Nottingham Forest v Newcastle United - Friday 2 December - 7.45pm - Sky Sports

[The Fish 10779]

[Gemmill 44498]

Oh Dave.

[Dr Gloom 21847]

is that from championship manager?

[ewerk 30371]

The Fish there throwing his hat into the ring for Cathro's job.

[Andrew 4721]

is that from championship manager?

It's from whoscored

[The Fish 10779]

Copy and Paste

[adios 717]

Pretty sure Dave's been posting these every match.  I like them.

[Rayvin 5186]

Have to agree, I'm not opposed to being a bit more informed going into the match. It's not like they're being posted with multiple explanatory paragraphs

[Howay 12496]

Well according to what the Fish posted they're shit at defending just about everything, the fact they've conceded the 2nd most in the league backs that up (interestingly enough Norwich are joint 3rd worst defensively).

 

What we really need is for them to have a bit of a go at us, I think we've been struggling with teams that are just sitting back recently as Hull basically had no intention of leaving their half for most of the game. If they open up a bit and try and attack us I think we'll give them a right kicking to get back on track.

[trooper 940]

I'd like to see Mitrovic start this one him & Gayle up front could be a good partnership. I know some will probably question the Mitrovic choice I know he's not a prolific finisher. But nobody can question his commitment use him for what he is a target man to provide knock downs for Gayle.

Edited December 1, 2016 by trooper

[adios 717]

I think we're more likely to see Mitrovic for a half and Gayle for a half given the long match on Tuesday.

[Dickie 0]

Well according to what the Fish posted they're shit at defending just about everything, the fact they've conceded the 2nd most in the league backs that up (interestingly enough Norwich are joint 3rd worst defensively).

 

What we really need is for them to have a bit of a go at us, I think we've been struggling with teams that are just sitting back recently as Hull basically had no intention of leaving their half for most of the game. If they open up a bit and try and attack us I think we'll give them a right kicking to get back on track.

 

Aye that's it. Looking at the amount of goals they've scored I don't think we'll have a problem scoring against these. The Blackburn game was just weird - the whole side was completely flat from the start, I think we'll put that behind us and win comfortably on Friday.

[trooper 940]

Rafa's press conference - the key lines

 

Rafa Benitez’s press conference was at 1pm. Here are the key points.

 

No approach for Ian Cathro from Hearts yet. “Ian’s a great coach but we haven’t had any official approach yet. He is doing well. He has the qualities to coach,” Benitez said. 

Benitez was a bit more upbeat about the Hull loss than he had been on Tuesday. “The defeat on penalties was hard to take, but at least we didn’t get any injuries. We played well & learned a lot,” he said. 

Rafa has repeated his point about game management letting Newcastle down. “We played vs a PL team & we played very well for long periods. But when we score, we must manage it a lot better,” he said.

Benitez confirms changes for the Forest game. “Obviously we have to change players, how many? We have to decide,” he said.Forest are a danger, says Rafa. “The Championship is always difficult but Forest are scoring goals and are difficult,” he said.Rafa wants to see NUFC get back to “good habits”. He said: “After so many wins in a row, people weren’t expecting defeat against Blackburn. Now we have to be sure we get back to good habits.”No fresh injuries to worry about. 

[Howay 12496]

Aye that's it. Looking at the amount of goals they've scored I don't think we'll have a problem scoring against these. The Blackburn game was just weird - the whole side was completely flat from the start, I think we'll put that behind us and win comfortably on Friday.

I'm hoping in a way Gayle struggling in the Hull game lights a fire under Mitrovic to try and win the spot as he might see it as a chance, not that I'm particularly arsed about having Mitro play over Gayle it'd just be nice to batter Forest.

[David Kelly 1224]

 Rotation is inevitable and essential for this one given it's our third game in a week and the last one went all the way to pens.  Shelvey and Hayden both looked absolutely fucked on tuesday so I expect at least one of them not to play.  That's likely to bring in Tiote I would imagine.  Hopefully it will be the Tiote we were seeing towards the end of last season rather then the one who can look very uninterested.  Is Colback fit?  If Shelvey isn't playing I think we'll see the one big weakness in our squad, ie no cover for him.  

[adios 717]

I do think Hull's equaliser was caused to an unfortunate slip by Hayden(?) due to the surface.  Can't really account for that sort of thing and they had basically no threat apart from that other than a good spin by Mbokani(?).

[adios 717]

 Rotation is inevitable and essential for this one given it's our third game in a week and the last one went all the way to pens.  Shelvey and Hayden both looked absolutely fucked on tuesday so I expect at least one of them not to play.  That's likely to bring in Tiote I would imagine.  Hopefully it will be the Tiote we were seeing towards the end of last season rather then the one who can look very uninterested.  Is Colback fit?  If Shelvey isn't playing I think we'll see the one big weakness in our squad, ie no cover for him.  

I've been pleasantly surprised by Hayden's distribution, so I'm not that concerned about that weakness in general, though as you say that doesn't help for this specific match.

[trooper 940]

I suppose the other big question is will Sels start ? Is Krul not ready yet ?

[Howay 12496]

We're definitely going to see a lot of rotation, I think it'll more resemble the line up against Blackburn bar the CM pairing as they were both blowing through their arses by the end. The other worry for me is the wings, we have Atsu who will be relatively fresh but Ritchie and Gouffran both played the majority of the 120 and Ritchie in particular looked like he was running through treacle, I'd say we might see Perez and Atsu on the wings but then unless we play Diame I can't see it as there's no way we'll be playing Murphy and Mitro together. 

[Howay 12496]

I suppose the other big question is will Sels start ? Is Krul not ready yet ?

Darlow will start, he's the number 1 now as long as Elliott is injured. Krul is out on loan.

[David Kelly 1224]

I suppose the other big question is will Sels start ? Is Krul not ready yet ?

You really think that's a big question?  Darlow has been playing every league game and playing well.  Sels has only played the last two cup games and handed them the equaliser on Tuesday.  It's as obvious as it could possibly be that Darlow will be playing.

 

Krul has just played 3 reserve games for Ajax in the last couple of weeks so it looks like he's pretty much fit but he won't play for us this season.  

 

Elliott is apparently nearly fit but I doubt we'll see him in the first team before the new year after such a long time out.

[David Kelly 1224]

We're definitely going to see a lot of rotation, I think it'll more resemble the line up against Blackburn bar the CM pairing as they were both blowing through their arses by the end. The other worry for me is the wings, we have Atsu who will be relatively fresh but Ritchie and Gouffran both played the majority of the 120 and Ritchie in particular looked like he was running through treacle, I'd say we might see Perez and Atsu on the wings but then unless we play Diame I can't see it as there's no way we'll be playing Murphy and Mitro together. 

Gouffran hobbled up to the half way line at the end extra time on Tuesday.  I was stunned to see him take a penalty.  I think we could possibly see Atsu and Yedlin on the flanks tomorrow with Perez in for Diame who also was fucked by the end.

[Howay 12496]

Gouffran hobbled up to the half way line at the end extra time on Tuesday.  I was stunned to see him take a penalty.  I think we could possibly see Atsu and Yedlin on the flanks tomorrow with Perez in for Diame who also was fucked by the end.

I hadn't considered using Yedlin but that is probably the most likely option, aye I'd forgotten Gouffran was hobbling but remembered both him and Ritchie were hanging by the end so was worried about our lack of wingers. I suppose playing Yedlin on the wing depends on how knackered Anita is, although if Anita is wrecked and Lazaar is somewhat fresh it could be Lazaar on the wing with Dummett behind him and Atsu in front of Yedlin. I'm just glad we're playing a team with a leaky defence as it's going to be a bit of a makeshift side in certain areas.

[David Kelly 1224]

I've been pleasantly surprised by Hayden's distribution, so I'm not that concerned about that weakness in general, though as you say that doesn't help for this specific match.

Hayden's passing is pretty good but it's nowhere near as cutting as Shelvey's.  I think if we had someone else as cover for Shelvey, it might have made a difference in the last couple of games.  Shelvey is possibly the best player in this league, but if it's not going for him we could do with another option.

[The Fish 10779]

Hayden's passing is pretty good but it's nowhere near as cutting as Shelvey's.  I think if we had someone else as cover for Shelvey, it might have made a difference in the last couple of games.  Shelvey is possibly the best player in this league, but if it's not going for him we could do with another option.

 

Reckon Gerrard would fancy a few games before the New Year? He could wander about the Championship and ping the Hollywood balls about for the lols