Nottingham Forest v Ipswich Town
Saturday 24th October 2015 - 15:00
City Ground
Opening Thought – Jamma
Going by the pre-match predictions, we weren’t expecting much from our trip to the KC Stadium, a ground where we have not enjoyed much success. But that didn’t make the defeat any easier to take. If anything, the fact that we arguably turned in an improved performance on our display against Huddersfield, and yet still came away on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline, shows just how far off the pace we are. A much-changed side passed the ball around nicely in the opening exchanges, albeit without any penetration. Mick McCarthy said that he was happy with many aspects of our play in the first half hour, but that we didn’t do enough to defend the goals. This is becoming a familiar refrain for Town fans, whose team has not only conceded 16 goals in 8 league matches but is now also struggling to find the net themselves. As we all know, Mick is a loyal man but it is surely only a matter of time before his loyalty is tested and he makes changes to his backline. His dejection was plain to hear immediately after Tuesday night’s game, and he has readily admitted that this is the most testing time he has faced as Ipswich manager. The so-called best squad that he has had at Portman Road is not living up to its billing at the moment and he will have to address this fast.
The longer our winless run goes on, the more we will hear this debate about the quantity vs. quality of our squad. This was a popular subject for discussion on Tuesday night’s post-match phone-in on BBC Suffolk, with many supporters airing the view that the numbers added in the summer have not necessarily improved the squad. There is certainly an argument to be had as to whether the incoming players have affected the close-knit team spirit which was credited with being such a big part of last season’s achievements. While I don’t necessarily subscribe to that opinion, I can’t help wondering whether the added options at our disposal this year are proving to be more of a hindrance than a benefit. In 2014/15, we could all pretty much name the team ahead of each match, barring the odd surprise, with the fringe players only really coming in to cover for injury or suspension. Although two of the changes in midweek were enforced, Mick has tended to shuffle his pack more this campaign, particularly on the flanks and up front. Yes, we may be blessed with one of the strongest strikeforces in the division but this is one position where McCarthy doesn’t seem to know his strongest combination. The tried and trusted Murphy/Sears partnership got their chance at the start of the season but Brett Pitman has come into the equation more in recent weeks. With David McGoldrick also making an impact from the bench, we have more often than not ended up with all four strikers on the pitch at the end of a game in a desperate attempt to salvage something. After drawing blanks in three consecutive matches for the first time in over eight years, this is just one area of the team which will need to improve if we are to turn our fortunes around…
The Opposition - Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C. was founded in 1865 shortly after their neighbours Notts County, thought to be the world's oldest surviving professional association football club. They joined the Football Alliance in 1889 and then entered The Football League. In 1890, Forest moved to the Town Ground, playing in the first ever match to use goal nets.
Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating Derby County.
The club spent most of the first half of the twentieth century in the Second Division. In 1949, they were relegated to the Third Division but were promoted two years later as champions.
Forest regained First Division status in 1957 and won the FA Cup for a second time in 1959.
After being runners-up in the League and Cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972.
Forest were considered an underachieving club by English league standards until the mid-1970s, when Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor took the helm at the club. Clough became the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976–77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons. Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the most recent team to date) to win the English First Division Championship a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division (1977–78 season).
In 1978–79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating Malmö and retained the trophy in 1979–80, beating Hamburg.
They also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups. Besides Peter Shilton, key players of that era included right-back Viv Anderson (the first black player to play for the England national team), midfielder Martin O'Neill, striker Trevor Francis and a trio of Scottish internationals: winger John Robertson, midfielder Archie Gemmill and defender Kenny Burns. The club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1983–84 but were knocked out by Anderlecht in controversial circumstances. It later emerged, that in the second leg, the Belgian club had bribed the referee but the referee in question had since died in a car accident and was hence not able to be held to account.
Nottingham Forest's next significant trophy came in 1989, when they beat Luton Town in the League Cup final. For most of the season, they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place in the League by Arsenal and Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the replay of the FA Cup semi-final, originally held at Hillsborough, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.
Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990, when they beat Oldham Athletic, and were runners-up in the 1991 FA Cup final.
Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993, when Forest were relegated from the inaugural Premier League after 16 illustrious years of top-flight football which had seen a league title, two European Cups and four League Cups.
Frank Clark, who had been a left-back in Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup winning team, returned to the club in May 1993 and was able to achieve a return to the Premier League when the club finished Division One runners-up at the end of the 1993–94 season.
Forest finished third in 1994–95 and qualified for the UEFA Cup – their first entry to European competition in the post-Heysel era. The club reached the quarter-finals, the furthest an English team reached in UEFA competitions that season. The 1996–97 season became a relegation battle and Clark left the club in December.
34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce was installed as player-manager and in March 1997 he was replaced on a permanent basis by Dave Bassett. Forest were unable to avoid relegation and finished the season in bottom place. They won promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, being crowned Division One champions in 1997–98. However, Bassett was sacked in January 1999, with Ron Atkinson replacing him.
Ron Atkinson was unable to prevent Forest from once again slipping back into the Football League with a succession of poor results.
David Platt succeeded Atkinson and spent approximately £12 million on players, which yielded two mid-table finishes before he departed to manage England U-21s.
Paul Hart became the Reds' new boss just two hours after the departure of Platt. Despite off-field difficulties, due to the ITV Digital collapse, Forest finished 2002–03 in sixth place and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost to Sheffield United in the semi-finals. A poor league run the following season led to the sacking of Hart in February 2004 in order to prevent relegation.
Joe Kinnear was subsequently appointed and led the club to 14th place in the final league table. The 2004–05 season saw Forest drop into the relegation zone once more, leading to Kinnear's resignation in December 2004.
Following the brief caretaker stewardship of Mick Harford, Gary Megson took charge of Forest in January 2005 but failed to stave off relegation as the club ended the season second from bottom in 23rd place, becoming the first European Cup winners ever to fall into their domestic third division.
In Forest's first season in the English third tier in 54 years, Megson survived until February 2006, when he left by "mutual consent", leaving the club only four points above the relegation zone. Frank Barlow and Ian McParland took temporary charge for the remainder of the 2005–06 season, engineering a six-match winning run and remaining unbeaten in ten games, taking 28 points from a possible 39, and narrowly missing out on a play-off place as they finished in 7th place.
Colin Calderwood was appointed as Forest’s twelfth manager in thirteen years in May 2006 and became the longest-serving manager since Frank Clark. The Calderwood era was ultimately one of rebuilding. In his first season, he led the club to the play-offs, and achieved automatic promotion in his second year at the club. Calderwood's side struggled to adapt to life in the Championship in the 2008–09 campaign and, having been unable to steer Forest out of the relegation zone, Calderwood was sacked following a Boxing Day defeat.
Under the temporary stewardship of John Pemberton, Forest finally climbed out of the relegation zone, and Billy Davies was confirmed as the new manager on 1 January 2009. They avoided relegation as they finished 19th in the Championship, securing survival with one game to go.
The 2009–10 campaign was a successful one for Forest, with the club holding a top three position for the majority of the season, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion to West Bromwich Albion, and then losing to Blackpool in the playoffs.
The 2010–11 season saw Forest finish in sixth place in the Championship table, putting them into a play-off campaign for the fourth time in the space of eight years. This time around, they lost to Swansea over the two play-off semi-final legs.
In June 2011, Billy Davies's contract was terminated and he was replaced as manager by Steve McClaren, who signed a three-year contract.
Forest started the 2011–12 season with several poor results and McClaren resigned, with chairman Nigel Doughty announcing that he also intended to resign at the end of the season. In October 2011, Nottingham Forest underwent several changes. These changes included the appointment of Frank Clark as new chairman of the club and also that of Steve Cotterill as manager.
Nigel Doughty, owner and previous chairman of the club, died on 4 February 2012, marking the end of a 13-year association with the club, with many estimating his total contribution as £100,000,000.
The Al-Hasawi family, from Kuwait, purchased the club and became the new owners in July 2012. The Al-Hasawi family told press that they had a long-term vision for the club based around a 3–5-year plan and, after interviewing several potential new managers, appointed Sean O'Driscoll. He was known for playing an attractive brand of passing football, and what football fans would consider the Forest way.
As of 15 December 2012, after the team’s 0–0 draw away at Brighton, Forest sat in 9th position with 33 points, just 3 points off the play-off positions. Just over two weeks later, Sean O'Driscoll was sacked following a 4–2 victory over Leeds United, with the club stating their intentions of a change ahead of the January transfer window and hopes of appointing a manager with Premiership experience. The man to replace O'Driscoll was Alex McLeish. On 5 February 2013, Nottingham Forest and Alex McLeish had parted company by mutual agreement, just 40 days after McLeish took charge of Forest.
On 7 February 2013, the club re-appointed Billy Davies as manager, having been sacked as the team's manager twenty months previously. His first match in charge was a draw, followed by a run of 10 undefeated games. On 24 March 2014, the club announced they had terminated Davies' employment, following a defeat by Derby County. After initially rejecting the job in March 2014, fans’ favourite Stuart Pearce was named as the man to replace Billy Davies on a two-year contract, taking over from caretaker manager Gary Brazil.
After a bright start to P tenure, Forest started to slip down the table and, on 1 February 2015, Dougie Freedman was appointed manager of the club in place of Pearce.
One To Watch – Ryan Mendes
Looking through Forest’s squad, they could probably name a competitive Championship side just from the players who are unavailable. A line-up featuring Chris Cohen, Matt Mills, Andy Reid, Britt Assombalonga and Matty Fryatt would give any team in the league a run for their money, but all are currently out injured. I am therefore going to focus on a less familiar name, but one who has nevertheless created an impression since arriving in the East Midlands in the summer.
Ryan Mendes is a 25-year-old striker from Cape Verde who is on loan from Ligue 1 side Lille. Having started out in France with Le Havre, he moved to Lille ahead of the 2012/13 season, and featured in their Champions League campaign, coming up against the likes of Bayern Munich and Valencia at the tender age of 22. Mendes agreed a season-long deal at the City Ground last month, and has since been an ever-present, making 7 appearances and scoring the opener against Huddersfield. Forest have been blessed with talent in attack in recent times but, along with fellow new arrival Nelson Oliveira, Mendes is staking his claim with his exciting brand of play. He is the kind of player who can get fans up off their seats with his skills, while giving opposition defenders a headache with his direct running and threat in the final third.
The Manager – Dougie Freedman
Freedman began his career with Queens Park Rangers in 1992, but never made their first team. He moved to Third Division Barnet on a free transfer in July 1994, aged 20. He made his league debut in August 1994 and quickly became the club's leading player as he struck 24 goals in his debut season. A bright start to the following season attracted the interest of Crystal Palace, who signed him in September 1995.
In the 1996–97 season, Palace went on to win promotion in the Wembley play-off final. Freedman's experience of Premier League football in the 1997–98 season proved short-lived, though, as he only managed seven top flight games before being sold to Wolves.
However, Freedman's time at Wolves only lasted until the end of the 1997–98 season and in August 1998 Freedman signed for newly-promoted Premier League side Nottingham Forest, where he made a total of 83 appearances, and scored 23 goals, before joining Crystal Palace again in October 2000.
Over the two spells at Crystal Palace, Freedman appeared on 330 occasions, scoring 95 goals.
In 2008, with other strikers keeping him out of the Palace side, he decided to move to League One club Leeds United on loan until the end of the season.
Freedman is still held in very high regard by the Leeds United supporters to this day despite such a short spell at the club. His impact in helping the team to the play-off final and his impressive interviews during his time at Leeds mean he will always be remembered as a cult hero.
After returning to Palace at the end of the season, Freedman was granted a testimonial match to reward him for ten years' service at the club. Following this match, Neil Warnock allowed Freedman to depart Selhurst. He was heavily linked with a permanent move to Leeds. However, this never materialised.
Instead, Freedman moved on a free transfer to Southend United, where he didn’t feature often, and in March 2010 Freedman had his contract at Southend terminated by mutual consent to rejoin Palace as part of the coaching staff, signalling the end of his playing career.
Freedman also made two appearances for the Scottish national team over his career, scoring one goal.
Freedman's coaching career began when he was appointed as the reserve team manager of Crystal Palace in November 2005. He carried out this role alongside his playing duties for the club's first team. This role ended when he joined Leeds United on loan the following March. Following his move to Southend United, he began coaching alongside playing for the Shrimpers' first team.
In March 2010, Freedman returned to Crystal Palace again, this time as assistant manager to Paul Hart, and, when George Burley was appointed as manager, he kept Freedman as assistant manager.
Following the sacking of Burley on New Year's Day 2011, Freedman was given the manager’s role, originally on a caretaker basis, which many expected to be for a few weeks until a new manager was appointed. However, Freedman was made permanent manager of Crystal Palace, signing a two-and-a-half year deal on 11 January 2011.
He was ultimately successful in guiding Crystal Palace out of the relegation zone, with the club achieving safety with a game to spare. Palace began the 2011–12 season well under their new manager, occupying the play-off places at the end of October and also enjoying a good run in the Football League Cup, in which they knocked out Manchester United at Old Trafford. Crystal Palace ended the season finishing in 17th place. They also made a strong start to the 2012–13 season.
On 25 October 2012, Freedman joined Bolton Wanderers. At the time, Bolton, in 16th place in the Championship, were 12 places below Crystal Palace in 4th.
Throughout November, Freedman's first full month in charge, his new team remained undefeated, the first time they had achieved this for two years. He went on to lead Bolton Wanderers to five wins in a row for the first time since 2006 in the late push for promotion, taking the club from 20th to 7th position in the Championship. Bolton narrowly missed out on qualifying for the play-offs on the final day of the season.
The 2013–14 season was less successful as Bolton were inconsistent and finished in 14th, their first win not coming until October.
The 2014–15 season started similarly, Bolton failing to win any of their first 6 games and only one of the first ten. Freedman left the club on 3 October 2014 by mutual consent.
On 1 February 2015, Freedman was appointed as manager of Nottingham Forest, following the sacking of Stuart Pearce.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
The highlights from the second of two entertaining games against Forest in 2014/15, with Freddie Sears’ last-gasp deflected effort keeping our promotion challenge on track.
Trev's Trivia
Players to feature for both teams:
David Johnson ITFC 1997–2001 NFFC 2001-2006
Luke Chambers ITFC 2012-present NFFC 2007-2012
Paul Anderson ITFC 2013-2015 NFFC 2009-2012
David McGoldrick ITFC 2013-present NFFC 2009-2013
Dan Harding ITFC 2006-2009 NFFC 2012-present
Chris Bart-Williams ITFC 2003-2004 NFFC 1995-2002
Media Watch - K L Blue
Ipswich Town: Mick McCarthy 'worried' by winless run
Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has admitted he is concerned by his side's current winless run of six games.
Tuesday's 3-0 defeat at Hull saw the early Championship leaders drop to 11th in the table.
"There's nothing that anybody can say to me that's going to make me feel any better," he told BBC Radio Suffolk.
"We're having a real tough time and it's a worry, but the only thing we can do is get back at it, get to Nottingham Forest and see if we can beat them."
The Tigers scored twice near the end of the first half through goals from Alex Bruce and Chuba Akpom, before David Meyler sealed the win.
Former Ipswich Town player Alex Bruce opened the scoring in the 38th minute of Tuesday's game and McCarthy said he made sure that Steve Bruce's side did not make the scoreline any more embarrassing.
"Hull did show some quality, and at the end, I shouldn't be doing it, but I'm putting Brett Pitman on and leaving one up front to make sure it doesn't turn out any worse, because we weren't going to win it 4-3, that's for sure.
"They look a good side, but I'm not happy with our performance.
"When we're in the game like that, we can't just let the game slip, and that's what we did. It's two or three little mistakes that cost us.
"Their heads didn't go down, they kept going, working and trying and we've got to keep doing that. If we ever let that go we're in real trouble."
Stat Time
Head to Head
Nottingham Forest Wins.......................33......(48.53%)
Ipswich Town Wins.............................19......(27.94%)
Draws.............................................16......(23.53%)
Nottingham Forest Goals.....................100.....(1.47 Ave per Game)
Ipswich Town Goals............................74.....(1.09 Ave Per Game)
Head to Head at Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Wins.......................21.....(60.00%)
Ipswich Town Wins..............................6......(17.14%)
Draws..............................................8......(22.86%)
Nottingham Forest Goals.....................58....(1.66 Ave Per Game)
Ipswich Town Goals............................26....(0.74 Ave Per Game)
The Predicted Teams
Nottingham Forest
Forest will be without influential midfielder Henri Lansbury, whose sending off in midweek compounded Burnley’s last-minute equaliser at the City Ground. All eyes will be on Jonny Williams, who could deputise for Lansbury in the middle.
1 Dorus De Vries
2 Eric Lichaj
25 Jack Hobbs
6 Kelvin Wilson
31 Daniel Pinillos
19 Jamie Ward
20 Jonny Williams
24 David Vaughan
27 Chris Burke
17 Nelson Oliveira
15 Ryan Mendes
Ipswich Town
As if to prove my point in my ‘Opening Thought’, about how difficult it is to predict our starting line-up at the moment, my attempt below is really no more than an educated stab in the dark! Cole Skuse and David McGoldrick will hope to have shaken off their respective ankle and groin injuries to be in contention. Christophe Berra has been struggling with a knock to his hip, which could force McCarthy’s hand at the back…
1 Dean Gerken
4 Luke Chambers
5 Tommy Smith
6 Christophe Berra
2 Jonathan Parr
39 Larsen Touré
8 Cole Skuse
17 Kevin Bru
7 Ainsley Maitland-Niles
9 Daryl Murphy
20 Freddie Sears
Marko's Caption Contest
Was the biggest entry to the caption contest so far with 14 having a go. All very good entries. Although, Nicscreamer........, pretty disgusting, dude!
Barmy made it ever so slightly topical and had me laughing my a$$ off with his effort. 5 Pts.
Scores:
Barmy 5
Derick 4
Frosty 3
Blueblood 2
LEAGUE TABLE
DerickIpsw 23
Blueblood 22
Number 9 21
Barmy Billy 20
Nicscreamer 18
Frosty 16
Quasar 15
Floors 13
Ando 12
James Scharmann 11
Charnwood 10
Ashfordblue 8
IpswichtownNO1 8
Foxy Lady 8
Bluemike 7
Hallamblue 6
Shed on Tour 6
Herforder 6
Watership Down 4
Ohiotractorboy 3
Kerry Blue 1
LoudNProud 1
Get yer glasses on and have a go at this:-
Match Referee – Paul Tierney
Final Thought - Frosty
So it’s off to Nottingham next for our next barrel of laughs.
Recent form doesn’t count for a hell of a lot for either side on Saturday. Over their past five fixtures, Forest have managed a couple of draws against Burnley and Huddersfield, interspersed with losses against Bristol City, Hull and Middlesbrough.
As Mings said in a tweet during the week, you don’t become a bad side overnight. One just wonders how much we actually miss him on the left as well as others such as Anderson, who played a part in many positive results last season. Clearly, without Murphy scoring regularly this season, we do seem to be lacking in the very department that I thought would be our strength this season.
I expect Saturday to be a somewhat nervy, scrappy affair and a draw would come as no surprise. However I believe both teams will be viewing this clash as an opportunity to get their respective seasons moving again and break what can sometimes become a difficult spiral to get out of. I just hope the final outcome is in our favour even if it takes a giant piece of luck.
Have a great weekend everybody …… and hopefully this thread may have some positive comments to follow post the result on Saturday.
COYB !!!!
NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
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- A sad 2-0 loss for us, cant see it being turned around any time soon.
I cant see a result here either, 4-0 to Forest to record their biggest win for ages.
A draw would be a good first recovery step.