Final day sums up miserable campaign for Forest
A SOULLESS season. One played out in front of empty stadiums, devoid of the lifeblood which gives the sport its passion, its purpose and its voice.
A miserable season for Nottingham Forest, too. A gruelling eight months with little to cheer bar a sense of relief at escaping a final day relegation showdown.
It has been one to forget all round. The best that can be said is it’s over with. Done. Finished. Put it to bed and move on.
For the Reds, a dismal campaign ended in suitably dismal fashion as they fell 2-1 to Preston North End amid leaden skies at the City Ground.
Here are some of the big talking points from the clash as Chris Hughton’s side signed off for the summer.
■■That goal
Overall, it has been a disappointing year for Forest. Few will look back on this term with much fondness.
But there have been a few bright spots – James Garner being one. And he showed why again with an absolute cracker of a goal on Saturday.
That was his fourth since joining the club in January - not a bad return for a holding midfielder. In fact, it moved him to joint-second top scorer for the Reds, with the same tally as Lyle Taylor.
It was a real peach of a strike. Smashed in from around 25 yards, arrowed into the top corner, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance.
The Manchester United loanee hasn’t quite been as influential in games in the last few weeks as he was earlier on in his spell, largely because he set the bar pretty high. But there is no doubt he has got quality. He’s proved to be a real gem.
The ideal scenario for Forest will be to tempt him back for next season. He could make a big difference.
They’ll have their work cut out for that to happen but, regardless, Garner has shown the model of what they should be looking for. If another loan for the 20-year-old isn’t a goer, Hughton needs to find somebody in that mould.
It’s a great shame supporters may not get the chance to see Garner play live in the Garibaldi and that he might not experience a full City Ground.
But if that does prove to be his last appearance for the club, he signed off in style and has made his mark.
■■Final farewells
It’s not just Garner whose time with the Reds may well have come to an end.
A fair bit of work is required in the transfer window to transform this squad into one capable of challenging at the top end of the table and that means departures as well as new arrivals.
For 12 players, in particular, their futures are up in the air as contracts finish and loans expire. Some will not be back - Hughton has already as good as confirmed Michael Dawson will not be offered fresh terms as a player, for instance.
It is likely to be a very different looking changing room come August.
In addition to Garner, five other players with question marks next to their names featured at the weekend.
Yuri Ribeiro, Cyrus Christie, Filip Krovinovic and Anthony Knockaert all started, while there was a cameo appearance for Glenn Murray.
The latter came off the bench and was handed the captain’s armband by Lewis Grabban as he replaced the striker.
After the final whistle, Murray then spent several minutes walking
around the pitch by himself, looking deep in thought.
If he has conveyed any thoughts about retiring, his manager was giving nothing away when questioned post-match. But Hughton did hint the offer of a Forest contract was unlikely - at least initially and without exploring other options first.
The Reds do need some fresh blood.
Overall contributions from those whose futures are up in the air have been mixed. Yet again, against Preston, it was in the final third where Forest most struggled - a familiar tale of getting into good positions and creating chances but lacking the quality needed to make it count. That is the area which needs most work in the summer.
It was a shame, however, that Dawson didn’t at least get a spot on the bench for one last time at the City Ground. He would have deserved that.
■■Chance to impress
Hughton will already have made up his mind about the players whose Reds careers are in the balance.
But he did take the opportunity to run the rule over Loic Mbe Soh, someone who has found game time hard to come by since joining from PSG last summer.
That was only his eighth appearance of the campaign and his first since January. Not that you would have known. There was little sign of rustiness from the 19-year-old.
Mbe Soh has generally done well in the few times he has pulled on the shirt. He did so again, looking composed and comfortable on the ball.
He had a few slips, but generally defended okay - being helped by the vocal presence of Joe Worrall alongside him. It was a decent partnership.
Mbe Soh has been unfortunate this term in that he has had Worrall, Scott Mckenna and Tobias Figueiredo ahead of him in the pecking order. It’s tough to make yourself heard when competing for a place with that trio.
It’s difficult to judge based on one game which didn’t count for a great deal, but the youngster has shown he has potential and can handle the Championship. He’ll get better with more game time.
Given there is plenty of speculation about Worrall, it was worth giving Mbe Soh a run-out, so Hughton has a better idea of his options.
The manager has said he might consider a loan move for the teenager next term, if he needs to build up more minutes. Saturday might have offered food for thought.
■■Different role
Hughton made a point of not wanting to use the last two games to experiment too much. But in addition to fielding Mbe Soh on Saturday, he also deployed Grabban in a different position.
The forward acted as a link man, playing deeper than usual, behind Lyle Taylor. In the first half particularly, when the hosts were well on top, it worked well.
Grabban saw plenty of the ball and was involved in some nice build-up play.
The team’s intensity and performance levels dropped after the break, but it is certainly an option for Hughton to think about.
He needs to find a way of getting more goals from his squad next year. The arrival of new personnel will be part of that, but so will trying to get the best out of those who are still here.
It remains to be seen, however, if speculation resurfaces about Grabban, after he was the subject of interest from Qatar last summer.