Forest Five Asides: QPR, Marinakis, Mancienne, Lichaj, Villa

Starting a new blog format at the end of a season might not be the brightest idea I've ever had but, nevertheless, I'm doing it anyway. My new 'Five Asides' posts will aim to give a short, sharp views on five key talking points to fit between longer rants/posts. Well, that's the theory anyway.

Any comments, thoughts or suggestions are always welcome...

QPR and the ghost of Megson

The trip to Loftus Road tomorrow brings back bad memories of the last time we were relegated to League One. The 2-1 defeat in West London put the final nail in the coffin, confirming our pathetic demise. Worst of all, I went down to the game on a supporters' bus that had the BBC's Natalie Jackson among its passengers. It meant that we had to hang around in a car park while she conducted her post match interviews, leaving us to stew and fester for a while on the fact we'd fallen through the trap door before we could go home. It was grim. No-one was really in the mood for a 'looking forward to League One' vox pop on the way back either - it was time to pretend to sleep.

The fact that QPR is our penultimate game this season too isn't, of course, the only parallel with that last relegation under Gary Megson. The Derby home and away results were identical in 04/05, Rotherham also went down that year and it was also a season in which just two away wins were earned (those, like the two this season, were also both in the same week).

The positive thing is that we now have a better manager and a better team. The 04/05 lineup was: Gerrard, Curtis, Morgan, Taylor, Melville, Robertson, Evans, Powell, Gardner, Commons, Dobie. If we can stumble over the line, there might be light at the end of the tunnel.

The ghosts of 04/05, our record against Holloway teams (3 wins in 15) and the pitiful away form this season mean that I still can't rest easy when it comes to survival though.

Takeover talk as the Greeks wait in the wings

It seems that the takeover of the club is edging closer - although it also seems like we've been saying that for some time. Sky Sports today reported the fact that Fawaz is going to sell the club to Evangelos Marinakis but it's not really clear if this was based on anything that we didn't already know from other media outlets. ('Sky Sources' covers a multitude of sins doesn't it?) 

There are question marks over the Greek investor, of course, but the fact that he's run a club - and a big one at that - suggests that things should surely be better under him than the current regime. We've had a lot of false dawns, let's hope this isn't another. The club is at a crossroads - again. Survival and new ownership could give us a huge boost going into the summer but neither is certain.

Need to be convinced by Mancienne

📝 #NFFC are delighted to announce that defender Michael Mancienne has signed a new two-year contract with the club.https://t.co/ERafDF8TZZ pic.twitter.com/5T5uWQqE7H

— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) April 28, 2017

I'll admit that I'm not exactly bowled over by the news of Michael Mancienne's new contract. I wouldn't have been at all bothered if we'd have let him go when his deal came to an end in the summer. He's got a great pedigree but I've been disappointed with his performances and always worry that we'll concede a goal from a cross when he's in the lineup. The fact that he's struggled to establish himself - even over a converted-to-centre-half Danny Fox - isn't a ringing endorsement either.

It is a positive, however, that he appears to have taken a pay cut (since he was rumoured to be on £25k a week or so) and it might well be the case that Warburton can get more out of him and utilise his talents in his style of play. One thing is for certain - we've got to stop messing about with him in midfield.

Eric The Red deserves the crown

While voting for the official 'player of the season' carries on until Wednesday, many supporters club branches seem to have opted for Eric Lichaj as their choice and the American will surely take the main crown too? It might seem odd to say that in a season in which our defensive record has been so poor but I do think Eric deserves the nod. He's been consistent, has given his all and provided leadership at times when things threatened to go off the rails. He looks like he loves to play for us, provides a decent attacking threat when given the chance and has even bagged a couple of goals. Frankly, we could with a couple more characters like him.

Who are the only other contenders? David Vaughan? Ben Osborn?

Let's hope the award isn't as much of a curse as it has been in recent times, though. Of those last five winners, Garath McCleary, Michail Antonio and Dorus de Vries all left pretty quickly, while Chris Cohen and Andy Reid both suffered serious injuries not long after earning the title.

Would Villa's fans rather they lost?

Aston Villa did us a decent favour by beating Birmingham on Sunday. Interestingly, having put their city rivals in the mire, they now travel to Blackburn to take on the team directly below the Blues. I wonder how many Villains actually want their side to lose tomorrow to pile more misery onto Harry Redknapp's men? For our sake, let's hope the team isn't 'on the beach' anyway (although it worries me that the influential Mile Jedinak looks set to be missing for them). The hope same goes for Huddersfield, who go into their game against Birmingham merely waiting for the play-offs to begin.

I really don't want a nerve-jangling last day and, while I appreciate that we need to pull our finger out and get the job done ourselves, any more favours will be more than gratefully accepted.

Dear Villa, please can we keep Gary Gardner?

I'm rooting for Villa. Not necessarily this Sunday, although I wouldn't mind seeing them upset Liverpool and the 'FA Cup narrative'. No, I'm backing Villa because I'm clinging to the hope that if they stay up and, even better, if they get bought out by rich owners, they might be prepared to let us keep Gary Gardner.

It's probably a false hope, especially with Tactics Tim's record with younger players and the restrictions we have under the dreaded FFP. It'd be nice though wouldn't it?

Wednesday's night's game against Watford served as a timely reminder of the quality we've missed from Gardner while he was suspended. 

Despite carving a golden chance for Chris Burke I felt we struggled to settle for the first 15 minutes - not helped by gifting a goal to Odion Ighalo after just four minutes. 

However, one touch of magisterial brilliance from the on-loan Aston Villa man lifted us. A neat dinked ball, seemingly innocuous given it led to nothing directly, seemed to spur us into life - as if we realised we had a bit of class to rely on in the middle and could go forward with confidence.

For the rest of the half I felt Watford continued to look dangerous - how did Abdi miss 'that' chance? - but so did we. Former Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes denying Antonio, the tigerish Osborn and Eric Lichaj, who tried his luck with an incredible acrobatic effort from distance.

Still, all that good work, inspired by Gardner's poise and sheer class, was undone when Ighalo evaded the lame defensive efforts of an off-the-pace Kelvin Wilson and his shot rebounded to Matthew Connolly, who had started the breakaway, to establish a two-goal cushion.

There were plenty of grumbles at half time but actually it hadn't been a bad game, we simply didn't have the same cutting edge up front with a front line led by a largely anonymous Chuba Akpom and the wide threat of Michail Antonio not quite hitting the heights of a couple of months ago as the season continues to take his toll on the ex-Sheffield Wednesday man (surely the clear player of the year regardless?).

The second half was even more entertaining than the first prompted, bizarrely, by the red card of Kelvin Wilson. His horror show ended with a petulant looking kick out - a lazy bit of play that showed no regard for his team mates or the desire to come back in the game. At that point, with half an hour to go, you feared the cricket season was due to come to West Bridgford earlier than Sunday's first home clash with reigning county champions Yorkshire. Surely the hungry Hornets would pile on the pressure and give their goal difference a boost with the proverbial cricket score?

What followed was a remarkable effort from Freedman's men. Mancienne was put out of his midfield misery and shifted to centre half but the real change came with the sheer display of effort and determination. It was if the players knew they had to up their game to cope with being a man down - and dug deep to improve drastically (which probably also speaks volumes for Wilson's display too).

Led by the lung-bursting forward forays of the revitalised Lichaj, the men in red stormed forward, not caring that there was nothing to play for. Burke battled and schemed, Akpom was replaced by the much more effective Tyler Walker, Antonio dug deep and probed and Gardner, the fulcrum at the heart of everything, sprayed the ball about.

When a marginal free-kick/penalty decision on 72 minutes saw the referee opt not to give a spot kick, Gardner took his frustration out on the ball and thundered in a devastating free kick into the net to pull a goal back. 

What followed from that was something of a slugfest - a shootout at the City Ground corral - as both sides continued to attack. It was refreshing to see to be honest. Our players could have given up, given there was little to play for, and Watford could've sat deep and accepted a useful 2-1 win against 10 men. Instead both strove to find that all-important next goal.

It should've come to Antonio when a shot from Gardner - that man again - found its way to him just a couple of yards out with an open goal to aim at. But, despite all of those wonder strikes he's scored this season, Michail misfired and spooned his effort wide. Anyone stupid enough not to forgive the winger, though, needs to spend a few minutes on YouTube.

The sting in the tail came when Almen Abdi made amends for his earlier miss, finishing after Darlow parried a typically vicious swerved effort from ex-Red Adlene Guedioura. 

It was perhaps cruel, I thought a draw would've been fair for our efforts with ten men, but Watford will think it was reward for their own attacking intent and impressive cutting edge. Even then a slightly rusty Hobbs was charging forward with a give and go on the half way line in injury time - epitomising the exceptional spirit on show.

We've learned that Mancienne really doesn't work as a screening midfielder, that Tyler Walker coming along nicely and that Kelvin Wilson really doesn't deserve to be an automatic starter. Above all, we've also learned that we're at our best on the ball when Gary Gardner is in the side. A permanent deal for him would be the dream - and add real class to an emerging spine of a squad for next year. Does anyone at Villa fancy doing us a favour? Please?