Nottingham Forest vs West Ham United
We were at the City Ground once again on Saturday afternoon to watch the Reds who were in action against West Ham, with the away side coming off the back of a home victory against Manchester United at the London Stadium a week before this fixture. Forest themselves went into this game full of hope and optimism following a fantastic start to the season and two wins in 5 days, beating Crystal Palace 1-0 before a 3-1 win at East Midland rivals Leicester. Those two wins meant that Forest had a huge incentive to win, with 3 points potentially taking us up to 3rd in the league.
On the walk up to the ground a real sense of positivity filled the air, similar to the feeling during the promotion season of 2021/22. As many pundits had Forest nailed on for relegation this season, a siege mentality has been created and only further enhanced by Nuno who has turned us into not only a competitive Premier League side, but a fearless one who have started to build a deep connection with the fanbase and look determined to prove every single doubter wrong. This sense of being anti-establishment outlaws can be traced back in history way before Forest returned to the Premier League in 2022.
Nottingham has always been a rebel city, with the obvious example being the legendary Robin Hood. However, it doesn’t stop there as documents such as the Magna Carta, which stopped King John and other monarchs from being able to have free reign in the 13th century had influence from Nottingham as well. The Magna Carta included a clause called the ‘Forest charter’ which protected the boundaries of Sherwood Forest. As well as this, during the British Civil War Nottingham showed it’s rebellious side once again, opposing the establishment as people from Nottingham fought in the streets and workplace for fairer food prices, political reform and better working conditions (Source: https://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/rebel-city/).
The Luddite movement of 1811 originated and evolved in Nottinghamshire, where workers rioted and broke into factories to destroy new machines, wrote threatening letters to employers and also fought against government officials. Taking the topic back to football, Brian Clough himself was a keen socialist and was never afraid to voice his opinions. One of his famous quotes: ‘football belongs to everybody’ is still played in the pre-match build up video at the ground. Fast forward to the 2nd November 2024 and the people of Nottingham now regularly pay tribute to our rebel roots with Forza Garibaldi, a Nottingham Forest supporters group, organising displays that pay homage to the past and their messages still relate to modern day affairs. A display unfolded in the Trent End before kick off on Saturday with a quote from Alan Sillitoe reading: 'Once a REBEL, Always a REBEL, You can't help being one, And it's best to be a REBEL, So as to show 'em, It don't pay to try to do you down.’
The display was a fitting tribute and helped the crowd, who were already fired up, really get behind the Forest team for this game. The atmosphere was good from the start, with West Ham fans in fine voice in the early stages. The game itself though gave Forest fans something to really get excited about. Since gaining promotion to the Premier League, Forest’s most convincing performance came against Fulham at the City Ground last season as they won 3-1. This game, in our opinion, surpassed even that performance as Forest dominated throughout and barely allowed West Ham to get a foothold.
Chris Wood scored after 27 minutes which dampened the spirits in the away end and got the ball rolling for what ended up being another fantastic afternoon for the Forest fans. When the atmosphere starts to hit it’s heights, the City Ground can be a daunting place for away opposition and definitely creates a ‘12th man’ scenario which reflects onto the pitch. You could feel the energy reverberating around every stand after Wood scored the opener. If the Forest players felt like they had an extra man due to the support of the home crowd, then they would have felt like they had a two man advantage before the half time whistle as Anthony Elanga was wiped out by Edson Alvarez who duly received his second yellow card.
Forest came out in the second half full of energy and spirit while West Ham looked deflated. Substitute Michail Antonio was brought on at half time after West Ham played the first half without a recognised striker. Initially, this change gave them a bit of a boost as he was able to hold onto the ball and give them a focal point. This didn’t last for very long however as Forest really started to take hold of the game and dominate the East Londoners. Morgan Gibbs-White, playing his first game since getting injured at Stamford Bridge impressed for 63 minutes but eventually came off for Elliot Anderson, as Forest made a double substitution bringing on Jota Silva for Elanga at the same time. These substitutes gave Forest a fresh impetus and allowed them to kick on and improve the scoreline further.
Anderson was fouled on the 65th minute after some positive attacking play as he tried to burst into the box. He took the resulting free kick short to Hudson-Odoi who wrapped his right foot around the ball, producing one of his trademark curling efforts into the far corner of Fabianski’s goal. The third goal was an absolute banger from Ola Aina, who somehow kept the ball after several attempted challenges on the edge of the box, the ball fell nicely for him and in his own words he ‘just hit it’. The ball rocketed into the top corner to give Forest a well deserved demanding lead. By this point, the Forest fans were in really high spirits and all four stands unified in a repertoire of classic forest songs such as ‘You’ve lost that loving feeling’ and ‘Forest are back’ along with many more. Forest closed out the game with a continuous string of quality attacks, and could have won the game by more had it not been for two outstanding saves from Fabianski following attempts from Milenkovic and Sosa at the death.
Although you could have picked from a plethora of players, we have picked Nico Dominguez as our stand out player from the game. Signed from Bologna in 2023, he is a tireless midfielder whose pressing is so intense that I’m sure the West Ham defenders are still having nightmares of him running towards them. Dominguez is a player who has gone under the radar this season, he was behind Danilo, Sangare and even Ward-Prowse in the midfield pecking order earlier in the season but has found his place in the side now and is relishing that opportunity. He plays a vital role in that Forest midfield which may go somewhat unnoticed, but his hard work, endeavour and intelligence on the ball is definitely allowing our attacking players to flourish.
As a result of a terrific afternoon on Trentside, Forest move up to third which is our highest position since 1998. The boys who are representing the rebel city are proving the pundits wrong and are defying the footballing establishment by breaking into the top 4. Long live the rebel city, and long may it continue.
Forest’s next game will be a tough test but one they will be relishing with Newcastle United visiting the City Ground on Sunday 10th November and it is set up to be a cracking game. As for West Ham, Lopetegui is well out of favour with the East Londoners and the away end was practically empty by the final whistle. Wins against Ipswich and Manchester United have done little to paper over the cracks and more change may be on the horizon for them soon.
Written by Joe Horne
