Back From The Game - Forest (A)

[Rex]

Forest got what they wanted from the game. Suppressing tactics, control in midfield. Bet they were more happy with 1 point than we are.

[rg6royal]

I have to give alot of credit to Forest today as they are a team who are going to be hard to get points off. Our performance overall was pretty poor as we didn't create enough whoch meant Leroy was pretty much out of the game. Even before Marek got injured he was hardly in the game as the midfield was bogged down. The left back situation goes on and on. I just hope we bring in a new face come 15:00pm Saturday.

[Tilehurst Mike]

Dear oH dear, what an appalling and boring game that was lacking in any semblance of quality. The Forest possession count against ours was embarrassing. Harper and Marek were non existant and didn;t create anything. Doyle and Lita carried on where they left off last season. Only plus points were that the defence played pretty well as a unit but with only midget Earnshaw to contend with so they should. As for Kebe, a complete waste of space--was he on the park in the second half.

Compare our subs bench with Birmingham's yesterday. Get the cheque book out Madjeski and fast!!

[ScottishRoyal]

Today really highlighted (if evidence was needed) how this league differs from the Prem and that is the physical side of the game. I lost count of the number of slidong challenges Forest made in the first half, and they completely out battled us. Marek really looked uncomfortable playing against a team that pulled and kicked at every oppotunity. That said they were mainly tough legitimately and we just weren't willing to fight for the ball.

We still lack a ballwinner and I thing the fact that Forest, a side that will likely finish mid to lower half, dominated posession 70:30 highlights that. They may have had the five in midfield but we continually gave the ball away and lacked the fight to win it back.

[howser]

It was plainfully obvious that we have got a very long way to go to even threaten the play-off's, we looked week in midfield both in strenghth and ability, and I include the royals "messiah" marek in that, very little control, inability to put more then two passes together and wingers who would struggle to dribble around a lamp post, many suggestions say the obvious, new Left Back, Right Sided Midfielder and a tall striker to lead the line and hold the ball up, but that is where the enigma comes into play, if and when we bring in someone or someones new, how long are we going to have to wait before they "get up to speed" etc....... and the "I might have been too loyal to my players" thing kicks in and we actually see them play in the blue and white hoops ????

[rg6royal]

It was plainfully obvious that we have got a very long way to go to even threaten the play-off's, we looked week in midfield both in strenghth and ability, and I include the royals "messiah" marek in that, very little control, inability to put more then two passes together and wingers who would struggle to dribble around a lamp post, many suggestions say the obvious, new Left Back, Right Sided Midfielder and a tall striker to lead the line and hold the ball up, but that is where the enigma comes into play, if and when we bring in someone or someones new, how long are we going to have to wait before they "get up to speed" etc....... and the "I might have been too loyal to my players" thing kicks in and we actually see them play in the blue and white hoops ????

You can't say we won't make the play-offs from the first game. We knew Forest were going to be tough opponents and I'm just glad we came away with a draw.

[cmonurz]

Didn't part of you hope, just a little bit, that there might be an obvious class difference on show between sides that were two divisions apart last season?

[Rex]

Didn't part of you hope, just a little bit, that there might be an obvious class difference on show between sides that were two divisions apart last season?

Possilbly - but we were championship playing the prem. Most of the players were the promotion team. What surprised me more was we didn't seem to battle ala championship. Scrapping , bundling and playing on the floor showed a certain desire - but not too pretty. Tactically we were resorting to playing Forest at their game instead of seamingly playing the game that was hinted at in the Villa friendly. Quick sharp and precise passing

[Alan Partridge]

First game is always eagerly anticipated, usually because it's the first chance to see your new players in a competitive game, in both teams case it was a new division. That was it, Harper in the first half had to try and encourage the fans to get behind them, welve seen this crap 100times before, there was no new life, nothing to get excited about. We've seen this lot fail last season, there is absolutely no reason to beleive the same team plus last season's 4th choice right winger and someone playing out of position at left back, along with last seasons 2nd and at times 4th choice strikers would put on any sort of convincing show. Compare that to Forest who whenever Moussi got on the ball the anticipation went up, thecrowd got that bit louder, and tbf he was head and shoulders above anyone on that park. Not even Coppell's new signing warranted a place on our bench.

That's how to suck away any feel good or anticipation from a clubs fans and unless something is done in terms of player recruitment then Coppell's supporters will diminish as the season goes on.

I'm actually looking forward to Tuesday night, basically I won't have to watch some of that crap play, the youngsters playing will give us all a reason to be hopeful for the future.

[Royalshow]

Didn't part of you hope, just a little bit, that there might be an obvious class difference on show between sides that were two divisions apart last season?

Yes.Yes it did.I was hoping Marek would ping the ball around like czech international.

[AF1]

Sonko being squad number 31 this season would indicate to me that he's not going to feature regularly in Coppell's first team plans. I bet when Bikey's back, Sonko will be on the bench. We need both of them on that showing today.

LOL


oh, and LOL @ me for even reading the team board

[Royal Lady]

It was a fair enough comment at the time, as I didn't know he'd asked to change his number. Plus did he come on against Villa? I can't remember.

[loyalroyal4life]

Just got back from the game and i know it is only the 1st of many to come in what is a long season but we were awful. It is hard to believe just last season the 2 teams were 2 divisions apart.

That game was worthy of a place in League 2

Alot of the players looked hungover from last season, like they didn't want to be there and the fact that they were actually playing in the CCC hadn't quite sunk in!!

I don't even know what the point was in bringing on Cisse, everytime i have seen him play an away game he looks lost within the team. Hope Karacan gets his chance now marek is out for a while.

Convey for me was the best player on the park in terms of effort and creativity.

USA - 5
ROSENIOR - 5
IVAR - 5
SONKS - 6
HUNT - 5
KEBE - 5
MAREK - 5
HARPER - 5
CONVEY - 7
LITA - 5
DOYLE- 5
CISSE - 4

[Ian Royal]

Not a great performance which wasn't really helped by a Ref who gave anything remotely resembling physical contact Forest's way.

Be interested what a TV viewer thought of the penalty shout first half. i get the feeling it would have been harsh to give it.

Solid defensively although Ivar deciding to play the part of Hunt's head caused us a few problems through out the match as he inevitably didn't get much/anything on the ball and was then out of position.

Matejovsky's cameo was his usual mixture of having circles run round him and mixing sublime with atrocious passes. I personally thought Harper played pretty well, saw him make at least half a dozen challenges successfully and hassle the Forest well.

I agree too many hopeful balls up the channels and trying to out muscle that mountain of a centreback was always going to be pointless. Kebe managed his obligatory genius run which ends in him losing the ball by walking into the 3rd/4th defender when all the hard work has been done.

All our good stuff came from the left in the second half, although Convey and Hunt both lacked a little on the final ball. Cisse wasn't as bad as I feared, but was still fairly anonymous. Please please please play Karacan over him.

All in all not a great start, but there is some promise there and Forest was always going to be a tough opening away game.

Excellent half time entertainment!The rest of my day however was shit. Train from Ely was cancelled, luckily a Forest fan at the station decided to drive and very kindly offered me a lift. Top bloke. Got to the ground about 2 minutes after kick off. Missed the first train back and had to wait for an hour. Sat for 20 minutes outside Grantham for no reason, got back to Ely to find the train to cambridge was cancelled and had to wait for a replacement bus which was almost 15 minutes late.

I fecking hate Sunday games.

[Sarah Star]

First game is always eagerly anticipated, usually because it's the first chance to see your new players in a competitive game, in both teams case it was a new division. That was it, Harper in the first half had to try and encourage the fans to get behind them, welve seen this crap 100times before, there was no new life, nothing to get excited about. We've seen this lot fail last season, there is absolutely no reason to beleive the same team plus last season's 4th choice right winger and someone playing out of position at left back, along with last seasons 2nd and at times 4th choice strikers would put on any sort of convincing show. Compare that to Forest who whenever Moussi got on the ball the anticipation went up, thecrowd got that bit louder, and tbf he was head and shoulders above anyone on that park. Not even Coppell's new signing warranted a place on our bench.

That's how to suck away any feel good or anticipation from a clubs fans and unless something is done in terms of player recruitment then Coppell's supporters will diminish as the season goes on.

I'm actually looking forward to Tuesday night, basically I won't have to watch some of that crap play, the youngsters playing will give us all a reason to be hopeful for the future.

I find it very sad that I am actually agreeing with you.

[loyalroyal4life]

I cant believe SSC has come out and said

' And my players just applied themselves. If they maintain that attitude they won't go far wrong this season.'

Applied what??? Not go far wrong of what??? Avoiding relegation??

[cmonurz]

It was Coppell's admission that we didn't go hell for leather that bothers me more, that, it being the first game of the season 'you have to approach it quite circumspect' or something like that. Why, Steve?

[earleyroyal]

That was poor today. I challenge anyone to take any positives out of it apart from the point. The same glaring weaknesses that did for us last season are still evident. Harper and Matejovsky does not work as a midfield pairing - we need someone with a bit of presence in the central midfield. This is where it all starts from. No effective midfield = no protection for the defence (as with today), no pressure on the opposition (as with today) and no creativity/service for the forwards (as with today). Bikey might be able to fill the role but we desperately need Watson or someone like that. Their midfield pissed all over ours which is unbelievable considering the amount of money we've had to spend.

Convey looked scared and tentative, understandably. Matejovsky wasn't fit and got a taste of the clattering he'll get if he dwells on the ball too often, but showed he does have an eye for a good pass. Hunt tried hard but he's no left back, another position we desperately need to fill. Sonko for all his dicking about last season was one of our best players and will probably be OK for this division, Ingimarsson may be coming to the end of his usefulness at Reading which is a shame. Lita and Doyle battled hard but how are they supposed to thrive on a series of big boots against a huge defence? It was embarrassing watching Morgan shunt Lita out of play for about the 374th time after another aimless hoof. Kebe is wildly inconsistent but he did at least take on and beat players, if he gets a bit more awareness then he could do some damage but for now he isn't good enough to start. Anyone who said 'he's quick, that's enough in the Championship' was proved wrong today.

I knew I'd forgotten someone, and that was Harper who was totally useless today. If a Prem club comes in for him we should bite their hands off, he is no use without a tough tackling player alongside him. Did laugh when he waved his arms to pump up the crowd (having spent most of the first half as a third centre back) and was promptly given a load of abuse.

To sum it up that performance was crap, the communication was all over the place, it was lethargic and disjointed. We may have got a point but we will not be anywhere near the play-offs if we play like that for the rest of the season. Time for Madejski to bring out the chequebook or explain why he isn't.

Highlights: being back by 7pm, watching Robin Hood kicking the shit out of the navyboys
Lowlights: the match

[cmonurz]

Convey has looked scared and tentative since he came to the club. He had a purple patch of about 3 months in our Championship-winning side, but as done naff all else. We need new players on both wings.

[earleyroyal]

Convey has looked scared and tentative since he came to the club. He had a purple patch of about 3 months in our Championship-winning side, but as done naff all else. We need new players on both wings.

It's excusable coming back from an injury-plagued season, but I agree that he may be too lightweight for this league now that he doesn't seem to have the same skill and dynamism that made him a success in 05/06. He was simply bullied by their right flank today.