The home record has gone, the terraces have been emptied, and Brighton have finally finished their celebrations following their 3-2 victory at the City Ground.
Everyone knows how epic Forest are at home but Brighton’s afterparty seemed rather odd – don’t you think?
Apparently, it was more about their current form rather than a specific victory over a Nottingham Forest side that is teetering on the edge of falling to pieces.
Or was it because Forest fans celebrated like crazy when they drew 0-0 at Brighton last year?
After all, we like the passion; we like it when fans are enthused; we like it when Elanga takes his shirt and his performance vest off when he scores a goal with over half an hour left. I’ll take it as a compliment; it’s a big deal.
Were Brighton really that good or were Forest just inept?
If Jesus were a Forest fan right now, he wouldn’t just be weeping, he’d be throwing up in a bucket. Forest have got to stop the sloppy mistakes because winning teams don’t make frequent mistakes in the Premier League.
Forest are never far away from making the headlines and this week Forest have become the best team at scoring early on and losing the game. Apparently, Forest have now scored first in 5 games and ended up throwing it all away. Can you name them all? – Man U, West Ham, Brighton….?
The seasonal leaves are falling from the tree.
Last season, Forest lost 27 points from a winning position and this season it’s 11 points already! Is this because the tactics are to take an early lead and win every game by one goal to nil?
When Elanga’s goal went in after 2 minutes, I thought our 3-0 prediction was on the cards. In fact, at that point, I was thinking that we should’ve predicted 5-0.
We predicted that the winning team would score three, we just got the team wrong.
And one thing we did get right is that Morgan Gibbs-White would be ready for this game – “Following the international break, Gibbs-White will be ready and we’re sure he’ll be looking for more assists and to bag that elusive first goal of the season, in the next game back at the City Ground.” And we were so confident, we even put Gibbs-White back in our fantasy team for a healthy 12 points.
I saw Crystal Palace as an opportunity for three points because of the players they were missing at the time – no Eze or Olise – and this was just another game that has been thrown away in our opinion.
Brighton were depleted with players that were out of position and easily exploitable with pace and quick transitions that just didn’t happen enough until it was too late.
Again, Forest didn’t look comfortable – they never look comfortable – and the team looked strong enough to overturn a Brighton side that was struggling to conjure a win, despite Taiwo’s injury and Sangaré’s Ebola virus.
Alas, Forest just couldn’t deliver.
Remaining Optimistic.
Being optimistic, if Forest beat Everton and Fulham, they could be just below mid-table on 19 points in a fortnight and everything will be forgiven.
It’s just the silly, amateurish errors that need to be wrapped in a bio-degradable, environmentally-friendly sack and thrown into the Trent.
The scary thing is, Everton frighten me. They are on a vendetta and they are a tough, physical side that looks good going forward; moving through midfield and spraying precise balls out to the wings.
Everton have a problem finding the back of the net. Against VARchester Utd, Everton’s XG was over 2 and surpassed the opposition. Will Everton find the answer at the City Ground, against a side that has conceded six goals in two games?
Forest have lost 3-2 three times this season and are averaging 2.05 goals against, per game. Those kinds of statistics assume that a side is defensively weak.
Abdoulaye Doucouré looks particularly dangerous, Ashley Young knows how to hurt Forest – remember Villa last season? – and they aren’t afraid to shoot from range either.
Forest 1 – Everton 0
We’re sticking with a win though – “It will be close, no doubt about that, but I’m going with 1-0 to Nottingham Forest – COYR!” – but that is only because Forest have got to win.
To be honest, on current form, it could be 3-3 but we are also keeping Gibbs-White in the Fantasy Team because it seems like the right thing to do. He hit a little bit of form against Brighton so we are keeping our money on the Red #10.
If Forest lose, it’s another game that a team with aspirations of a mid-table position should be winning. A game like this that ends in defeat just piles more and more pressure on Steve Cooper.
Everton are vulnerable following a recent 3-0 defeat to Manchester United and the dramatically controversial points deduction, but is this just fueling the Sean Dyche fire?
We all know that Dyche has Forest history and he’s at the City Ground enough to know how things work. Dyche works on set pieces a lot and he is well aware that Forest have been caught out from freekicks and corners this season. If they get the delivery right, Forest could falter. Unlike Frank Lampard, Sean Dyche knows how to grind out an Everton win.
Calvert-Lewin will run all day, we’ve always touched on dangerous Doucouré, and Onana will offer a physical challenge in midfield.
A Must-Win Game.
Forest are just four points above Luton Town and could easily start to get sucked down if results don’t go in the right direction, so it’s another ‘must-win’ game.
Forest have proved that they can score – scoring goals isn’t the problem – they just need to prove that they can win by scoring at least one more goal than the opposition this time.
One area where Forest could exploit is the lack of pace at the back. Elanga and Hudson-Odoi could terrorise the defence with speed and precision. If you look back to the Mitoma versus Ashley Young contest, when Brighton played Everton this season, you will see how Mitoma owned the wing with his pace and he ran Everton ragged. They couldn’t live with him.
The most frustrating aspect of being a Forest fan this season is that Steve Cooper has brought back an identity of being a Premiership side that isn’t easy to beat – unlike last season on the road – but the difference between a relegation battle and mid-table mediocrity is a couple of costly mistakes and the odd missed chance.
The home record until last week has been phenomenal but the away record has been the polar opposite.
Consequently, Forest have only won twice in the last 10 games. With a ratio of one win in five, Forest’s reality could well exist in a 2024 relegation battle if Forest can’t iron out the avoidable mistakes.
What is your prediction? What do you think? Will Steve Cooper make many changes to the side that lost against Brighton? Will the formation change? Will Forest be in a relegation battle this season? These and many more similar questions remain unanswered. Let us know your opinion.
Photography provided by @richiesumpter on Instagram
