Let's Do The Double And Burst The Scouse Bond Villain's Bubble (A Match thread)

Foul, yes. Ta.

Slot's TNT interview was decent, to be fair. He's still a cunt, though.

Fuckinell.

And also, just come home and listened to Derby lose to Leyton Orient in the Cup.

I loved the adaptation of Zombie chant,

We're in your head Arnie Arnie Arnie.

Did he mention our ‘In Your Head’ (Cranberries, I think?) song? He seemed to acknowledge it at some point.

Edited… just seen JR’s post above.

Got the score right. As for the restaurant, Sean Dyche and family were in there, presumably before going to the game.

The keeper will rightly take the plaudits, but fuck me, what a player Elliot Anderson is. He was outstanding tonight.

Great night. We rode our luck a bit second half, but the spirit in this team looks something else.

Aaaargh. We looked so tired at the end. I was thinking we are going to shit it… and Didn’t. Sels excellent again. Murillo outstanding. A commanding performance. Anderson Brillisnt. But the real hero (although that was Murillo’s best performance in a Forest shirt) was Neco Williams. He was magnificent against Salah. Forcing him to snatch at shots and generally be frustrated. As soon as the game got stretched we were in trouble. Williams was isolated against the speedy Egyptian and still did enough . I thought he was MOM although you could argue Murillo as he was the final defence against the marauding Scouse.

FUCKING DIOGO JOTA!!!!!!! That cunt always scores against us. And from a corner too. Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Almost pulled it out. Tired. Great battling performance. I did call 1-1. Wish I was wrong.

We aren’t going down.

Chicago: Strangely disappointed.

With you there Chic. Neco was my MOTM.

A great point but also an illustration of how far we have to go. We got bullied in midfield and struggled to have even fleeting control with which to launch attacks. Gibbs White put a shift in but more as a 6 than a 10.
That being said, it seems the neutrals appreciate our resolute brand of football and what a Foresty goal. Wood is in quite incredible form right now.

Apparently it's also the anti-football, shithousing, bus parking and a 'worldie' keeper. As has our whole season.

Facebook says so. Lolz.

Random thoughts: First half we restricted them to ineffective long shots. MGW basically man-marked Gravenberch until their subs moved him into the back four. Salah did nothing all game, which is a huge compliment to Neco. Diogo Jota always scores against us, so the equaliser was to be expected. When MGW, CHO and Anderson start interchanging passes, it’s a delight to watch - they are clearly our best technical players, but Liverpool have seven or eight at that level, which is why they’ll win the league.

I’ve not seen it mentioned, but in the second half, after we’d won a free kick on the edge of their box, TAA punched the ball in frustration and caught Anderson. It was accidental but that’s a red card, isn’t it? If you are swinging punches, it’s incumbent on you to make sure they don’t connect with anyone. Haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere.

It really wasn't a red card incident. He just slapped the ball away, pretty gently, and Anderson ran into the tip of his finger. I thought the referee was very good last night, he let the game flow more than usually happens, didn't throw cards around for the sake of it, and apart from a weak penalty shout that got reviewed briefly you forgot that VAR even existed, which is partly down to the way the game was played as well as refereed, there seemed to be a lot less nonsense from players than you get in a lot of games.

The game itself had a genuine big game feel and was really exciting to watch, once of those where you feel the adrenalin seeping through you and feel like you need to run it out before you can get to sleep. The second half was tough but our concentration never faltered, which is a feat in itself when under a lot of pressure, and the collective defensive performance was immense. They created a lot more in the game than they did at Anfield, but just came up against a wall of resistance.

One of the things that I've seen a few people say is that we'll struggle if teams sit back against us. Which may well be true but, of the remaining games, who is actually going to try that?

Of the home games - probably Southampton, Everton and Leicester at home (and you'd hope that that we'd still have comfortably enough to beat the first and last of those). Brentford and Brighton are pretty committed to attacking football and the big 6 teams - Arsenal, Man City, ManU, Chelsea won't have the humility to wait us out.

Away - maybe Ipswich and Palace but I don't think it suits them particularly. West Ham might try to grind out a draw if they are in trouble but more likely they will be safe and Potter will want to put on a show. Bournemouth, Fulham, Newcastle, Villa, Spurs will all want to attack us and beat us.

Also worth pointing out, maybe, that, on paper, yesterday was, by far, our hardest remaining game (Liverpool before yesterday averaged 2.55 points per game away). Now, it's Villa away (2), followed by Chelsea at home (1.9), Newcastle away (1.88) and Bournemouth away (1.8). After that the drop off is pretty big (I think the next is Fulham away with 1.55).

Obviously, we'd be a vastly different proposition if we got a few key injuries.

True. As you say, Liverpool are easily the toughest team to play in the league this season and we've got them out of the way now with four points in the back pocket.

Sides that still have to play them either home or away include Manchester City, Newcastle, Villa, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal. Liverpool are clearly not going to lose all of those games, likely very few if any potentially, so they represent opportunities for Forest to take points and stay in the mix for Europe.

Exciting times.

...in order to be as good as the best team in the best league in the world, yes.

After 20+ years in the wilderness, I am afraid I cannot summon the ambition to think we are falling short in any sense. This is where we dreamed of being as we saw Swansea and Reading and Wigan and fucking Leicester and Burnley and Wolves and Brighton and Brentford and every other small-town fucker bloody the nose of the big clubs time after time, season after season. It should have been us and now it is.

Yesterday was us doing what the history of our club tells us we do - punching way above our weight. Transfermarket tells me their squad is worth more than double ours.