15.7.23 v Notts Co.
First pre season friendly and it looked it. Slow pace and a bit disjointed. Shelvey played the full 90 minutes in goal and he looked confident, but didn't have to make any significant saves. Theytargeted Josh Powell at LB and he over commited a couple of times, otherwise there was little threat from them.
Orel Mangala was one of our better performers. Awoniyi looked a threat. Dennis missed the best chance of the first half, a near post header from Aguilera's crossed free kick.
In the second half we had ten different outfielders. Donnelly and Drager looked OK. Hwang took his goal well but we had less of an attacking threat. Bowler was lively, but a comfortable stroll for most of the others (Yates, Danilo )
Like Steve Cooper said the match was not the best to watch but it served its purpose. Lots of players had a good 45 minute workout in game conditions.
On to Spain and a match against Valencia in a Spanish heatwave.
Pre Season Friendlies
posted on 22/7/23
Lavente 1- 2 N.Forest
Two first half goals by Ryan Yates & Danilo gave Forest the win. The first half ended in acrimony as Tiawo Awoniyi was shown a straight red card for an off camera incident.
The second half degenerated into a scrappy bad tempered game as Levante seemed to fall over and roll around for nothing.
I hope the red card will not lead to a suspension for the next match. McGoldrick who was commenting thought the ref might have let the club bring on a substitute but no.
Yates played the 90 and there were run outs for Bowler, Mighten, Hwang[?] Dale Taylor etc.
posted on 27/7/23
After two games in Spain where the aim was to give as many players as possible Steve Cooper adopts same approach tonight with 5 or 6 starting tonight who will probably stat against Arsenal. Also expect mass changes at half time again.
posted on 27/7/23
Disappointing.
We started brightly. Taiwo was a handful. Not sure about Yates filling in for MGW in his absence. Lots of changes during the second half so no surprise we lacked cohesion. Leeds fielded a strong team and were better throughout the second half. Two very poor goals given away, but Leeds deserved the win.
Elanga looked good when he came on. Very, very quick.
posted on 2/8/23
Forest 0 Rennes 5.
I realise this is only a friendly, but alarm bells really are starting to ring. We’ve only scored in two of six games.
We already have what seems like half the squad injured, and are finding it very difficult to entice players to come to the club. I’ll be honest i am wondering if Cooper is out of his depth, he doesn’t seem to have any idea how to produce any kind of creativity, and defensively we are at least as bad as last season, Felipe hasn’t kicked a ball yet, Niakhate is injured and Worrall appears to be struggling.
I am looking for any positives to take forward but am struggling to see any.
We have one friendly remaining before we play Arsenal and don’t appear to have a first team squad to pick from, we still need a goalkeeper, left back, midfielder and possibly a striker, all this in 10 days.
Any kind of transfer seems to be taking ages, loan deals seem even harder to pull off, and we are definitely running out of time.
I am seriously worried for the season ahead, unless things change rapidly.
posted on 2/8/23
Agree with you Dave. It’s not looking good.
20th May team v Arsenal
Navas,
Worrall, Felipe, Niakhate
Aurier, Yates, Mangala, Lodi
MGW, Awoniyi, Danilo
12th August team v Arsenal
Horvath
Worrall, Boly, McKenna
Aurier Yates, Mangala, Aina
MGW, Wood, Danilo
posted on 5/8/23
This is going to be a very long season, and may make last season look like a stroll in the park.
7 ‘friendlies’, 2 wins, 3 goals scored and failed to score in five of the 7, in most we barely had a shot at goal, and the two chances that fell Woods way, he either mi-timed or hit the post.
We have zero creativity, look error prone at the back, and offer nothing as an attacking force. It’s difficult to say this, but we look far worse than last season.
Cooper really is not grasping the situation.
We are nowhere near good enough defensively to scrape 0-0 draws, and looking pretty inept in front of goal. Not sure whether Taiwo was (rested/suspended, after his red card), or is made of porcelain and injured again, like half the first/starting eleven.
I can see why we are third favourites to be relegated, and unless we do eventually get some new signing sorted, think we will be adrift by the time we play Brentford at home, and probably looking for a new head coach.