Key occasions
Half-time e mail: ““You talked about Anderson, begins Karen Asad. “You think he might be the missing piece in Man nited’s midfield and make a formidable partnership with Mainoo? I trust him more than Baleba. What about Gibbs-White for Bruno? I think that might work fine too.”
I think that of the three domestic players United are said to be watching – Anderson, Baleba, Wharton – he’s the best fit, but he may well have better offers. I really like Gibbs-White, but if Bruno were to leave, it’d need a big tactical rethink because of the numbers that’d be lost.
Elsewhere, Crystal Palace lead Zrinjski 1-0 on the night, 2-1 on aggregate.
HALF-TIME: Nottingham Forest (3) 0-1 (1) Fenerbahce
This is a contest. If Forest don’t start creating, they’re vulnerable.
45+3 min I’m interested in how Archie Brown came to move from West Brom to Lausanne. It’s great to see young players getting the experience of living and working in different countries.
45+1 min Here come Fener again, a lovely ball floated over the top by Kante, picking out Akturkoglu, whose lovely backheel, flicked square, puts Cherif in! He shoots low … and Ortega dives right to shovel it away. Another narrow escape for Forest.
45 min We’re going to have four additional minutes.
43 min Fener will think they can win this – Forest haven’t threatened a goal, whereas they’ve scored one and could’ve had a second. If they were to nick another, things’d get very nervous indeed.
41 min Hutchinson plays back to Murillo, waiting on the left touchline, but too hard and too wide of him, Oguz collecting and powering away. He looks up, sees Akturkoglu arriving into the box, and clips back … only for a half-hit finish to bobble wide of the far post. That was a chance, and another warning for Forest.
40 min Lucca ploughs via Ismail and is booked.
39 min Risky pass from Ancderson, who turns away from Nene, facing his own goal, nicely done, but his square-ball to Morato is ill advised and ill controlled, Cherif collecting and hacking into the side-netting.
38 min In general play, Forest have been OK, but they’re yet to create a chance, most recently Williams crossing too high even for Lucca.
37 min It’s absolutely caning down; naturally there’s a youngster in the crowd in short sleeves. Hold tight!
36 min Forest half-clear and Akturkoglu sends it back in, the ball bouncing and skidding, forcing Ortega to get involved … and his handling is secure.
34 min McAtee into the box, dipping inside to create a crossing angle, and the cross arrives at Anderson who can’t sort out his feet in time to direct a shot on target. No doubt there’s a chart that suggests to the contrary, but as far as the eye test goes, Anderson covers a vomitous amount of ground. Anyway, back to the game, Fener win a corner.
33 min On the touchline, Vitor Pereira tells Murillo to calm himself, always the best way to placate someone experiencing fury. My wife and daughter are particular fans.
33 min I would, though, like to see Anderson improve his short passing between the lines – I think he’s got it in his locker, and those, more than the big switches, allow a player to dictate a game.
32 min Forest win it in midfield and Dominguez finds McAtee, who’s dispossessed by Brown. Anderson then tries a long pass – he’s really good at them – but the skiddy pitch takes it away.
30 min Fener get the corner away but Forest are doing a decent job of boxing them in and win another immediately, Kante and Guendouzi getting it away.
28 min Forest win a free-kick on the right, 30 yards from goal. Anderson and Hutchinson are behind it; the latter moves away, then the former sends in an outswinger, and Demir’s header concedes the corner.
26 min We might criticise Forest for leaving it 2v2 at the back, but they should play this game as though it’s 0-0 not 3-0, and be able to rely on their defenders to go man -to-man at the back.
24 min Anderson motors into the inside-left channel, his run telling Hutchinson what to do. He turns inside Oguz superbly but far too easily and sees a shooting lane open up so, from a tight angle, he fires a hard, low inswinger … just past the far post.
GOAL Nottingham Forest (3) 0-1 (1) Fenerbahce (Akturcoglu 22)
Immediate counter from Fener, Cherif marauding down the right, and his cross just about eludes Williams, who faceplants for extra points. Meantime, Akturcoglu controls and swishes a low shot into the far corner. Game on?
21 min Anderson has such a ridiculous engine – he turns up in the no 10 position to beat a man and lay off a sensible pass. Nothing comes of it, but Forest come again, the dangerous Hutchinson doing Demir on the outside and crossing low … but hte ball is cleared.
19 min Nene, who was down a couple of minutes ago, tangles with Hutchinson, takes a finger to the face, and hurls himself backwards to the ground. He’s fine.
17 min We’ve seen near enough nothing of Fenerbahce as an attacking force yet, and of course they’re depleted by injury, but they’re 3-0 down, they need to do something.
15 min Ball out to Hutchinson who slows down Muldur then dashes past him, whipping in a really inviting cross, but again, no one can get anything on it.
14 min I’ve not seen much of Lucca, but he’s putting himself about. If I was Vitor pereira, I’d be telling my wingers and midfielders to stand balls up to the penalty spot and far post, because if he gets a run on, no one’s beating him in the air.
12 min Lovely from Anderson, picking his way along the by-line and poking a ball across the face of the six-yard box that beseeches a tap=in, but no one gambles and it passes through the corridor and to relative safety.
11 min Good straight ball into Lucca, who controls well and lays off for McAee, who swerves around his man nicely only to thread a pass in behind to no one.
9 min Guendouzi moves forward and spreads the play, but Forest quickly win the ball back and Hutchinson attacks down the left, swinging an excellent low cross into the corridor, but ahead of the onrushing Lucca.
8 min Eeeesh, he’s grimacing now, and off the pitch getting things sorted. I’m not sure he’ll get from 90 degrees to 180, but a respectable 150 will be enough for now.
6 min The away end if proper bouncing, fans in red and yellow on the outsides and those in the middle dressed in black. Meantime, Yates challenges Oguz, pulling him back, and his finger has popped. Credit where it’s due, he takes it superbly, not even grimacing.
4 min Forest knock it about nicely, giving it away as soon as they try to progress the ball get it forward. They look confident, though.
3 min We’re back under way.
2 min Rain is swirling in Nottingham, which we’re being shown rather than whatever’s going on in the away end.
1 min A flare has been launched on to the pitch from the away finish, so we’ve stopped.
1 min And away we go.
Does the Europa League want a theme tune? What does the Conference have?
…and here they come!
Our teams are tunnelled…
They’re taking part in Born Slippy on the City Ground, greater than sufficient excuse for me to embed this:
Does any other riff immediately transport you back to a time and place as intensely as this one? If so, I’d like to hear it.
“The game starts 0-0,” Vitor Pereira tells TNT, saying his team need to play with ambition and organisation, enjoying it and showing their quality.
Today is an opportunity for the likes of Jair Cunha to show he’s got the quality and mentality necessary, but the games are like training – the players need to improve.
On the telly, they’ve just been discussing James McAtee, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he does tonight. City are now in that spot United were under Alex Ferguson, where clubs buy their players because they know the standard can be too high for good ones to make it and respect the managers who keep them around. He’s got a lovely touch and decent vision, but does he have the ability to impose that? We don’t yet know.
Forest actually did pretty well to keep as many players as they did after last season – and getting £52m+£3m for Anthony Elanga was a remarkable piece of business. I’m not sure Anderson will still be around after the summer, whereas Gibbs-White has a contract – but there surely comes a point at which players don’t trust Marinakis with their careers and just want to up sticks from the upheaval.
Bizarre goings-on in the Conference League – Fiorentina, 3-0 up on Jagiellonia Bialystock from the first leg, are now level at 3-3, Bartosz Mazurek having scored a hat-trick.
Back to Elliot Anderson, how good do we think he is? I like him a lot and have done since before he left Newcastle and perhaps I’m just being old here, but good though he is, when I put him then into historical context, I don’t see him as on the same planet as your Bryan Robsons, Roy Keanes, Patrick Vieiras, Paul Inces and Graeme Sounesseseseses of this world – same goes for Declan Rice.
Elsewhere, Celtic lead 1-0 in Stuttgart so trail 4-2 on aggregate. There are five minutes left – and don’t forget, it’s Ibrox on Sunday.
One Forest first-XIer who doesn’t drop top the bench is Elliot Anderson. On the one hand, I’m certain the manager would like to rest him for the league but, on the other, he can’t run the risk of letting this get close, never mind actually lose, and I guess Anderson and Murillo are the players he reckons he most needs to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Fener, meanwhile, are in the midst of an injury crisis – Ederson, Oosterwolde and the one and only Caglar Soyuncu are out so yes, that is indeed Matteo Guendouzi whose name you see at centre-back – no doubt he already considers himself better than Beckenbauer. Otherwise, Ngolo Kanté is in midfield, while Marco Asensio and Nelson Semedo are on the bench.
Unsurprisingly, Vitor Pereira makes changes – six of them. Out go Milenkovic, Aina, Sangaré, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus; in come Morato, Jair Cunha, Dominguez, McAtee, Yates and Lucca
Teams
Nottingham Forest (5-4-1): Ortega; Williams, Morato, Murillo, Jair Cunha, Hutchinson; McAtee, Anderson, Yates, Dominguez; Lucca. Subs: Gunn, Willows, Sangaré, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Ndoye, Igor Jesus, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Ainoa, Abbott.
Fenerbahce (4-3-3): Tarık; Mert Müldür, Guendouzi, Yiğit Efe, Archie Brown; Kante, İsmail Yüksek, Oğuz Aydın; Nene, Cherif, Kerem Aktürkoğlu. Subs: Engin Can Biterge, Hulusi Ceylan, Asensio, Mercan, Nélson Semedo, Alettin Ekici, Kamil Efe Üregen.
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
Preamble
There’s something idyllic, cutesy and pure about a football team whose surname is “Forest” – just as there is about the surname “Marinakis”.
No one really wants to dwell on owners – frankly, they’re the opposite of why we’re here. But it’s impossible to talk about Forest without noting that, after they recorded the club’s finest season in generations, the manager who made it possible was binned, likewise his successor, and his successor.
As such, Forest now sit fifth-bottom of the Premier League … but they still boast almost all the players who did so well last season, along with the various they’ve added, Omari Hutchinson and Igor Jesus among them. Or, in other words, they’ve a serious chance of winning this competition, a solid defence, excellent midfield and reliable goalscorer giving them more than most, the combination ideal for knockout football.
Leading 3-0 from the first leg, Vitor Pereira’s boys look good to make the last 16, where Midtjylland or Real Betis await; the question really is whether he can stay in post long enough to preside over it.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT
