FOREST BLOG: Reds' trio of defeats were deserved

Under-fire boss, Philippe Mountaineer will have to produce more than fancy cheese if he is to address the current slump by his team!

From day one I have been outspoken regarding the Frenchman’s philosophy regarding defensive duties.

It seems that the “we’re gonna score one more than you” tactic has stopped working; whilst the endless flow of goals against, continues at an alarming rate.

Ironically, the back four and keeper he selected to face Sheffield Wednesday were unchanged for the first time this season.

Similarly the 4-1-4-1 system had also been retained from the previous week’s game, but it wouldn’t be the same without at least one random change of personnel.

Jorge Grant somehow found himself in the starting line-up ahead of David Vaughan, much to the amazement of the 2,200 strong travelling Forest supporters.

We didn’t sell out our allocation for this game; at £36 a ticket I am not one bit surprised!

It was poignant, given the article I wrote on Friday about the commendable ticketing by Forest.

The game itself provided its fair share of chances, the first worthy of note from Ross Wallace, who forced a good save from Stojkovic in the Forest goal.

The Owls were alternating between a neat passing game and some route one football at times, the latter producing a great chance for Steven Fletcher whose volley was brilliantly saved again by Stojkovic. Wednesday were in the ascendancy and came agonisingly close again after the half-hour mark.

Gary Hooper’s header was spilled by the Forest keeper, but Mancienne was on hand to rescue the Serbian on this occasion.

Remarkably, it was the away side that took a surprise lead, against the run of play it has to be said.

Mustapha Carayol did fantastically well on the right before playing in Henri Lansbury.

The midfielder replicated Granit Xhaka’s goal for Arsenal last Tuesday; his carbon copy was deflected from all of 30 yards or more, giving Kieran Westwood no chance in the Wednesday goal.

It stayed that way until half-time and once again the topic of conversation around the crowded bars was all about a first clean sheet and its accompanying victory.

The second period began a little more balanced, with both sides creating good chances within 10 minutes of the restart.

Gary Hooper’s goal bound effort somehow nicked off Michael Mancienne for a corner, whilst Apostolos Vellios saw his excellent header saved by Westwood.

Eric Lichaj had done brilliantly to create the chance for Vellios.

Pajtim Kasami came on for Carayol and Montanier made two more changes before the final whistle.

Here lies the problem. In last week’s blog I berated the gaffer for “misguided substitutions” but it seems he’s not a reader of my work.

Inevitably, the Owls equalised with just over 20 minutes remaining, with the easiest of goals for Kieran Lee.

He waltzed into the area unmarked and connected with Ross Wallace’s corner without even jumping - almost identical to Jonny Howson’s goal for Norwich last week which prompts the question, is Montanier enforcing zonal marking from set pieces?