Jump to content
IGNORED

Nottingham Forest (a) - Wed 18.00 - What Can We Expect?


Davefevs

Recommended Posts

So City head to Robin Hood and Brian Clough territory for this evening’s crunch match.  Defeat will surely end any faint hopes of playoffs, whilst a win will raise hopes exponentially.  Already fans are jumping ahead with comments like “if we win tonight and Saturday we will be level with Cardiff”.  This is Bristol City folks!!

Forest drew their first game back versus Wednesday, before comprehensively beating Huddersfield at the weekend, and sit in 5th place on 64 points (9 above us in 12th).  They played some good stuff in the process.

In the Dug-out (not the Granary nor Loch Fyne):

They are managed by Sabri Lamouchi, the Frenchman, formerly of Stade Rennais and Ivory Coast.  As a player he had a distinguished career at the likes of Monaco, Parma, Inter and Marseille, as well as a dozen French caps (berets?).  He really seems to have built a solid team, that press well and are happy to counter-attack.  They have the 4th best defence in the Championship and a very settled system / line-up.

image.png.963f03bcc9737d9b320c086cd51fc11a.png

The Players:

Although Lamouchi might change the odd player with the heavy schedule, this team contains 10 of the 11 starters from when they played us earlier this season.

GK - Brice Samba (26) - Congo born, French (u19) stopper, signed from Caen in the summer for £1.9m.  A big old unit, who’s impressed me when I’ve seen him on Sky / Quest highlights.  Got the knack of keeping the ball out the bet, if sometimes looking a bit cumbersome. 4 clean sheets in 11 starts.  Super distribution with his left peg, appears to effortlessly stroke the ball about.

RB: Matty Cash (22) - Forest youngster who’s progressed through the ranks.  Lamouchi has converted him to RB, and in the modern game his experience as an attacking midfielder means he is a threat in the opponent’s final third.  Got an eye for a goal too, often long distance shots.

LB: Yuri Ribeiro (23) - Portugese u21 full-back, signed from Benfica in the summer for an undisclosed fee.  Primarily a Benfica B player having not made a league appearance for the A side.  Likes to get forward, and has a competitive streak to him.  Nice left peg too.

CB: Tobias Figuereido (26) - ex-Portugese u21 CB and B international, signed from Sporting in the summer of 2018 for £2m.  Only just forced his way back into the team when we played them at Ashton Gate, and prefers to be the cover rather than the attacking CB alongside Worrall.

CB: Joe Worrall (23) - local lad who’s had loans at Dagenham and G.Rangers before becoming first choice this season.  Big, strong lad, who looks a leader, and is the one who likes to attack the ball on the deck and in the air.  Good player.

CM: Ben Watson (34) - very experienced midfielder who won an FA Cup winners medal with Wigan (scoring the winner too).  Palace, Wigan, QPR and Watford on his CV, with close to 150 apps in the Premier League.  Important to Forest in winning the ball back, and always available for the simple pass.  The kind of player every team needs.

CM: Ryan Yates (22) - another Nottingham lad in the squad.  Started to become a regular this season and a big lad, who doesn’t seem afraid to leave his mark.  Likes to get forward.  Got a red card at Ashton Gate and will be a choice between him....

or

AM: Brennan Johnson (19) - son of David Johnson, ex-Forest and Ipswich striker, who’s just broken into the team.  Not seen anything of him, but ripped our u23s apart in August.

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/report-u23s-1-3-nottingham-forest-u23s/

CM: Tiago Silva (27) - and now another Portugese player!  Signed from Feirense in the summer for an undisclosed fee.  Featured in most games this season and has 2 goals and four assists.  A very talented technician who plays in a similar vain to Ruben Neves. A lot of Portugese top flight experience, and his goals record there suggests there is more to come.

RW: Joe Lolley (27) - not the usual route into pro football for this player, having been released by Brum and embarked on further education, eventually finding himself at Kidderminster, before hitting the bigger time at Huddersfield, where he was linked with City.  Got a very good left foot, and not afraid to shoot, often cutting in from the right.  Works well with Cash, and not just from a pun point of view!

LW: Sammy Ameobi (28) - younger brother of Carl Cort (old Bobby Robson joke re Shola!!) who also started at Newcastle.  Probably had his best form at Bolton, before arriving in Notts on a free in the summer.  Can be a bit ungainly looking, but a player who has a lot of skill and long stride to nick the ball away from defenders.  Got a good left foot on him, as some of you may remember.  My Dangerman tomorrow.  The kind of player City fans would turn their nose up at, but is very effective, with 3 goals and 9 assists.

CF: Lewis Grabban (32) - the oldest player is a young team, who appeared to have the life of a journeyman in Lg1/2, before his career took off, and big money moves from Bournemouth, Norwich and loans to Sunderland and Villa, before arriving at Forest in the summer for £6m. Top scorer with 19 goals this season, and a real threat inside the box, as well as a good link man outside it.

Other Players of Note:

Costos Pantillimon - giant, but erratic keeper

Tyler Walker - son of Des, a player I really like who had productive scoring loans at Mansfield and Lincoln (with Morrell)

Joao Carvalho - tricky Portugese forward

and....

Albert Adomah - must loved by City fans, who’s maybe at the back-end of his career, but loves City back.  Been on loan at Cardiff, but Forest have not allowed him to extend it.  He won’t be available tonight.

Jamie Paterson goes back to his old club too.

Key Match-ups:

With City’s line-up impossible to pick, it’s tough to look at the key mini-battles. But expecting Dasilva to start, so he will undoubtedly be facing either Lolley or Ameobi and different stages together with back-up from Cash.  A strong performance from Jay may be a factor in us getting a result.

I expect Ashley Williams to keep his place too, and him and Grabban will be two experienced players battling it out.  Grabban not one to run off the shoulder in general play, so Williams can deal with that, but he comes alive around the box.

Whoever plays up top, will need to be mobile, there will be gaps where Cash and Ribeiro have got forward.  Much as I’d like to see Afobe, I think I’d start with Wells and Weimann.

My City Line-up:

Surely Lee must persist with 433 with little prep time from Sunday.

Maenpaa / Hunt, Kalas, Williams, Dasilva / Nagy, Smith, Massengo / Weimann, Wells, Eliasson (or Afobe)

LJ could bring Vyner in at RB or DM.  I think DM is a massive ask for him, but at RB I’d be comfortable, he’s done it at this level for Rotherham.

The front three have got to play closer together too.

Prediction:

2-1 to Forest.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

So City head to Robin Hood and Brian Clough territory for this evening’s crunch match.  Defeat will surely end any faint hopes of playoffs, whilst a win will raise hopes exponentially.  Already fans are jumping ahead with comments like “if we win tonight and Saturday we will be level with Cardiff”.  This is Bristol City folks!!

Forest drew their first game back versus Wednesday, before comprehensively beating Huddersfield at the weekend, and sit in 5th place on 64 points (9 above us in 12th).  They played some good stuff in the process.

In the Dug-out (not the Granary nor Loch Fyne):

They are managed by Sabri Lamouchi, the Frenchman, formerly of Stade Rennais and Ivory Coast.  As a player he had a distinguished career at the likes of Monaco, Parma, Inter and Marseille, as well as a dozen French caps (berets?).  He really seems to have built a solid team, that press well and are happy to counter-attack.  They have the 4th best defence in the Championship and a very settled system / line-up.

image.png.963f03bcc9737d9b320c086cd51fc11a.png

The Players:

Although Lamouchi might change the odd player with the heavy schedule, this team contains 10 of the 11 starters from when they played us earlier this season.

GK - Brice Samba (26) - Congo born, French (u19) stopper, signed from Caen in the summer for £1.9m.  A big old unit, who’s impressed me when I’ve seen him on Sky / Quest highlights.  Got the knack of keeping the ball out the bet, if sometimes looking a bit cumbersome. 4 clean sheets in 11 starts.  Super distribution with his left peg, appears to effortlessly stroke the ball about.

RB: Matty Cash (22) - Forest youngster who’s progressed through the ranks.  Lamouchi has converted him to RB, and in the modern game his experience as an attacking midfielder means he is a threat in the opponent’s final third.  Got an eye for a goal too, often long distance shots.

LB: Yuri Ribeiro (23) - Portugese u21 full-back, signed from Benfica in the summer for an undisclosed fee.  Primarily a Benfica B player having not made a league appearance for the A side.  Likes to get forward, and has a competitive streak to him.  Nice left peg too.

CB: Tobias Figuereido (26) - ex-Portugese u21 CB and B international, signed from Sporting in the summer of 2018 for £2m.  Only just forced his way back into the team when we played them at Ashton Gate, and prefers to be the cover rather than the attacking CB alongside Worrall.

CB: Joe Worrall (23) - local lad who’s had loans at Dagenham and G.Rangers before becoming first choice this season.  Big, strong lad, who looks a leader, and is the one who likes to attack the ball on the deck and in the air.  Good player.

CM: Ben Watson (34) - very experienced midfielder who won an FA Cup winners medal with Wigan (scoring the winner too).  Palace, Wigan, QPR and Watford on his CV, with close to 150 apps in the Premier League.  Important to Forest in winning the ball back, and always available for the simple pass.  The kind of player every team needs.

CM: Ryan Yates (22) - another Nottingham lad in the squad.  Started to become a regular this season and a big lad, who doesn’t seem afraid to leave his mark.  Likes to get forward.  Got a red card at Ashton Gate and will be a choice between him....

or

AM: Brennan Johnson (19) - son of David Johnson, ex-Forest and Ipswich striker, who’s just broken into the team.  Not seen anything of him, but ripped our u23s apart in August.

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/report-u23s-1-3-nottingham-forest-u23s/

CM: Tiago Silva (27) - and now another Portugese player!  Signed from Feirense in the summer for an undisclosed fee.  Featured in most games this season and has 2 goals and four assists.  A very talented technician who plays in a similar vain to Ruben Neves. A lot of Portugese top flight experience, and his goals record there suggests there is more to come.

RW: Joe Lolley (27) - not the usual route into pro football for this player, having been released by Brum and embarked on further education, eventually finding himself at Kidderminster, before hitting the bigger time at Huddersfield, where he was linked with City.  Got a very good left foot, and not afraid to shoot, often cutting in from the right.  Works well with Cash, and not just from a pun point of view!

LW: Sammy Ameobi (28) - younger brother of Carl Cort (old Bobby Robson joke re Shola!!) who also started at Newcastle.  Probably had his best form at Bolton, before arriving in Notts on a free in the summer.  Can be a bit ungainly looking, but a player who has a lot of skill and long stride to nick the ball away from defenders.  Got a good left foot on him, as some of you may remember.  My Dangerman tomorrow.  The kind of player City fans would turn their nose up at, but is very effective, with 3 goals and 9 assists.

CF: Lewis Grabban (32) - the oldest player is a young team, who appeared to have the life of a journeyman in Lg1/2, before his career took off, and big money moves from Bournemouth, Norwich and loans to Sunderland and Villa, before arriving at Forest in the summer for £6m. Top scorer with 19 goals this season, and a real threat inside the box, as well as a good link man outside it.

Other Players of Note:

Costos Pantillimon - giant, but erratic keeper

Tyler Walker - son of Des, a player I really like who had productive scoring loans at Mansfield and Lincoln (with Morrell)

Joao Carvalho - tricky Portugese forward

and....

Albert Adomah - must loved by City fans, who’s maybe at the back-end of his career, but loves City back.  Been on loan at Cardiff, but Forest have not allowed him to extend it.  He won’t be available tonight.

Jamie Paterson goes back to his old club too.

Key Match-ups:

With City’s line-up impossible to pick, it’s tough to look at the key mini-battles. But expecting Dasilva to start, so he will undoubtedly be facing either Lolley or Ameobi and different stages together with back-up from Cash.  A strong performance from Jay may be a factor in us getting a result.

I expect Ashley Williams to keep his place too, and him and Grabban will be two experienced players battling it out.  Grabban not one to run off the shoulder in general play, so Williams can deal with that, but he comes alive around the box.

Whoever plays up top, will need to be mobile, there will be gaps where Cash and Ribeiro have got forward.  Much as I’d like to see Afobe, I think I’d start with Wells and Weimann.

My City Line-up:

Surely Lee must persist with 433 with little prep time from Sunday.

Maenpaa / Hunt, Kalas, Williams, Dasilva / Nagy, Smith, Massengo / Weimann, Wells, Eliasson (or Afobe)

LJ could bring Vyner in at RB or DM.  I think DM is a massive ask for him, but at RB I’d be comfortable, he’s done it at this level for Rotherham.

The front three have got to play closer together too.

Prediction:

2-1 to Forest.

 

Yet another great report by Dave F. My prediction is a 3-3 entertaining encounter. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

So City head to Robin Hood and Brian Clough territory for this evening’s crunch match.  Defeat will surely end any faint hopes of playoffs, whilst a win will raise hopes exponentially.  Already fans are jumping ahead with comments like “if we win tonight and Saturday we will be level with Cardiff”.  This is Bristol City folks!!

Forest drew their first game back versus Wednesday, before comprehensively beating Huddersfield at the weekend, and sit in 5th place on 64 points (9 above us in 12th).  They played some good stuff in the process.

In the Dug-out (not the Granary nor Loch Fyne):

They are managed by Sabri Lamouchi, the Frenchman, formerly of Stade Rennais and Ivory Coast.  As a player he had a distinguished career at the likes of Monaco, Parma, Inter and Marseille, as well as a dozen French caps (berets?).  He really seems to have built a solid team, that press well and are happy to counter-attack.  They have the 4th best defence in the Championship and a very settled system / line-up.

image.png.963f03bcc9737d9b320c086cd51fc11a.png

The Players:

Although Lamouchi might change the odd player with the heavy schedule, this team contains 10 of the 11 starters from when they played us earlier this season.

GK - Brice Samba (26) - Congo born, French (u19) stopper, signed from Caen in the summer for £1.9m.  A big old unit, who’s impressed me when I’ve seen him on Sky / Quest highlights.  Got the knack of keeping the ball out the bet, if sometimes looking a bit cumbersome. 4 clean sheets in 11 starts.  Super distribution with his left peg, appears to effortlessly stroke the ball about.

RB: Matty Cash (22) - Forest youngster who’s progressed through the ranks.  Lamouchi has converted him to RB, and in the modern game his experience as an attacking midfielder means he is a threat in the opponent’s final third.  Got an eye for a goal too, often long distance shots.

LB: Yuri Ribeiro (23) - Portugese u21 full-back, signed from Benfica in the summer for an undisclosed fee.  Primarily a Benfica B player having not made a league appearance for the A side.  Likes to get forward, and has a competitive streak to him.  Nice left peg too.

CB: Tobias Figuereido (26) - ex-Portugese u21 CB and B international, signed from Sporting in the summer of 2018 for £2m.  Only just forced his way back into the team when we played them at Ashton Gate, and prefers to be the cover rather than the attacking CB alongside Worrall.

CB: Joe Worrall (23) - local lad who’s had loans at Dagenham and G.Rangers before becoming first choice this season.  Big, strong lad, who looks a leader, and is the one who likes to attack the ball on the deck and in the air.  Good player.

CM: Ben Watson (34) - very experienced midfielder who won an FA Cup winners medal with Wigan (scoring the winner too).  Palace, Wigan, QPR and Watford on his CV, with close to 150 apps in the Premier League.  Important to Forest in winning the ball back, and always available for the simple pass.  The kind of player every team needs.

CM: Ryan Yates (22) - another Nottingham lad in the squad.  Started to become a regular this season and a big lad, who doesn’t seem afraid to leave his mark.  Likes to get forward.  Got a red card at Ashton Gate and will be a choice between him....

or

AM: Brennan Johnson (19) - son of David Johnson, ex-Forest and Ipswich striker, who’s just broken into the team.  Not seen anything of him, but ripped our u23s apart in August.

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/report-u23s-1-3-nottingham-forest-u23s/

CM: Tiago Silva (27) - and now another Portugese player!  Signed from Feirense in the summer for an undisclosed fee.  Featured in most games this season and has 2 goals and four assists.  A very talented technician who plays in a similar vain to Ruben Neves. A lot of Portugese top flight experience, and his goals record there suggests there is more to come.

RW: Joe Lolley (27) - not the usual route into pro football for this player, having been released by Brum and embarked on further education, eventually finding himself at Kidderminster, before hitting the bigger time at Huddersfield, where he was linked with City.  Got a very good left foot, and not afraid to shoot, often cutting in from the right.  Works well with Cash, and not just from a pun point of view!

LW: Sammy Ameobi (28) - younger brother of Carl Cort (old Bobby Robson joke re Shola!!) who also started at Newcastle.  Probably had his best form at Bolton, before arriving in Notts on a free in the summer.  Can be a bit ungainly looking, but a player who has a lot of skill and long stride to nick the ball away from defenders.  Got a good left foot on him, as some of you may remember.  My Dangerman tomorrow.  The kind of player City fans would turn their nose up at, but is very effective, with 3 goals and 9 assists.

CF: Lewis Grabban (32) - the oldest player is a young team, who appeared to have the life of a journeyman in Lg1/2, before his career took off, and big money moves from Bournemouth, Norwich and loans to Sunderland and Villa, before arriving at Forest in the summer for £6m. Top scorer with 19 goals this season, and a real threat inside the box, as well as a good link man outside it.

Other Players of Note:

Costos Pantillimon - giant, but erratic keeper

Tyler Walker - son of Des, a player I really like who had productive scoring loans at Mansfield and Lincoln (with Morrell)

Joao Carvalho - tricky Portugese forward

and....

Albert Adomah - must loved by City fans, who’s maybe at the back-end of his career, but loves City back.  Been on loan at Cardiff, but Forest have not allowed him to extend it.  He won’t be available tonight.

Jamie Paterson goes back to his old club too.

Key Match-ups:

With City’s line-up impossible to pick, it’s tough to look at the key mini-battles. But expecting Dasilva to start, so he will undoubtedly be facing either Lolley or Ameobi and different stages together with back-up from Cash.  A strong performance from Jay may be a factor in us getting a result.

I expect Ashley Williams to keep his place too, and him and Grabban will be two experienced players battling it out.  Grabban not one to run off the shoulder in general play, so Williams can deal with that, but he comes alive around the box.

Whoever plays up top, will need to be mobile, there will be gaps where Cash and Ribeiro have got forward.  Much as I’d like to see Afobe, I think I’d start with Wells and Weimann.

My City Line-up:

Surely Lee must persist with 433 with little prep time from Sunday.

Maenpaa / Hunt, Kalas, Williams, Dasilva / Nagy, Smith, Massengo / Weimann, Wells, Eliasson (or Afobe)

LJ could bring Vyner in at RB or DM.  I think DM is a massive ask for him, but at RB I’d be comfortable, he’s done it at this level for Rotherham.

The front three have got to play closer together too.

Prediction:

2-1 to Forest.

 

Have we ever had Fammy and Afobe side by side with a 4 - 4 -2 formation  Up front ?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, City oz said:

Have we ever had Fammy and Afobe side by side with a 4 - 4 -2 formation  Up front ?

 

Fammy holding the ball up of which he is good at then flicking it through to Afobe and smashing the ball in the back of the net. Simple football might work ? Not like the LJ putting players in a role they were not destined to play in. Go back to grass roots football and let the players play on what is natural to them and I think LJ will be surprised.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cannot see past anything but an absolute drubbing tonight 0-4 and less than 2 shots on target. 

 

It's taking all of my willpower not to include Forest in my acca for tonight, it would feel like the ultimate betrayal but my word if there was ever a home banker...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

LW: Sammy Ameobi (28) - younger brother of Carl Cort (old Bobby Robson joke re Shola!!) who also started at Newcastle.  Probably had his best form at Bolton, before arriving in Notts on a free in the summer.  Can be a bit ungainly looking, but a player who has a lot of skill and long stride to nick the ball away from defenders.  Got a good left foot on him, as some of you may remember.  My Dangerman tomorrow.  The kind of player City fans would turn their nose up at, but is very effective, with 3 goals and 9 assists.

Generally seems to play well against us. Fancy him to add to his meagre tally of goals tonight and probably boost his assists into double figures. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Although Lamouchi might change the odd player with the heavy schedule, this team contains 10 of the 11 starters from when they played us earlier this season.

Good post Dave.

Thought this was interesting - comparing our starting lineup from the 0-0 against Forest earlier in the season and our last game v Sheffield Weds I think we had 4 of the same starters (Williams, Baker, Weimann and O'Dowda).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fascinated to know how LJ approaches this. 

His usual instinct would be keep it tight and try to nick something on the counter. 

But normally a draw at Forest would be a good result. Not tonight!

Our cautious creature needs to go against his nature, and how does he do that?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am fully expecting to be embarrassed by our performance and then experience anger and a huge cloud of depression hanging over me. Further down the line I will torment myself with the line " WTF did I buy my next seasons ticket already, when, if LJ is still here, more turgid football will be my reward".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldnt be shocked if wells is on bench tonight going by recent interviews by LJ, also no Palmer as both are part of the pink boots crew?

All seriousness tho id go 352 

                   Bentley

       Kalas, williams,benkovic

Hunt                                      Dasilva

             Nagy    massengo

                    Palmer

           Afobe        wells

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, City oz said:

Have we ever had Fammy and Afobe side by side with a 4 - 4 -2 formation  Up front ?

 

No, they started together with Weimann in the hole in a 5212 at Hull earlier this season.

1 hour ago, IAmNick said:

Good post Dave.

Thought this was interesting - comparing our starting lineup from the 0-0 against Forest earlier in the season and our last game v Sheffield Weds I think we had 4 of the same starters (Williams, Baker, Weimann and O'Dowda).

Bentley

Pereira / Wright / Williams / Moore / Rowe

Nagy / Brownhill / O’Dowda

Weimann / Diedhiou

Palmer, Eliasson and Rodri came on in a 4222 as Forest went down to 10 men.  Was an enjoyable 0-0 from memory.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...