1. This game was disappointing. These games have been disappointing for a while now. There are many reasons for this: the absence of wounding, the lack of atmosphere, the over-hyped expectations, the half forgotten smell of beer on concrete. But the main reason is that Derby have become irritating rubbish.
2. Derby are irritating rubbish because (a) they are rubbish, like a skipful of discarded fish, and (b) they are irritating, like a skipful of discarded fish which, no matter how hard you hit them, refuse to stop flopping around, like that pike on the banks of Clumber Lake that time.
3. Derby have nothing to offer except a kind of floppy resistance (see fish) and an enormous amount of flukery. The "thunderous" drive from Kashmir Richards (the one where he controlled the ball with his hand first) which equalised the scores was of the same order as Waghorn's "thunderous" free kick at the City Ground. Neither of these feats will ever be repeated by these players. If you asked them to repeat the shots, they would fall over and flop around like stranded fish, possibly making a "woo" noise as they did so.
4. The first 20 minutes of the match was a distressing mess, mainly because Derby played car-park football with no discernible purpose, like fish. Being attacked by fish, particularly the car-park variety, is confusing until you decide to do something about it, like score.
5. The technique displayed by James Garner for his shot on goal was of a very high order. That displayed by Derby goalkeeper Marshall for his attempt at a save was not. He was almost immediately replaced by somebody with hands.
6. For most of the rest of the match, Forest were so superior it was actually embarrassing. In this regard, if you watch the highlights, do not think they offer in any way a fair reflection of the match as a whole. They do not show the guts of the match, the bits Derby don't want you to see. They do not show the bewildering fluency of Forest's play, the assurance of Cafu, the trickery of Knockout and Krovinovic, the slick promise of a confident and increasingly coherent side.
7. And yet for all that, Forest couldn't kill the fish. Not even the fish in a barrel which Derby had become. For all Krovinovic and Knockout's world-beating fancy dannery, they seemed unable to deliver the final blow by either shooting accurately or feeding the striker. It is a real problem, this. Even when Forest were playing like Barcelona, you knew they needed to score at least one more, because even fish can conjure up the odd fluke. It is this failure to score more goals that is hampering Forest's progress towards domination over all fish.
8. Stop blaming Toby Figgis. The odd mistake by a vastly improved defender is not the problem. The problem lies at the front end. Score more goals, the odd defensive mistake becomes irrelevant.
9. Wooney appeared to have discovered sense when he angrily admitted that his side was lucky, then reverted to dimwit mode with his assertion that 1-1 was a fair result. But enough of Wooney's tentative grip on reality or indeed the relentless whining of the Rams ... Forest have bigger fish to fry, starting with Lutontown on Tuesday.
MEANWHILE, HERE'S HENRY LONGFELLOW'S NOTTINGHAM FOREST VIDEO BLOG ARCHIVE STUFF
