It’s that time of the summer again when teams are embroiled in the usual pre-season football matches, including friendly, mini- tournaments against top teams. In the case of Forest, pre-season football exists in Spain against lower league clubs and a selection of thugs from Millwall.
As with the previous season, and following the 3-0 away win at Chesterfield, Forest embarked on a trip to the warm weather camp in Murcia, Spain.
In recent years, the purpose of these pre-season, friendly tournaments are, so we are told, to ‘get minutes in the legs’. In fact, that term is used so frequently that this blog should’ve been entitled ‘get minutes in the legs’. I’m sick of that term but Garry Birtles is right about ‘getting minutes in the legs’ during these pre-season outings and, for the purpose of this blog, we shall no longer use the term ‘minutes in the legs’, ever again. What does it actually mean? These players should have already accumulated ‘months in the legs’.
The reality is, regardless of how much time transpires in one’s legs, some of these tournaments can be a huge money-spinner. For clubs and sponsors alike, they can draw huge crowds and allow clubs and sponsors the chance to showcase their brand – https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/football-s-preseason-season-is-a-major-money-spinner-for-some-1.616477 .
Anyone who plays FIFA will tell you, some years ago, the gaming platform introduced pre-season football tournaments with a level of difficulty rewarded with financial opportunities to buy players, if successful through the rounds.
The bigger the pre-season football tournament, the better.
Forest doesn’t yet appear to have reached the heights of V.I.P. (very important Premier League team) and asked to play alongside Manchester City, Real Madrid, El Etihad and the American Lionel Messi club in China, Singapore or Miami. Instead, Forest plays Millwall in front of an attendance no bigger than a Hucknall Town home game.
I can’t help thinking that playing in a bigger tournament against better teams would be good for revenue and also be better for the players’ fitness. Am I missing the point here? I just feel that the biiger the pre-season tournament, the better, both financially and for ‘better’ minutes in the legs (sorry!).
Surely, playing pre-season football against top-class athletes would carry less risk of losing half the squad. Being kicked off the park by a championship side parading as the league’s equivalent of Wimbledon’s 1989 Crazy Gang can’t be a tasty contest for Forest’s handsomely paid professionals.
Each pre-season, Forest will most certainly play local pre-season football against Alfreton Town, Notts County or Derby, regardless of the status they reach. Still, I do hope we’ve seen the last of Chicken Supreme Sunday League side, Millwall, as we can’t afford the injuries now that the club is investing big in quality young players for a future transition to footballing Disneyland.
Even the best players struggle to find form without kneecaps.
I know there is always the risk of injury, it’s part of the game, but let’s not increase that risk by pushing the red button that agrees to playing sides that love a good scrap, rather than playing the game in a beautifully flowing, entertaining manner.
After all, an exhibition match means that you want the sides to exhibit their skills and show off to international crowds who, otherwise, wouldn’t have the means to see these players regularly play live.
If you set these players up as bait for a team of amateur thugs, the fans can just book themselves into the nearest A&E in an attempt to share a trolley with Elliot Anderson, as he awaits a scan for a wild animal attack.
I know these stadiums are often called arenas, but let’s not encourage our players to go into a gladiatorial battle arena where only one side is expected to come out alive. If we want to risk injury for our beloved players, we might as well go the whole hog and strap a buffalo’s thigh to the back of Anthony Elanga and see if he can outsprint a cackle of Hyenas as he races for goal.
Sangaré’s pre-season football
One good thing to come out of pre-season is the exhibition of Ibrahim Sangaré. You may recall that we asked whether Sangaré could save his career this year at Forest and, so far, the signs are encouraging. Like many of the Forest players, he looks like he fits in – https://treeseasons.co.uk/can-ibrahim-sangare-save-his-career/ .
Sangaré looks fresh, lively, and dynamic in his natural position. We’re seeing him spray passes into good areas, linking possession, and being a general nuisance, breaking up the opposition’s play in front of the back four.
Let’s hope Sangare can fulfil his true potential when we finally beat Bournemouth next month.
Nottingham Forest Versus Olympiacos
Tonight, Forest play their last game in Spain against a more respectable Elche side before returning to Nottingham to play Villarreal CF. This will be the penultimate pre-season football match before the obligatory trip to sister club Olympiacos F.C., in Piraeus, Greece.
Olympiacos are not only owned by our Greek father, Evangelos Marinakis – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelos_Marinakis – but also hold the prestige of being the current UEFA Conference Champions, making them the most successful Greek side in Europe.
As we told West Ham fans last season, the UEFA Conference is like comparing a Michelin-star restaurant to Greggs, but, being as it’s our Greek Oligarch’s baby, we can hype it, just a little.
Hopefully, the last of the pre-season football will get minutes in the legs of players whilst avoiding injury to the aforementioned body parts and also allows the travelling fans to witness a thoroughly entertaining game of soccer.
