It was damp - and unnaturally chilly - squib that brought the curtain down another ultimately disappointing campaign at the City Ground. The gloom of a flat and pretty pathetic 2-1 defeat at the hands of Russell Slade's Cardiff was only broken by two rays of light.
The first of those came from a man who grew used to bringing us out of our seats. This time, Garath McCleary proved able to get the crowd roaring from 25 miles away as news of his third goal for Reading against Steve McClaren's choking sheep drew a slightly surreal - yet raucous - cheer. Was it a little sad that D***y's demise was all we had to cheer at 2-0 down and heading to 14th? Probably. But did that make it any less joyful? Nope.
And the truth was there was one other glimmer of light to come. Yes Dexter Blackstock netted to reduce the arrears and confirm his own better-than-expected comeback but the real star of the last 20 minutes was Ben Osborn.
First though. let's be brutally honest, Dougie's team selection for this game was best summed up by one inflatable that was thrown around the Lower Bridgford - a cock up. Having the right footed Mancienne - who has spent the last few weeks out of position at right back and central midfield - at left back was a recipe for disaster. The early substitutions were a little bizarre too - Chuba Akpom looked like he had absolutely no idea where to run when he came on and capped off his miserable loan spell with a shot so bad it drew laughs when he was presented with a golden chance. Paterson too came into a confused and disfunctional forward set up on the hour mark while the 90 minutes saw five loanees involved, seemingly wasting a chance to utilise players we will actually have on the books next season.
Worst of all was the omission of Osborn, and he hammered home that mistake with a superb cameo. The midfield trio of an out-of-sorts David Vaughan, sloppy Henri Lansbury and a not-quite-fit Gary Gardner lacked the energy and drive that young Ben has in spades. He came on, took the game by the scruff of the neck and was involved in everything. His arrival sparked the team into life, having a noticeable impact on Todd Kane who marauded forward with great purpose and Paterson - who was suddenly able to pick up the ball in his favoured areas. Osborn was positive, drove forward, passed accurately and must surely be destined to be a starter for next season.
His continued progress has been a joy to watch and its about time we stopped seeing him as the player who can easily be dropped - both Pearce and Freedman have been guilty of this - and realised he's a vital part of the midfield, especially in the current formation.
It's also worth considering - as was pointed out to me - that you can, if you want, consider Osborn's magnificent winner at the sheep dip as the goal that ultimately cost them the play offs. Now tell me that didn't at least draw a cheeky smile??
Worryingly, if the rest of the players were out to earn their Forest futures then there wasn't a lot to be positive about. Dexter battled hard and probably earned his goal but beyond that none of the starting XI will have done anything to further their cause. The football was one-dimensional too. Basically the only tactic seemed to be 'give it to Antonio and hope he can beat the two/three men surrounding him'. It was a bit of a slight on the wily Burke that the plan seemed to bypass his talents.
I worry that we may well have squandered a decent chance in the last few games. We haven't given Hobbs and Mancienne a chance to gel as a partnership, haven't given Osborn the extra responsibility he's deserved and could've seen more of Tyler Walker. The back four was a bit of a shambles and Cardiff, who have themselves been thoroughly underwhelming this season, didn't have to break too much of a sweat to get their lead, even if both finishes were clinical.
Dougie's early games in charge involved progressive attacking football - and brought him a richly deserved longer term contract. Unearthing a few more Ben Osborns will be the key to re-finding that and might ensure we're cheering our own stars - not relying on our old flames to warm us up. Freedman's seen the good and bad of all his charges in his 18 games - it's just a shame that there was so much of the bad in this defeat.
Showing posts with label Steve McClaren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve McClaren. Show all posts
Sunday, 3 May 2015
Monday, 11 July 2011
New era needs new approach
After a summer of biting my tongue I'm back on the blog again and it's a familiar theme at Forest at the moment isn't it? We're in a transfer window and we're not really signing anyone... Shouldn't be surprised really should we? In fact I'm sure I've posted on this before - I could just copy and paste. We've still not even got a left back.
It's a pretty important summer on Trentside. The board took the decision to remove Billy Davies from the helm and install Steve McClaren and I shouldn't really let this moment pass by remarking on the excellent job the fiery Scot did at the City Ground.
Under Colin Calderwood we came up from League One and played some pretty football, but lacked nous and bite and were bullied into the relegation positions. Billy made us much more streetwise and built the framework for a top six side/squad and for that we should be eternally grateful. His home record was nothing short of astounding and the football we played at times was very good, especially in his first full season.
I feared when he arrived that Billy was the type of character that would find it all too easy to fall out with anyone and everyone he came into contact with. To an extent that was true, but not until he'd galvanised the club and made it back into a Championship outfit.
I liked Billy. He was cheeky, aggressive (you can't be a shrinking violet in this league), canny and passionate. Perhaps he sometimes didn't affect games enough with substitutions (there were often three used and not often enough a game changing outcome from that) and perhaps he was too confrontational in his attitude to signings. Still, I'm grateful for the job he did here and several games (West Brom away, Newc at home, Leicester at home from last season and Derby at home this year in particular) will live a long while in the memory.
He's replaced with Steve McClaren, a manager who has almost as much baggage as this club. The thing is while people from afar just associate us with the European Cups, Brian Clough and nothing else, people also somewhat unfairly only focus on Steve's England reign and dodgy Dutch accent.
The fact is I reckon any English born manager you'd care to name would struggle in the national hotseat. Yeah McClaren didn't cover himself in glory but you reckon Allardyce, Redknapp, Pulis for example would do better? I'm not saying he's necessarily better than those three, simply that I don't think they'd have done much better. It' too easy to blame a hapless manager for England's woes at a national level but then again that's another blog.
When it comes to our new gaffer we should focus on his successful stint as assistant manager of 'them', Man Utd and as boss at Middlesbrough and Fc Twente. He went to Wolfsburg at the wrong time - just after they surprisingly won the title.
People in the game seem able to look beyond the "Wally with the Brolly" headlines and reckon he's a good coach and manager. He should be a good capture at this level.
The club has been decisive and bold by making his appointment, but they must follow that up with similar intent in the transfer market.
From the squad that went into the run-in last time around we're short of Kelvin Wilson (who was, albeit, mysteriously injured), Nathan Tyson, Robert Earnshaw, Paul McKenna, Dele Adebola, Julian Bennett and loanees Paul Konchesky and Kris Boyd. Other than Earnshaw (who struggled with injury last season) I can't say as though I'm particularly gutted at any of those going but the fact remains that we're now donw to the bare bones when it comes to squad numbers. The still-trying-to-be-positive side of me suggests that the decks have been cleared and wage bill freed for some good McClaren signings, the cynic says we've left ourselves an awful lot to do to plug the gaps.
Th sole capture so far has, at least, been encouraging. I always loved watching Andy Reid play for us, he was absolutely superb in the Paul Hart play-off side and, when I've seen him, hasn't exactly disgraced himself in the division above. If we've replaced Tyson with Reid then surely that's an improvement? He's also a free transfer so an absolute bargain.
The question now is who/what next? There were lots of positive noises when McClaren first came, but last week that gave way to the first signs of frustration.
As far as I'm aware he still hasn't been able to get his backroom team in place (the Calderwood saga rumbles on) and seems acutely aware of the need to get at least a couple more in place before we begin playing pre-season friendlies.
There have been lots of names flying around the internet rumour mill, and some of those are exactly the sort of quality you'd hope McClaren can attract. The trouble is if we follow the blueprint of previous summers and allow Wayne Routledge, Nicky Maynard and Nicky Shorey to be the new Darren Pratley, Peter Whittingham and, well, Nicky Shorey, then we're stuffed.
From a business point of view I can see the point of our transfer panel. We don't want a manager to go crazy and waste big money on players that really aren't worth it. We want the club to make investments into good players that will flourish for years to come ala Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Dexter Blackstock etc. But doesn't there come a point where you have to take a punt? Maybe say someone is your number one target and make sure you get them. Even if you then have to look at loans and frees for non-priority positions (Norwich and Swansea used the loan market much better than we did last year). If you appoint someone of McClaren's ability he really needs to tools at his disposal to forge a successful side. Why be decisive about a manager but not his playing staff?
I know it's easy for me to say this. It's not my money that could be wasted. But the implied mistrust of the panel fostered resentment under Davies and that cannot be allowed to take hold again. With teams in the Championship spending more on managers and players than ever it has become a super competitive market. The advantage we have over West Ham and Birmingham is that we have a settled spine that should, hopefully stay together. Leicester may be distorting the market a little with their blank chequebook but that just means we'll have to be cleverer and pick our targets wisely. The simple fact is we have to spend to just stand still, that's the way the league is now.
Much has been made of our failure to start well in the last few seasons. It's not really a surprise given the fact that two summers ago we had a lot of players to gel together and last summer we were still waiting for the missing pieces to the puzzle. Unless we give Steve some new faces soon we'll have exactly the same thing again.
I'm refusing to get too gloomy just yet. I've surprised myself at how happy I am at the McClaren appointment and Reid's return is fantastic. Once again we're in a position with Forest where we have the opportunity to build something really exciting. Too many time sin the past we've thrown those chances away. I'm desperate for it not to happen again...
It's a pretty important summer on Trentside. The board took the decision to remove Billy Davies from the helm and install Steve McClaren and I shouldn't really let this moment pass by remarking on the excellent job the fiery Scot did at the City Ground.
Under Colin Calderwood we came up from League One and played some pretty football, but lacked nous and bite and were bullied into the relegation positions. Billy made us much more streetwise and built the framework for a top six side/squad and for that we should be eternally grateful. His home record was nothing short of astounding and the football we played at times was very good, especially in his first full season.
I feared when he arrived that Billy was the type of character that would find it all too easy to fall out with anyone and everyone he came into contact with. To an extent that was true, but not until he'd galvanised the club and made it back into a Championship outfit.
I liked Billy. He was cheeky, aggressive (you can't be a shrinking violet in this league), canny and passionate. Perhaps he sometimes didn't affect games enough with substitutions (there were often three used and not often enough a game changing outcome from that) and perhaps he was too confrontational in his attitude to signings. Still, I'm grateful for the job he did here and several games (West Brom away, Newc at home, Leicester at home from last season and Derby at home this year in particular) will live a long while in the memory.
He's replaced with Steve McClaren, a manager who has almost as much baggage as this club. The thing is while people from afar just associate us with the European Cups, Brian Clough and nothing else, people also somewhat unfairly only focus on Steve's England reign and dodgy Dutch accent.
The fact is I reckon any English born manager you'd care to name would struggle in the national hotseat. Yeah McClaren didn't cover himself in glory but you reckon Allardyce, Redknapp, Pulis for example would do better? I'm not saying he's necessarily better than those three, simply that I don't think they'd have done much better. It' too easy to blame a hapless manager for England's woes at a national level but then again that's another blog.
When it comes to our new gaffer we should focus on his successful stint as assistant manager of 'them', Man Utd and as boss at Middlesbrough and Fc Twente. He went to Wolfsburg at the wrong time - just after they surprisingly won the title.
People in the game seem able to look beyond the "Wally with the Brolly" headlines and reckon he's a good coach and manager. He should be a good capture at this level.
The club has been decisive and bold by making his appointment, but they must follow that up with similar intent in the transfer market.
From the squad that went into the run-in last time around we're short of Kelvin Wilson (who was, albeit, mysteriously injured), Nathan Tyson, Robert Earnshaw, Paul McKenna, Dele Adebola, Julian Bennett and loanees Paul Konchesky and Kris Boyd. Other than Earnshaw (who struggled with injury last season) I can't say as though I'm particularly gutted at any of those going but the fact remains that we're now donw to the bare bones when it comes to squad numbers. The still-trying-to-be-positive side of me suggests that the decks have been cleared and wage bill freed for some good McClaren signings, the cynic says we've left ourselves an awful lot to do to plug the gaps.
Th sole capture so far has, at least, been encouraging. I always loved watching Andy Reid play for us, he was absolutely superb in the Paul Hart play-off side and, when I've seen him, hasn't exactly disgraced himself in the division above. If we've replaced Tyson with Reid then surely that's an improvement? He's also a free transfer so an absolute bargain.
The question now is who/what next? There were lots of positive noises when McClaren first came, but last week that gave way to the first signs of frustration.
As far as I'm aware he still hasn't been able to get his backroom team in place (the Calderwood saga rumbles on) and seems acutely aware of the need to get at least a couple more in place before we begin playing pre-season friendlies.
There have been lots of names flying around the internet rumour mill, and some of those are exactly the sort of quality you'd hope McClaren can attract. The trouble is if we follow the blueprint of previous summers and allow Wayne Routledge, Nicky Maynard and Nicky Shorey to be the new Darren Pratley, Peter Whittingham and, well, Nicky Shorey, then we're stuffed.
From a business point of view I can see the point of our transfer panel. We don't want a manager to go crazy and waste big money on players that really aren't worth it. We want the club to make investments into good players that will flourish for years to come ala Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Dexter Blackstock etc. But doesn't there come a point where you have to take a punt? Maybe say someone is your number one target and make sure you get them. Even if you then have to look at loans and frees for non-priority positions (Norwich and Swansea used the loan market much better than we did last year). If you appoint someone of McClaren's ability he really needs to tools at his disposal to forge a successful side. Why be decisive about a manager but not his playing staff?
I know it's easy for me to say this. It's not my money that could be wasted. But the implied mistrust of the panel fostered resentment under Davies and that cannot be allowed to take hold again. With teams in the Championship spending more on managers and players than ever it has become a super competitive market. The advantage we have over West Ham and Birmingham is that we have a settled spine that should, hopefully stay together. Leicester may be distorting the market a little with their blank chequebook but that just means we'll have to be cleverer and pick our targets wisely. The simple fact is we have to spend to just stand still, that's the way the league is now.
Much has been made of our failure to start well in the last few seasons. It's not really a surprise given the fact that two summers ago we had a lot of players to gel together and last summer we were still waiting for the missing pieces to the puzzle. Unless we give Steve some new faces soon we'll have exactly the same thing again.
I'm refusing to get too gloomy just yet. I've surprised myself at how happy I am at the McClaren appointment and Reid's return is fantastic. Once again we're in a position with Forest where we have the opportunity to build something really exciting. Too many time sin the past we've thrown those chances away. I'm desperate for it not to happen again...
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