I think the word “frustration” sums up yesterday’s match between Nottingham Forest and Fulham. Frustration that Nuno (after the tactical triumph at Liverpool) overthinks things. Not even in pre season has he played 4-4-2 I believe.
I can’t think of any other coach off the top of my head in the Premier League who has either. Perhaps he went for solidity and was worried about the pace, pace and skill of Traore, Smith Rowe, Iwobi and Jiminez? But like Cloughie used to say, “we don’t worry about the opposition, we let them worry about us”.
I don’t understand why we have 4 brilliant wingers in the squad, then leave them on the bench until we fall behind? Frustrated that this match had a draw written all over it, yet we come out with nothing. Even the 3 normally useless BBC pundits said draw and I agreed.
Fulham will finish near us, solid mid table. The selection and formation worked to the extent that both teams cancelled each other out. I can’t remember Sels having much to do except pick the ball out of the net from the penalty.
I did say on this site, I’d take a draw and said it to my mate before the game and at halftime. I also said it would be decided by a dubious reffing decision. I was sadly right except it was 2 decisions. Murillo’s was marginal, Elanga’s definite.
Speaking of which, I didn’t see the incidents live, I just saw their player hit the deck as if he’d been shot and Elanga likewise in the penalty box melee. It was only this morning that I looked on Sky and MOTD, when I thought Murillo’s shove gave the ref a decision to make.
But if you look at set pieces, particularly corners these days every one is basically a series of wrestling matches with pushing and shoving. The fact that it took the ref 6 or 7 minutes and many viewings showed how marginal it was. Elanga’s looked nailed on.
Calls for Nuno to be replaced are very premature. His decision to play Awoniyi could have been brilliant. If that overhead flick had gone in, it could have re ignited his season. I think overall he did ok. With some pace down the wings he and Wood might have thrived, which is doubly frustrating.
Again, as Cloughie said “football is a simple game made complicated by people who know little about it”. I wouldn’t put Nuno in this category, but just keep it simple mate!
Written by StokeyRed September 29 2024 18:39:02
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