The Times - UK (2020-06-29)

the times | Monday June 29 2020 2GG 11

thegame

Match briefing

RATINGS

Nottingham Forest (4-2-3–1); B Samba 6 — M Cash 7,

T Figueiredo 6, J Worrall 6, Y Ribeiro 6 — B Watson 7

(J Bostock 90min), B Johnson 5 (R Yates 45, 7),

T Silva 7 (J Carvalho 72, 5), J Lolley 7 (A Mighten 90),

S Ameobi 8 (N da Costa 72, 5) — L Grabban 8.

Booked Watson, Ameobi, Da Costa.

Huddersfield Town (4-2-3-1): J Lossl 6 — D Duhaney

6 (J Bacuna 74), R Stearman 6 (J Stankovic 70, 5),

C Schindler 6, H Toffolo 6 — J Hogg 5 (T Chalobah

60), A King 6 — C WIllock 6 (F Campbell 7, 5),

A Pritchard 6 (E Smith-Rowe 60, 5), L O’Brien 6 —

K Grant 6. Sent off Bacuna.

Referee D Webb.

Nottm Forest

3

Huddersfield T

1

Match briefing

RATINGS

Bristol City (4-3-3): N Maenpaa 7 — J Hunt 6

(Z Vyner 89min), A Williams 5, N Baker 7, J Dasilva

6 — H Massengo 5 (N Eliasson 56, 6), K Smith 6,

C O’Dowda 5 (J Paterson 89) — A Weimann 6

(A Nagy 65, 6), N Wells 7, B Afobe 6 (F Diedhiou

64, 6). Booked O’Dowda.

Sheffield Wednesday (3-5-2): J Wildsmith 7 —

L Palmer 7, D Iorfa 7, J Borner 7, K Harris 7 —

J Murphy (M Odubajo 76) 7, K Lee 6, B Bannan 8,

M Luongo 7 (J Pelupessy 76) — C Wickham 7

(A Nuhiu 82), J Rhodes 6. Booked Rhodes, Lee.

Referee J Brooks

Bristol City

1

Sheff Wed

2

David Webb, said no penalty. Forest

went ahead three minutes before the

break when Worrall’s deep cross

found Grabban, who scored with a

powerful right-footed volley. Within

45 seconds of the restart it was 2-0. A

superbly weighted pass from Ameobi

sent Grabban clear to score.

Huddersfield were still a threat —

Andy King headed against the bar —

but fell three behind when Yates

headed in Lolley’s corner.

“We were criticised from all

Kieran Tierney. Turns

up with his essentials in

a Tesco bag, unflashy on

the pitch too but hugely

effective. Both attacking

and defending, the 23-year-old left

back, returning from injury, is starting

to display the outstanding form for

Arsenal that Celtic supporters and

observers had been expecting.

Thomas Frank. The

likeable, thoughtful Dane

is quietly masterminding

Brentford’s revival,

including post-lockdown

victories over Fulham and now West

Bromwich Albion on Friday. Frank

has the tactical nous and man-

management skills to be a Premier

League head coach. He kindly

let me sit in on one of his team

meetings once and what was

clear was the easily absorbed

information and the desire

for contributions,

for players to take

responsibility for the

game plan and then

game management.

Brentford are doing that – in style.

Nuno Espírito Santo. It

shows how well-drilled

Wolves are by their 46-

year-old Portuguese

head coach that since

resuming playing, their record reads:

P3 W3 Goals For 4 Goals Against 0.

His players know exactly what he

wants and execute his game plan

perfectly. He’s used only ten of his

available 15 subs, and five of those

were in the last five minutes. He’s

the master of continuity, and new

players are clearly taught the Nuno

way in training before being

introduced. He makes good players

better, more consistent, smoothing

rough edges, sharpening decision-

making — Adama Traoré has

matured into a major talent.

WINTER’S

WEEKEND

WONDERS

Every little helps for returning left back

Nuno’s diamonds are

polished to perfection

Brentford’s great Dane

looks top-flight ready

Tim Krul. Norwich City’s

goalkeeper pulled out all

the stops against

Manchester United. He

really didn’t deserve to go

out of the FA Cup. Some of his saves

were routine, simply down to an

experienced goalkeeper’s positioning;

others were exceptional and a tribute

to his enduring reflexes at 32.

First the Dutchman

dealt with a Harry

Maguire header, then

strikes from Jesse

Lingard and Paul

Pogba. Then

it was a 25-yard

effort from Marcus

Rashford, a Pogba

shot, another Maguire

header and a Bruno

Fernandes shot. Krul

was beaten by Odion

Ighalo and Maguire, but

he’d kept Norwich going,

kept them deserving of

extra time, and himself of

something more — and he

loves facing penalties.

4

A Krul fate for keeper

who deserved more

Leeds tweets flip the script on defeated foes

Leeds United admin.

Their Twitter account

is Premier League class,

arguably Champions

League class. It’s

innovative, informative, funny and

pure Leeds in its defiance. The

person behind it is the club’s social

media manager, Craig Wilson, who

fans rush to salute whenever he

unleashes another gem. Leeds are the

masters of digital digs at opponents’

comments. In the build-up to

Saturday’s match Scott Parker, the

Fulham manager, described Leeds as

“scripted” and “patterned” in their

play, though in fairness he wasn’t

being critical. After a comprehensive

3-0 win, Leeds tweeted: “A ‘scripted’

and ‘patterned’ Leeds defeat

Fulham.” That got 8,000 likes.

During the game, when Fulham’s

Neeskens Kebano was sent off, there

was a nice nod to modern football

folklore with a picture of the Chris

Kamara cardboard cut-out in the

stands and the words: “There’s a red

card at Elland Road @chris_kammy,

but who to?” That garnered 12,000

likes. Laughing on together.

1

The Chief Football Writer hails unsung

heroes and individual triumphs

3

e

m

g

2

5

Sabri Lamouchi marked a year in
charge of Nottingham Forest with a
victory that emphasised his side’s
promotion ambitions, leaving them in
fourth place. Lewis Grabban scored
twice to make sure Lamouchi had a
happy anniversary, 12 months after he
succeeded Martin O’Neill.
Whatever happens this season,
Lamouchi will have made his mark by
becoming the first manager in nearly
a decade to last a full season at Forest
since Billy Davies’s first spell. His
signing of a new two-year contract
this month suggests that there is
finally some stability at Forest.
This was not as comfortable a
victory as the scoreline suggests,
however, and Lamouchi knows that
the finale to this disrupted season
could have plenty in store yet.
When asked about completing 12
months at the club, the Frenchman
joked: “You sound surprised. Me too.
But I’m here. I am so proud of what
we’ve achieved. We deserve to be
where we are.
“The next month will be crazy,
unbelievable, amazing, depending on
what we do. I am so excited about the
quality of these players. We can play
much better and get more points. We
have seven games in less than three
weeks, it’ll be a crazy, crazy, crazy
time. Everything can happen.”
Grabban scored either side of half
time to bring his season’s tally to 19,
with substitute Ryan Yates adding an
85th-minute third. Karlan Grant
scored a stoppage-time consolation
from the penalty spot after Joe
Worrall had brought down Frazier
Campbell.
Huddersfield Town remain in the
bottom three on goal difference. Their
day was made worse when substitute
Juninho Bacuna was sent off for an
89th-minute foul on Nuno da Costa.
Forest almost took the lead after
four minutes when Sammy Ameobi
drilled a shot against a post, but they
might have fallen behind soon after.
Ben Watson appeared to foul Alex
Pritchard in the box but the referee,

‘Attitude shift’ helps Monk’s

men to sink off-form City

ROB STEWART

Lee Johnson, the Bristol City

manager, pointed the finger of blame

at his own players after his club’s play-

off ambitions were dealt a blow by a

rejuvenated Sheffield Wednesday.

Garry Monk, the Wednesday

manager, sensed a “big shift” in his

players’ attitude which, helped by an

impressive midfield performance

from Barry Bannan, earned his side a

deserved and valuable win.

Johnson lamented defensive

shortcomings after Wednesday struck

twice at set pieces, through Connor

Wickham and Massimo Luongo,

before Nahki Wells hit back for the

hosts at Ashton Gate.

“It was so frustrating because

unfortunately individual errors cost

us dearly,” Johnson said. “Defenders

have to actually do their jobs in the

box and if they don’t it’s very difficult

to win at this level.”

In an attempt to invigorate his

club’s faltering promotion challenge

Johnson made seven changes to the

line-up that lost 3-1 at Blackburn

Rovers eight days earlier. Early signs

that the new-look City could stop

their winless streak stretching to

seven games proved misleading. They

were denied an early lead when Joe

Wildsmith’s stunning reflex save

foiled Nathan Baker, then fell behind

when Wickham, on loan from Crystal

Palace, scored in the 13th minute.

Left unmarked by the ponderous

centre back Ashley Williams,

Wickham powerfully

headed Jacob

Murphy’s near-post

corner beyond Niki

Maenpaa.

With Bannan,

Wednesday’s skipper,

dominating midfield

— and later earning

plaudits from Johnson

— it seemed only a

matter of time before the

advantage was doubled,

thanks to City’s

listlessness. It duly happened

in the 59th minute when Murphy’s

low corner was deflected into the

path of Luongo, who pounced to fire

home and leave Johnson exasperated.

“The first was a good header but it

was a poor goal to concede — the

sort that drives you mad,” Johnson

said. “The second was even more

frustrating. The job of our near-post

man is to clear our lines and there

was a great opportunity to put a foot

through it.”

Johnson responded by sending on

the striker Famara Diedhiou in place

of Benik Afobe, who began his first

game in nine months after knee

surgery, and bulking up midfield with

Andreas Weimann withdrawn for

Adam Nagy. The changes finally got

City going and Nahki Wells profited

in the 69th minute, nodding in after

Wildsmith brilliantly kept out Baker’s

header to set up a tense finale.

With Wednesday still threatened by

a possible points deduction because of

a misconduct charge, it was a

welcome win for the Yorkshire side,

who are now ten points off the

relegation places.

Monk said: “I could

definitely sense the

majority of the group

used lockdown to get

fitter and reflect on their

own situations and

attitudes. I saw a big shift

and I knew that

change in culture

and mentality

would come out in

the game.”

fi

GRAHAM HILL

Proud Lamouchi sees

Forest move up to fourth

quarters last week against Wigan —

we had to respond but I don’t want us

to be gallant losers,” Danny Cowley,

the Huddersfield manager, said. “I

trust my players and we’re not out

and not dead. We’ll fight really hard.

“As for Bacuna, I can’t defend the

indefensible. He knows how I feel.”

Yates celebrates Forest’s third, which ensured Lamouchi had a happy anniversary

MATT BUNN/BPI/REX

Wickham celebrates scoring

Wednesday’s opening goal

RECENT FOREST MANAGERS

2009-2011.........................................B Davies

June 2011-Oct 2011................S McClaren

Oct 2011-July 2012....................S Cotterill

July 2012-Dec 2012 ..............S O’Driscoll

Dec 2012-Feb 2013 ..................A McLeish

Feb 2013-March 2014.................B Davies

March 2014-July 2014................G Brazil*

July 2014-Feb 2015......................S Pearce

Feb 2015- March 2016.......D Freedman

March 2016-May 2016 ..........P Williams

June 2016-Jan 2017...........P Montanier

Jan 2017-March 2017..................G Brazil*

March 2017- Dec 2017....M Warburton

Dec 2017-Jan 2018.......................G Brazil*

Jan 2018-Jan 2019..................A Karanka

Jan-June 2019...............................M O’Neill

June 2019- ................................S Lamouchi

*Caretaker manager