On-loan @Everton player Kieran Dowell hat-trick proves the quality at @NFFC.#NFFC pic.twitter.com/7bu6odrHui— Channel 5 Sport (@Channel5Sport) October 28, 2017
You only need watch Dowell for five minutes to see that he is a player of some pedigree and style. Yet, while that is often the case with young Premier League loanees, Saturday's sensational showing provided that there can be substance to his game as well as style.
In football, the term 'luxury player' is one of those mis-used clichés. Too often it's only really used to mean 'inconsistent' or 'ineffective'. It's why I'm a little annoyed with myself for starting to fear that fielding Dowell in a red shirt might be a luxury we could ill afford. In the soul searching that inevitably follows a Derby defeat, I'd begun to ponder whether we needed grit and hard work in that number 10 role to make ourselves tougher to beat. Yet, it's never a luxury to have a player who can pass, create and score.
Great result and first pro hatrick !! Happy days 😎🎩 pic.twitter.com/UfiNBOJgEK— Kieran Dowell (@kierandowell1) October 28, 2017
Don't get me wrong, not every game will be Dowell's. Warburton is trying to build a squad of players to suit the varied circumstances which emerge in a Championship season - and the likes of Clough, Carayol, Cash might well all find a stage to showcase their talents. It's healthy too that we aren't pinning all of our hopes on one talisman. But, this fixture showed why it is worth having some patience with the likes of Dowell - when it's his day, we're in for a treat - and we might even be witnessing the start of a very special career. Many Everton fans told us we were in for a treat with Dowell - and some wished they'd kept him. They'll no doubt be keen to have him back.
The comparison made by Bandy & Shinty with Ian Woan is a good one. There will be times when people feel Kieran isn't working hard enough, is being lazy or is drifting out of games. Those are easy criticisms to make of wingers and/or playmakers who are in the side to bide their time and produce the one or two moments in the game that are decisive. It's probably not the likes of Woan, Andy Reid or Dowell who are lazy - it's us for jumping to that often-wrong conclusion.
In many ways Dowell symbolises the team at the moment. There's much promise, flashes of brilliance, some rookie errors and signs that improvement is being made. If he and the team can grow together then that can deliver the progress we're all hoping for. The good stuff is enough to buy a little patience during the off days and anyone who thinks otherwise is daft.
I think we underestimate how tough it must be to just slot into positions such as his - and that filled by Liam Bridcutt. The team as a whole is having to learn to play a new style. Bridcutt was suddenly thrust into a role in which he's receiving - and having to make - a lot of passes with no time to get used to his team mates. Similarly, Dowell is playing a role that requires vision, accuracy, a cool head and a bit of strength and will only really work if the rest of the team functions around him. Sometimes it's said of mercurial players that they only perform if the rest of the team is performing. That might be true, but maybe it's also the case that they can only perform if the rest of the team does its job. Dowell - or any creative player - is every bit as reliant on service as an old fashioned number nine is on crosses onto his forehead.
I have to admit I was guilty of looking at Kieran Dowell very early on and thinking 'there's a proper Forest player'. Yes, I know, that's the sort of arrogance and delusion for which Forest fans are ridiculed by our rivals. In truth, he represents what a 'proper Forest player' used to look like - the sort of classy, composed, stylish-but-unshowy passer we probably took for granted 'back in the day'. These days, our club is no longer really defined by that style. What even was a typical Forest player of the last 10-15 years? We've lurched, largely unsuccessfully, from one to another too many times to be summed up by any style.
Perhaps, then, it's more accurate to say that Kieran Dowell epitomises what we want a 'Forest player' to be. Just as the 'Warburton Way' promises a passing style that we'd love to be renowned for. There's a long way to go yet, of course, but these feel like admirable goals. Just, indeed, like Dowell's three at Hull.
