Nottingham Forest and Chris Wood proving you don’t have to reinvent the game as Europe beckons
I HAVE backed plenty of outsiders in my time but I wouldn’t have picked these two in a million years.
But to be fair, how many of you thought Nottingham Forest would go into the final day with every chance of making the Champions League?
Probably the same number who thought that only Mo Salah, Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland would score more than Chris Wood in the Prem so far.
But the team which finished fourth bottom a year ago are still in the hunt and if they beat Chelsea at the City Ground on Sunday — and I expect them to — they could be in Europe’s premier competition for the first time since Cloughie’s day.
And if striker Wood ends his season the way he’s played the rest of it, centre-backs are in for a rough old afternoon.
But I fear Forest will win and still miss out as I fancy Manchester City to get at least a point at Fulham, and can’t see Newcastle or Aston Villa slipping up.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s boys need at least one of them to fall short and open the door — but just earning a Euro place after last year would be remarkable.
And as a big fan of the old school ways, I’m just so pleased Wood has had a bigger say than most.
False nines, floating tens, sixes, eights, underlapping, low blocks . . . there are a lot of people out there basically trying to reinvent the game.
So I love watching Forest under Nuno, with a proper throwback centre forward.
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They don’t have a lot of possession but no one is better at playing to their strengths by getting forward fast, two wingers, and crosses pinging into a man in the middle.
The Chelsea defence will not have faced trying to handle someone like Wood too often.
Many sides play with one up and loads of forwards spend half the time dropping back — so it’s like a free hit for centre-backs.
I’d love to see how they’d cope against guys like Mick Harford, John Fashanu and Alan Shearer and a battle against guys who’d knock you about.
I don’t mean nasty stuff but genuine challenges. I don’t see many modern defenders who’d handle that and you only have to look at Wood as proof.
Nuno’s done a magnificent job and I’m delighted for him because it didn’t go too well when he was at Tottenham.
But he’s bounced back, rebuilt his reputation on the back of great recruitment and good signings, and I always say that’s the key for any manager.
Chelsea haven’t convinced at any stage this season and if I had to put my life on the outcome, it would be a Forest win.
But sadly for Nuno and his side, while three points would leapfrog their opponents, I don’t think it will be quite enough.
Not to make the Champions League, anyway.
If City were going to Fulham needing a win, it would have brought a different pressure but a point will be enough and I’m sure they’ll get it.
St James’ Park will be rocking after a year that finally brought a trophy and I don’t see Newcastle slipping up against Everton.
And you certainly couldn’t fancy Manchester United to beat Aston Villa, even at home, after that midweek shocker against Spurs. If ever a game summed up a whole season, hey?
So if I’m right on all three, it’s going to be the Europa League for Forest next time round and the Champions League will just have to wait another 12 months!
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IT wouldn’t make the shortlist of great finals — to be honest it would struggle to make a very long one — but I was glad to see Tottenham win the Europa League.
Not that I’ve got anything against Manchester United, it just capped a great few months for football in general — and for three sets of long-suffering and loyal supporters.
It’s been a hard road for Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Spurs fans but finally they’ve got a trophy to celebrate and it’s a nice change from the same old names as winners.
In Wednesday’s final, I was disappointed with Alejandro Garnacho’s moan at not being in the side from the start.
When you’re on the floor as a gaffer — as Ruben Amorim is — the last thing you need is one of your players coming out and having a pop.
Fair enough, Garnacho did alright when he came on — but no more than that. Far better to keep your head down and get on with the job.
Let’s face it, if he’d been doing it as well as he should, he wouldn’t have been on the bench in the first place.