Nott'm Forest (H) - Sat 14th Sep 2024 (3:00pm)

[Binomial]

We got what we deserved for approaching the game so naively. 

 

Stupid not to rotate, we'll never learn our lessons after the international break will we? Diaz and Mac shouldn't have started, neither should Szobo.

 

The subs were suicidal but I don't really blame Arne for trying to change it up early, that first hour was fucking dross......actually I do blame him, partly, for allowing Trent Szobo and Mo to play the 90....that is unforgivable. 

 

Credit to Forest and Nuno as well, these are a competent side unlike Ipswich and Forest, with more than a few talented players to hurt you and that's what we saw. Tactically outed today, we move.

[Binomial]

5 minutes ago, magicrat said:

It was the passing that pissed me off today. Loads of balls played behind teammates and attempting to play tippy tappy round their boxes with zero end product . Salah was the worst offender 

 

There was no cohesion down our right side. All 3 playing their own individual game of who could throw the most hissy fits for all the unjust referee treatments.

 

The only time Salah should be given the ball is if he's in a position to be played through on goal, because otherwise he'll just end up losing the ball. Moreno didn't even have to work hard to pocket him.

[TheRedMachine]

You simply cannot keep playing the same 11 week after week, especially after half of them have put in 180 international minutes. Poor from the manager. 

[Shitty Arse]

Didn’t watch it as in work all day. Looking forward to MOTD. Kept checking the score waiting for our goal to appear. 3 wins in a row. A win away at the mancs boxed off. Now for 2 nice easy winnable home league games on paper to really cement our league position as a genuine threat to Arsenal. (Pointless thinking this team will finish above City, unless there’s points deducted).
…….Fucking typical. We do seem to have a habit of smelling ourselves after these boss wins against the mancs with utter shit performances. 
Back to reality! 

[SasaS]

Yes, if only we had started with Jones, Nunez and Gakpo.

[Saintslfc13]

I only saw the lowlights and these ones were about 8 minutes and some change so not an in-depth picture of the game by any means but from what I did see we could've scored at least 3 goals in the first half. Need to finish our chances especially against sides who're conceding possession so much. Thought Alisson could've done better for their goal but I understand he didn't see it all that well (although that's why he should be moving), it was a well hit and placed shot but saveable if Ali is just a yard to his left. Not going to go in on him too much because of it's an anomaly for him but it needed to be mentioned. Obviously any loss at Anfield is a disappointment and even more so when it's to a side that isn't typically in the top half of the table but some of the reactions I've read on other platforms are ridiculously over the top. Slot's clueless, the players are all old, slow, stupid, et al. You'd think we started the season 1-0-3 rather than 3-0-1.On another day we score one of our early chances and probably take them behind the woodshed for a real beating.  As annoying as it is in the moment, these games happen in football, and this squad in particular has had issues with creativity in possession for at least the last 3 years prior to this.

[Bobby Hundreds]

We've not even faced a real test yet, United are wank. Slot isn't getting this side to challenge for a title, I think we need to accept that and move on. Top 4 is the aim. The only way Slot gets more from this team than Klopp is if we buy better players than the ones we have and he knows how to use them. That's not a slight on Slot at all, Klopp is a worldie and even he had this side giving the type of performance we've seen today. We need a midfield with some bollocks and a forward who actually make centrebacks nervous alongside being able to hit that fucking big rectangle at the end of the pitch with something more than a farting pea roller.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Red the fuck writing..

[coachpotato]

First of all, credit to Gravenberch, he was the only player of ours to come out of today with any credit.
Secondly, credit to Slot, for his honest comments after the game, saying that we were not good enough, and refusing to make excuses where there weren’t any.
No bullshit or false praise, which makes a change to some managers who try and convince you that you haven’t actually seen the game you were watching.

Thirdly, credit to Forest who time wasted from the first minute and sat deep, yet somehow were able to look more dangerous than us going forwards. They had a plan which required them to work their socks off and hope we were shite and it worked for them.

This isn’t the end of the world, however dispiriting the performance was and regardless of how poor our passing, tempo and threat level was, but we have bounced back from games like this before and we will again.

Starting with Milan on Tuesday.

 

[3 Stacks]

24 minutes ago, SasaS said:

Yes, if only we had started with Jones, Nunez and Gakpo.

This facade that this is a great squad will probably evaporate so fast. There's no options in midfield and Nunez and Gakpo were absolutely putrid. There can't be any doubt why he's been going unchanged so far.

[Mook]

Jota doesn't seem to be getting much stick but he's been absolutely fucking brutal all four games & he was fucking pish for Portugal vs Scotland too.

 

Time for a rest & give Nunez or Gakpo a go up there in Milan.

[3 Stacks]

3 minutes ago, Mook said:

Jota doesn't seem to be getting much stick but he's been absolutely fucking brutal all four games & he was fucking pish for Portugal vs Scotland too.

 

Time for a rest & give Nunez or Gakpo a go up there in Milan.

Jota looks fat. He's providing no problems for defenders whatsoever.

[Jairzinho]

30 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

We've not even faced a real test yet, United are wank. Slot isn't getting this side to challenge for a title, I think we need to accept that and move on. Top 4 is the aim. The only way Slot gets more from this team than Klopp is if we buy better players than the ones we have and he knows how to use them. That's not a slight on Slot at all, Klopp is a worldie and even he had this side giving the type of performance we've seen today. We need a midfield with some bollocks and a forward who actually make centrebacks nervous alongside being able to hit that fucking big rectangle at the end of the pitch with something more than a farting pea roller.

 

Oh look at me, I'm a top red.

[Jairzinho]

8 minutes ago, Mook said:

Time for a rest & give Nunez or Gakpo a go up there in Milan.

 

We probably will do but then we'll pick more or less today's team for the next league game.

[Barrington Womble]

That was pretty depressing but not really surprising. I think we've had elements of that performance in all 3 games so far, but we managed to grab a goal and then not look back. 

 

I don't really think anyone comes out of it with any credit. I thought Trent was our best player while he was at right back, but he was so bad when he moved into midfield, that was probably the worst 20/30 mins of any player all game. 

 

I was surprised with the lineup. With Nunez and Jones being at home for 2 weeks, Macca seemingly always awful returning from these games and Diaz also doing loads of travelling, I was surprised.to see them both in the team with Nunez and Jones starting on the bench. But when they did come off the bench, neither did much to prove slot was wrong. 

 

And speaking of slot, he was out thought by Santos. Not that forest did anything amazing. Stay narrow, let us have the ball through the middle 3rd to drain our urgency and wait for us to get frustrated and try and force things through the middle, when it was clear the space was out wide. Credit to their players, especially the 2 full backs who completely bossed our wide players. And credit to Santos who went for it for the last half hour and completely had us off. An absolutely classic away smash and grab. 

 

Slot has some things to learn about this league. Most sides are good enough to do what forest did today. We have to be smarter, quicker and more flexible than we showed. And honestly, if we want to play this sideways shit, get the players passing with their first touch, keep moving around and recycling the possession until you get a chance. You can't just treat the game like you're playing walking football and hope you'll make something out of set pieces. 

 

And finally, the crowd. The atmosphere was fucking shite. I know the team didn't help. I don't think the style of football helps, but we have to be better than that. By 80 minutes, the fans and the players had all given up and accepted the result. 

[Engineman Hicks]

It’s a miracle that nobody seems to have suggested the ref was corrupt yet. 

[Torvald Utne]

2 minutes ago, Engineman Hicks said:

It’s a miracle that nobody seems to have suggested the ref was corrupt yet. 

Doesn't really need saying does it? It's Michael Oliver

[Barrington Womble]

2 minutes ago, Engineman Hicks said:

It’s a miracle that nobody seems to have suggested the ref was corrupt yet. 

Why's that?

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, Binomial said:

We got what we deserved for approaching the game so naively. 

 

Stupid not to rotate, we'll never learn our lessons after the international break will we? Diaz and Mac shouldn't have started, neither should Szobo.

 

The subs were suicidal but I don't really blame Arne for trying to change it up early, that first hour was fucking dross......actually I do blame him, partly, for allowing Trent Szobo and Mo to play the 90....that is unforgivable. 

 

Credit to Forest and Nuno as well, these are a competent side unlike Ipswich and Forest, with more than a few talented players to hurt you and that's what we saw. Tactically outed today, we move.

Tactically outed when we had 14 shots and they had 3? I don't think it had much to do with that.

[Barrington Womble]

33 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

This facade that this is a great squad will probably evaporate so fast. There's no options in midfield and Nunez and Gakpo were absolutely putrid. There can't be any doubt why he's been going unchanged so far.

 

The lads starting in midfield are not of high enough quality. Macca will be fine with others around him (and not played after these international weeks), but I don't see any talent in that midfield to play the way slot supposedly wants to play. And on the front line, Jota has had about 15 decent minutes all season. We lack quality everywhere if we've any ambitions to win the league. 

 

I thought before the season, with this style of play and this midfield, we'd struggle to score in 6-8 games this season. Well that's one of them already and Santos as given everyone a pretty simple game plan to come to anfield with. 

[Jairzinho]

4 minutes ago, Torvald Utne said:

Doesn't really need saying does it? It's Michael Oliver

 

 

What is it about a referee who was being paid by Man City's owners to ref a game in the UAE that makes you think he might be bent?

 

[johnsusername]

If only there had been some period of time recently that we could have bought a couple of good players to improve the squad, some sort of window for transfers, where we could spend the money we generate as one if the biggest football clubs in the world. 

 

Alas, no. 

[etho]

Very poor all round and was likely to happen, Slot has to and will learn from that. Lots of shouts for it but I thought Dom was desperately poor. If you play with a 10 they need to have the ability to pick the lock against a low block and that’s just not his game. Frustratingly Ellliott could have been a real difference maker here.

[Engineman Hicks]

20 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

 

 

What is it about a referee who was being paid by Man City's owners to ref a game in the UAE that makes you think he might be bent?

 

And there it is. Every defeat, even a draw and somebody makes this accusation. Genuinely if you think the game is corrupt why do you bother watching? I’ve been watching us for 50 years now and sometimes we lose. Thats life, it’s not the fucking Harlem globe trotters. 

[Mook]

1 minute ago, Engineman Hicks said:

And there it is. Every defeat, even a draw and somebody makes this accusation. Genuinely if you think the game is corrupt why do you bother watching? I’ve been watching us for 50 years now and sometimes we lose. Thats life, it’s not the fucking Harlem globe trotters. 

 

You don't think there is any corruption in the Premier League then?