Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest | England)

coochiee

Origi's late whipped in cross too far in front of Wood, who had an open goal to be the hero.

https://dasfootball.com/nottingham-forest-vs-wolves-highlights/

My biggest irritation is that Reyna, the new guy. twice had the chance to play him in, the first for a tap in, the striker on 4 from 4 and didn’t. 

Reyna starting again with Elanga on the bench. 

Hard to tell if Everton will be easier than Wolves. Certainly not in great form, but Forest haven’t been putting games away of late.

Woodsman starts alongside the young American Reyna & Hudson-Odoi.

Forest again most of the play, but getting little to Wood up front. Wood has been back doing a lot of defensive set piece heading. 

A good interchange with Danilo and Wood wasted by Hudson-Odoi who does his one move- cutting inside onto his right, ignoring any teammates and shooting straight at the keeper. Everton then go up the other end and score. 1-0. 🤦‍♂️

And for a second time someone (and this time it’s Odoi again) tries to pass to Wood’s feet just as he’s off on a run into space in behind. It’s frustrating watching this Forest team sometimes. A lot of talent, but when it’s not working it’s a mess. 

To be fair as well Forest has had two, well, quite possible penalty shouts turned down, both by ref and VAR.

And after I wrote the last they tried a progressive pass to Wood which saw two good shots denied only by amazing last gasp Everton defending. 

I wonder if Elanga isn’t quite 100%, because I’m sure we’d have seen him otherwise. 

Wood has worked hard, but Gibbs-White hasn’t really been able to get space. Neco Williams has had a bit, but that back 4 is a Dyche back 4 clearing and mopping up. Hopefully not all day. 

Everton scarcely been in the Forest box. Their goal came from a shot outside from a usually less than lethal source.

3 pens now not given and I’d at least have given 2 out of 3. Probably all 3. Dunno what VAR is looking at. 

And unlucky- great Murillo pass to find the run of Wood drops for Gibbs-White who rushes it and puts it wide. 

And a 30 yard pin perfect strike from McNeil. 

Not going to be Forest’s day. 2-0.

martinb

3 pens now not given and I’d at least have given 2 out of 3. Probably all 3. Dunno what VAR is looking at. 

And unlucky- great Murillo pass to find the run of Wood drops for Gibbs-White who rushes it and puts it wide. 

Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.

We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.

NFFC will now consider its options.

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024

From the official account no less!
 
Struggling to think of a time where a club has gone 'You know what, fudge this! What do we have to lose?'

Either that or it's a rogue twitter admin who has gone off.

Still, after everything they've faced this season, you can see why tempers are starting to fray.

Cue the usual - upon review it has been determined that the VAR erred in its decision making and will go through re-training blah blah blah.

I'm and Everton fan so I'm happy - but still!

YoungHeartHM

martinb

3 pens now not given and I’d at least have given 2 out of 3. Probably all 3. Dunno what VAR is looking at. 

And unlucky- great Murillo pass to find the run of Wood drops for Gibbs-White who rushes it and puts it wide. 

Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.

We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.

NFFC will now consider its options.

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024

From the official account no less!
 
Struggling to think of a time where a club has gone 'You know what, fudge this! What do we have to lose?'

Either that or it's a rogue twitter admin who has gone off.

Still, after everything they've faced this season, you can see why tempers are starting to fray.

Na it won’t be a rogue social media staffer, Forest have been the most willing team to criticise refs/VAR this season by far, and have even hired Mark Clattenburg as a consultant to help them do so. Unprecedented willingness to have a crack tbh. 

martinb

3 pens now not given and I’d at least have given 2 out of 3. Probably all 3. Dunno what VAR is looking at. 

And unlucky- great Murillo pass to find the run of Wood drops for Gibbs-White who rushes it and puts it wide. 

Yeah that was just awful. Four penalty shouts turned down by VAR in the end, and I’d have given the first three all pretty quickly (especially the handball, the denial of which beggars belief).

Forest have a LOT of right to complain

To run salt into the wound Coventry get an identical handball an hour and a bit later in the cup.

martinb

To run salt into the wound Coventry get an identical handball an hour and a bit later in the cup.

The inconsistency with the reffing/VAR rulings in any league at the moment is the biggest issue - and has been for many years. There are constant examples across the world of these.

Wood's EPL teams always seem to have bad luck re pens awarded. From memory when he was at Burnley, the Clarets had easily the longest streak of games without a pen awarded in their favour. Think of how many more EPL goals he could have. Ironic that this time Dyche was in the opposition dugout.

https://dasfootball.com/everton-vs-nottingham-forest-highlights/

So it's very tight now for Forest (17th, 26 pts). Everton (16th, 30 pts) with the win, a game in hand and being 5 points clear of the drop zone (Luton 18th, 25 pts) are probably safe. Probably.

So a battle between Forest, Luton & Burnley (19th, 23 pts) - with 2 of these 3 teams to go down, alongside Sheffield United (20th, 16 pts)

Burnley have been doing okay lately 2W, 4D, 1L in their last 7 games. They may challenge Forest more than Luton.

And what do you know Forest visit Turf Moor last day of the season. Same happened when Wood switched to Newcastle few seasons back, final game saw the Magpies at Turf Moor and Burnley getting relegated that day. Déjà vu?

Forest finish with -
Manchester City (H),  Sheffield United (A), Chelsea (H) & Burnley (A)

As an aside what do people think about Forest’s unique but now fairly consistent pattern of directly criticising referees/VAR after decisions don’t go their way (which to be fair does seemed to have happened extraordinarily frequently). A lot of commentators in the UK seem very critical of it, saying it’s not in the spirit of the game etc etc. 

But to me it seems just a logical next step in the hyper commercialisation of the premier league. If they get relegated and can point to a few dodgy VAR calls as directly contributing to that, it will arguably have cost them tens of millions of dollars. Looking at the club like a business, spending say $50k on a high profile referring consultant is a no brainer, and pissing everyone off along the way is just the cost of doing business. In that sense, they’re just being innovative and business savvy. Not saying I support it, but I just find it an interesting consequence of the obscene amounts of money involved in the game these days. 

Fitzy

As an aside what do people think about Forest’s unique but now fairly consistent pattern of directly criticising referees/VAR after decisions don’t go their way (which to be fair does seemed to have happened extraordinarily frequently). A lot of commentators in the UK seem very critical of it, saying it’s not in the spirit of the game etc etc. 

But to me it seems just a logical next step in the hyper commercialisation of the premier league. If they get relegated and can point to a few dodgy VAR calls as directly contributing to that, it will arguably have cost them tens of millions of dollars. Looking at the club like a business, spending say $50k on a high profile referring consultant is a no brainer, and pissing everyone off along the way is just the cost of doing business. In that sense, they’re just being innovative and business savvy. Not saying I support it, but I just find it an interesting consequence of the obscene amounts of money involved in the game these days. 

I thought about it before. If a player could prove that a decision or probably a string of decisions damaged their career and challenged it in court…It’d be game over for the game. 

But with VAR having access to such an amount of information on review the window for honest mistakes grows narrower and narrower. 

Most journos seem to be circling wagons after Forest’s direct response. Likely nothing good will come to Forest from it.

Still Everton kept Gibbs-White away from the ball and out of the game mostly, and got the result, despite wave after wave of Forest attack. 

It astounds me that the league are looking into Forest's tweet and yet nothing has been said about the 4 atrocious VAR decisions that were made. 3 of the 4 penalty shouts were pretty clear and obvious errors from the onfield ref, and yet VAR just supports him. Forest are right to ask questions - maybe not in the public manner they have but I think given the situation the league has to come to the party and investigate the decision that went against Forest.

From Flying Kiwis.

some Woodsman stats (from prior to the Everton game)...

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭'𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 🌲

Chris Wood is currently converting 38.7% of his shots. Maintain that rate, and he'll break a Premier League record.

✍️ @oliver_hopkins analyses his numbers, and why his form in front of goal can save Forest ⬇️

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) April 21, 2024

Not a good day at the office for him. Missed two dead sitters + a half chance. Forest did well against Sharkty despite losing 2-0

LG

Not a good day at the office for him. Missed two dead sitters + a half chance. Forest did well against Sharkty despite losing 2-0

I counted one good chance and one difficult chance? In the first or second half? 
Even with the good chance, this is City so when Elanga crosses to him, there are four defenders in the box about to close him down. It’s not like other teams where you get one out of position defender. 
But as you say not his greatest day at the office. 
Edit: ahh and that chance. Eck. What a shocker.

Just saw this...  hahaha all light hearted 

Just catching up on some football watching.  Match highlights, and yes a not the Woodsman's finest game. But not the only wasteful Forest player.

https://dasfootball.com/nottingham-forest-vs-manchester-city-highlights/

Huge game away at relegated Sheffield United this weekend. Then Chelsea at home, and you sense Burnley away last day of the season is also going to be big.

Home games this weekend for both Luton (verus Everton) & Burnley (verus Newcastle). So you'd think Forest need points from Bramall Lane to stay out of the drop zone.

https://us.soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league/20232024/regular-season/r76443/

Felt even worse cos the podcast that used to slag him off, let him off with ‘Oh he just had an off day.’ and no more said. Elanga back, hence 2.5 goals on a plate and he left them all out there.

And Murillo got injured too. Really enjoy watching him play. 

Forest such a frustrating team. I think they could be top half. And they play exciting football imo. But you look at City with Rodri, de Bruyne and da Silva compared to Gibbs-White. Hard to shut down all 3. 

But today Wood’s famed composure was MIA. As you can read above I think Hudson-Odoi seems okay value, but is also horribly one footed and rarely creates space for his teammates, if you compare his output to Gibbs-White or Elanga. 

One part or another goes missing at key moments. They score two or three, then the defense ships four.

Then Awoniyi is also a cracking CF. 

I think they really need one more wing forward/creator to take some pressure off Gibbs-White and also give him some space. Two dangerous creators in the team would make them more complete. Unfortunately Reyna didn’t quite settle, but had potential. Neco Williams had been doing a bit before his injury, but imo questions remain over his passing and vision. 

Anyway hope Woodsy can shake it off and contribute to at least a couple of wins down the stretch and they can stay up. I’d love to see him push towards 20 EPL goals even if it’s unlikely he’ll get there…

Both big opportunties came to Wood fairly quickly, to him at slightly awkward positions with his big frame, and a little off balance. He should yes have done better with both, but he's no Haaland - he ain't the full alround package for a big man. Would Forest have beaten/drawn with Man City even if he had scored?

He's experienced enough to put it behind him, and he's done plenty to keep Forest up this season. Hence your above podcast being kind on him. Scores the winner against Sheffield U this weekend and all is forgotten.

And yeah Forest are exciting to watch, and agree if Nuno keeps them up and has a full pre season to mould the team, next season they could be a solid mid table side. 

Yeh the commentators seemed to think City would have gone up a gear or two if threatened. 

But I thought it was tellingly that both their goals only came after defensive injuries. Williams shut down Haaland, pulled a hammy and Gvadiol scored at the post he would have been guarding and Haaland skipped around Murillo after he did his abductor. 

With the crowd and Forest’s energy and belief I think City were there for the taking. But no one is ever told what might have been…