Mrs Devil and I were in France last weekend, visiting the Great War battlefields. Both of us have ancestors buried in various military cemeteries along the Flanders front, a fact that has resulted in a shared keen interest in the history of this horrific time. We saw Loos, Vimy, Thiepval, Hamel. It was rather quiet, which added to the experience. Impressive, poignant. And something has changed compared to ten, fifteen years ago. We saw German number plates at Vimy and an English bus at the German cemetery in Neuville-St-Vaast. Finally. The whole region is dotted with military cemeteries, often holding over a thousand casualties. Generals on both sides sent many young men from all over the world to their deaths in France and Belgium. Some of the offensives were utter madness, and they seemed to have a knack of forgetting factors from which they should have been drawing conclusions and learning lessons. But why did the soldiers and officers obey to these sometimes insane orders, knowing they would again be mowed down by artillery and machine guns?
Discipline.
It is something I can only admit to having a complete lack of, sadly. I loved to learn, but hated studying. I love performing music live, but hate the constraints of studio work. I loved to play football when I had two good knees, but hated training. Likewise, I love the fact that webmaster Steve offered me a chance to vent my thoughts about Forest and football in general, but I seem to lack the discipline, once again, to write regularly. For this, I apologise most humbly.
It is not even that nothing has happened in the past six or seven months. Forest managed to stay up after a not so good start to last season. And there was much rejoicing. Belgium sacked their manager and replaced him with the esteemed Dick Advocaat. His first game in charge saw a 2-0 win over Turkey. And there was much rejoicing. England qualified easily for the World Championship, a league above the competition in their group, including Croatia and Ukraine. And there was much rejoicing. BBC started a Football League Show, meaning I can finally see Forest highlights in Belgium. And there…
In this new season, our manager Billy Davies seems to have found his footing. He has turned Nottingham Forest into a feared side. Another slippery start, agreed, but now we have not lost in what seems like ages. We were even on the Beeb the other day, live. And we look good. There is some great passing going on all over the pitch, good running up front. We look lively, we look fluent, we look dangerous. The game against Cardiff was so good I kept thinking that I had seen many reports on Match of the Day that showed far less accomplished football and less excitement from Premier League clubs. We really, truly look good out there.
And of course it is too soon to think about automatic promotion spots, the Premier League, Europe, Munich, Madrid. But things look a lot better than they did two or three years ago. We have Colin Calderwood to thank for part of that. We have Nigel Doughty to thank for another part. Billy Davis for another. The players, who seem to finally realize that they have to put some effort in it. And the fans, who may be called fickle but seem relentless in their support. An average attendance of 20000+ in the old third division is proof of that.
Like Forest, I will try to change. I will try to be more consistent, to score more points. To think less about football, but write more. I have written this before, I admit with my head hung in shame. I’m serious this time. In part a result of a weekend in France that has made a big impression. Discipline.
Be good.
Red Devil
Showing posts with label Colin Calderwood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colin Calderwood. Show all posts
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Monday, 9 March 2009
Our season of ifs and buts
It's a strange season we're having. We've lost and drawn many games we could very easily have drawn or won, respectively. Not only is this frustrating (enough so to lead to the sacking of the manager who I personally felt was our best and most promising since God himself), it has also left us in a dubious position in the league. We have hovered just above the drop zone since October, occasionally dipping into it. It's a season of "yes, but" and "what if?"
Just look at the table today. Fifth from bottom. Better than where we were when the year began. After a perfect start with four league wins on the trot, and that massive win over Man City, FF's could be excused for thinking: "Right, we'll have the Sheep in the cup now, storm up the league and maybe challenge for a play-off spot. Good riddance to CC, long live BD." But then came the QPR game, in which our opponents were allowed to score straight after we got in front, 3 minutes into injury time in the first half. We went behind soon after the break but managed to scrape a 2-2 draw. Good point, but should have been three. Then came Birmingham and Ipswich away and the Sheep at home. Fixtures we should have got four points from but which we lost all three, with a dismal 3-1 loss to Derby at home. Depressing stuff.
Luckily Billy Davies then brought in some good loan signings in Osbourne and McSheffrey, and Guy Moussi finally came back from his long injury lay-off. This has changed the team so much I think it is forgivable to think back to the results under Colin Calderwood and how different things could have been without that injury. Most of the games we lost were lost by one goal and looking back at reports, mostly due to a lack of presence in midfield. Presence that is brought, very obviously, by The Moose. Just look at all the 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-0 results in that period and think what a difference Moussi could have made. That injury, and the transfer window system, are what caused our current predicament. Just think that if we had scored only 6 more goals in that period, three in games lost, three in draws. That would have meant 12 more points!
Back to reality. We're March now, and we've gone two places up. Better than we were in December. Yes, but. Barnsley are 2 points behind us and have three games in hand. It is not inconceivable that they get 2 or more points out of those three games, which would see us drop back down to fourth from bottom, with a resurgent Southampton breathing down our necks, four points away but also with a game in hand. Scary.
Then again, if you look at tomorrow's fixtures, there could be some really good results there, if we get our own stuff right. Getting our own stuff right means beating Watford and gaining a place in the table, leapfrogging our opponents of the day. Barnsley play Birmingham away so we can safely assume they won't get any points at all, meaning we'll peel away from them nicely. Blackpool, currently just ahead of us, are away to Sheffield. Not an easy task, so I don't count on them winning. Even if they manage a draw, we'll still go over them. Up two places. And if we get really lucky, Swansea beat Plymouth at home and we slip into 17th position, cosily behind our old rivals.
But of course, we may again stumble with a late equaliser. Or the ref gives Watford a dodgy penalty. Or something else goes wrong and we'll find ourselves again thinking what if and yes but. It's that sort of season, I've said it before. I can't even write a decent blog about it...
Be Good
Just look at the table today. Fifth from bottom. Better than where we were when the year began. After a perfect start with four league wins on the trot, and that massive win over Man City, FF's could be excused for thinking: "Right, we'll have the Sheep in the cup now, storm up the league and maybe challenge for a play-off spot. Good riddance to CC, long live BD." But then came the QPR game, in which our opponents were allowed to score straight after we got in front, 3 minutes into injury time in the first half. We went behind soon after the break but managed to scrape a 2-2 draw. Good point, but should have been three. Then came Birmingham and Ipswich away and the Sheep at home. Fixtures we should have got four points from but which we lost all three, with a dismal 3-1 loss to Derby at home. Depressing stuff.
Luckily Billy Davies then brought in some good loan signings in Osbourne and McSheffrey, and Guy Moussi finally came back from his long injury lay-off. This has changed the team so much I think it is forgivable to think back to the results under Colin Calderwood and how different things could have been without that injury. Most of the games we lost were lost by one goal and looking back at reports, mostly due to a lack of presence in midfield. Presence that is brought, very obviously, by The Moose. Just look at all the 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-0 results in that period and think what a difference Moussi could have made. That injury, and the transfer window system, are what caused our current predicament. Just think that if we had scored only 6 more goals in that period, three in games lost, three in draws. That would have meant 12 more points!
Back to reality. We're March now, and we've gone two places up. Better than we were in December. Yes, but. Barnsley are 2 points behind us and have three games in hand. It is not inconceivable that they get 2 or more points out of those three games, which would see us drop back down to fourth from bottom, with a resurgent Southampton breathing down our necks, four points away but also with a game in hand. Scary.
Then again, if you look at tomorrow's fixtures, there could be some really good results there, if we get our own stuff right. Getting our own stuff right means beating Watford and gaining a place in the table, leapfrogging our opponents of the day. Barnsley play Birmingham away so we can safely assume they won't get any points at all, meaning we'll peel away from them nicely. Blackpool, currently just ahead of us, are away to Sheffield. Not an easy task, so I don't count on them winning. Even if they manage a draw, we'll still go over them. Up two places. And if we get really lucky, Swansea beat Plymouth at home and we slip into 17th position, cosily behind our old rivals.
But of course, we may again stumble with a late equaliser. Or the ref gives Watford a dodgy penalty. Or something else goes wrong and we'll find ourselves again thinking what if and yes but. It's that sort of season, I've said it before. I can't even write a decent blog about it...
Be Good
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