Forest, Wood, Trees

Nottingham Forest couldn't close the gap on Liverpool, but they did go toe-to-toe with them, and demonstrated yet again why they're so high up the Premier League.

“A top half finish might be stretching things, but after two full seasons in the Premier League they should be improving by now. Subsistence will no longer cut it. And with this in mind, perhaps what Nottingham Forest need this season is one of mists and mellow fruitfulness, a season blessedly free of the drama that cast such a pall over their last rodeo. The last two seasons have been uphill battles to stay in the Premier League in the first place, and supporters can certainly be forgiven expecting more than another attritional fight against the drop.”

So I wrote about Nottingham Forest in the middle of August as the Premier League season started. Along with everybody else in football, I didn’t manage to predict this, though I didn’t do as bad as some. And look where they are now. The noise became louder in the days building up to last night’s match at The City Ground started as a whisper, before growing louder and louder. They couldn’t, could they? They couldn’t, could they? The answer to that question remains ‘probably no’, but despite not closing that gap last night they did at least hold them to a draw. It’s starting to feel as though it’s at least conceivable that they could finish in at least a European spot for the simple reason that they are an excellent football team.