Calum Mills says…
Robin Roefs…enough said
What a signing he’s been. How have we managed to pick him up?
Save after save after save, and his distribution is world class too. The sidewinding volley (Jordan Pickford-esque) to find Wilson Isidor was superb, but the near-point blank save with his legs late in the second half was unbelievable.
How’s this just his second full season?
Omar Alderete stands tall
A brick wall at the back.
He’s a proper old-school centre half who puts his body on the line, jumps for every header and gives 100% in every game.
His brilliantly-timed
run to peel away towards the back post was excellent as well.
Wilson the Warrior
Special mention for the lone man up front, as he ran his socks off to press and create space for Chris Rigg or Enzo Le Feè to run in to.
He has pace to burn which was a big worry for Forest’s backline and should be a bigger worry for teams coming up.
Granit Xhaka leads by example
Like Roefs, he’s been a revelation.
His array of passes is a spectacle in itself, but he just reads the game so well. We had our backs to the wall for around fifty minutes of that game and he was orchestrating the Lads behind him with ease.
Happy Birthday, Skipper!
John Wilson says…
Sunderland show their steel
What a win that was.
Uncharted territory for over fifteen years, and “Doing a Sunderland” is becoming a phrase from the past.
We’re going to have to adjust our mindset as to what to expect from our team. We’re competitive, combative and a force to be reckoned with.
Captain Marvel leads from the front
I agree with Sky Sports’ conclusion that Granit Xhaka was our man of the match.
All of our squad are fighters and are there for each other, but I think there’d be a serious hole if our captain was missing.
His work rate was astounding; he covered the whole of the City Ground and had another assist. Superb.
A tough night for Arthur Masuaku
Always difficult after such a heartwarming performance, but Masuaku was certainly not up to speed.
It’ll come, I’m sure. West Ham fans loved ‘King Arthur’ but he was very rusty, with misplaced passes and mistimed tackles.
Some slack play late on
I have to think hard for negatives but when we were under pressure late on, we didn’t keep hold of the ball well enough.
Instead, we opted for a boot down the pitch instead of trying to remain in possession, but hey ho: what a win!
Lars Knutsen says…
Omar Alderete’s goal
We went ahead at a great time in this game as Alderete headed home powerfully from Granit Xhaka’s excellent cross, and he looked absolutely delighted to score his first Premier League goal.
Leading late in the first half meant we went into the break with our tails up. It gave us something to defend and we did that very tenaciously. Once ahead, I just knew that we would win after I witnessed our defensive performance at Selhurst Park.
Being defensively sound is so critical for success in this division.
Robin Roefs dominates again!
What a signing this Dutch goalkeeper has been!
He looks calm and dominates his box with great talent and efficiency. He has totally bought in to what Régis Le Bris and we as fans want. We can all see what confidence he has in the back four in front of him, and I’m sure the feeling and respect is mutual.
This was the whole basis of a really solid away performance that takes us into the top four.
No real negatives!
The two bookings were avoidable, but this is a day when fans can be incredibly proud of how this team has gelled, fight for each other and won away at a very decent top division side.
I have a soft spot for Ange Postecoglou, his articulate approach to football and his uncompromising commitment to attacking play. We came out as the more effective team, but nobody likes to see role models such as him having a hard time of it.
Mark Wood says…
Roefs raised his ceiling
Sorry, I couldn’t resist!
He won’t have been happy with the goal we conceded in last weekend’s battling comeback with ten men, but if there were any faint doubts about the pedigree of our goalkeeper despite his dominant introduction to the Premier League, he doused them all here.
He was superb — not just with the saves he pulled out of the bag to protect our lead but also with his handling, command of the area and distribution.
He has everything you want to see in a top flight keeper. Not every team in the Premier League can say that, and his pass to put Wilson Isidor through and ability to pick out blue shirts on the touchline had shades of Jordan Pickford.
Xhaka shows his worth
Even though my own man of the match would’ve been Roefs, you can’t overlook how good Granit Xhaka was yesterday
He was immense, picking up the ball and playing calm passes for the whole game when the home team were piling on the pressure, buying fouls by being a bit savvy and clever, and it was probably his best game for us.
He was made captain as soon as he arrived in the summer and this was a real captain’s performance. I’d be fascinated to hear from maybe one or two of our longstanding players as to what he’s brought to the dressing room.
A tough final twenty minutes
It was a game where we looked very very comfortable for the first half and even for much of the second, but good grief: it was a long last twenty minutes or so!
Forest had chances; Roefs pulled off some great saves and it seemed to be one of those days where time slowed down. For all the pressure we were under towards the end, I still felt we managed the game really well and it never got to any frantic last-gasp defending.
Régis Le Bris shaped us into a back five with the introduction of Dan Ballard and kept tiring legs fresh with the timely introduction of his subs. For all Forest’s huffing and puffing, we deserved something out of the game for sure.
Do not adjust your TV sets!
I was looking at the league table after the game, in the same way that you do when something is wrong with your telly. I mean, seventh after a decent start to the season isn’t so out of the ordinary, but third?
I was thinking there’s something wrong there — surely were they showing the table upside-down? I was nearly ready to tap the top of the TV to see if it would right itself because it just seemed incredulous and not the script that we’re meant to be following at all. But we’re here on merit and not once so far this season have we looked like we were going to get beaten up.
All the wins have been deserved; we went to Crystal Palace and looked the better team in the first half before grinding out a point, and we looked the better bet for three points last week with ten men.
You never know, Peter Reid’s promoted team were second in the Premier League on 2 October 1999…
