Late Stress review...

Forest 1 - 1 Chelsea

Forest entered the arena sporting the UNHCR logo, a classy choice of sponsor which meant that Forest were on the side of the angels, whilst Chelsea's affiliation with the "3" mobile network smacked of avarice and devilish works.

The angels did not make an appearance for a while. Forest's intention was to counter-attack quickly, but this too often resulted in anxious punts forward, whereas Chelsea's control saw Mason Munt elude his markers and fire sloppily wide. What Forest should have been doing was displayed in all its blazing glory as a Chelsea attack was repelled, Williboly played a forward pass to Taiwo who neatly slipped it to MGW who chipped the ball forward to Johnson who outstripped two lumbering defenders with ease and tested the Chelsea goalkeeper. If Johnson had scored, it would have capped the most perfect counterattack ever seen in domestic football - back to front, lightning fast, devastatingly accurate. As it was, it was only almost devastatingly accurate, but still a move to be admired, and a sign of what Forest were really capable of.

There was nothing devastatingly accurate about Chelsea's opener. It was, in fact, a fluke, unless you think that Poorlysick's cross was designed to hit Williboly's heel, fly in a perfectly measured arc over Henderson onto the crossbar, and bounce back to Sterling who scored, but whose celebration was understandably sheepish.
The first half left the more feeble hearted among the Forest fans muttering darkly about Johnson's miss and Chelsea's fluke goal and how the gegenpress wasn't working whatever it was, and how on earth were Forest ever going to score from two percent possession or whatever it was. As Old Uncle Boff used to say: "Feeble hearts make feeble farts," and, as always, he was right.

The first half was frustrating rather than bad, but the second half was scintillating. From the start the press was more energetic and co-ordinated. Yates and Freuler looked ready for a fight. Taiwo looked desperate to score. MGW was borderline brilliant, feeding Johnson with a beautiful through ball which the youngster should have converted or at least cut back to Taiwo, then putting the perfect drive onto the underside of the bar and watching it bounce down a few inches the wrong side of the line.

This was one of those times you just have to step back and appreciate how good Forest look, and how good they could be in the future. Anyway, they were good enough to give Chelsea a real bossing until the inevitable equaliser came. A corner was feebly defended by Havertz, Williboly nodded the ball on to Aurier, who showed impressive composure to chest it down and drive it under the Chelsea goalkeeper.
The Chelsea players, who had been increasingly cowed by the City Ground atmosphere, now visibly shrank at the onslaught of noise which roared Forest on. Forest should have won that match, but Chelsea's reinforcements and Forest's tired legs took the victory from their grasp.

Chelsea had a chance to nick it near the end, but Aubameyang's tentative miss served only to remind us all just how many "stars" had failed to deliver for the Chelsea. Aubameyang, Mason Munt, Havertz, Sterling, Poorlysick... what a catalogue of duds they turned out to be, at least on this day, at this famous ground.

Next stop, S'th'mpt'n. Saints versus Angels. Should be good.