by Notts Royal »
22 Apr 2018 12:51
Wednesday were really there for the taking in 1st half - they looked like they were on the beach. We had a lot of the ball & passing was good but too much sideways passing...granted it was in their half and between the midfield which is a refreshing change from Stam, but the players really look like they are lacking in confidence & out of ideas. Kelly & Swift were the biggest culprits of this as they were too scared to run forwards and penetrate the defence.
1st goal was a deflection & a tad harsh on us but from that point our heads went down and we looked increasingly fragile.
However, the biggest disappointment for me was how we came out after HT - the 2nd half showing was terrible. The defence, which looked good on the whole in the 1st half were shocking, and we became even less threatening when Aluko decided to drop back to retrieve the ball from deep. Great goal from Forestieri but some comical defending for that.
Mannone 6 - couldn’t do anything with the goals
Gunter 6 - standard Gunter showing
Moore 5 - evidently fed up with the others around him but didn’t feel he played that well
Ilori 5 - good first half but let Boyd (I think it was him) get in front of him for the 2nd
Blackett 4 - one of the better players in the 1st half but shocking 2nd half display and the red card was completely unnecessary
Joey 6 - not a Joey fan but had a reasonably good first half & tried to drive us forward at least
Kelly 4 - poor lad’s head goes completely when we are losing but he never runs with the ball. We always seem to pick up more points when he’s not in the team and I’d rather go with a midfield of Swift, Bacuna, Evans than have Kelly in there. He’s got potential but he can’t play with Swift at all
Swift 4 - starting to get frustrated with him now. Speed it up for pete’s sake and take some more shots. In fact, that goes for the whole team...take a frigging shot lads
Aluko 5 - just give up mate, it’s not working
Barrow 5 - goes missing for long periods when we are losing
Bodvarsson 5 - didn’t get the ball much but we show zero threat of scoring when he (or any of our strikers for that matter) starts up front
Kermit 6 - he had a few chances and we played slightly more direct with him
Richards 6 - skilful player he is, looks impressive but only on for 10 min
Clement 5 - just...meh
Fans 3 - living near Nottingham now, I don’t get to as many games and tend to go to localish away games. Completely understand the fans’ lack of excitement, but my life, if you’ve made the long trip up, surely you’d want to make a bit of noise?! It was a must-win game and to take such a small following is pretty poor. I’m trying to work out why our away following is so poor in comparison to other clubs with a similar home attendance - it’s one of the most affluent areas of the country! hopefully, following the initiatives going on at the Mad Stad at present, away followings will start to improve...which brings me onto my last point...
“South Stand” Fans - was great to see the group of fans and with such a mix of ages. Was a bit odd having them away from the other “standing” fans who were attempting to start chants. With such a small away support, it would have been better to have them both together to create greater noise initially - that would have probably helped the rest of the fans to get going. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it’s great to see what this section of fans are trying to do at home games.