up we were all over them. But once judas got that jammy deflection in, the team changed- but you could see billy on the touchline screaming at the players to get forward and push out.

Billy can be too defensive I suppose, but at the same time our players just havent been doing thier jobs lately.

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trickytree

trickytree

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Spot on, they're all doing it wrong. Call me mental, but I'd much rather we just went at teams Blackpool-style, trying to score more than they do. The Swansea, Watford and Derby (first half) home games were all like this, they were awesome to watch and we won all three. No-one at the club seems to care that the fans pay good money to be entertained, not watch some defensive, percentage-based dross.

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Ork1927

Ork1927

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We are being linked with a striker to solve our injury crisis and get our promotion charge back on track.

Problem is – it is that utter c****, Marlon King. I do actually feel a bit sick at the thought.

Family club of the year, Cardiff City,

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incapable hulk

incapable hulk

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Spot on, they're all doing it wrong. Call me mental, but I'd much rather we just went at teams Blackpool-style, trying to score more than they do. The Swansea, Watford and Derby (first half) home games were all like this, they were awesome to watch and we won all three. No-one at the club seems to care that the fans pay good money to be entertained, not watch some defensive, percentage-based dross.

I would too.

We know we can go at teams as well. When they do, we are better than anyone else at it - we just seem too scared.

Ive got this worrying feeling everyones pinning thier hopes too much on this break and the return of the moose and bizzarely joel lynch...who wont even play!

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