| Nottingham Forest | Middlesbrough | ||
| Lolley Milosevic |
39′ (pen), 85′ 64′ |
||
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
54% 20 9 7 9 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
46% 3 1 2 14 |
Boro bottlers smashed
Just a few days after a record equalling third win in a row since August for Boro Pulis’s depleted squad left the Tees and headed for the Tent to face the Karankaless Tricky Trees. The Spaniard was replaced by the Forest dream team of MON and Roy Keane but the way their season had since dipped it would appear to have been more of a nightmare team. Changing Managers and expecting an improvement only works if the Management can work with what they have regardless of what they ideally want. It appeared that the expensively assembled AK squad wasn’t a good fit with O’Neil and Keane’s philosophy or at least not just yet.
With play off hopes now a distant memory Forest dreams are already focussed on next season. Pulis had his ongoing selection concerns and was allegedly thinking of rotating his thinning squad which was already bereft of Ayala, Friend, Wing and Fry. His options for rotating were somewhat limited bearing in mind that he had two youth players in Spence and Wood on Saturday’s bench.
The possible switches could only be Downing on the left from the start for Saville which is what he should have done from the off on Saturday but TP seems to see things very differently from his perspective in the Technical area. Another likely one would have been to give Hugill a run out possibly as a one man attack or bringing in Tav for Fletcher. MON had a few selection problems of his own with both Colback and Benalouane definitely missing this afternoon due to suspension.
With the City Ground bathed in sunshine TP had made absolutely no changes whatsoever despite his talk and went with the same line up which worryingly meant that he still thought Saville could play as a left wing back. The Boro bench also remained unchanged with Spence and Wood keeping their seats. Martin O’Neil had made five changes in an effort to stop their rot, two of them through suspension as mentioned and one through concussion and the other two tactical.
Forest lined up with three Centre Backs as they kicked off. Almost immediately Besic dithered and put us straight into trouble inside his own half allowing the Trees early optimism. Forest were fired up for this from the off pushing forward and keeping the pressure on black shirted Boro, pegged back in our own half. Carvalho was looking busy and Joe Lolley had already had a few runs down our right which surprised me as I thought they would have identified Saville as the weak link. The first real scare came on eleven minutes when Howson had to come to the rescue after Cash had beaten Saville and then from the resulting throw in Flint had to clear his lines.
Boro had started disappointingly slowly and considering the weather conditions the choice of kit colour wasn’t exactly the cleverest. Two minutes later Cash again flew down the wing and got another cross in as Forest now started to confidently settle into the game with Boro looking like their tactics were all at sea. Approaching twenty minutes and TP needed to do something to push us up and ease the pressure, this game was headed in only one direction. Assombalonga and Fletcher had been spectators, literally isolated from the rest of their teammates. Besic then done his best to enter Referee Peter Banks book with a challenge that had the Home fans baying for a red and Roy Keane gesticulating that he wasn’t best pleased with the tackle and even a tad upset.
News before the game was that Villa had beaten Millwall in a lunchtime kick off but Wednesday had just gone a goal up against Bristol. That was the only cause for celebration so far with the travelling army as we were looking unbelievably poor. We were being exposed in the wide areas and Clayton, Besic and Mikel just weren’t controlling the midfield at all and had struggled to thread a few passes together. Any pre match hope of Boro getting the Home fans rattled was now a non-event which was also an accurate descriptive term for Boro’s showing. Carvalho, Lolley and Cash were twisting and turning, driving forward and nobody in a Black shirt apart from Howson had any answers.
Saville once again looked like a fish out of water, our Midfield was desperately slow and easily picked off and without Howson and Randolph we could and should have been two down. There was little Boro possession and as a consequence we presented zero threat to Forest who were now absolutely bossing and dominating Boro. Our defensive midfielders couldn’t organise themselves, penetrate or set anything up and we were in containment mode at best even at this stage in pure Pulis puerile purgatory.
A rare Boro offensive move saw a Shotton throw in flicked on by Flint and then Assombalonga chased the ball but got in the way of Clayton and the two of them somehow managed to put the ball harmlessly out of play. Half an hour gone and that was the only notable bit of Boro action in what was a flat, dispiriting display so far. Besic then played in Fletcher who passed to Howson but his cross was over Assombalonga and nowhere near the quality of that early ball against Stoke. This was the best period of Boro play but even so it looked very clunky rather than credibly smooth and sophisticated passing moves but at least we were offering a threat of sorts.
Fletcher then had a good ball played into him but he failed to control it. McNair was pushing forward and started to become the nearest semblance to an outlet we had all afternoon but ahead of him Fletcher was looking weak and short on confidence. A rare Boro corner was wasted by taking it short and almost immediately Forest broke quickly and Randolph had to be at his best to keep them out with a flying save. The contrast of that break couldn’t have been in more contrast to Boro’s slow almost geriatric style of play. That Forest corner was cleared out for another and as the second one came in a free kick for a foul on Clayton allowed us to momentarily ease the mounting pressure.
The relief didn’t last long as Shotton then caught the heels of Ansarifard for a lucky yellow card and a Penalty which Lolley despatched without hesitation to put Forest one up and it has to be said deservedly so as thus far we were as clueless as that Swansea performance a few weeks back. Not long after the opener Mikel sliced the ball awkwardly and then Besic had another of his idiosyncratic moments as Boro looked absolutely farcical. To put it mildly as a unit we were completely detached from one another and any semblance of a team seriously looking for a play off position was nothing short of ludicrous, our opening forty five minutes were a disgrace. To rub salt in the wounds Flint sent another set piece header over the bar in the final seconds of the first half.
Pulis needed to make some major changes at half time. Boro had looked like a side finishing in mid table with absolutely nothing whatsoever to play for. There was no pace, no intent and absolutely no desire to win this game. We were negative with a complete inability to string two passes together; it was looking like a defensive back eight with nothing or nobody at all to spark or create. Considering the importance of this match it just completely reaffirmed my rationale for not early birding. This first half was unacceptable and simply not good enough on effort alone. Pulis now had to work some magic to turn this game around in the remaining forty-five. The folly of continuing with Saville as a left wing back had a few of us bemused while Downing was on the bench. Fletcher was weak and had been poor on Saturday and continued in exactly the same vein today was irritating to put it politely when he had Tav and Hugill as options to have “freshened” it up and “rotated”.
The travelling army were watching with forlorn anticipation for who came out for the second half and sure enough Hugill and Tav were waiting on the touchline with Fletcher and Besic ominous by their absence. The Black shirts kicked off towards the travelling army in what was now a must draw as a minimum game and a fantastic opportunity to put distance between ourselves and Bristol who we had learned were now two nil down at Hillsborough. Hugill had a quick opportunity after the break down the left and he hit it first time but was deflected straight into the arms of Pantilimon in the Forest goal. Ryan Yates was meanwhile laid out receiving treatment after a tasty challenge from Tav who at least showed passion and desire. After treatment to Yates Tav broke up field but there was nobody at all near him in a Black shirt so again we lost possession and Forest went straight down our throats for the umpteenth time. Carvalho put a ball in to Ansarifard who tested Randolph once again and very unlucky not to put Forest two up.
I’m not sure how we were set up after the two subs as it looked like Britt was playing wide left in front of Saville which wouldn’t have been my preferred pairing down that flank and so far despite the two new arrivals we looked just as dysfunctional. A Boro corner saw an in-swinging Saville ball cleared and then Forest broke again and fortunately Saville had managed to get himself back and put it out for a corner at the other end which was then nervously cleared by Flint for a Forest throw. Downing and Gestede were warming up as Pulis considered his last throw of the dice to change the balance of this game. Downing could at least have injected some hope for a creative outlet of sorts if brought on, Gestede however would indicate the tactical and technical competence of our resident Dinosaur.
Every time we tried to build up an attack or get up the pitch, it looked like Forest could carve us open at will. At this stage we didn’t look like we had any plan or even an understanding of who was supposed to be doing what meanwhile Lolley had claimed a handball and a penalty as he launched another effort towards Randolph. Ansarifat then went off for goal machine Lewis Grabban as MON clearly felt there were more goals to be had for his Forest side and little wonder based on the embarrassing ineptness of the opposition. On cue Forest then doubled their lead as Milosevic smashed the ball unmarked just outside the corner of the six yard box into the Boro net. In response TP brought Saville off and Downing on, the incompetence of the Manager in repeating the same error with Saville was just staggering.
A ponderous Boro build up was predictably telegraphed then snapped up and Grabban set off towards Randolph’s goal with Flint challenging and the ball going out for a corner. Twenty minutes to go and so far Boro hadn’t even been second best to Forest. The ease and regularity at which they cut us open was quite frankly terrible. Mikel then played a suicide ball to Tav losing possession with Grabban and Pele then quickly combining to nearly put us three behind. A performance like this at this stage of the season was incredulous, it was yet another insipid nervy, defensive Pulis showing. Forest then had another attack with pace and grace, one on one Randolph had to spread himself to somehow keep the ball out from Osborn. Howson got a block on the shot from the corner which went back out again for another corner as Forest were sensing that this Boro side were anything but play off challengers. They were giving their home fans a footballing fiesta.
It looked like Howson was now left back and Shotton right back and we were either 442 or 433. Make your mind up because I’m not convinced that those in Black shirts knew any more than I did. A cut back from the touchline from Grabban to Carvalho who was allowed too much space on the edge of the box curled in a peach of a ball that hit the far upright when it looked destined for the net, three nil would have been a fair reflection indeed four or even five nil at this stage wouldn’t have flattered or been unreasonable.
Five minutes remaining and I made it one real effort on target for Boro in another spineless away day showing. Pele then made way for Yacob as MON had the luxury of teasing and toying with his sides dominance. Just as the last substitution had affected the game, within seconds Lolley was delivered a perfect ball by Carvalho to smash it left footed past Randolph. MON then brought Carvalho off to a hero’s reception for Adlene Guedioura to see off the last few minutes. Getting beat away at Forest isn’t a disaster in itself but the manner of the way this Boro side was set up and then consequently failed in such miserable fashion to even threaten Pantilimon’s goal was a disgrace.
Defensively we were down to the bare bones but our midfield was hopeless and a complete liability, our strikers had zero service as we sat far too deep from the off and Saville has never remotely looked capable out left. The Black shirts were very apt on the day as it perfectly matched the mood of the travelling army.
Randolph was the Boro MOM which considering that we conceded three goals illustrates just how dire we were this afternoon. There have been far too many of these types of games under Pulis now, how many more do the fans have to endure?