[theo_luddite]

 V 

Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield Town

Saturday 13th February 2016, 15:00

The City Ground, 

Nottingham. NG2 5FJ.

As usual my sources are mainly statto.com or otherwise nicked from or linked to Wicki, soccerstats, the websites mentioned in the links or just made up. 
Any similarity to anyone else's previous threads might be intentional. If I nicked something of yours and you want a credit that I didn't give you let me know in a post and I'll fix it.

The City Ground

The City Ground is in West Bridgford, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898, and has a current all-seated capacity of 30,445. It is only three hundred yards away from Meadow Lane, home of Forest's neighbouring club Notts County. The two grounds are the closest professional football stadiums in England and the second closest in the United Kingdom after the grounds of Dundee and Dundee United. (Wikipedia).

The lower roof at the left end of the Bridgford End stand was a planning requirement to allow sunlight to the houses on Colwick Road. County's pitch was still covered in kitty litter when this photo was taken. Forest have plans to either redevelop the old Main Stand on the left of this photo should they get promoted or they could possibly have built a new ground elsewhere in Nottingham had England not been conned out of staging the World Cup Finals at some point in the not too distant future by those (allegedly) corrupt sods at FIFA. New FIFA mascot below.

Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is even closer just to the south of The City Ground, with access to both along Radcliffe Road. One of  the last times I walked over the Trent Bridge on a Saturday afternoon just after the match my timing was perfect. A sudden storm whistled down the river and brought, snow, hail, horizontal rain (and no doubt pestulance) leaving me soaked and in need of a good drying out in one of the nearby pubs. The only thing missing was an invasion of locusts or frogs and fish dropping out of the sky given it's bibilical proportions  Apart from the 10 minute cloud bursts the sun shone all day. Not the first or likely the last time I'll get soaked, inside or out by that bridge. 

Matchday Parking/Going by Train/Beers/Food and all that important pre-match/post-match stuff.

Parking close to the ground can be hard to find unless you get there early.

This is what Forest suggest on their website -
Link to Forest Site

Their suggested route, if walking, from the Railway Station is somewhat long winded but it takes you past the delightful (to some) Hooters bar, if you like your beer cold and your wings or ribs dipped in hot sauce that is.

No special offers on a Saturday though. Can't think of any other reason to visit other than it's close to the ground. 

This is what The Football Ground Guide have to say.
The Football Ground Guide

In that link you'll also finds lots of useful info on where to get a pint around the ground and up in the city or near to the station. No need for me to copy and paste it all here. Just go and read what you want, but don't forget to come back. 

A couple more mentions for you lazy so & so's.
The Olde Trip To Jerusalem

http://triptojerusalem.com/

A visit to "The Olde Trip To Jerusalem" is well worth it if you have time. Claimed to be the Oldest Inn in England, (there are several others, Ye Olde Salutation Inn and The Bell Inn both in Nottingham also claim to be the oldest along with others elsewhere in the country). The pub claims that it was established in 1189 AD - the year that Richard the Lionheart became King and Pope Gregory VIII called for a Third Crusade to the Holy Land. It also says on a note by the bar, if I remember correctly*, that says Richard, having gathered his troops at Nottingham Castle for The Crusades, stopped off for a pint or three in Ye Olde Trip before heading off to fight in foreign lands. * It's been a while and we had a few so my memory is a bit foggy.

If true, is this the first record of a large bunch of boozy Brits setting off on a stag do abroad (I believe they were all men, chastity belts for the women they left behind were a must have fashion item at the time) and thus starting a tradition of Brits boozing and brawling in foreign parts that would become so much copied in more recent times? The other thing being, if they can't decide in their own city which pub is the oldest, we might have to put them straight on the story of some little bloke with a bow and arrow and a few of his mates that wore Lincoln Green too. We all know where he is buried after all. Maybe on another day, we don't have a problem with Forest and their fans and they don't have one with ours. 

Eat and drink and and raise your glasses,

bring home 3 points ye lads'n'lasses. 

The last time I took the car for a Saturday match, I parked up in a multi-story car park next to the Vat and Fiddle   which is a short stroll from the station. The train is taking the strain this weekend so I can have a brewskie or two at my leisure. If push comes to shove you can get a pint in the Notts County bar on Meadow Lane. Keep an eye out for this chap serving behind the bar. 

They will gladly take your money, but it's more than likely he will be on a muddy field somewhere in York on Saturday, floods and frosts permitting.

I strongly recommend NOT getting off the M1 at the J24 Junction if you are driving north or East(ish). That road past Ratcliffe-On-Soar power station has been under reconstruction and widening work since Noah was a lad and it can easily take an hour to get into Nottingham on a Saturday. (Unless by some miracle it is now complete). Go to J25, it's a lot easier and quicker.

A bit about Forest.

Who's been naughty boys then?
Following the trend of many in this division, Forest have been caught overspending in an attempt to get back to The Prima Donna League. Recently they haven't really got near, though they are usually in the top half of the league and threatening to break into the top 6, only to go on a run of poor results that leaves them a few points short of a play-off slot. As a result they have just had their transfer embargo extended to the end of this season - making that 18 months on the trot. 

Current Manager Dougie Freedman was appointed on 1 February 2015, replacing Stuart Pearce as manager. Fans favourite, Psycho just couldn't get results out of an expensively assembled squad and Freedman was probably the last guy that Forest fans were expecting to take over as he had barely pulled up any trees in his attempts to get Bolton heading back into the promotion frame. Although he got them closer than anyone else, looking at Bolton now, he could argue he had them punching above far more of their bloated weight than the Ginger Whinger is managing to achieve at the moment. RIP Mr. Gartside. 63 is far too young.

Freedman has weeded out some of the expensive players and has his hands somewhat tied by the embargo, but obviously they are still overspending. According to a post on the Forest/L666s board on JA606 the other day*, Forest's starting 11 last week that stole the points and bored the pants off "The Seriously Overweight One"  was made up of one player costing £1 milion (Mancienne) and the rest were freebies and home grown talent. Must be some big wages sat on the bench, playing for the stiffs or in the treatment room at the moment then.   


*Must have been posted by a Forest fan too  - no L666s fan on JA606 would have worked that out. They can't work out what is going on at L666s let alone Forest. 

Players we might not see but on another day we would like to see them playing (against somebody else).
Britt Assombalonga has been out injured for the last 12 months after being signed from Peterborough on 6 August 2014 on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee reported to be in the region of £5 million which could rise to £8 million. Matty Fryatt is another lad with goals in him who hasn't kicked a ball in anger yet this season. I've not found anything to suggest they will be back for Saturday.

Players we might see.
The delightfully named Dexter Blackstock was always among the goals in his time at QPR and initially with Forest, with a goals per game average of around 1 every 3 at one point. This season, despite playing fairly regularly (8 starts, 13 sub appearances though some of them will have been the last few minutes like on Saturday at L666s) he's only scored twice so far. He's been out injured quite a bit in recent years and was on loan at L666s when he scored against us with his first touch of the ball in October 2013. His only goal of a 4 game loan spell.   

Top goalscorer this season is Nelson Oliveira with 8, he scored the winner last week at L666s   while fat pants was moaning about having to watch some paint dry. Two we will probably need to keep an eye on if they both play. Otherwise Freedman may well start the same 11 that started at L666s, injuries permitting. They had no players booked or sent off at L666s so no new suspensions that I'm aware of. 


Form
Forest are currently on a 13 match unbeaten league run, so this won't be easy for us given our tendency to struggle against clubs that are above us in the table. Their win at L666s last week was only their 6th in that run, but they have now won 3 out of the last 4 League matches. Their only blip was losing 1-0 at home to Watford in The FA Cup. During this unbeaten run they have only scored more than 1 goal twice, in home wins against MK Dons (2-1) and Bolton (3-0). Otherwise they draw a helluva lot of games 1-1 including the game at our place back in September. It's the favourite score of both of our clubs this season so don't be too surprised if this is another one. The bookies are generally offering this as the lowest odds correct score (around 6's), though they otherwise are tipping Forest to win when you don't bet on a score. A draw is closer to Town's (higher) odds of winning than Forest (lower) odds of winning. Not sure how that works. 
Odds - Win-Draw
Odds - Correct score

Tactics
It seems Freedman sets Forest up to be difficult to beat first and foremost and he'll take any wins that come along at this moment in time. They had an 8 game run without a win early in the season that dropped them from 8th to 19th so they'll be hoping not to repeat that again before the end of the season. So will Freedman if he doesn't want to become the 14th Championship managerial casualty of the season.

A bit about Town.
We did the double over Forest last season, the 3-0 home win was one of the best displays we put in all last season and helped ease the pain of a certain night in February 2013 (link: not for those of a nervous disposition) when a lad called Radoslaw Majewski put 3 past us in a 6-1 rout. It was Billy Davies's first win as returning manager. His honeymoon period lasted for a few games before his rather strange siege mentality kicked in again and Forest eventually sent him hamewards, to think again. 

There's a couple of familiar names in that Forest line up that have made appearances for Town since then and Jack (Tom) Hunt has also had a loan spell at Forest in his so far failed bid to play in the Prima Donna League since leaving Town. Majewski, having failed to get a deal with Town last season, despite looking useful on the few occasions that Chris Powell picked him, is now weaving his magic in Greece according to Transfrmarkt.com. No doubt he is helping to speed up the flow of refugees northwards into central Europe once they see the standard of football on offer. Also not forgetting our own Joel Lynch was once a little acorn that grew into some fine Forest oak stock before pulling up his roots and putting them down in firmer soil at Town.

As already mentioned we drew 1-1 early in the season and we maybe should have won that one but as so often this season, we conceded first and didn't get a goal back until late in the game. This was one of Sky's first Thursday night games. Why Thursday ffs? I, like many, have far enough to travel for home matches on a weekend without moving Saturday games to Thursday night and making it nigh on impossible to get there. Sorry, but watching it at home or down the pub on the telly doesn't make up for it, especially when I've already forked out for a season ticket. Enough of this nonsense you Sky muppets. You didn't cover one Championship game last Saturday or Sunday, just moving Brighton to Friday night. It appears QPR v Fulham is on Sky this Saturday lunchtime, which will inconvenience nobody in West Larndan but means those travelling from a bit further afield will only have to get out of bed a bit sooner. Boro are on Sky again on Monday night away against nobody special, if they decide to let the cameras in this week that is.   Another nonsense night for football unless it's Boxing Day, New Years Day or Easter Monday with 3:00 pm kick-off's.

Form
Our good work over the Christmas/New Year period and early January has been somewhat neutralised by 3 league defeats on the trot (and turning a 2-0 lead into a 5-2 defeat at Reading in the cup with the help of a numbnuts ref). The loss at Preston was probably the hardest to take as we apparently dominated them again as we did on Boxing Day, but the last 10 minutes summed up Town's season. We can't score regularly or soon enough to kill sides off even when we play them off the park. When we do score first we can't hold on to the lead. We are the league's best at scoring in the last 15 minutes. We are right up there with Charlton at conceding them in the same period. Soccerstats

Who will play for us?
I'll put Jed Steer in goals unless he gets the man flu that's going round. Otherwise your guess is as good as mine with the way Wagner changes the team around. If Lynch starts let's hope he puts one in the right onion bag this week. We could be Calling Elvis up for a first start, we've extended the loan of Husband from Boro, so he'll likely be at left back. According to SHEP, Billing was our best player at PNE so should be in line for another start. Paterson, being on loan from Forest, probably won't get a start or even as far as the subs bench with the clauses that are in seemingly every players loan deals these days.

Tactics
We could get caught on the break if we press too far up the pitch for too long but no doubt Wagner will send them out with high pressing as the first tactic. Hopefully we've done some work defending set pieces too because we just love giving free kicks away in our half and around our box. I doubt however that Wagner will have been Knock, Knock, Knocking on Evans' door this week to find out how to play against Forest and learn from him how to try and counter attack their counter attacks. Evans' door will still be wet with all the paint he's watching dry anyway.

We'll need to be a bitty nippy to get round their packed and well rooted defense with plenty of yapping and barking at each other to keep our own defense in order when we lose the ball. All in all we'll need to be a bit more dogged up front and in defense than we've been of late if we are going to cock a leg or two up against the Trees and pee on their parade.


Some more Stats (for folks that like that stuff).


Head to Head - we have a fairly good record against Forest over the years, with 9 League wins each at The City Ground and it's a very rare game that ends 0-0. Only two league matches and two cup matches have finished 0-0 at both grounds (unless I miscounted), so expect some goals. Forest are 10th on 42 points, 7 places and 10 points above us. They are 8 points off the last play-off spot, whilst the trap door is currently 7 points below us.

League Position with Result - Town

League Position with Result - Forest

Recent Results and Form Table

The Nowt to do with the Football Section

Meanwhile - down in Sherwood Forest - someone is doing a Prince Charles and talking to the Trees.

So if you go down to the woods today, be prepared for a big surprise!!

And happy Valentines on Sunday if you and your better half celebrate that kind of thing.  
I suppose it helps to keep The Card Factory, Hallmark and a few others in the same line of business in profit between the religious holidays and birthdays.

 

Is this what they mean by dogging? 

And finally .....

With two more Championship managers biting the dust this week, what are the chances of a full house by the time the season ends?   
The Sack Race

[jjamez]

Yeah pato is out. He couldnt play at jss earlier this season so it wont have changed. Hudson is back so we should be at 'full' strength at the back. Billing if fit will probably start and I'd imagine that lolley would move inside and elvis will go down the left and prove he isnt dead.

Yeah dour dougie puts men behind the ball and aims to sneak a goal. He let leeds have the majority of the ball in the city ground game and then claimed it was part of the tactic. If he used that there he'll use it against us. WE HAVE TO BE CLINICAL!! Having watched de vries and evitimov (spare keeper) their handling is a bit iffy. I'd be tempted to try a bit from outside the box and have nakhi following up. But like i said CLINICAL is a must. I'd still take a 1-0 win even with 30 shots on goal, just want three points

they will most likely use the break as their main weapon but they will be dangerous from set plays with them being a fairly big team. They are without players like lansbury, think we will have to watch out for jamie ward he's been moved into the middle sometimes up top or in the hole behind olivera and has been doing quite well. If he plays central then hogg will have to be on him, although ward is a wind up and will try getting hogg his marching orders. Hopefully husband plays as otherwise mendes will have davidson like a vegimite sandwich

When we went we used to park down the embankment its about ten mins away and on the other side of the bridge but it was cheaper than the other places, not sure if it was just for forest fans though.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Fantastic thread theo......really excellent.
As you've said already, I did think Billings was class against PNE....however he did limp off.
Not heard if he's going to be ok for this game or not.

Have a good feeling about this game......I'm going 2-1 to us.

[ritchiebaby]

Thuper, thumping thread, Theo! I was going to read it all, but I think I'll wait until the box set comes out.

[WakeyTerrier]

id take a point now

[jjamez]

Seems like theres a few injuries in our advanced trio. Elvis karim scanz all either injured or doubtful. Pato ineligible. Leaves bunn and lolley might see d wayne start or some other youngster thats been impressing. Cant think of any other attacking mid that we have...

Maybe a shift to 4-4-2?

[WakeyTerrier]

Jake Charles?

[jjamez]

Possibly but i do doubt it. Since his injuries he's dropped down the pecking order

[theo_luddite]

Thuper, thumping thread, Theo! I was going to read it all, but I think I'll wait until the box set comes out.

You just missed the January sales on last years box set ritchie.  Damned good deal they were too. Sold out now though.

This year's compilation box set will be available in December, just in time for Xmas, from all good high street stores like Woollies, Bollockbuster and your local Virgin Megastore.

Otherwise you've got all weekend (well until 3:00pm Saturday) to put your feet up, grab a pint or a bottle of plonk and read at your leisure.

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Is it me or has this site been up and down more than a whooowers drooowers this week?

[Lord Snooty]

Top bollock of a thread, theo. 

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Not just you with the site being off either.