Irons at Forest – the things we learned

Match verdict by Hughie Southon

Maybe I and one or two others are losing the plot but, given he is not injured, it’s a little tough working out how a marquee £40 million signing isn’t yet replacing Michail Antonio.

No penalty taker

Never mind, maybe his isn’t settled in well enough yet – sigh. At £40 million one might expect him to be!

That was one thing we didn’t learn today but there were several things  we did:

• Lukasz Fabianski remains way out there as out No 1 keeper
• Declan Rice is no penalty taker
• Ben Johnson at central defence is a big problem 
• and manager David Moyes remains incredibly predictable with his substitutions

On the positive side we also learned that making a signing which puts a pressure on Benny, via Cornet, we may see the player we bought for £30 million and that given a permanent role pushing forward Tomas Soucek could be back on the road again.

Beyond that it was all less than average today against a team with limited Premier League experienced players who  obviously lifted by the atmosphere may have deserved their win.

We were unlucky with the woodwork denying us along OF COURSE with a dreadful penalty which was never going anywhere than into Henderson’s arms.

We all know what is coming over the next few games and right now confidence is in short supply after only their second league attempt at the City Ground in 11 visits.

No time to panic but we are allowed to worry that the team which was given such a hammering by Moyes after the last game of the season remains much the same this time round.

Bizarre!