Nottingham Forest vs Everton
On Saturday we were back at the City Ground to watch Forest face their latest test on a warm spring afternoon. Since sacking Sean Dyche and hiring David Moyes, Everton have been rejuvenated and have been a seriously tough team to beat. If you look at their results since Moyes was appointed it shows you how impressive they have been, only losing twice in twelve games, winning four and drawing six along the way.
For Forest, we were looking to get back on track after our Champions League hopes suffered a dent last weekend with a 2-1 loss at Villa Park. In the second half of that game Forest had a number of big chances which they were unable to make the most of. The players will no doubt look back on that performance with frustration as it was a game where we should’ve at least earnt a point in the end. From a fans perspective, the loss didn’t feel too bad as I expected it to happen away at Villa, and with our imperious home form it was widely thought that we would be able to put this result to bed with a win against Everton.
A big part of being a football fan is experiencing the highs and lows, the incredible wins along with the gut wrenching losses. Without some of those low moments, the high moments wouldn’t feel as satisfying. We’ve had plenty of highs this season as Forest supporters, but as the end of the season starts to approach, nerves are definitely starting to settle in for most of us. We initially hoped that this season would be one of mid table obscurity, whereby this point we would have nothing to worry about. Of course, being nervous about whether we are going to be in the Champions League or another European competition next season is a whole different predicament to being nervous about our survival as a Premier League club. However, the nerves still exist regardless and the way that the players played on Saturday indicated that maybe they are starting to feel them too.
Approaching kick off, the atmosphere was as good as usual, with the wave of blue in the away end contrasting against the sea of red everywhere else. The Everton fans who had made the trip down from Liverpool were in fine voice before kick off, but were met with even more noise as the home fans produced a loud rendition of Mull of Kintyre, while a fantastic display in the Trent End was unveiled reading ‘Nottingham Forest are magic’. The display also sparked chants of ‘Forest are magic on and off the pitch’ and the more old school version: ‘We all agree Nottingham Forest are Magic’ in the Upper Bridgford corner.
As we watched on from the stands we all waited with anticipation for the game to kick into life, from a Forest perspective at least, it didn’t. Everton set the tone of the match and were on the front foot. Forest tried to find spaces to counter but failed to keep the ball long enough to create anything substantial and when they did spark a counter attack they were met by strong defending from Jake O’Brien, Jarrad Branthwaite, James Tarkowski and Vitalii Mykolenko. O’Brien in particular did well whenever Hudson Odoi tried his trademark trick of cutting onto his right foot, he just stood his ground and didn’t allow him to get past.
Half time came and a fairly drab first 45 minutes had created a flat atmosphere inside the stadium. Despite this, there was hope of better things to come in the second half as Nuno’s team talks normally seem to have a noticeable impact. The second half however was even worse from a Forest view point. Everton were stronger in the tackle, better on the ball and were playing with more freedom in attack. It was a lethargic performance from Forest which we haven’t been used to this season. Matz Sels made a big save to deny Iliman Ndiaye in the 54th minute, which gave off shades of Brice Samba, who also made a pivotal stop against Ndiaye at the Bridgford end when Forest were under the cosh in the Championship play off semi final second leg in 2022.
Anthony Elanga and Chris Wood were both doubts going into the game, Wood started the match but didn’t look sharp and was also starved of any real service. Elanga started on the bench and when the electronic board went up with number 21 in green coming on for number 20 (Jota Silva) in red, it was met by huge optimism around the stands. Elanga though, similarly to all of the Forest attackers on Saturday afternoon, failed to make an impact. It just wasn’t clicking for the Reds, and as the game went deeper and deeper, it felt like everyone of a Forest persuasion was ready to accept a 0-0 draw.
Everton hadn’t read the script though, and after a corner for Forest the ball ended up at the feet of Murillo just inside the Everton half. He mis controlled the ball and it was latched onto by Dwight McNeil. While it was a big individual error from Murillo, the way that Everton pressed and harried him and then committed players forward on the counter attack was indicative of the hard work and endeavour that they played with throughout the match, which has been instilled into them by David Moyes. From there McNeil fed the ball to Abdoulaye Doucoure who finished past Selz to steal three points right at the death. The way the second half went, it was a goal that you could see coming and I thought Everton probably deserved, but the way in which it happened will infuriate Nuno and all of the Forest coaching staff massively.
Two losses in a row now shed some doubts over Forest’s hopes of making the top 5. We still sit in 3rd place in the table as we have done for a while, but with Newcastle, Aston Villa and Manchester City all winning again, the gap is beginning to close. Newcastle have to play Crystal Palace tonight, and if they win they will go above Forest, knocking us down to 4th. The gap between Forest and sixth & seventh place occupied by Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively is now 3 points.
While this will all pile more pressure on Forest, it is still in our hands. Our next three games are: Tottenham Hotspur (A), Brentford (H) and Crystal Palace (A). A win against Tottenham seems fairly crucial now to alleviate the slide, and after watching Spurs’ abject performance away at Wolves I’m hopeful that we can do that. We know that Forest have the ability to get the wins required to cross the line as we have seen so far this season, it’s just whether or not the players can handle the nerves and show the mentality needed to get them there. As we have often revelled in the wins this season, I think it’s important as fans that we accept and notice the losses as well, they are what give us an appetite for even more success down the line.
Our next Forest blog post will be after the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley at the end of this month, a day that all Forest fans are hoping will be another one of those memorable high points that will be talked about for years to come.
Written by Joe Horne
