Nottingham Forest 1 - 2 Leeds United

The line up

Smith,

Chambers, Morgan, Wilson, Bennett,

Clingan, Lennon, Perchio, Commons,

Agogo, Holt

The First Half

Shit. In a word.

No effort at all from the players. A gentle stroll in the sun.

No, that's not fair - for the first fifteen minutes it was a half-hearted jog in the sun. Which then turned into a gentle stroll in the sun. Worst was Commons. For someone who was supposed to be playing on the left wing, he seemed to find himself on the right hand side, getting in Clingan's way an awful lot. Best were Sammy and Wilson. Wilson, in particular, looks an excellent defender. Big and strong, mobile with decent positioning and not afraid to tell the others around him what they should be doing.

But it wasn't enough to stop Leeds scoring.

The Second Half

Better. In a word.

The players came out and decided to put some effort in. Again, it was Clingan running the show when going forwards but this time everyone else decided to run as well. This scared Leeds greatly, who, to be honest, only really had one tactic - niggly foul (well concealed) to win the ball and punt it forwards.

Our goal looked pretty flukey - big hit into a crowd, deflection (couldn't see who off) and in. We then proceeded to pepper the goal without actually scoring - worst offender being Bastians (on for Commons) opting to hit it with his left, meaning he missed the open goal.

Of course Leeds then managed a break away resulting in Beckford (who was lucky to be on the pitch after the ref decided against giving him a second yellow) stealing the points with the game in injury time.

The Positives

We were awful in the first half and the players listened to whatever CC had given them and went out to attack in the second half.
Wilson looks a fantastic signing.
It's great to have Sammy back.
Junior did a lot of hard work for little reward.

The Negatives

Leeds, while limited in skill and tactical know-how, managed to play for 95 minutes whereas we could only manage 40.
Commons was utterly useless, wandering all over the pitch and getting in people's way.
We should have won and didn't.
My wife, in her first game for ages, commented "I enjoyed it, but it was quite sad. Where was the width? You used to have those two little fellas [Brennan and Louis-Jean] that bombed up and down the wings creating chances. It was far too narrow - no wonder you are struggling".

Man of the Match

Sammy.

Conclusions

The second half was good. But not good enough. Overall I'm still disappointed. Leeds are nothing special and we could have won (especially if you compare the talents of each respective player) but we have the same old problems - and they are all mental. Why can't we play for 95 minutes? Why the lapses in concentration? Why are we being linked with Colin Wanker (of all people)?