Watford 0 Nottingham Forest 0 (26/12/2009)

Five thunks from the Boxing Day encounter with Forest

1- First off, one should perhaps (in the absence of Peterboro thunks) acknowledge that it’s rather good to actually have a club to trundle out to watch at silly’o’clock on Boxing Day. However genuine or otherwise the threat to the club’s future presented by Russo’s disgusting posturing in the wake of the AGM, it felt real enough. We’re here, watching football. That will do for starters; the future comes later.

2- Nottingham Forest. This incarnation of the “Tricky Trees” is hewn entirely in their manager’s image… peevish, miserable and charmless. Chief protagonists were pantomime dame Lee Camp, and the remarkable Chris Gunter. A note, Chris… if you’re going to feign injury to get an opponent booked, best bet is to time your yelp of pain as the tackle arrives rather than a minute or so before it. You’ve a better chance of success if the opponent doesn’t take the ball cleanly, too, but see also (3). And then Billy Davies himself, celebrating a nil-nil away from home as if he’d secured promotion, despite watching his left back get away with a save on the line that his keeper would have been proud of (if he’d got anywhere near Lansbury’s shot) seconds earlier. Class? Never heard of it.

3- Andy D’Urso. Almost a parody of himself… a quite extraordinary combination of pedantry and utter inability to keep up with play. Rous Stand onlookers were, I am advised, able to hear Gunter’s comedy yelp, divert attention to D’Urso to confirm that, no, he wasn’t paying attention and then look back at the ball to see Helguson’s tackle win it cleanly. A referee ought to be able to keep up with that I think. At times he was almost a tribute act, too cornily like D’Urso to be credible… his incompetence was largely incidental until the final few minutes…

4- An open game, one of those that it was difficult to reconcile with a nil-nil scoreline. Equally difficult to understand is Forest’s ongoing unbeaten away record… a decent side with plenty of attacking options, but neither infallible enough to steamroller all comers nor defensive enough to stifle games. For our own performance… one has to worry about the sudden tentativeness in front of goal. Four blanks in six games now, and whilst the build up is still good – by the end of the second half we were well worth three points, as Davies’ reaction demonstrates – we no longer have the conviction or the end product enough of the time. The magnificent Cleverley (see 5) is a reliable source of something, but Graham’s workrate and touch rather than his sharpness in front of goal are what’s keeping him in the side. That and lack of alternatives, natch.

5- With four loans (originally) due to end at the end of the year, it makes sense to review at this point. Cleverley is already secured for the rest of the season of course, and here again he was terrific; our lack of confidence is evidenced by his being the sole outlet however, reliable as he is. And opponents are wise to him, witness the excellent McKenna’s disciplined call to arms whenever Cleverley wandered infield. Cathcart, it seems, has already gone back; whether his loan would have been extended in the absence of injury now a moot point, but at best it seems fair to suggest that he hadn’t been wholly convincing. As with many of our centrebacks, one imagines that he’d look better alongside a more dominant figure, a Williamson; brought in to add competition, he at least covered Demerit’s absence better than we might otherwise have done. Helguson… well if this was to be his last outing at Vicarage Road in yellow (which seems likely with a halfway intelligent veteran of Championship management now in at QPR) it went sadly unmarked and unrecognised. All his performance lacked was a trademark lunatic far post header. Finally Lansbury, whose performance today epitomised the frustration. Clearly he has ability, on his good days he has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Cleverley. But some days he just doesn’t look that bothered, and this was one of those. The most intriguing of the decisions regarding loanees, then; Cleverley and Cathcart decisions made and clear, H we’d like to keep but one suspsects won’t be able to, Lansbury… without him we’re short of an attacking central midfielder. But you’d prefer someone you could rely on to turn up…

Sorry, bit of a long thunk there. Have a good New Year, and see you for the shit-or-bust at Stamford Bridge…