Our season of ifs and buts
Mon, Mar 2009 08:02
| Billy Davies, Season, Guy Moussi, General, Colin Calderwood
| Permalink
It's a strange season we're having. We've lost and drawn many games we could very easily have drawn or won, respectively. Not only is this frustrating (enough so to lead to the sacking of the manager who I personally felt was our best and most promising since God himself), it has also left us in a dubious position in the league. We have hovered just above the drop zone since October, occasionally dipping into it. It's a season of "yes, but" and "what if?"
Just look at the table today. Fifth from bottom. Better than where we were when the year began. After a perfect start with four league wins on the trot, and that massive win over Man City, FF's could be excused for thinking: "Right, we'll have the Sheep in the cup now, storm up the league and maybe challenge for a play-off spot. Good riddance to CC, long live BD." But then came the QPR game, in which our opponents were allowed to score straight after we got in front, 3 minutes into injury time in the first half. We went behind soon after the break but managed to scrape a 2-2 draw. Good point, but should have been three. Then came Birmingham and Ipswich away and the Sheep at home. Fixtures we should have got four points from but which we lost all three, with a dismal 3-1 loss to Derby at home. Depressing stuff.
Luckily Billy Davies then brought in some good loan signings in Osbourne and McSheffrey, and Guy Moussi finally came back from his long injury lay-off. This has changed the team so much I think it is forgivable to think back to the results under Colin Calderwood and how different things could have been without that injury. Most of the games we lost were lost by one goal and looking back at reports, mostly due to a lack of presence in midfield. Presence that is brought, very obviously, by The Moose. Just look at all the 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-0 results in that period and think what a difference Moussi could have made. That injury, and the transfer window system, are what caused our current predicament. Just think that if we had scored only 6 more goals in that period, three in games lost, three in draws. That would have meant 12 more points!
Back to reality. We're March now, and we've gone two places up. Better than we were in December. Yes, but. Barnsley are 2 points behind us and have three games in hand. It is not inconceivable that they get 2 or more points out of those three games, which would see us drop back down to fourth from bottom, with a resurgent Southampton breathing down our necks, four points away but also with a game in hand. Scary.
Then again, if you look at tomorrow's fixtures, there could be some really good results there, if we get our own stuff right. Getting our own stuff right means beating Watford and gaining a place in the table, leapfrogging our opponents of the day. Barnsley play Birmingham away so we can safely assume they won't get any points at all, meaning we'll peel away from them nicely. Blackpool, currently just ahead of us, are away to Sheffield. Not an easy task, so I don't count on them winning. Even if they manage a draw, we'll still go over them. Up two places. And if we get really lucky, Swansea beat Plymouth at home and we slip into 17th position, cosily behind our old rivals.
But of course, we may again stumble with a late equaliser. Or the ref gives Watford a dodgy penalty. Or something else goes wrong and we'll find ourselves again thinking what if and yes but. It's that sort of season, I've said it before. I can't even write a decent blog about it...
Be Good
Just look at the table today. Fifth from bottom. Better than where we were when the year began. After a perfect start with four league wins on the trot, and that massive win over Man City, FF's could be excused for thinking: "Right, we'll have the Sheep in the cup now, storm up the league and maybe challenge for a play-off spot. Good riddance to CC, long live BD." But then came the QPR game, in which our opponents were allowed to score straight after we got in front, 3 minutes into injury time in the first half. We went behind soon after the break but managed to scrape a 2-2 draw. Good point, but should have been three. Then came Birmingham and Ipswich away and the Sheep at home. Fixtures we should have got four points from but which we lost all three, with a dismal 3-1 loss to Derby at home. Depressing stuff.
Luckily Billy Davies then brought in some good loan signings in Osbourne and McSheffrey, and Guy Moussi finally came back from his long injury lay-off. This has changed the team so much I think it is forgivable to think back to the results under Colin Calderwood and how different things could have been without that injury. Most of the games we lost were lost by one goal and looking back at reports, mostly due to a lack of presence in midfield. Presence that is brought, very obviously, by The Moose. Just look at all the 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-0 results in that period and think what a difference Moussi could have made. That injury, and the transfer window system, are what caused our current predicament. Just think that if we had scored only 6 more goals in that period, three in games lost, three in draws. That would have meant 12 more points!
Back to reality. We're March now, and we've gone two places up. Better than we were in December. Yes, but. Barnsley are 2 points behind us and have three games in hand. It is not inconceivable that they get 2 or more points out of those three games, which would see us drop back down to fourth from bottom, with a resurgent Southampton breathing down our necks, four points away but also with a game in hand. Scary.
Then again, if you look at tomorrow's fixtures, there could be some really good results there, if we get our own stuff right. Getting our own stuff right means beating Watford and gaining a place in the table, leapfrogging our opponents of the day. Barnsley play Birmingham away so we can safely assume they won't get any points at all, meaning we'll peel away from them nicely. Blackpool, currently just ahead of us, are away to Sheffield. Not an easy task, so I don't count on them winning. Even if they manage a draw, we'll still go over them. Up two places. And if we get really lucky, Swansea beat Plymouth at home and we slip into 17th position, cosily behind our old rivals.
But of course, we may again stumble with a late equaliser. Or the ref gives Watford a dodgy penalty. Or something else goes wrong and we'll find ourselves again thinking what if and yes but. It's that sort of season, I've said it before. I can't even write a decent blog about it...
Be Good
Comments
Why Forest? Why "Red Devil?"
I fell in love twice when I was ten. My parents took me on my first trip to England and I loved it all. I loved being on the boat, making fun of my sisters, who weren't feeling too well, seeing the famous cliffs, driving on what was obviously the wrong side of the road. England just felt... right. It still does. That holiday caused me to become an incredible anglophile. I just love everything about England, the language, the history, the country, the landscapes, even the cars, the football and the food. I can't help myself when it comes to England. I sometimes feel out of place here in Belgium. Coming back from England never feels like coming home. That may sound slightly pathetic to some, but like I said, I can't help it. It's my dad's fault. He shouldn't have taken me there in the first place.
Forest? Also my dad's fault. And believe me, I have frequently cursed him over the last decade and a half. But on that fatefull day in July, 1980, he made a choice for me. We'd rented a cottage in the little town of Templecombe, Somerset. My parents had gone shopping for supplies and had been as infinitely good as to get me the one thing a ten year-old cannot do without, especially in a cottage with a massive garden. A football. On the football were printed the crests of all the clubs which then made out the English top flight. I remember liking the one with the two birds and I guess I may have been very close to becoming, of all things, a Spurs fan, but then my dad drew my attention to a lovely looking crest with a red tree. He said that they were the best club in the whole world, which we were of course, as incredible as that sounds now. The mind of a ten year-old is simple. The best? I'll support them, then. Easy decision.
But I have stuck with Forest since. (And have been stuck with them as well, so it has felt at times.) Through thick and thin. Through good and bad. Through Cpt Psycho and Cpt Plank, so to speak. Forest are as much a part of me as anything. Even if I can't make it to the City Ground very often, it does matter incredibly. Saturday afternoons are spent in front of the pc, listening to the live match report through the World site, when it's working. Forest books, Forest shirts, Forest dvd's. And of course I "am" red in any board or other game that has red available. There's no escape.
Then there is the Red Devil thing. When I first came out with that name on the Forest mailing list I joined some 10 years ago, some people told me off for chosing Man Utd's nickname. However, our Belgian national side are also called the Red Devils. Hence.
I will be back soon with actual Forest stuff. I have a lot on my mind.
Be good.
Forest? Also my dad's fault. And believe me, I have frequently cursed him over the last decade and a half. But on that fatefull day in July, 1980, he made a choice for me. We'd rented a cottage in the little town of Templecombe, Somerset. My parents had gone shopping for supplies and had been as infinitely good as to get me the one thing a ten year-old cannot do without, especially in a cottage with a massive garden. A football. On the football were printed the crests of all the clubs which then made out the English top flight. I remember liking the one with the two birds and I guess I may have been very close to becoming, of all things, a Spurs fan, but then my dad drew my attention to a lovely looking crest with a red tree. He said that they were the best club in the whole world, which we were of course, as incredible as that sounds now. The mind of a ten year-old is simple. The best? I'll support them, then. Easy decision.
But I have stuck with Forest since. (And have been stuck with them as well, so it has felt at times.) Through thick and thin. Through good and bad. Through Cpt Psycho and Cpt Plank, so to speak. Forest are as much a part of me as anything. Even if I can't make it to the City Ground very often, it does matter incredibly. Saturday afternoons are spent in front of the pc, listening to the live match report through the World site, when it's working. Forest books, Forest shirts, Forest dvd's. And of course I "am" red in any board or other game that has red available. There's no escape.
Then there is the Red Devil thing. When I first came out with that name on the Forest mailing list I joined some 10 years ago, some people told me off for chosing Man Utd's nickname. However, our Belgian national side are also called the Red Devils. Hence.
I will be back soon with actual Forest stuff. I have a lot on my mind.
Be good.
Red Devil, an introduction
Only a couple of days ago, a fellow Forest fan (let's refer to those as FFF's henceforth) asked me if I would at all be interested in having a blog on the mighty u-reds.com. Since the site has a highly unflattering mug shot of yours truly, thus ruining any reputation I may or may not have had, I had nothing to lose so after a short think I agreed. So here it is, the Devil's own little corner. I shall be getting it all off my chest here. The good, the bad. And some of the ugly too, probably. You may sometimes agree with me, but I'm sure you'll just as often vehemently disagree and call me an ignorant this and that or an opiniated so and so.
I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you through this great website. It's probably my favourite non-official Forest site. I still love how, every time you open it, you hear that great chant. And I love all the personal content, the match reviews, the little sheep in the table etc.
Good to be here.
I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you through this great website. It's probably my favourite non-official Forest site. I still love how, every time you open it, you hear that great chant. And I love all the personal content, the match reviews, the little sheep in the table etc.
Good to be here.