Smash and grab in the 94th minute wins it for dogged Blues

Broja for Beto.

Where is Alcaraz?

You just knew those two would be picked, for fuck’s sake!

Dyche Mk 2.

Harrison and Doucoure will start every game from now till season end. Hugely frustrating as neither is good enough and both will surely leave in the summer.

Wish he’d use some squad players — how on earth do we know whether to buy Alcaraz if he doesn’t play?!

Surely Alcaraz should start.

Dyche-like selection…

He won’t start Alcaraz because forced into buying from number of starts he makes.

Obviously they’ve not made a decision yet on him…

Put your money on Alcaraz leaving and Harrison staying this summer.

Harrison is a Moyes type of player while Alcaraz isn’t I’m afraid.

Referee from hell, Craig Pawson, is back to stitch us up if required.

He can do what he likes and no one is going to stop him — and Everton won’t even complain!

I don’t believe for a minute Alcaraz isn’t starting due to the requirement to buy him after a certain number of appearances. Plenty of games left to trigger that clause.

We’re away to a top team that breaks quickly. Alcaraz is still settling in. The team selection is spot on for me.

I think Beto is hard done to here. Broja is made of glass and it shows, he reluctantly goes into challenges due to past injuries.

The Forest centre-backs can put their slippers on instead of their studs today. Hope he proves me wrong but I would rather have Chermiti start.

He obviously is hoping the ball will stick up top with Broja, and that he can take the chances Beto’s missed of late.

Options off the bench for the last 60, just hope we are still in the game.

Beto had been a bit like Calvert-Lewin in missing sitters.

Maybe coming off the bench will motivate him!

Same old, same old.

Where’s the proper Number 10, Moyes?

Ian,

I think you’re being a tad optimistic if you think Moyes will make changes after the first 30 minutes!

Andy #9.

Unbelievable. The two worst players start and finish the game. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

The starting line-up could be more adventurous but I’d expect the required effort from all those who are starting. This could be real end-to-end stuff.

Hopefully the pressing is sufficiently high and energetic to make it so uncomfortable for them that they can’t get into their stride.

A day to try fighting fire with fire.
UT🔥T!

Doucoure and Harrison!!!!!!!!!!!

Does Moyes owe them money or something?

Well, not the greatest game ever … but a stinker? Bit strong that from Chappers on 5 Live.

At least The Blues are well involved — must be ahead on possession and passes?

Yes, 43% – 57%

Passes: 193 – 258… quite a difference.

A nothing 1st half in which Doucoure as usual stuffed up every time he touched the ball.

Harrison has become non-existent, Gana is having a stinker and while Broja occasionally shows he may be a better footballer than Beto, he hasn’t got Beto’s presence.

Half-time changes please, Mr Moyes.

Only time Moyes will make a change is if we go a goal behind.

Get Chermiti on, for fuck’s sake.

Yea. Well done, Moyes.

Take our most skillful player and leave our least skillful player on.

A win is a win. And who else to grab the goal?!!

I’ll watch it back later to comment in more detail.

Well, what dya make of that???

Resilience, dogged defending, hopeless attacking… until the very end. And a brilliant finish.

David Moyes at his best?

Colin, Harrison and Doucoure were superb today. We played Forest off the park.

You wrote to me earlier:

“Andy # 9.

Unbelievable. The two worst players start and finish the game. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.“

I think it’s your lack of judgment that’s ‘unbelievable’.

A great win, a great performance from the team and the team was superbly set up by Moyes.

Absolutely brilliant win.

Harrison and Doucoure… who would be a manager?

Well done, Dwight McNeil, for the assist… a good performance all round.

Two phrases seldom heard:

Fine performance by Harrison.

Gamewinner to Doucoure.

Eventually made use of possession. McNeil’s pass made the difference and Doucoure got the right connection in the box.

Makes a difference getting a goal at the death, rather than conceding one.

Oh David Moyes, Davy Davy Davy Moyes.

Two defeats in what 14 games. One of them to the league winners.

Thank you for turning the club around.

Things will get better under his leadership, I’m sure.

Well, well, well… there’ll be a few of the “usual suspects” spittin’ feathers this evening after that late, late win.

Andy, I’ve got to be honest. I’m not sure what you were watching.

Doucoure was really poor for 94 minutes. His best work was when he was anonymous.

But he’s there because he gets up and down. That and that alone.

Harrison had an uncharacteristically good game after a very characteristic first 20 or so minutes.

We were the better team. The win is deserved, even if it really didn’t look like we would score.

Smash and Grab? Grossly unfair. In fact, just wrong.

Dominated and Fully Deserved. Beer will taste Good. COYB.

Deserved win according to Radio Merseyside. Mark Pembridge – thoroughly deserved.

Everton were the more likely team to score as game went on — and Wood didn’t get a sniff. Well done, Blues.

Ironically, our goal came from the one time in the game when Forest tried to force things and we sat back.

It’s rare that they make those kind of mistakes and Nuno will be livid.

Great result, Blues! Only Liverpool and Arsenal have taken anything from the City Ground this season. Sounded to me from the commentary that it was deserved as well.

Fair play to Moyes.

Second half not a great deal better than the first but that bloke who runs around like the proverbial headless and had stuffed up almost everything he’d touched turned up in just the right spot — and not for the first time this season. However, just as well the interception fell to just the right man to set it up.

Had you told somebody who knew nothing about the game that one of those sides had only just broken away from a relegation fight and the other was riding in the Premier League’s top 4, I doubt they could have told you which was what based on that game.

Roll on the 4 points from the “Top 4” while being unlucky against the probable Champions brigade… and what price Moyes for at least one more year?

I’ve watched the goal three times now. McNeil’s robbery of Murrillo was beautiful, and the pass was better. Doucoure’s finish was perfect.

But the best of all was watching the traveling Blues go insane right behind the goal. They so deserved that.

Let’s not get into the “told you so” game.

We won and should celebrate the 3 points.

A very well deserved win, if unlikely, in the end.

Doucoure did not a lot during the game, so I guess he gets picked again next game.

All played well!

Great performance and great result against a good team with loads to play for. Arguably one of the best performances under Moyes so far.

Happy for Doucoure, who is better than many on here give him credit for, and Garner and Ndiaye did well today. Broja put in a good effort too though I’d rather see what Chermiti is capable of given that, unlike the Albanian, he will definitely be with us next season.

Best performance since David Moyes came back.

Thoroughly deserved from start to finish – a real team performance.

Well done, Everton. Excellent result.

Nice to see Broja getting back to fitness – maybe we’ll take him on loan again next season? McNeil too. Good footballer.

Harrison and Doucoure might be limited but they work hard and contribute to the defensive effort. And of course today’s goal.

The back 4 were fantastic today. Won most of their duels, Branthwaite 9 from 9 aerial duels!! Tarkowski 4 from 5.

The much-maligned Mykolenko has been fantastic since Moyes came back.

A pretty grim first half with Everton slightly the better team. But in the second half, we were well on top with Harrison for the first time I’ve seen him going past his marker on the outside and putting two good crosses in, and he got better as the half went on.

Then two changes — we brought a have-a-go striker on and took a gentle giant off and gave the Forest defence something to think about and defend. We improved further when Charly came on and he started holding the ball and setting passes up, did he deserve a penalty for that barge on him?

Then McNeil came on and made the pass that gave us the win we deserved with the usual Doucoure performance doing the unusual and scoring the winner with a controlled shot into the Forest net.

Forest offered little with Pickford having a quiet afternoon and Forest showing the poor quality of this season’s Premier League in 3rd place but showing nothing to write home about today.

Well done, Blues — now give us another performance like that next week v Man City and finish the season with three great home performances to celebrate the Old Lady’s farewell in style.

Well, Moyes proving he knows more than we do.

Harrison, a very good performance; and Doucoure, the winner.

Great win and fantastic support once again, can’t fault one performance really. Pickford had fuck all to do.

Ryan,

I thought Jarrad set the tone for his game by flattening Jota in the first moments. He was dominant throughout.

For me the best performance this season.

They never gave up, kept belief and got a well earned victory!

UTFTs!

It seems to me more and more a case of this squad being capable. They were simply worn down by the previous manager’s approach. I think we just moved out of new manager bounce territory.

I may need a couple of pints to contemplate how he is getting improvement in the players’ confidence. The spacing of the back four and midfield positioning is key.

Getting this run while rotating Ndiaye and Alcaraz instead of playing them together is not a result of good fortune. I have a feeling Moyes is better at communicating the assignments and how the adopted system will evolve as different players are used. Alcaraz dropping deep has me confused though.

Doucs post-match comments:

“… maybe it is going to be my last months at this club. I love this club and I try to do well.”

I thought we were the better team and showed more desire to win the game than Forest did.

I don’t think Broja deserves another game for us as he seems reluctant to stretch himself-an earlier poster mentioned that his past injuries may inhibit his efforts and that seems a reasonable assumption.

I would much prefer to see Chermiti given a run of games as he is our player and the last few games could be useful for his development. In fact I would play Doucoure up front ahead of Broja. Well done lads.

There are some very strange comments on here. We were excellent, apart from creating many clear-cut chances, and thoroughly deserved the win against one of the best teams in the league this season.

Absolutely made up for those who travelled and will have had a great away-day.

What the bollocks is that headline, Michael?

We were by far the better team, better chances, had full control of the game.

David @54, and others, we all see a game different and to be fair Michael writes these practically live.

Paul @56, good to see you pop up. I’ll ring you.

Curt @57, enjoy those pints. It will be a different squad next season, as a few have said, despite the dreadful first half of the season, there is the basis of a decent team there.

Enjoy the win blues. For those harbouring lingering any doubts over relegation until mathematically assured, only Ipswich can catch us now. If they win all of their 7 remaining matches and we lose all of our 6.

The reality is, we’ve been safe for weeks.

“Smash and Grab”??? Were you “watching” it without vision?
The commentator said when the goal went in that Everton had “won the most unlikely away 1-0 win” – I was incredulous!

We bossed that game from start to finish and were in total control. If we had lost, it would’ve been a travesty!

The only reasons we didn’t win convincingly is that we are weak in firepower and we don’t play Alcaraz at 10 from the start.

When we get Ndiaye, Alcaraz and McNeil (for his dead ball delivery) in the starting eleven plus a decent finisher (the big signing of the summer), it will be us hunting the Champions League places, not that over-achieving team from scabland! Hear them singing the sign on song? I hope they fall like a stone and miss out on Uefa.

One of the most satisfying away victories I’ve seen for a while – I just wish I had been there!

UTFT

First time in a long time we controlled the game for 90+ mins.

First half we suffered from an ineffective Broja and an unfit Ndiaye.

Second half with Beto and Alcaraz we looked like a proper team and proved we can go toe to toe with some of the better sides.

Jeff 65

He was referencing the Lord Of The Rings trilogy which he alleges he wrote.

To be fair, Andy, Colin is not alone in his thoughts about Harrison and Doucoure starting. I am of the same view and if your honest, I bet you are too. I don’t think there’s a blue on here that wouldn’t prefer Alcaraz and A.N Other in for those two.

BUT, today they did the business (although Doucoure was still mostly poor apart from the goal) and deserve their day in the sun.

Hindsight is easy but Moyes got it right in the end. I thought we bossed the whole game.

If that was Harrison and Doucoure playing for a contract then I think they’ve done their chances no harm at all, and given our squad for next season they may well be crucial.

My MOTM was Branthwaite again but I’m delighted with Mykos performance and Tarkowski was a captain from start to finish.

I love O’Brien to death but we need a good right back. O’Brien is a very good CH for the future.

And please God,look after Idrissa Gana Guaye and don’t let him grow old. He is our glue.

UTFT

I’m a very happy Blue this weekend, even though I missed out on a ticket.

Can’t believe he has picked Harrison and Doucoure again.

Same old, same old. No better than Dyche.

I’m just getting the moans in on the City thread before anyone else. Can you move it over during the week please, Michael.

And as for the headline – it was the same on the BBC. So 58% possession, 1,3 v 0,5 xG, 29 v 9 touches inside the box, 7 corners to 1, double the number of crosses and 75 v 24 on the momentum score in our favour (yeah, a new one on me) – I do not call that a Smash and Grab. That was a comprehensive victory that means Southampton and Leicester can’t catch us and Ipswich need to win all their remaining 7 games if they are to finish above us.

Beer? Nah – something bubbly. Thank you Mr Moyes and the whole squad.

Jeff (65),

I think he was signalling that the goal gets him another contract to sign!

Would you offer him one?

Agree with the above, that was a fully deserved win and we really should have won by more, great away performance.

I didn’t want to see Harrison and Doucoure start, but they both played well enough to deserve their spot (with the usual mistakes, Duke getting the goal earns him a pass!).

We’ve a solid team, with the makings of a good one if we can keep our best players and replace those leaving with upgrades.

Great to see McNeil back, what a pass – I thought he’d fluffed it at first but it was slide rule. Happy.

Outstanding win Everton and fully deserved. It makes the first 22 posts look a bit silly.

Get Doucoure resigned, and keep that other useless player Harrison.

1) The site changed ownership? Why the same negative headlines? We were the better team and deserved to win.

2) Get off Doucoure’s and Harrison’s backs. Yes, neither is Messi, but they work their socks off, love the club and – as with Doucoure in particularly – regularly make a difference. Let’s appreciate them and replace them rather than being knobs about it.

I was cursing Moyes for taking Harrison off and keeping Doucouré on as he was having one of his better games.

Even though he scored the winner, I still wouldn’t keep him at the club, and Harrison as well. But he’s deffo gotta keep Alcaraz who was very impressive when he came on.

Well said, Ray. Get behind anyone in blue shirt.

We need a squad and they’re doing their best. Come together.

A travesty not for Everton to get the result they thoroughly deserved. We gave Forest a tough time and dominated.

I will also praise Broja who showed some nice touches and hold-up play while coming back to fitness so cut him some slack!

Harrison needs shooting practice or change codes to rugby as everything goes over the bar.

Gueye still amazing and pleased the Doucoure got a goal. Beto causes big problems for defenders every time he plays.

Everton have a lot of thinking to do in the summer: who stays, who goes.

Final word of praise for Magic Moyes who still has got stick from some ungrateful posters on here recently.

A great result to damage a team chasing Champions League. Same players as before, so fair play to Moyes to get this level of performance against the top 3 in successive weeks.

Certainly that 2-0 reverse is the lowest I’ve felt coming out of Goodison Park in many a year.

Nearly mathematically safe, able to plan for next season, and despite the undoubted turnover in players ahead – a good harmony in the dressing room.

Don’t think we could of asked for much better on his return. Another weekend of green shoots…

What a dispiriting report from DK.

I listened to Snods on the Everton membership site & you’d have thought they were watching a different game. The most pertinent remark from Snods was that Forest only seemed to be playing poorly because we were playing well.

This is the theme from most of the National press who give us fuck all praise!

Fantastic result, good performance and deserved victory. The future is bright, well done Moyes and the team.

Forest are a really good side, we stifled them though and I think Moyes really did a number on them. I can’t wait for the summer, praying TFG are really going to back us.

Hi Danny, have a great celebration today, that was a class performance from Everton.

Please email – weebarra1935@outlook.com

Great win and nice to see Doucouré make a lot of pre-game posters look ridiculous.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think he should get a new contract. He has limitations as a player which are pretty obvious to anyone who watches us but I’ve never seen him not give his all in a blue shirt and he’s scored a lot of important goals for us.

He can leave our club with his head held high!

Martin, I’m not sure your your last comment was necessary. Who is ungrateful?

Great result. Well done to the team and manager. Let’s focus on that.

Smash and grab win! We bossed that game from minute one. Best performance for a long time, every single player played well today. W

e went to the very end trying to get a winner and never once looked like we sat back settling for a draw.

Good result and performance that.

Doucoure is frustrating but he was on the end of a good pass, furthest forward in the box in the 93rd minute. The finish was exceptional, any centre-forward would have been proud of that.

He gets a lot of tedious stick; he is what he is and has scored some very important goals for the club.

Martin @86, Magic Moyes!!?

Well done certainly and congratulations on a huge turnaround. But he needs to do a lot more next season before earning a moniker like that.

Let’s see what he can produce next season before going overboard though. Moyes has done well; ‘magic’ he most certainly is not.

Excellent result today though and a top performance from the whole team.

Phil @76.

A kopite neighbour is still convinced Ipswich will get maximum points and we’ll only get 2 points, if we’re lucky, from now till end of the season!!

Honestly, why are they so obsessed with us?? Answers on a postcard please.

Back to planet earth, Big Shout to our away support, each and every one of them! Enjoy the weekend!!

Sweet 3 points in the end. Drab first half with nothing in it but I felt we edged the second half, the performance was much, much better. Could have also had a penalty on another day.

Definitely not a smash-and-grab performance. We were worthy winners.

Cannot understand this drab first half nonsense. We played well from the first minute and Forest where not in it from minute 1 until the end of the game.

We were in total control throughout and played well in both halves. Pickford was untroubled throughout and every player had a decent 90 minutes. A good performance from start to finish.

If the reports are true:

1. Doucoure has not been offered a new contract but Gueye has
2. Doucoure is currently on £130,000 per week = £6,800,000 per year.

It will be interesting too if Everton do offer him a contract but at say £75,000 per week and then see what he (or his agent) says. For those of us on normal wages, if you cannot live the rest of your life on £7,800,000 (a 2-year deal), then it is pretty strange.

Annika, maybe Moyes will do a lot better next season, not sure about the overboard thing another poster was mentioning, but coming into a club 1 point above the drop zone, with key players injured, and somehow pulling Everton 18 points clear and at the same time picking up 21 points since he came in is some achievement.

Only Villa and even that with just 2 days in charge, and the width of a post at our former ground have denied Everton any points.

Whether with a team rebuild will push us even further, who knows? But from a manager saying he cannot get anymore from this team, for a new manager to then come in and pick up 21 points deserves all the praise and not once has Moyes said me or I, the first thing he does is deflect the praise from himself and says the players and fans deserve the credit.

Whether he is here for the longer term or not, he has given Everton its identity back, he has made it hard again for teams to come to Goodison Park.

Phil (101),

How do you know exactly, Doucoure is on £130k a week?

People pluck these figures out of the air. Only the player, his agent, and the club know what his annual salary is. The rest is just mischievous conjecture.

Just in from the game. Absolutely buzzing!

Outplayed them and outsung them from start to finish. Got threatened by 2 forest fans on the way back to the car, told em to get back over the picket line and wind their neck in! All bluster and no action just like their team.

Smash and Grab? Really? We were very good today and 3 or 4-0 wouldn’t have flattered us.

Harrison was poor in the first half but very good in the second, lots of credit to him.

Best away performance from the team and fans, an absolute privilege to be there.

Moyes is doing a brilliant job in my opinion and judging by the reaction of our brilliant support at the end I am not the only one that thinks that.

Well done, Blues, wonderful day out.

A great win and the first time we have totally dominated and controlled a game for a long time. We deserved the win and should have won by more.

A class finish by Doucoure and an excellent performance from Harrison – if only he could shoot! A good display by all of the team.

Great away support as always – well done Blues.

Another great away day by the sounds of it Neil.

I’m back home for City, so will hope to catch you and a few others around Goodison.

Jeff, I have no idea what it is, but we really get under their skin. Wait until we are actually challenging for something. They’ll be crying all the way to their own self-appreciation society, of which Sky and the FA are signed up members.

Peter #106, thanks.

Danny, it was fantastic today and saw Rob H on the way out of the ground. See you at The Harlech for the City game.

Absolutely mint!

Massive credit to Moyes, the players and the incredible away support! UTFT!

Is it just us or does it happen to every club? We were shite, in so much trouble on and off the pitch. Not for a week… for years. The other club in our city seem to get everything.

But we stay with what we believe in, or just love. And it feels like it could be turning. Either way, I am born and bred in Everton. I love where I am from. And I love my club. UTFT.

I’ll just add a couple of quotes that I’ve read online:

“Champions League, you’re having a laugh” was the jibe poked by Everton fans towards their opponents as the visitors claimed a smash-and-grab in the Midlands.

Everton repelled everything that came their way from their opponents before hitting them with a sucker punch to claim all three points.

The Toffees backline defended resolutely and their stubbornness paid off with only their fourth win in 68 away games against a side in the top three.

When the headline says “Smash and grab in the 94th minute”, I think you can safely conclude that it was referring to the goal (ie, not the whole game).

Forest at the time, and for the last 9 minutes of the game, apparently carried the greater threat of scoring, so it qualifies as a classic breakaway goal that was somewhat against the run of play.

We dominated possession, as I pointed out at half-time… but I’m not sure we were “controlling the game” — unless that simple measure is how you define ‘control’? I don’t think I do.

I don’t know if there’s any measure of this but the game was mostly helter-skelter stuff with very little flow, loads of error-strewn turnovers, and very poor quality in the final third. I don’t think anyone was in control of anything.

Now if that was because (a) we defended resolutely for 97 minutes; and (b) we were utterly hopeless in their penalty area for 93 minutes — despite numerous corners and free-kicks that we totally wasted — then yes, okay, we controlled the game.

I don’t know how you can say it should have been 0-3 — I only remember one decent shot in the whole game. And that was the goal. Which was brilliant.

But fine margins — the crucial pass seemed certain to be picked off by the sole forest defender… but somehow miraculously, it wasn’t. And equally miraculous was Doucoure’s finish. Somehow, he didn’t mess it up!

Smash and Grab? Clueless!

Headline change:Everton get late winner after Complete Control Performance!!

We were by far the better side, well done Moyes and the players.

As previous David. Focus on the win and points. I’m not sure why a title chosen by the author is causing offence.

When you take the time to pen a report, you choose a headline as you see it.

I don’t really care. A good report and we can enjoy Match of the Day tonight.

The Pink Echo Toffeegirl is dancing with her umbrella tonight.

Michael #112, I was at the game and can assure you it was anything but smash and grab. Yes, Forest were pushing for a winner but it was all huff and puff and we still looked the most likely to score.

Ndiaye was unfortunate not to score when Sels saved well. Alcaraz tried to be too clever and put an effort over the bar when a straightforward side foot would have done the job.

We did certainly waste numerous corners; however, we were comfortably the better team today and yes, 3 or 4-0 would not have flattered us. For all their effort, Forest never really looked like scoring and were outplayed.

Harrison had a great chance, and Garner’s was a bit safe, Ndiaye got dealt with by Sels, Beto never in control of it. Doucoure winner.

Vs one shot in the first half dealt by Pickford. Two penalty shouts either way for Wood & Alcaraz.

In control in terms of possession and quality of chances I’d say.

@101

Doesn’t matter what his wage is. If he did a contract gesture every time he gave the ball away rather than when he scored a goal, then we’d see a more accurate reflection of where he’s at.

The least he can do is contribute the occasional winner such as the one today for this club.

Fair play to him, previously and under dire circumstances he showed up. I will always applaud this man for giving his all. But he’s a very limited footballer with outstanding physical attributes.

The conclusion is that we should move on and let his contract expire and sign a better player, at a better age for less wages. And thank him for his service. And that’s it. No more than that is required.

Just in from a Forest supporting mate who was there today.

“Shite game but you probably deserved the win.”

Match of the day “Everton the better team and in control all match.”

Nuno Esporito “Everton were dominant today.”

Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer “no smash and grab at all.”

I hope they get their rewards for a great season, Brendan.

Whether they are one season wonders remains to be seen next time out.

Second on MotD. Compliments all round by the three stooges.

Positive vibes. The times they are a changing

It’s hard to say who will be the go-to strikers next season.

Beto is no Haaland but has been improving but Broja may need more playing time. Calvert-Lewin is a sick note and may be let go but I also think Chermiti should get more playing time in the remaining games.

We have quite a few able bodies for the midfield although Gana is now 35 and has a few to compete for his role these days.

It will be interesting to see who goes and who stays.

Colin #125

There’s more than three stooge’s on here who wouldn’t compliment the man.

IMWT2

Danny, I loved the game and win today but the Headline to the win was awful!!

We were very good today and controlled the game and were at least 2 goals better!

I was really confident we would win today. I believe Dyche would have got us safe (eventually) but not by now or like this.

Moyes has been superb. It has been a truly remarkable time. What a pleasure to have been wrong.

I think Doucoure will stay for another year.

He still has things to offer.

Andy #129,

That’s what I call… support.

No ifs, buts nor maybes.

And if we lose our next match… slaughter the bastard!

It was by some distance our most complete performance of the season. The whole team played well with Gana excellent in midfield and Harrison having his best game on the right flank.

It was Pickford’s easiest clean sheet of the season. The only criticism was that we should have scored more goals but it is always great to get a winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

It was an indication of how much we were in charge that Forest were the team wasting time at every opportunity in the last half hour.

Mike G (41), Murillo really messed-up that situation and how can you tell the pass was meant for Doucoure and not Gana?

Those points aside, what the goal showed was all the good things the manager has been able to get out of the players; playing on the front foot and being pro-active in putting pressure on defenders, and then plenty of players just waiting for that gain of possession and bombing forwards.

Watched the Man City – Crystal Palace game earlier. Everyone getting really hot and bothered by Edison’s assist. I thought Tarkowski’s ball and Ndiaye’s control easily surpassed it. Only thing missing was the finish.

Doucoure didn’t just pretend to write a contract, he also made the ‘call me’ sign. Whether he thinks he deserves a new contract or would just like to be offered something, it’s not possible to say. I’m not his greatest fan (I’m not David) but, as a known quantity, I’d expect the club to have some interest in retaining him as a squad player with the right (for the club) deal. Maybe he should check his agent isn’t effectively pricing him out of even being offered something?

Not sure why a break away goal in the 94th minute to secure all 3 points couldn’t be described as a smash and grab – even if the majority of the game had been ‘under control’. Not for the first time, people are really letting personal animosity colour how they are reading pretty neutral words.

Kudos to Charlie Adam for us scoring from a set piece.

Admittedly a Forest set piece, but a set piece all the same.

Micheal, smash and grab?

Even soft lad Mr Richards and narky Shearer said along with Loiniker that it was no smash and grab by Everton but a well organised display, smash and grab, nooooo!

Well, a tricky April is turning into a not-so-tricky April. Yet again, like the run of games back in December, many were predicting very little in terms of points won. Four points from the current top three doesn’t get much better, and I’m confident we can turn Man City over next week and hopefully get a draw down at Chelsea.

For a team with nothing to play for, we dominated that game from start to finish. The back four yet again were immense, with Jordan Pickford probably having his quietest game all season.

Garner and Gana Gueye bossed the midfield, and it was good to see Doucoure slam in the winner, ramming some of the stick back down the throats he was taking from one or two around us, and the more than one or two on here!

Will he get a new contract, who knows? But I would definitely give an extension to Gueye who was yet again, in my opinion, our best player on the day. Certainly in that second half we broke on the counter with purpose, and with a bit more clinical passing and finishing, 2 or 3-0 wouldn’t have flattered us.

Fair play to the Forest fans who said the better team by far won the game. During that second half there was only one team trying to win, and it wasn’t Forest.

Before the game, we bumped into Derek Mountfield, who was with his wife and some lad I know, in the pub we were in. Had a good chat with him for about 90 minutes. Hell of a nice guy who hates the RS as much as we all do!

Going by train means you can please yourself about what time train to catch back home. We had a few pints back near the station and we didn’t leave until the 19:15 train. Finally got home about 22:50… Never knew a trip to Nottingham could so tiring!!

Si #135, we have too many players who regularly put passes 4 yards behind their intended targets, but Dwight McNeil is not one of them. He is the most skilled passer in the club and still led us in assists even after being out injured for months.

He was in open space, looked up and put the pass right behind the heels of the defender, where it’s extremely difficult to react to (as we saw with Branthwaite a couple games ago). And it was perfectly weighted so Doucoure could one-time it.

No way you can convince me that wasn’t fully intentional.

Steve #103,

Premier League player salaries are public knowledge. You can find them on such websites as Spotrac (my go-to), Capology, Salary Sport (in dollars) and the encyclopedic Transfermarkt. All of those sources are used by news outlets worldwide.

Doucoure’s salary is £130k/week.

Given we are playing Forest away and we have a team with some very mediocre players, I thought that was a very good performance.

We even managed to play a bit of decent footie helped by the fact that Forest barely pressed us and there was a lot of space in midfield. The better side on the day won, no question, although this wasn’t a big contest.

My call to Doucoure would be: “We’ll give you a 1-year extension but on what you are worth, around £60k per week, not the ludicrous £130k you have reamed us for. If you love the club that much, you’ll take it, happy with how much you have had off us these past years. If not, off to Saudi and nowhere football for your £100k a week. But don’t expect much more, even the Saudis aren’t as stupid as us.”

Steve Hogan 103:

People do not “pluck these figures out of the air”. You are wrong to claim that “Only the player, his agent, and the club know what his annual salary is”. And you are also wrong to claim that Phil is indulging in “mischievous conjecture”.

It’s quite easy really. Drag those fingers of yours to your keyboard and open up a window and open Google. Then you need to type in something along the lines of “Premier League players salaries”. Press on a likely looking link:
https://www.spotrac.com/ is a good one. And it won’t take you long to discover that Doucoure does indeed pick up £130,000 each week of the year.

If you have nimble fingers, this might even take less time than the time it took you to write that inaccurate and cruddy post.

I very rarely comment here, but lurk and read everything. That was the best team performance I have seen.

Jack was on a new level today, really good performance.
Doucoure does what he does, gets up and down and scores important goals. Great to see Dwight back and his pass was world class. If that would’ve been James, everyone would be talking about just that.

Completely dominant we were, and to have not won that game would’ve been a travesty.

Smash & grab? I can understand why some may say that as it was a goal at the death. But smash & grab to me summons up thoughts of defending all game with less possession than your opponent and grabbing a late, unlikely, and against the run of play goal.

It certainly wasn’t that.

Onwards and upwards. UTFT.

All I know was at about 80 minutes, after saying to my kid several times that’s it’s remarkable to watch us play this well — like we actually know what we’re doing — I thought to myself that even if we grab a point or even lose, that I’m content because we showed some class today.

And then the goal. Screamed and danced around my house like a child, the fitting ending to a dominant display.

As someone else alluded to on here, it felt like the true dawn of a new era. Like all the points we’ve gained under Moyes so far were almost like a new-manager bounce, but today it all came together and we can now fully believe in what might be possible these next couple of years.

So happy for McNeil, deserves to shine after all he’s been through and all he’s done for us.

For Doucoure, who is maddening, but then comes through at big moments and never stops working his socks off — and that smile.

For the team and the club to show that we’re now a force to be reckoned with.

For Harrison, who is quite limited, but showed some quality today. And on and on…

I’m in the camp that we’d be lucky to grab Broja on a loan for another year and hope he stays healthy. He shows in glimpses that he has more natural ability than Calvert-Lewin or Beto, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him bag 12-15 goals if healthy and fit, with a few better players around him.

Today’s complete performance, whatever the headlines say, was the best we’ve looked in a long time given the quality we have. Thank you, as always, to the away fans for making us all proud.

Nice post, Jonathan. Also interested to hear Neil Copelands first hand experience.

Come on, Michael Kenrick — Smash and Grab? We all saw your rant about Moyes returning but stop being a grumpy old git.

Bobby @ 114, I would bet the last £100 in my bank account that Doucs and Harrison won’t be at the club next season. I might even bet it that they won’t be in next week’s line up.

Well done for both for turning in a performance yesterday, though. No-one doubts their effort, just their ability.

Steve, I’m not sure about £30M, but that’s for the club to decide, not me.

I believe he can play wide as well, so he could be a useful squad player. It just depends what the club want to do with whatever the transfer budget is.

No way Steve. Broja’s performance today – it’s 11-50PM here – showed exactly why. His injury record is not worth gambling on. Danny, I don’t think that we are in a position to splash £30 million on a squad player.

That said, I would not be surprised if his loan was renewed for another year.

Just watching the match again. O’Brien gets himself into good positions in and around the box,

Jonathan, there is plenty to be optimistic about I agree, a big summer ahead and if we get next season off to a good start then who knows?

Broja on loan may be a decent shout but that will depend I think on who we bring in for other positions and what formation we I tend to play.

Kieran, see my post at 104 which sums up the day. A great performance from the team and fans, as Danny O always says, imagine the reaction to us winning something!