Nottingham Forest 1 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Date: Tuesday 7th August 2018 Live on Sky Sports
Competition: Sky Bet Championship
Forest:
7.1
WBA:
4.8
Johnstone 5.7, Adarabioyo 4.4, Bartley 5.9, Hegazi 5.2, Gibbs 5.5, Phillips 7.1, Livermore 5.0, Brunt 4.2, Barnes 5.2, Morrison 4.5 (Gayle, 61 7.3), Rodriguez 5.2 (Robson-Kanu, 93 3.0)
Unused subs: Myhill, Townsend, Burke, Barry, Harper
Manager: Darren Moore 4.6
Scorers: Phillips (87)
Referee: Darren England 5.6
Attendance: 27,850   Home Fans 5.6   Away Fans 7.0

oshawabaggie:

Early days yet, but we have seen nothing so far to warrant the bookies enthusiasm for Albion's quick return to the promised land. Forwards and defenders come and go, but is it conceivable that another window will pass without us addressing the midfield dynamo/creator vacuum?

The brass might feel that with names like Barry (too old?), Brunt (similar?), Mozza (fitness/rusty?), Chadli (World cup star - therefore much too good for The Baggies) and Livermore (dynamo possibly, creator never) we have what it takes in the midfield department, but I think regular observers would say not.

Barnes looks like a talent, albeit a loanee and maybe Gayle will give us a spark up front if we don't put him through the Rondon treatment. The defence needs a motivated Dawson in the middle, but I smell another Evans scenario if he stays. Sorry to sound gloomy. It's really way too early for that - just letting off steam.

Brendan Clegg:

I felt that was a pretty worrying performance.

The starting 11 and system didn’t look too bad all things considered and we started well but after 10 minutes it was a real slog.

I thought our biggest issue was ball retention and this went right through the team. Our centre-backs went no-risk even when they had time. Brunt, Barnes & Livermore were really sloppy, Morrison was miles off the pace and JRod worked hard but offered nothing. I thought in the opening 45 only Phillips acquitted himself well.

The other issue I felt was that our midfield were constantly in no-mans land. They managed to never get up and support atttacks but also left massive gaps in behind which better teams would’ve exploited.

Tactically as it went on it became more worrying.

Second half was as bad and the goal was terrible- closing down by Livermore was nothing more than a gesture and I thought Johnstone should’ve done better as it bounced twice and was hardly in the corner.

One saving grace was that when we strung 3 passed together we created chances - JRod probably should’ve scored a couple and Gayle gave us an immediate threat. It was fitting that Phillips equalised for us.

We need legs. We need Dawson and Chadli. We need to accept very quickly that we’re signing championship players who play like championship players. A big few days coming up.

  • Johnstone- 6 some good saves but I think Foster may have saved all 3 goals we’ve conceded this season. That’s the difference.
  • New right back - 5 Going to take a while but looks to have decent attributes. Injury to Nyom forced us to play him.
  • Bartley- 5 Gave his all defensively but Barnett-like on the ball. Never felt confident in him.
  • Hegazi- 5 Same as above. Only seems to look good enough when he has a calm and quality player alongside him.
  • Gibbs- 5 Expected more of him. Seems to be playing in neutral.
  • Livermore- 5 Has many attributes but can’t put them together can he? Epitome of the coached footballer. I’m sure he can nail every training drill but seems to have zero in-game intelligence.
  • Brunt- 5 Tried and mopped up a few things well but looked leggy and was poor on the ball too often.
  • Phillips- 7 Looked our best player every time he had the ball and made a really difficult finish look easy.
  • Morrison- 5 We couldn’t pass it well enough to get him into the game and he wasn’t fit, strong or quick enough to force himself into it.
  • Barnes - 5 Was really disappointed but that’s young players for you. Looks like he’ll be a number 10 to me longer term. Maybe we can try that. Didn’t work hard enough to get in to it.
  • JRod- 5 Hasn’t got the legs to hurt teams but kept chasing and should’ve scored. If it was guaranteed we’d spend the money I’d take it.
  • Gayle- 6 Immediately gave us a threat. Too deep and desperate to get involved at times. We need to build the team around him for sure as he’ll bang them away.
  • HRK- Why?