Las Night: Ward>Whitbread

[Captain Holt 520]

I''ve been quite critical of Ward in the past but last night I thought he absolutely immense. To my surprise however, all the canary callers were saying whitbread was Mom? I thought he looked a lot more shaky than Ward last night.

Anyone agree?

[ncfcstar 287]

I have to agree mate, Ward had an absolutely outstanding game.  To be fair to Whitbread he also played well, but I think Ward was deserving of every little bit of praise he could get.  Tierney probably played the best out of all the defenders, seeing as the majority of Forest''s attacks were coming down his side I think he also played very well.Ward was immense, and that tackle he put in at the death was quite simply superb.  Yes, it may have been called offside, but seriously, what a tackle.

[Kissthebadge 0]

I thought he had a great game too. I''m very impressed with how many defensive headers he wins and the distance he gets on them.

[Shack Attack 0]

Good performances from Ward and Whitbread but both look troubled by balls played down the channel between their position and the full backs. All of the chances Forest created in the first half came from these positions. I suspect it is a consequence of the full backs having to stay wide to provide width for the diamond. It worries me a little bit to be honest.

[Mister Chops 7]

I was very impressed that Rob Edwards came on for about the last 5 minutes and made a crucial last-ditch tackle, it shows that even the subs are switched on and up for it.

[pete 318]

Spot on you must have read my comments last night, if you did not I posted Canary caller got mixed up re last minute tackle by Ward not Zak.  EW was truly immense ZW good also but a few errors recently including Tyson goal last night.

[Evil Monkey 52]

Certainly see your point there, Shack.  I''m a huge fan of the diamond formation since Lambo employed it to such great effect in League 1, but I feel that at times here in the Champs there''s been a case for playing more of a 4-2-3-1, with Crofts and Fox doubling up to provide extra cover in those very positions between the CB and FB.  You wouldn''t even need to change the players most of the time, since the likes of Jackson and Pacheco are very versatile.  Really don''t see why we didn''t set out like this in second half against Swansea, although this formation would perhaps be somewhat against Lambert''s attacking philosophy...

[Mr Brownstone 0]

Didn''t we try that one at Doncaster earlier in the season EM?

Agree with all the comments about Ward, comfortably hus best performance in a yellow shirt! Same again Thursday night please!

[ZLF 271]

Really?

I thought Ward was shocking, with whitbread better but not great. Forest had plenty of chances to score and all because the strikers had lost their central defenders, they hit the post, had on cleared off the line and ruddy had to make too many saves.

As shak said they were vulnerable to the balls in amongst them which was clearly why lambert made his most defensive subs I have ever seen - esp Edwards coming on to shore up the ward area late on.

We have had this defensive frailty all season, with ward the most consistent part of that. Fingers crossed we can continue to outscore our opponents, as we dont often seem like keep a clean sheet