My matchday routine now starts with the early post on the Forest Insta feed. What clues will be given away?
My reasoning is that any player featured in the Matchday post is likely to be in the starting eleven.
Oh look: there’s Douglas Luiz. He’s wearing that shitty Forest cream kit that looks like a dirty white.
A big thumbs up for Luiz, who I thought would be rested. The cream kit can go back in the City Ground washing machine, and preferably at a high temperature.
The team news dropped shortly after 12:30pm. And yep, there he was, Douglas Luiz. Goodo.
I do worry about James McAtee, absent once again from even the bench. Online rumours hinted at a possible bug. I fear that his face doesn’t fit at Forest.
#BlameEdu etc.
Still, it was an attacking team, suggesting that Dyche was after a win with another positive performance. A cursory glance at the league table and OH MY DAYS, yes we deffo could do with three points here.
KO came. Bournemouth were relentless from the start. The plan seemed to be to put the willies up Forest, knowing that they don’t like it up them.
It didn’t take long for the first goal. I’m not giving away any spoilers here when I speculate that Matt Selz is unlikely to trouble the Golden Glove shortlist this season.
A second soon followed.
How the chuff do you score from so far out with a daisy cutter? I thought only Collymore in all his pomp was capable of that.
Bloody Bournemouth. Go away. Don’t come back. Never again, etc - which was another fond Trent End ditty from back in the day.
Oh we had FUN in the old Trent End.
HT couldn’t come quick enough. Time to regroup. The next goal was going to be MASSIVE - which is exactly what I said to my mate Johnno at HT in the Simmod Cup Final, surely the greatest Forest game ever.
The big surprise - and a very welcome one - was the appearance of Taiwo out of the tunnel.
TAIWO!
Shit the bed.
His role these days is as a Chris Wood not so Mini Me. Which doesn’t bode well for Jesus who was hooked.
Christ, etc.
The second half was a little better, but only marginally. It was like switching from an Aldi microwave curry to a more upmarket Lidl equivalent.
Whaddya mean you can’t taste the difference?
This was one game too many for Anderson. Sure, he’s far from shot. But the poor lad desperately needs a breather.
It all felt very Cooper-esque with plenty of puffing, but not much end product. It was the kind of performance that might make the Big Fat Greek kick another telly ahead of an incoming P45.
But we’re not there. Not yet, anyway.
Hutchinson shouldn’t be anywhere near corners. MGW still isn’t the MGW model of seasons one, two and three in the PL. I found myself wanting Sangaré. It was that kinda match.
THIRTEEN summer signings, and we still had limited options coming off the bench.
Like I said, #BlameEdu.
This was an off day for the whole team - something you simply can’t accept in the PL. No one was able to raise their game above five out of ten.
Training ground set pieces need to be drilled home throughout all of next week. Everyday is a GAFFER DAY, right?
It’s probably time for Dyche to introduce them to those training ground nettles.
Forest have scored a solitary goal in the past seven PL matches. It was this weekend last year when the CL dream first started to stir.
LIVE the dream.
How did that one work out?
Still - the PL bottom three has a nice Nuno feel to it.
Hey hoe.
We’re in deep shit. We’re in a relegation battle.