Daniel Widdowson travelled to Leicester on Tuesday evening with little hope of a Nottingham Forest victory but at least wanting to see passion and commitment from his struggling team. Instead he left angry at a side that laid down and died.
My plan was to produce an article full of enthusiasm and positivity after our cup tie against Leicester City. Alas Nottingham Forest clearly had other ideas. Various match reports suggest that we had precisely no shots on target, personally I thought we had around 1 or 2, however it plainly sums up what was a pretty dire night for Nottingham football.
This match clearly was a game of two halves….the team and the fans. Whilst the team put in a performance that would have got you fired in the real world, the fans made ourselves heard and made the best out of a bad situation. On numerous occasions we sent up chants such as “let’s pretend we’ve scored a goal” and “we’re s**t and we know we are”; clearly forest fans know what banter is. Billy Davies was covering the match for the TV punditry and for the majority of the second half received chants of “we want our Billy back”, “Billy Davies’ Red and White army” and even “shoes off! For the Billy back”, to which the vast majority of the travelling fans removed their shoe/s and raised the noise level in the King ‘power’ (Prawn) stadium. Obviously, it was made known where Forest fans believe the answer to our current problems lies.
It was possible to sum up the night with one moment from the match. Just ten minutes into the game – Forest already 1-0 down – Schmeichel failed to comfortably save a deflection and the ball fell on a plate for Robbie Findley around two yards out. My personal feelings are that this has to go down for miss of the season, it must have been harder to miss than score and he could have completely mis-kicked it and it should have still found the back of the net. Instead he managed to fire it well over. Forest remained 1-0 down, and then (rather considerately) lay down and allowed Leicester to press us and comfortably win 4-0.
If this manager was the our best applicant then I want to know who else actually applied for the job.
A defeat I can live with and a poor performance is annoying but I can accept on this occasion because the fans made it a decent night. What completely disgusted me and caused great hatred towards the club as I sat on the coach leaving Leicester, was Steve Cotterill’s post match interview. In his words, he was “disappointed”, it was a “tough evening” and he showed a startling reluctance to simply say what everyone with any interest in football knew after that game… we simply weren’t good enough. We weren’t even close to it. If this manager was the our best applicant then I want to know who else actually applied for the job, because right now I think half of Nottingham could run the club with more drive, pride and enthusiasm than he’s showing. I accept he’s had to make changes due to us not having enough players to cover defensive injuries, but in other positions he’s neglecting to use quality players. Majewski , a Polish international and a player who possesses pace, flair and a creative drive, seems to have gone to play in the African cup of nations, has fallen out of favour with Cotterill or has fallen off the face of the earth. It baffles me as to why this talented player is not being played; especially when it’s clear we lack any confidence and drive towards the opposition goal.
Overall it was a pathetic, abject performance. The only player I would consider paying any wages this week would be Chris Gunter; in fact he’s the only player that got a proper applause when he came over post match. Cotterill is fast falling out of favour, and he lacks any signs of ambition, drive, and determination; he also fails to acknowledge the travelling fans, as Billy did in pretty much every interview. Things need to start happening at Nottingham Forest, and quick. In the fans eyes Cotterill’s days are numbered, the way it’s going the same could be said for the club’s championship status. Prove me wrong Cotterill…
