I thought that we played well and wouldn't have changed many players from Maresca's starting 11. We have to admit that they were very good defending, very compact and organised, and it's going to be tough for other top 6 teams to beat them. I understand playing Sancho as what we need against low blocks is a bit of tiki-taka, one-two combinations between their tight lines, and Sancho and Palmer were playing that much of the first half. Madueke on the right, would stretch them and get them on the break. For me, with that game plan, Nkunku should have played instead of Jackson, who was mostly absent throughout. The subs came a bit late, Nkunku should have come off at the beginning of the second and Sancho was gassed in the second half and didn't do much, but the alternative there is Mudryk, who is mostly sh*t if not played as a super sub against tired legs.
We should have won it, we had very good chances but they also had good chances. Overall, it's frustrating but, last season we would have lost this game.
The referee completely lost the plot in that second half and let the Forest players waste too much time. The keeper should have been sent off with a second yellow for time wasting, and imo Ward-Prowse should have seen a straight red rather than a second yellow. And I can't believe how much the ref was stopping the game for Forest players going down, I've never seen something like it! Normally, the refs let the game play on and will only stop if there's something major or head injury. Funny to see Palmer throwing himself to the ground out of desperation for all the stopping allowed by the ref!
