Nottingham Forest 0-1 Fulham (Premier League) 28.09.24
In the latest fixture for Nottingham Forest, Nuno’s men suffered their first defeat of the new season at the hands of Marco Silva’s Fulham.
The first half
Forest started in somewhat a 4-4-2, an odd formation for this game. Awoniyi & Wood up top, and a packed midfield of Dominguez, Anderson, Ward-Prowse & Yates.
Forest started on the back-foot, Fulham started with an intensive press – they put their mark on the game early. Forest grew into the half, but despite this were limited to only a few advances on the wide areas – Moreno did well on occasion to provide width out left, Aina & Anderson paired well to break down the right. Despite this, no shots on target for the Reds.
Forest did have a chance, as Aina’s wonderful cross met the head of Chris Wood, and it did pass the line, but VAR ruled the move offside – no goal.
Fulham would go one up though after a lengthy VAR check adjudged that Murillo had overstepped the boundary of contact, and fouled Andreas Pereira inside the box – penalty awarded. Jiménez fired it into the near side of the goal, Fulham take the lead.
Overall, an uninspiring first half, but not necessarily poor from Forest – it just seemed that the bar of intensity was set low, which, based on the last time out against Fulham, wasn’t the right approach. A front-footed approach was needed, I felt.
The second half
There was grit in this half, a bit of fire in the bellies, that’s what was needed.
The half this time started with Forest adding intensity, the hope was that with Elanga’s pace, they could penetrate the Fulham back line, and add width, to stretch them. However, his impact wasn’t quite what was imagined, and Fulham held off.
Forest brought on Elanga, and later the likes of Hudson-Odoi, Silva, Sosa & Neco Williams.
Forest would have a penalty shout disregarded by VAR as Elanga is swiped onto the floor by Calvin Bassey. Nothing indifferent from Fulham’s penalty shout, but this was chalked off.
Despite the subs, I felt Forest made basic mistakes – passes without enough weight, giving away the ball, and not being braver on the edge of the box.
Josh Smith & CO’s officiating was questionable, but Nuno Espírito Santo has to take the onus of this loss, alongside his players, as the performance was completely incomparable to previous games. Forest have to up the intensity, and have a more positive outlook against sides such as Fulham, who they should be looking to beat if they wish to move into & stay in mid-table territory, or beyond.
Lessons to be learned, but it’s not possible to be negative about the season so far – first loss in six games to start the season, and the lessons that Forest need to learn can be learned very quick.
The selection wasn’t quite right today, and Forest need to react positively and put in a performance against Chelsea – an incredibly tough opponent.
*Article provided by Jamie Martin (Head Nottingham Forest Correspondent).
*Main image @NFFC Taiwo Awoniyi in action against Fulham.
