I'm just out of shot in that video. Worrall was good value, lots of love for Yatesy and Forest. Reid, Jemson and Norman also went on stage. Neil Webb in the crowd as well. Was a good couple of hours - but would have been a lot better if I'd been able to have a few beers (I was driving).
POTW. And it's only Monday morning.
Also City and that stupid Poznań bollocks. Get fucked.
Positives are that it doesn't feel like we are demoralised by the defeat, we had chances (higher xG!), so we can leave thinking we gave them a game and were a bit unfortunate and with a determination to achieve our other aim for the season and it was over in 90 minutes, so we aren't knackered for Thursday.
On City: we are not giving them enough credit. They had a fantastic game plan which worked spectacularly well. That was because we had given Guardiola something to think about after the game at ours. That midfield of Kovacic, Silva, Grealish and Lewis was exceptional and clearly bamboozled us from the very first minute. It was almost mesmerising to watch and painful to see Danilo chasing shadows and Murillo/Milenkovic not know who they should be picking up. (FWIW: I don't think Yates would have made a difference: he would have been as bamboozled as anyone else and probably picked up a card in the first 10 minutes). With the combo of Savinho and Nunes/O’Reilly and Marmoush out wide, we could have been well and truly fucked. Hence my admiration for what Abbott did, especially as he was a statue vs Newcastle in the EFL earlier in the season.
There’s an argument to say that if we had Elanga on from the start and stretched both wings, their full backs would have been more occupied. We certainly gave them something to think about second half. All the more painful that we didn’t have Neco and Ola pushing on.
I met a lot of City fans in the pub beforehand and around the ground. All of them were proper Mancs and have been down in the doldrums with us. Guru not-so-minor says he always gets a great reception from City fans if he’s out in a Forest shirt. I don't think they are as entitled as many others in the big six (yes Spurs fans, I’m definitely talking about you). If it was our 30th trip to Wembley in 15y, I think tickets might be easier to come by. Yes they have some plastics but I begrudge them way less than all the others.
That we are even discussing being competitive with City in both the league and FA Cup (off-year notwithstanding) still seems like a miracle. The season needs to be defined by our upcoming four games. I really don’t want any thing on the line for that game vs Chelsea.
On Elanga .... my gut is that we're nursing him through a minor injury at the moment.
Like all clubs they will have some alright and and some nobheads. We encountered entitled ones on Wembley way after with them singing about their billions and ‘one chance and you fucked it up.’
It was a fairly pathetic following for a club who has bought/won everything.
My feeling too.
Definitely.
I'm with Brid on this. I feel a) very lucky to have been there yesterday, and b) so glad that the occasion really meant something to Forest fans (given how long it's been since we were last in an FA Cup semi-final).
I said to my old man and sister over a pint before the game that, while I fully expected City to win, I just hoped their first goal wouldn't come too early. That it did was a real shame. The atmosphere in the Forest end was electric as the teams came out but the early goal (extremely well crafted and taken) just took the edge off that for a bit. I think we then got a bit affected by the occasion and only being one down at the break was a definite positive. Second half was markedly improved.
City fans as a wider fanbase clearly weren't that interested in the game - playing Forest probably didn't help - given the thousands of empty seats and lack of atmosphere. They turn up to these games expecting to go through the motions and win, and I genuinely would never want to be in that position as a supporter.
That's not to take anything away from how well City played, but then they're an established, settled club packed with highly-expensive elite footballers who, crucially, have bags of experience in these types of fixtures and know how to win them. No disgrace to lose and on another day we might just have nicked it, had Elanga scored an equaliser that he'd normally bury. Would have been a fascinating contest then at 1-1 and with the Forest fans back to full voice.
I had a fantastic day out in the sunshine (morning coffee and later some nice food and a couple of beers in good company) and just hope it's not another 34 years before we get to go again.
I think I saw/heard them by the train station? A couple of young lads who got fairly short shrift from the Forest fans?
Admittedly the ones I met were a bit older and had seen the dark days of City in the third tier. Anyone who has had to endure that deserves some respect. Especially the ones who complimented my retro Forest shirt.
None of them complimented my retro Forest shirt. Perhaps I met the cunts.
There was a bit of argy bargy at the Wembley Park ticket barriers after the game. Little lad in a Forest shirt in floods of tears while his dad was deep in conversation with the transport cops who'd pinned some other bloke by the ticket machines.
The City fans we saw on tube beforehand were largely entitled knobs. But they were younger and never saw their bad times.
I think it just highlights their financial doping and how being in 7 semi finals and 3 finals in a row isn't actually healthy for the game or them as a club.
No team should be that successful in a sport causing the fans to lose interest in big games.
What is the point of being a football fan if you're not excited about semi finals and finals because you've had so many?
This is it, for me. Something's gone very badly wrong when a fanbase has so obviously lost interest in an important game like the one yesterday.
We shouldn't feel sorry for City fans, clearly, but I wouldn't ever want to be in the position where an FA Cup semi-final was of no real interest, either because it had happened so many times in recent years or the perception was that my team just had to turn up and go through the motions to progress to a final.
It was a bigger group, getting in our faces a bit with their celebrating and just slightly overstepping it. I couldn’t help but point out Man Utd would have filled it and made more of a day of it (do actually rate their away support) but they took the line of preferring to have ‘30000 real fans there than plastics’. (Try 26000 pal).
But anyway that’s football. There are definitely worse fanbases.
Had similar experience in the pub pre-game, there were a few loud pissed up younger City fans, but they were mostly being a good laugh, and the older crowd who remember days of league 1 etc. find it incredible anyone can say they have had a bad season this year.
Were far too many Forest fans with half & half scarves for my liking though!
I believe there are some ongoing frustrations amongst City fans about ticket pricing which may also have played into the numbers. They have frozen season ticket sales and matchday tickets are apparently £88 for adults and £58 for kids. That's a big ask for your average person. Following your club around is not possible for a lot of people now, even without regular Wembley trips.
