Saturday 19 October 2013

Have Forest got a weakness?

I'm travelling up with my son to see AFCB take on Forest today. I should be quaking in my boots if there was any truth in the lines that the Nottingham Post have been spouting out this week, but I prefer to actually research teams to see why they are doing well or not. We are familiar with the Cherries' strengths and we have been told that Forest are a great team, but are there any chinks in their armour?

I'd like to know what Eddie Howe has found out. Looking at Forest's defeat this season against top-sitting Burnley, they were undone by the alertness of Danny Ings who we know all about, and our strikers will have been trained in the same manner. Ing's second was a flicked header from a set-piece, while his first was a volley. The sharpness of Championship strikers to finish given a moments opportunity is what it is all about. If Grabban is fit enough to play after his heel injury we know he has these qualities and if not then Pitman may well be the perfect type of player to nip in front of the Forest defence, when the ball is in the box.

I was interested to hear that Tony Mowbray said that Forest nullified Middlesbrough's passing game which may be a problem for AFCB if we can't zip the ball around quickly enough, but Forest also like knocking plenty of high balls into the opposition's area and AFCB have dealt with that kind of pressure from Wigan for example fairly well.

Another Forest game that gives me confidence for AFCB is actually a match they won against Derby County. If Forest had not scored from a corner they would have been frustrated from a 10-man opposition team at home, who fashioned almost as many chances as Forest. They also give away a lot of fouls, if the Derby game is anything to go by. Ryan Fraser could be a real problem for Forest when he gets into the box and I expect Eddie Howe will be telling Fraser to do exactly that - run at their defence near and around the box.

What I am trying to say is that it is all on the day. While the top six teams could open up a gap on the following teams this weekend, I think Bournemouth are one of the teams that can upset the bookies' odds and get an away win. The fact that AFCB have scored in all their games means that they are likely to get at least one goal. The test is whether they can keep a clean sheet at the other end which has been far harder for the Cherries to do on the road.

Whatever the result today enjoy the game and come and  listen to me after the game on Michael Dunne's podcast - All Departments -  when I'll try to give an honest opinion of where it all went so right or so wrong!




An early start for Robert heading up to Nottingham.
Cherry Chimes also looks sleepy this morning.
I expect I will  be late back from Forest today so the Match Report may be a bit later than usual on Sunday - especially if we win!

4 comments:

  1. interesting to note comments
    now looking from the NFFC side. Any game against Derby cannot be taking into account when looking as an indicator of form/style etc, this is one of the few full blooded local Derby games so current form of either side doesn't count for much
    Re the Burnley game you fail to mention that it was Forest was made up almost entirely of squad players think it was 7 or 8 changers from the team that thad played in the previous league match,
    Enjoy your day at the side of the trent

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    Replies
    1. Fair point on the Derby game but it was a lot of yellow cards and today you had four yellows to our two. All teams have to play players not usually in their first 11 at some point. It's a squad game and we did enjoy holding the mighty Forest 1:1 :-)

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  2. Excellent article and im a Forest Fan. Enjoy your day.

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  3. Ignore our local paper. It's on the decline. The sooner it is out of business the better. It is manned by people from Derby and no longer reflects the Nottingham people. We are friendly and will welcome you to our fine city. Enjoy your day out and enjoy the atmosphere of 28,000 people inside the ground.

    We will show you respect but the team will be playing to win whoever you are

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