Nottingham Forest vs Derby County Review

I must admit a few days ago when I thought about doing my usual match review I was dreading the content. I was envisioning a large scoreline, a manager-less perspective and a heavy feeling in my heart. I have been pleasantly surprised in all respects. 

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Derby County 

In the past I have only ever been 100% sure of a defeat on three occasions; one of those occasions was two years ago when we beat Leicester on their own pitch 2-0, January 2015 against Derby who we beat 2-1 and Friday... which ultimately ended in the above scoreline. I scoff at the word pessimist, I prefer the term "realistic".

I was realistic about these fixtures and on Friday all signs pointed to a sure defeat for my club. Without a win in 8 and dark clouds forever looming over The City Ground and social networking, things were looking beyond bleak. On Tuesday night, following a poor defeat away at Preston North End, I, probably like many other Forest fans, was looking at our local rivals who had spent £20m in the summer and were going into our game without a defeat in 10 games, wondering how much of a beating we were about to take. 

The feeling the morning of the game was the usual, sick-to-the-stomach, nervous, excited, dreaded. angry, pumped up sensation that settles itself in the pit of your stomach prior to a local derby. Arriving at the game itself, the pre-match atmosphere was one of intensity and that usual bite of anticipation hung in the air as kick off came closer. 

A minutes silence was held before kick off to remember our fallen troops for remembrance day, and apart from a few inconsiderate ignorant fools, the minutes silence was held respectfully by both sets of supporters, whilst observing "The Last Post". 

Within 30 seconds of the game kicking off, Williams received a yellow card for a dive in the penalty area, one which after watching replays was a correct decision. After 5 minutes of the game kicking off, Nelson Oliveira was set up by ex-Ram Jamie Ward and had an attempt at goal which was blocked, before having another chance and this time being successful as he hit the ball into the bottom left corner of the net from outside of the penalty area. 

I would say that the game had many ups and downs, however, following the goal, there was only one team who looked as though they were going to win. Derby had a huge portion of possession (70%) but failed to do anything with the ball. It was as though the passing was "hot potato"- plenty of passing but nobody wanted to either keep the ball or actually challenge for the ball. Derby came close to leveling the scoring with a long range shot from Jeff Hendrick which scuffed the top of the bar, but this was the only close chance Derby came to having. There were plenty of long range shots but most failed to get any where near the target or were blocked by the Forest defence in the penalty area. On the other hand Forest battled tirelessly to win the ball and when they had the ball immediately began their attack,coming close on several occasions, such as a fantastic save by Scott Carson to deny Jamie Ward and a couple of close long range efforts from Henri Lansbury. 

Matt Mills was unlucky to have a goal disallowed from a corner following an apparent push from Jack Hobbs on a Derby defender, though replays show that Hobbs was also being pushed in the back and perhaps the goal should have stood. This is not unlike the Attwell Disaster back in 2008 where Miles Addison was denied a last minute goal in the 1-1 draw at Pride Park for an apparent push (I still can't see what was wrong with the goal). Fortunately this decision didn't cost us the game. 

The second half featured much of the same. 

Forest came out strong and were denied more goals with a save from Carson denying Mendes and an incredible piece of defending from Warnock to also deny Mendes. Darren Bent had a slight chance on goal late on the second half, but De Vries saw that the header was saved comfortably. After 4 minutes added time, the game ended with a win for Forest. 

Forest:

I am impressed with the fight and determination our players showed. I'm half ashamed of myself for doubting them so much, but the games leading up to the Derby match were poor. Our players pushed and broke down Derby extremely well. They chased down all balls and weren't afraid to put a foot in. I came away from the game thinking that if we hadn't have won, a) it wouldn't have been justified and b) I wouldn't have minded too much, because all I want to see is the players give 100%. I would rather them fail trying than to lay down and accept defeat. I can safely say that every single player gave everything they had and it showed on 80 minutes when they began to flag. Vaughan was absolutely incredible in particular and proved himself a worthy man of the match. I thought we played extremely well and did our homework on what kind of game Derby played. I commend Freedman on his approach to the game completely - the tactics and team selection were spot on. 

Derby: 

I'm sure many Derby fans are pretty let down by the display their team put on in the 90 minutes. The team never really showed up and over all looked like they lacked any interest. They didn't attack or chase down balls; it was almost as if they thought they had a victory by turning up, which may have been the case in other games but certainly not in this one. I'm unsure whether the players knew what the game meant to the fans. If they didn't, I'm sure they do now. I will commend Warnock, who had a brilliant game, despite being the player that the Derby fans seemed to worry most about following the injury to Craig Forsyth earlier in the week. I wasn't impressed at all by what I saw from Derby, in fact they looked worse than average, especially considering the circumstances both clubs find themselves in. HOWEVER, I am sure that this is an off day for the Rams. 

As much as I hate to admit it, Forest didn't just beat their fiercest rivals on Friday, they beat (arguably) the best team in the league, even if they didn't play like it on the night. The business the club did over the summer and the results they've been getting against other clubs, plus the league position- it doesn't take a genius to work out the intentions of Derby County. For a team to bring on substitutions of Butterfield, Tom Ince (though he was poor at Forest) and Darren Bent shows the sheer depth and determination of the club, especially when the starting eleven features an Ex-England goal keeper, Weimann and Bradley Johnson to name a few. I personally think that Derby will get promoted this season, or at least be contending, though the Championship is a funny old league. 

Forest have been strange of late. We are currently under embargo, but are due to come out of the embargo come the end of the season. We haven't been playing overly poor, but some of our recent performances have been questionable and the most shots created yet worst conversion rate title is not something we should be aiming for. The chairman is causing a divide among fans, and the usual "to sack or not to sack" the manager game is circulating once again. I personally strive for stability but it's hard to stick to that when the results we've had are so poor. 

Unfortunately our attendances are dropping again, but the expense to watch modern day football is too much, particularly when the outcome of a game is likely to be bad. Do I blame people for not wanting to watch? No. But I wish it wasn't happening all the same.

Despite the 25,000 attendance on Friday I thought the atmosphere was fantastic from start to finish. I'm unimpressed with the idiots that ran on the pitch and the fan that went after Bradley Johnson needs to take a long hard look at himself. I hope that action is taken against him the same as it was against the Derby fan who went at Wilson last year. The pitch invasion was embarrassing and uncalled for- it was an amazing win, but the 50 odd fans that ran on the pitch took it too far. 

In conclusion:

Massive off day for Derby- players didn't turn up, didn't want it and didn't care! However no doubt that they will get back to winning ways (unfortunately).

Fantastic day for Forest. I'm so proud of all the players, I'm just hoping that we can push on from this and that the game hasn't simply papered over cracks temporarily whilst we celebrate. We have a lot of key players waiting to come back from injury and I'm sure that when they return they will make a massive difference to our squad. 

Onto Brentford away!

YOU REDS!

[A quick note of thanks to Derby fans for joining in the 18th minute applause for Dylan Barker- an 18 year old Forest fan who has been diagnosed with cancer for a third time. A show of brilliant sportsmanship. I wish Dylan all the best in beating that horrid disease again.]