Nottingham Forest at home Saturday 14th Sept 3pm

[kingfunk]

FWIW I think Forest will surprise a few teams this season.

[ronanm]

FWIW I think Forest will surprise a few teams this season.

1 down

[Mr Pink]

yesterday was the first time this season that we’ve come across a team who play a low block.

Teacher’s pet

[chadrtc]

Teacher’s pet

At least he knows what he’s talking about.

[Norbs]

Teacher’s pet

And he didn't have the know how to break it. And now he's made everyone aware of this weakness. Good luck facing the low block another 30 times this season.

[rudedog]

And he didn't have the know how to break it. And now he's made everyone aware of this weakness. Good luck facing the low block another 30 times this season.

That’s a really over simplistic way of looking at it.

I think all the other managers will be well aware of result and how Forrest went about it.

However, it wasn’t just the low block that defeated us, we were collectively **** and Forrest executed the plan brilliantly - they barely made any mistakes

[Fivex]

And it’s not like teams haven’t used the low block against us before

[Doc_Piptorious]

And it’s not like teams haven’t used the low block against us before

It only gets lauded as being our kryptonite when it works against us.

The 15 times a season we go and beat teams trying a low block against us gets ignored.

[Kenneth]

And he didn't have the know how to break it. And now he's made everyone aware of this weakness. Good luck facing the low block another 30 times this season.

Look, if any of us can see something in a game, then every single professional coach can see it. The manager has revealed precisely nothing of interest to any other team and this repeated insinuation that he has is very silly indeed.

[chadrtc]

Look, if any of us can see something in a game, then every single professional coach can see it. The manager has revealed precisely nothing of interest to any other team and this repeated insinuation that he has is very silly indeed.

It was the same with all the cry arsing about Pep Ljinders’ book.

[Norbs]

And it’s not like teams haven’t used the low block against us before

And we've struggled to deal with it

[Doc_Piptorious]

And we've struggled to deal with it

At times we struggle to deal with it, but far more often we overcome it. It not something that is unique to us though.

Arsenal and City can look poor against teams using a low block as well.


When the team doing it is well organised and has a good mix of physicality and pace then it is a great tactic against a team that is looking to put you on the back foot. But at the same time it is a gamble because you tend to invite pressure.

When we were in the titlke winning season, we had just as many teams try the same tactic against us but because our team was so strong physically at the time along with being stacked with talent, we tended to break down the low block teams with sustained pressure.


We are a different team now and very much a team in it's formative stages, so for a bit the low block teams will most likely have a few good moments against us though we will still beat a lot more of them than they beat us imo.

[Scratch]

If Jota had took his chance from that delightful dink by Macca, I think we would have won that game at a canter. But against teams deploying deep lying tactics, those chances do not come easy. Normally you can rely on DJ to bury those, but this time...alas.

Heads went when they scored....Mo entered shoot first mode (even before then his final decision making was a bit off), Gakpo and Nunez had no service with Trent in midfield. We had a good target man in the middle...two if you include Gakpo who also has height...but never whipped in a cross or tried to create overlaps.

[Doc_Piptorious]

If Jota had took his chance from that delightful dink by Macca, I think we would have won that game at a canter. But against teams deploying deep lying tactics, those chances do not come easy. Normally you can rely on DJ to bury those, but this time...alas.

Heads went when they scored....Mo entered shoot first mode (even before then his final decision making was a bit off), Gakpo and Nunez had no service with Trent in midfield. We had a good target man in the middle...two if you include Gakpo who also has height...but never whipped in a cross or tried to create overlaps.

That is something that last season seemed to rear it's head a lot when adversity struck.

Our senior players going a bit into headless chicken mode rather than being the ones that steady the ship and lead by example. The only one that seems to always stay on the same level regardless of whether we are playing well or are under the cosh is Alisson.

Right now our senior players are probably


Alisson
Jota
TAA
VVD
Salah
Robertson



All capable of big moments and big games, but Alisson is the only one that I would be willing to bet on being a leader or example setter when stuff goes sideways.


Sure the others are capable of it, VVD the most likely after Alisson imo, but seems to me that it is almost a coin toss at times with them as to whether they step up when the team is faltering or whether they instead play big parts in the disjointed nature when play starts to fall apart.


The sheer quality in our team tends to allow us to grind our way out of bad situations most of the time, but the grabbing the game back by the scruff of the neck type swings seem to have been happening less and less season on season the past two seasons.

Hope when Slot gets to bring in some new midfielders and/or defenders that he brings in some that have "must win" type personalities that match their talent levels. Reckon marrying those types of personalities with the sort of solid team structures that Slot appears to have built in Holland would be a very good thing.

[Scratch]

but the grabbing the game back by the scruff of the neck type swings seem to have been happening less and less season on season the past two seasons.

This is where we miss the Henderson effect, he may not have been the best player in the team, but in terms of being a vocal, driving force, that type of player is something we have not replaced, and I think sometimes it shows, especially when the chips are down.