Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest | England)

Saka first goal after a couple of disallowed ones. 1-0

Forest missing Gibbs-White and Anderson completely. Wood on the bench,  potentially an injury scare? Elanga looks up for it for Forest, but so do Arsenal and not many of his teammates so far.

Wood on for Awoniyi at 63 mins (2-0) in a 3-0 loss.
Next Ipswich at home, a very different opponent.

It’s weird. I almost feel like Nuno wrote this off completely, in order to give some of his players an extra rest. 

Anderson, Gibbs-White and Wood all given spells. The first two out completely. Ward-Prowse is completely unable to replace either of those midfielders. Especially against Rice and Partey. Damage done by the time the Woodsman got involved. 

In my summary above I forgot how crucial he is to the pressing game of Forest and controlling the areas or key players for the opposition. 

Perhaps he threw down a gauntlet to his bench to show why they’re in the PL, but that seems cruel against this very good Arsenal team. The defense was exposed and the midfield a mess. 

As well Elanga is also now injured after he had some threatening runs in the first half. 

I did kind of worry when I saw all the media about them. Now they’re in a bit of a slump, but hopefully are back all guns blazing very soon. 

Table: Most surprising? Chris Wood?

Roy Keane: Are we surprised though? I thought he’s been excellent for years.

Scholes: Yeh, but the number of goals though…
https://youtube.com/shorts/xhv1SY8xgSI?si=q5RGFxtZbYxpYvvL
Don’t think the embed is working. 

Forest (7th) host Ipswich (18th)

Cmon Woodsy.  I've made you my fantasy captain today.

Playing another of his former clubs where he played 8 games with zero goals in the championship on loan in 2015. Would have been with his best man Smith. 

I hope when he retires he writes a very long geeky football book, with at least a chapter devoted to his time at each English club as it really would be a good read and NZ football fans don’t have too much to geek out about. 

Hope Forest returns to winning ways and Woodsy returns to goal-scoring tomorrow morning against another of his former employers, need some cheering up after another AFC win that puts them further ahead at the top of the A-League.

AucklandPhoenix

Playing another of his former clubs where he played 8 games with zero goals in the championship on loan in 2015. Would have been with his best man Smith. 

I hope when he retires he writes a very long geeky football book, with at least a chapter devoted to his time at each English club as it really would be a good read and NZ football fans don’t have too much to geek out about. 

I'd be here for that! Now I'm excited for a book that potentially may never exist

Wood back starting with almost a full strength Forest team named. A start for Silva with Elanga coming back from injury on the bench. Moreno also on the bench after a torrid time last game, but he was a recent goal provider for Wood, so may get minutes depending on how it goes. Williams in for him.

Otherwise the midfield of Anderson, Gibbs-White and Yates would have made things much more interesting against Arsenal last game! Things we’ll never know…

A team of giant killers v a team of giant killers. Ipswich looking the hungrier and more in for it. And where Liverpool were Forest’s giants, Ipswich are here to upset Forest. Hutchinson has been giving Williams a torrid time. Gibbs-White is searching for rhythm and touch, trying to keep the tempo up. 

The Ipswich defense on yellows and those that aren’t should be. A lot of grappling at set pieces. 

No real chances for Woodsy. Once a ball should have been squared to him and another time, outside the area, he should have carried it further before looking to pass or shoot. Less than half chances. Mostly he’s been a decoy to allow Jota Silva or others some space.

Forest will need to pick up the pace and intensity in the second half. 

1-0 Wood pen, won by Silva. Bangs the crap out of it. Forest open for business.

And it stays that. 

Nuno will be happy at the clean sheet. Losing 3-2 used to be their game, now they’re winning 1-0. 4th time in the league to do so this season. 

One of the commentators spent most of the game absolutely hammering Hudson-Odoi! But to be fair Wood had a quiet game too and didn’t look as sharp as he had. Must be cold there, evening game. 

Did look like he’d won a pen too, perhaps even on two occasions, but the ref waved them away. I feel he might have given one if he hadn’t given one already. 

Job done, but quite an ugly win they might not have got away with another day. They’ve picked up a couple of 1-1 results too so far. 

Half a Pint

Woody's ninth #PL goal of the campaign. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/7GkKiZUX6B

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) November 30, 2024

Look at Williams, already has his arms up during Wood's run-up. Actually just re-watched Wood's first penalty this season against Brighton and Gibbs-White did the same thing. 

Wood with his excellent penalty record, it's no wonder his fellow teammates are visibly confident even before he takes the pen, but it's still nice to see.

That's a proper penalty. Foot through it, lashed in to the roof of the net.

None of this stuttering run up before tamely passing it towards goal bollocks.

"He last missed a penalty in April 2016". Astonishing stat that.

Chris Wood’s penalty streak remains 🪵

His decisive spottie against Ipswich made it 7/7 in the Premier League, 22 in a row for club & country, and 29 in a row including shootouts

He last missed a penalty in April 2016 #FlyingKiwis pic.twitter.com/JXRLNy2U5E

— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) November 30, 2024

And currently clear 3rd in the Golden Boot race, 3 goals back.

He will be knighted at the end of his career (or whatever we call the honours now...).

Saw an article that he doesn't want to get into coaching, but is keen on being a commentator. 

He won’t have much competition if he wants to try it out in NZ

Chance for Wood to grab an early birthday present away to Man City, plus one more goal and he is Forest's outright all time leading PL goalscorer.

Wood has never scored at Etihad though.

City 5th & Forest 6th, that would have been at long odds at season start.

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/12/04/england/premier-league/manchester-city-football-club/nottingham-forest-fc/4366855/

Woodsman will be 33 on Saturday (NZT)

Wusty Wab

Chance for Wood to grab an early birthday present away to Man City, plus one more goal and he is Forest's outright all time leading PL goalscorer.

Wood has never scored at Etihad though.

now would be the time to do it, 115 look horrible without Rodri

Niche Cache 

Nuno Espirito Santo, asked if Wood can continue this scoring for years to come (he turns 33 this month): “I believe so. I believe so. Chris is one of those players who really takes care of himself. Nutrition, rest… Chris has the ambition to keep going, so he has to take care of his body and his mind. He is perfect now. He is perfect. If he continues, then good. We are delighted. It is not only here, it is in New Zealand as well — he is going to break all the records. We are delighted for him and we are so, so grateful.”

Chris Wood to drop a hat trick on man city, extending their winless streak to 8!

Also Christ that's a lot of empty seats

Ended up finishing 3-0 to Man City. 

Only managed to watch the 1st half but after City went ahead, Wood unfortunately missed a massive chance to equalise. De Bruyne with a misplaced pass back towards City's defence and Wood was through on goal, one-on-one against Ortega, but he put his effort wide and City doubled their lead just over a minute later.

Game of inches. Highlights, and yeah an unfortunate miss. He did so well to beat the MC defender to the ball as well with a good burst of speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kokTCu00ZOQ

Off for Awoniyi at 62 mins (3-0)

Still looks very fit, but the pen last week perhaps glossed over the fact he hasn’t been quite as sharp in the last few weeks. Though he quite probably should have had two pens against Ipswich. Looked fairly cut and dried to me.

I think if he’d been tip-top he might have rounded the keeper and finished with his left. But the anticipation, pace and movement was impressive. 33 isn’t 35-36. If he’s in good nick, no reason he can’t keep producing. 

However, Forest are a bit unsettled too. Hudson-Odoi dropped without a minute of play this week. Gibbs-White hasn’t hit as many goals as last outing. 

Guess we’ll see quite a lot figured out about teams’ strength in the 6 rounds until the end of the holiday period. 

Hopefully Woodsy is well on the way to 20 goals by then and perhaps still keeping track on that golden boot race! 

Still for NZ football blokes things looking up a bit- our two best starting. Garbett back starting, McCowatt back from injury, Stamenic getting some starts, Jimmy McGarry got a couple of starts, Singh playing and scoring and the second installment, Callan Elliot got some minutes in a game, de Vries has found the selectors, perhaps inspiring Wilkins to move, Bell rumoured not to be as bad as current scapegoating and the second installment of the derby due to drop on the weekend. Only Old’s injury of our top international cohort still a bit of a worry. 

"Stuart Pearce felt Forest star let Nuno Espirito Santo down vs Manchester City

He does have some credit left in the back after his efforts this season but there is no way that Chris Wood slept very well last night.

His chance with the game hanging in the balance at 1-0 to City was nothing short of a sitter and he really had to hit the target and give Forest something to hold onto.

Instead, he fired wide, trying to be too cute with his effort and moments later De Bruyne was rattling in to make it 2-0 to City."

Yes he does miss a few you think he would get

Happy 33rd birthday Woodsy! Even though it's still just less than two hours away in the UK.

Woodsman hasn't scored yet at Etihad but he has before, across town at Old Trafford. Forest (7th) travel to Man U (13th).

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/12/07/england/premier-league/manchester-united-fc/nottingham-forest-fc/4366865/

hepatitis

"Stuart Pearce felt Forest star let Nuno Espirito Santo down vs Manchester City

He does have some credit left in the back after his efforts this season but there is no way that Chris Wood slept very well last night.

His chance with the game hanging in the balance at 1-0 to City was nothing short of a sitter and he really had to hit the target and give Forest something to hold onto.

Instead, he fired wide, trying to be too cute with his effort and moments later De Bruyne was rattling in to make it 2-0 to City."

Yes he does miss a few you think he would get

Pundit talking smack. Certainly not a sitter. Strikers are always gunna miss some. City made a bunch of chances to score 3. Forest had one chance. 

You’d hope he gets it, but if he’s not 100% he’s going miss a few. Or he’d be a $100 million dollar striker if he was more clinical than he’s been so far this season…

Double figures the Woodsman!

Nuno sitting deep! Takes a winger and brings on a defender. A league disease with a one goal lead 20+ min out

Hard watch now. Forest not even trying to hold possession after dictating much of the game. This is just mental. 

Conceding territory too. Sitting deep.

Wood and Gibbs-White off for Elanga and Dominguez. 

Pity, with Elanga out there you’d think there’d be counter chances. 

Lot of messing around with the refs kit and Hudson-Odoi and Mazaroui having a head bump or something.

7 minutes stoppages. Awoniyi on for Hudson-Odoi.

And it works! The waves of attack threatened after the second goal peter out and Forest have another result at Old Trafford! 

And a big win. A loss would have them equal on points. As it is Forest are 5th and United 8 places below!

Chris wants to get that new contract negotiated and signed quickly while he is pulling trees.