Enzo Maresca may need to make major changes to his team after the Chelsea captain was exposed in an ice hockey clash.
At times this seemed like a game of ice hockey.
There is no disk but a good fightThe game ran from start to finish, a tear full of desperate blocks, goalkeepers making incredible saves, an expulsion for the son of a lawyer and an explosion of spirit that cleared both benches.
That melee came when Neco Williams tripped Marc Cucurella, who ran off the field and eliminated his own coach, Enzo Maresca.
It was almost comical. Everyone crowded in, a couple of security personnel also intervened to calm things down, the replaced Nicolas Jackson tried to attack Morato and what PGMOL would call “holding” was happening everywhere.
Maresca stepped back, watched the struggles in the school yard and tried not to laugh.
This was a game that had everything except one winner.
Nottingham Forest probably felt closer to feeling victorious because they were away from home, still chasing a winner down even when they were ten down and because they had players like the home team.
The grown Ryan Yates eclipsed a world champion like Enzo Fernández.
Yates embodied Forest's challenge. The hordes of the Forest in the Shed must have watched their team with pride.
Yates might have been man of the match, but other Forest players produced even more. Nikola Milenkovic was immense at the back and provided the assist for Forest's goal in the 49th minute.
James Ward-Prowse curled the free kick into the far post, Milenkovic beat Malo Gusto and Chris Wood pulled away from Wesley Fofana and Moisés Caicedo to score.
But the supreme performance came from Matz Sels in the Forest goal. The Belgian never convinced during his time at Newcastle United and there were still some doubts when he arrived at the City Ground last winter. Already at the beginning of this season doubts arose about the 32-year-old player.
Not now. Not after stopping Fernandez's shot, Jackson's shot, Noni Madueke's header, Cole Palmer's shot, Christopher Nkunku's header, a Gusto shot and then twice in quick succession from Palmer.
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This was a great point for Forest and further vindication of Nuno Espirito Santo's management.
He once again organized the team so well that they have only conceded six
goals in seven Premier League games and are ninth.
Even when Ward-Prowse was sent off after 80 minutes, grabbing the ball to stop Jackson's attack, and already with a yellow card for fouling Palmer, Nuno sent on attackers such as Jota Silva and Anthony Elanga.
Forest fans loved that brave response from ten men and the manager.
Apart from Ward-Prowse's suspension, the only other frustration for Forest was the injury to Morgan Gibbs-White.
He was playing well, contributing possession by attacking back, but otherwise intrigued promisingly in the number 10 position.
Challenged (quite a bit) by Gusto after 76 minutes, Gibbs-White landed awkwardly, hurt his right ankle and must be a doubt for England's two Nations League qualifiers.
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like the forest, Chelsea Similarly, they've been getting a lot of positive headlines lately, that whole band of blues brothers marching to Maresca and winning five in a row, so it would be unfair to suddenly attack them with questions.
Some issues still need to be addressed. Maresca might have to modify his tactics against opponents who play with low blocks such as Forest and Crystal Palace, another who drew 1-1 here.
Jackson works best against taller lines, looking for space to run. A job for Nkunku?
Maresca has a big decision to make to Fernández. The world champion is their captain, an expensive signing, with a strong character, but he was overshadowed by Yates.
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Within 20 seconds, Yates introduced himself to Fernández, leaving him on the ground and huffing.
Fernandez soon complained to Yates about an elbow and then took him down. Is it time for Romeo Lavia to complement Moisés Caicedo?
Otherwise, there were many positive aspects. Robert Sánchez has been questioned but was outstanding here.
He stopped Yates' header, Murillo's shot, a Gibbs-White header,
a shot by Elliot Anderson and a shot by Ward-Prowse.
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In added time, with Forest defending deep and only occasionally counterattacking, Sánchez needed all his agility to fend off Williams' shot and Jota Silva's header.
Jadon Sancho seems reinvigorated by his loan from Manchester United.
There were occasional echoes of his best performance at Borussia Dortmund with his run against Ola Aina, the Chelsea right-back.
Sancho changed direction, stopped in front of the ball, feinted to go in different directions and then took off again.
On the right, Madueke took advantage of his connections with Palmer, including in the 57th minute, when he received another pass, cut inside Alex Moreno and fired a curling shot.
Madueke worked on his finishing over the summer and it is paying off. This was his fifth goal of the season.
As good as this ending was, Madueke still needs to vary his
attacking, maybe even giving the ball back to Palmer occasionally.
But these are small quibbles. The game was too fun to be rude.
