by RETURN OF THE JEDI
Despite enjoying the luxury of a six-point buffer, Nottingham Forest finished just one place above the relegation zone at the end of last season in May. One of the best b@nter clubs of the campaign, they excluded their captain and club legend, Joe Worrall, to better free up dressing room space for at least one of the 4,189 new signings they had made Before. began. In December, they sacked their coach and replaced him with a seemingly beaten manager, described in a certain podcast a few million miles away as looking like “a sad Jedi” after his short, disastrous reign at Spurs. They also received four points for financial shenanigans and that’s before we get to the very public rant questioning the integrity of the PGMOL because one of their video assistant referees was a Luton fan, a disgrace on the social media which would ultimately cost them £750,000.
Whatever various prophets of the past supporting Forest may claim, with 20/20 hindsight, now that their team is flying so high, there was no earthly reason for anyone doing season previews in August to think that the club owned by Evangelos Marinakis and managed by Nuno Espírito Santo would be less chaotic this time around. While some so-called experts tipped Forest to relegation at the start of the season, other more prescient soothsayers suggested they could reach the dizzying heights of 15th place. It’s still early, of course, but in the extremely unlikely event that anyone thinks he might be in third place with more than a quarter of the season played, he wisely kept his advice for fear of being considered completely deranged.
Apart from their sole defeat against Fulham, which prompted a wave of fines and suspensions for the sporting grace with which it was accepted, Forest are otherwise unbeaten, scoring goals for fun and boasting the second tightest defense in the league. Much of the credit for Forest’s defensive vigor goes to Nikola Milenkovic, a £12million arrival from Fiorentina whose arrival was met with little more than shrugs and Google searches , but is already shaping up to be a wonderful deal. While initially few might have expected Chris Wood to be more thoroughbred than a workhorse with his late challenge for the Ballon d’Or.
Elsewhere on the pitch, Morgan Gibbs-White has excelled although his recent spell at the Naughty Step proved his side have plenty of other stars in reserve, while in the absence of Worrall, who is now at Burnley, Ryan Yates (and to a lesser extent Zach Abbott) continued their side’s fairly astonishing record, which has had a local academy graduate in every match squad for 83 years, over a run of – count ’em – 4,077 matches . With speculative talk inevitably and almost certainly prematurely over whether this Forest team can ‘do a Leicester’, one suspects their fans will happily wait until they secure another twenty or so points to ensure safety before even considering the fanciful notion of emulating “that lot” just down the road.
LIVE ON A MAJOR WEBSITE
Join Rob Smyth at 8pm BST for updates on Liverpool 3-1 Leverkusen in the Bigger Cup, while Yara El-Shaboury will follow Sporting’s goals against Manchester City and beyond in her bumper watch.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The FA had so much control over our money and income… we couldn’t go there: ‘Just [eff]“I want to give us more money,” even though it was really tempting to do that because what the guys were getting compared to us was ridiculous. ” – England legend Steph Houghton sits down with Donald McRae to talk about the quest for parity, struggling under Sarina Wiegman, and supporting her husband with MND.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the pod team for the latest episode of Football Weekly.
DAILY FOOTBALL LETTERS
Re: severe red cards (letters from yesterday’s Football Daily). In 2007 (I think) I caught a red while running the line. As a first team player we had a linesman list for the first half of the reserves game and I was on duty. From a corner (my attacking club), the inswinger was easily claimed by the goalkeeper, a good meter from the field of play. The comically incompetent referee decided, from his vantage point at the top of the area, that the ball had crossed the line and awarded another corner. Naturally, the opposition looked at me with puzzlement. After explaining to me that my flag was down and that I would speak to the referee, said official pulled me aside and asked why I didn’t raise my flag for a ball that was clearly out. . When I said something like “well…because it wasn’t,” he gave me a yellow for dissent. My snapshot “are you kidding?” Earned me a second instant yellow” – Jarrod Prosser.
In college, my teammate Henry Mance had his name taken for, probably, a typically rustic challenge. “Mance… like a romance,” he kindly suggested to the referee. The card was immediately upgraded to a more romantic red” – Paul Reeve.
Send letters to mailto:the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s Letter of the Day winner is… Jarrod Prosser, who picks up a Football Weekly sash. The terms and conditions of our competitions can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED SEARCH
It’s our man David Squires on… the Manchester United hive mind picking Rúben Amorim and suspicious minds elsewhere.
And unlike yesterday, it’s now officially your one-month warning: David’s new book, Chaos in the Box, comes out December 5th. Order now for 20% off.
RECOMMENDED VOTE
Voting is open in the United States for the 2024 Football Supporters’ Association Awards and Big Website is once again offering writers and podcasts for the gongs. Unfortunately, there still isn’t a best teatime email section. Either way, you know what to do! VOTE! VOTE!! VOTE!!!
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Rúben Amorim insists he is not “the new Sir Alex Ferguson”. He’s just a man, standing in front of disillusioned fans, asking them to love him. Meanwhile, 52% of Manchester United season ticket holders would prefer to be relocated to a new ground rather than a patched-up Old Trafford.
Tottenham have won two games in a row (!) so, naturally, Ange Postecoglou was honored by the flamboyant Australian High Commission in “An Evening with [Big] Angel” at Australia House in London, with tributes from Britain’s most senior Australian and Greek diplomats. Does this count as a trophy for Spurs?
Martin Ødegaard is expected to return for Arsenal in the Bigger Cup match at Inter after recovering from a knock to his ankle.
Harry Wilson’s two stoppage-time goals gave Fulham a dramatic 2-1 victory over derby rivals Brentford.
Rising above the chorus of tiny violins in close proximity, Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City must accept that defending their Premier League title will be a “struggle”.
Arne Slot is in a more vocal mood, insisting that Mohamed Salah’s quality can be compared to that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
And Brendan Rodgers hates fireworks. Pass it on.
DO YOU STILL WANT MORE?
Investment is needed to maintain growth, but recent deals with Saudi oil and betting companies run counter to the values of the women’s game, writes Suzanne Wrack.
Xabi Alonso returns to Liverpool with Bayer Leverkusen. Andy Hunter on the Spaniard’s future, the Big Cup and why he is keen to avoid any talk of ‘tourism’.
Sid Lowe asks: With Spain still mourning Valencia flood victims, why did La Liga continue to play?
Jackson Irvine chats to Joey Lynch about life in the red-hot Bundesliga.
Will Unwin in the last big hurray for Manchester sporting manager Rúben Amorim and Manchester sporting director (say that three times fast) Hugo Viana as they host City in the Big Cup.
There is a terrible paradox at the heart of modern football’s economic model: the consequences on players’ bodies could lead to a more balanced Premier League. Jonathan Wilson has more.
And Ignacio Palacios-Huerta has done the math and believes UEFA has risked the popularity of the Bigger Cup by increasing the offer.
MEMORY TRACK
Remember, remember November 5, 2011: It was the year Mario Balotelli set his own house on fire by setting off fireworks in his bathroom because…Mario Balotelli. His antics were celebrated by a bonfire society in Kent who created a giant effigy of the former Manchester City striker to set ablaze on Guy Fawkes Night.
