duncanjwitham

Per whoscored, Bird played 27 passes forward last night, 16 backwards...

Per whoscored, Bird played 27 passes forward last night, 16 backwards...

Per whoscored, Bird played 27 passes forward last night, 16 backwards...

Per whoscored, Bird played 27 passes forward last night, 16 backwards...

The obvious one last night is completely failing to react to them making a double-sub and changing shape.  

I think it's reasonable to ask why players who have shown they are capable of playing at this level (or even higher), don't look capable of it here and now.  Obviously for someone like Bradley it's probably just his legs have gone (and they've probably gone more than we were expecting them to, if you know what I mean).  But for the others you have to wonder about how they are being used, and whether they were signed for the right reasons.  Joe Ward is probably a decent League One winger (as he showed at Peterborough), but he looks a dodgy-as-hell League One fullback.  Callum Elder is probably a reasonable Championship fullback, but he's not a flying wingback who you can just plug into your "get it wide quickly and cross it" philosophy.
And its the same with people like Max Bird.  He's looked more than comfortable here in a possession-heavy Championship team, but much less effective in a "get it forward quickly" League One team.  You can't just go around putting ability-labels on players without considering how they are being used.  Get players doing what they're good at, they'll look better than they are.  Get them doing stuff they're bad at, they'll look worse than they are.

And you've got to bear in mind, we could have easily still had the likes of Buchanan, Ebsosele, Ebiowei, Plange, Kellyman etc.  The academy setup we have is more than capable of producing a bunch of League One squad-depth players, given time to recover.

I think it's reasonable to ask why players who have shown they are capable of playing at this level (or even higher), don't look capable of it here and now.  Obviously for someone like Bradley it's probably just his legs have gone (and they've probably gone more than we were expecting them to, if you know what I mean).  But for the others you have to wonder about how they are being used, and whether they were signed for the right reasons.  Joe Ward is probably a decent League One winger (as he showed at Peterborough), but he looks a dodgy-as-hell League One fullback.  Callum Elder is probably a reasonable Championship fullback, but he's not a flying wingback who you can just plug into your "get it wide quickly and cross it" philosophy.
And its the same with people like Max Bird.  He's looked more than comfortable here in a possession-heavy Championship team, but much less effective in a "get it forward quickly" League One team.  You can't just go around putting ability-labels on players without considering how they are being used.  Get players doing what they're good at, they'll look better than they are.  Get them doing stuff they're bad at, they'll look worse than they are.

And you've got to bear in mind, we could have easily still had the likes of Buchanan, Ebsosele, Ebiowei, Plange, Kellyman etc.  The academy setup we have is more than capable of producing a bunch of League One squad-depth players, given time to recover.

Putting aside any issues of whether he's good enough, I don't think Odurah is the kind of fullback Warne wants anyway.  I reckon he was signed by Rosenior to do the kind of job he had Hayden Roberts doing (and what John Stones does for Man City, for example), where he drifts into central midfield to give extra passing options from the back.  From what we've seen of him (which isn't much of course), he certainly doesn't look like the kind of fullback that's going to bomb up and down the touchline and whip crosses in.

The bold bit is the root of it really.  He's been coached for years to play Guardiola-style football, which I think is exactly why Rosenior signed him.  But Warne-style football is about as far away from that as it's possible to be.  There may well be a player in there, but I suspect we won't ever see it here.

The bold bit is the root of it really.  He's been coached for years to play Guardiola-style football, which I think is exactly why Rosenior signed him.  But Warne-style football is about as far away from that as it's possible to be.  There may well be a player in there, but I suspect we won't ever see it here.

I'm still far from convinced that anything has significantly changed.  When teams have stood off us and we've been able to play out from the back, we've looked OK.  When we've been significantly ahead in player-quality terms, we've mostly looked OK.  When teams have sat deep against us, we've huffed and puffed, struggled to create chances, but quite often got away with it (because NML pulls a goal out of nowhere or something).  When teams have pressed us aggressively, we've struggled.  When team are bigger and stronger than us, we've struggled.  When teams have been better than us player-quality wise, we've struggled.  That's been pretty consistent over the whole season IMO.  We've just had a run of games against opposition that played in ways that suited us.
Last night they were bigger and stronger than us, pressed us aggressively, plus had 2 guys in and around our DM area, and we never got to grips with it.  First half, when we tried to play through Fornah, they closed him down quickly and he couldn't deal with it.  Then when they won the ball back, they always had spare men in that area to play to.  Both Sibley and Thompson were pushed too far forward (and too wide at times) to help him out too.  So we ended up resorting to long balls forward that we never really competed for.
Second half, with Bird and Hourihane in there, we looked a (little) bit better.  We managed to play out a bit more, and certainly got more balls and bodies into their final third, but never really managed to create many actual chances.  At least in part because our final ball was dreadful.

I'm still far from convinced that anything has significantly changed.  When teams have stood off us and we've been able to play out from the back, we've looked OK.  When we've been significantly ahead in player-quality terms, we've mostly looked OK.  When teams have sat deep against us, we've huffed and puffed, struggled to create chances, but quite often got away with it (because NML pulls a goal out of nowhere or something).  When teams have pressed us aggressively, we've struggled.  When team are bigger and stronger than us, we've struggled.  When teams have been better than us player-quality wise, we've struggled.  That's been pretty consistent over the whole season IMO.  We've just had a run of games against opposition that played in ways that suited us.
Last night they were bigger and stronger than us, pressed us aggressively, plus had 2 guys in and around our DM area, and we never got to grips with it.  First half, when we tried to play through Fornah, they closed him down quickly and he couldn't deal with it.  Then when they won the ball back, they always had spare men in that area to play to.  Both Sibley and Thompson were pushed too far forward (and too wide at times) to help him out too.  So we ended up resorting to long balls forward that we never really competed for.
Second half, with Bird and Hourihane in there, we looked a (little) bit better.  We managed to play out a bit more, and certainly got more balls and bodies into their final third, but never really managed to create many actual chances.  At least in part because our final ball was dreadful.

I'm still far from convinced that anything has significantly changed.  When teams have stood off us and we've been able to play out from the back, we've looked OK.  When we've been significantly ahead in player-quality terms, we've mostly looked OK.  When teams have sat deep against us, we've huffed and puffed, struggled to create chances, but quite often got away with it (because NML pulls a goal out of nowhere or something).  When teams have pressed us aggressively, we've struggled.  When team are bigger and stronger than us, we've struggled.  When teams have been better than us player-quality wise, we've struggled.  That's been pretty consistent over the whole season IMO.  We've just had a run of games against opposition that played in ways that suited us.
Last night they were bigger and stronger than us, pressed us aggressively, plus had 2 guys in and around our DM area, and we never got to grips with it.  First half, when we tried to play through Fornah, they closed him down quickly and he couldn't deal with it.  Then when they won the ball back, they always had spare men in that area to play to.  Both Sibley and Thompson were pushed too far forward (and too wide at times) to help him out too.  So we ended up resorting to long balls forward that we never really competed for.
Second half, with Bird and Hourihane in there, we looked a (little) bit better.  We managed to play out a bit more, and certainly got more balls and bodies into their final third, but never really managed to create many actual chances.  At least in part because our final ball was dreadful.

I'm still far from convinced that anything has significantly changed.  When teams have stood off us and we've been able to play out from the back, we've looked OK.  When we've been significantly ahead in player-quality terms, we've mostly looked OK.  When teams have sat deep against us, we've huffed and puffed, struggled to create chances, but quite often got away with it (because NML pulls a goal out of nowhere or something).  When teams have pressed us aggressively, we've struggled.  When team are bigger and stronger than us, we've struggled.  When teams have been better than us player-quality wise, we've struggled.  That's been pretty consistent over the whole season IMO.  We've just had a run of games against opposition that played in ways that suited us.
Last night they were bigger and stronger than us, pressed us aggressively, plus had 2 guys in and around our DM area, and we never got to grips with it.  First half, when we tried to play through Fornah, they closed him down quickly and he couldn't deal with it.  Then when they won the ball back, they always had spare men in that area to play to.  Both Sibley and Thompson were pushed too far forward (and too wide at times) to help him out too.  So we ended up resorting to long balls forward that we never really competed for.
Second half, with Bird and Hourihane in there, we looked a (little) bit better.  We managed to play out a bit more, and certainly got more balls and bodies into their final third, but never really managed to create many actual chances.  At least in part because our final ball was dreadful.

I'm still far from convinced that anything has significantly changed.  When teams have stood off us and we've been able to play out from the back, we've looked OK.  When we've been significantly ahead in player-quality terms, we've mostly looked OK.  When teams have sat deep against us, we've huffed and puffed, struggled to create chances, but quite often got away with it (because NML pulls a goal out of nowhere or something).  When teams have pressed us aggressively, we've struggled.  When team are bigger and stronger than us, we've struggled.  When teams have been better than us player-quality wise, we've struggled.  That's been pretty consistent over the whole season IMO.  We've just had a run of games against opposition that played in ways that suited us.
Last night they were bigger and stronger than us, pressed us aggressively, plus had 2 guys in and around our DM area, and we never got to grips with it.  First half, when we tried to play through Fornah, they closed him down quickly and he couldn't deal with it.  Then when they won the ball back, they always had spare men in that area to play to.  Both Sibley and Thompson were pushed too far forward (and too wide at times) to help him out too.  So we ended up resorting to long balls forward that we never really competed for.
Second half, with Bird and Hourihane in there, we looked a (little) bit better.  We managed to play out a bit more, and certainly got more balls and bodies into their final third, but never really managed to create many actual chances.  At least in part because our final ball was dreadful.

I'm still far from convinced that anything has significantly changed.  When teams have stood off us and we've been able to play out from the back, we've looked OK.  When we've been significantly ahead in player-quality terms, we've mostly looked OK.  When teams have sat deep against us, we've huffed and puffed, struggled to create chances, but quite often got away with it (because NML pulls a goal out of nowhere or something).  When teams have pressed us aggressively, we've struggled.  When team are bigger and stronger than us, we've struggled.  When teams have been better than us player-quality wise, we've struggled.  That's been pretty consistent over the whole season IMO.  We've just had a run of games against opposition that played in ways that suited us.
Last night they were bigger and stronger than us, pressed us aggressively, plus had 2 guys in and around our DM area, and we never got to grips with it.  First half, when we tried to play through Fornah, they closed him down quickly and he couldn't deal with it.  Then when they won the ball back, they always had spare men in that area to play to.  Both Sibley and Thompson were pushed too far forward (and too wide at times) to help him out too.  So we ended up resorting to long balls forward that we never really competed for.
Second half, with Bird and Hourihane in there, we looked a (little) bit better.  We managed to play out a bit more, and certainly got more balls and bodies into their final third, but never really managed to create many actual chances.  At least in part because our final ball was dreadful.

6-0 now. Have Forest put their first team out or something?

Or the simple truth, that doesn't involve conspiracy theories and MM secretly pulling strings (from his hidden bunker in a hollowed out volcano, no doubt) is that Stephen Pearce is very experienced in both football finances in general and how we run financially as a club, and Clowes sees it as being beneficial to have that knowledge around (presumably being very inexperienced in football finances himself). 
The most likely scenario is that Clowes kept him around as we came out of admin, because we needed to move very quickly to get stuff back up and running, and didn't want things being delayed while we replaced him.  And he's seen enough of him working to keep him around beyond any sort of transition period.

6-0 now. Have Forest put their first team out or something?

6-0 now. Have Forest put their first team out or something?

6-0 now. Have Forest put their first team out or something?

6-0 now. Have Forest put their first team out or something?

6-0 now. Have Forest put their first team out or something?