I’ve been waiting all day to write about last night. Or maybe not.
Last night’s performance was awful, terrible, rubbish, or even of the sweary alternatives. Use whatever words you want and you’ll be in the right ballpark. I don’t have too many reservations about the formation or personnel used, bar the absence of Erhun Oztumer. While he hasn’t set things alight, some creative influence would have been nice.
In any case, we conceded early on the counter and proceded not to have any of the ball in that first half. Had we been given a ball of our own, Forest would have got possession of it and passed that around at will too. It felt as though we couldn’t or wouldn’t put a tackle in. One switch of sides we tried resulted in what should have been a simple bring down and trap on the right flank, it went out for a throw-in. For all that, Forest scored with their one chance.
Could it improve after the break? Surely it couldn’t be worse? It was worse. There was a brief spell after half-time where had a go, put some pressure on, but period came and went. Ben Alnwick then saved a penalty. Was that a turning point? It proved to be the highlight. Lewis Grabban would get his revenge, scoring twice, one from the spot.
Saturday’s game is not a six-pointer because it is October and we’re not even in the bottom three. It is a massive game though and defeat would result in a toxic atmosphere, surely leaving Phil Parkinson’s position in massive doubt.
For what it’s worth, changing the manager isn’t a miracle fix. You could end up with us making an inspired appointment which brings the much-wanted “attacking football”, but it’s pretty doubtful. One point being thrown around is how we’ve improved our squad. So have a lot of other clubs in this division. In relation to others in the league, it’s still a fairly low-quality group of players. Some seem to expect us in the top half or better, we’d need several signings for most managers.
Whoever is to blame though, a win in 10 games is awful form. Three points are needed on Saturday. Simple as that.