Transcript of Nottingham Forest vs Crystal Palace | Match Preview

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Garabaldi Red, the Nottingham Forest podcast. Feels weird to be in a podcast on a Saturday before three o'clock. That's because Forest play Crystal Palace on Monday night. It was a weird night, I think, playing football on a Monday. Who introduced that? I suppose it's for the TV. Forrest, welcome. Yeah, Forrest, welcome Crystal Palace to the City Ground. Back in action at the City Ground. It's been such a while, and we'll look ahead to that game and, of course, discuss the big news surrounding Forest with suspension after suspension this week. So many FA club statements and things like that. So we've got to touch on the suspensions. No better man to do it. I can't bring you a Ryan Yates interview, but I can bring you the next best thing, which is Dave. Dave, just like him. Dave, lovely to see you. How are you, first of all, mate? And also, I suppose just Monday night, forest under the lights. I just still think there's a really good feeling around the club and around the place at the minute, and everyone's quite happy, aren't they?

I think so. I'm good, Max. Healthy and moving on and doing good things like all of our family are at the moment, which is good. And my Forest family, they're progressing and going nicely. A distinct step up from the last two seasons, I think, thus far. So far, so good, really. If you think that the only team that have beaten us distinguished themselves by a really good performance at Manchester City a couple of weeks ago. So we're playing some Good stuff. I think it's a good stuff. I think it's a good spirit, definitely progress. I think Nuno has put his stamp on the club and on the way we're playing away from home, obviously. Absolutely outstanding. I thought, obviously, Anfield was fantastic. Southampton was good, Brighton was decent. I thought Chelsea was just a superb performance. To play 28 minutes with 10 men against a billion pounds worth of investment tells you the spirit and the organization that we have within our club at the moment. I think there are certain individuals who've helped. I think Malencovitch is a huge cornerstone of what we're doing at the moment. I think he's been a fantastic signing.

Can't tell you anything he's done in the seven games, but that means he hasn't done anything bad, really. I just think he's strengthened the spine. Sels was magnificent to Chelsea. Nicola is doing his stuff at the back. Yacy, I thought, bossed Kaisado and Enzo Fernandez. And then what he's doing, what he does up front, and then everybody around. It's a good feeling about it, but always the next game, and the next game is always challenging, whoever you're playing this week. There are no easy games, mate.

Yeah, I was going to say it doesn't get easy, does it? And I think some people overtalk in football, don't they? So many times about, oh, well, it's an easy game on paper. Well, every game is so challenging in whatever division. And we will talk about Crystal Palace and the game in a moment, but we've got to touch really on Forest being in trouble again this week. Fine, first of all, £750,000. That was for the original social media club statement type post after, of course, the Everton, remember that, for with the fallout. Then Morgan Gibbs-White got a £20,000 fine and a £5,000 fine and a further one match ban. That was for his second yellow, which obviously wasn't a second yellow, but Morgan must have had some pretty harsh words to say. Nuno then gets a suspended ban, but then they review that and add the one from Everton last year. It's so complicated, isn't it? And he's been given a three match ban and a £55,000. And of course, Forest owner of Angelos Maranek is also banned from the city ground for five games. Dave, you've talked to me many times about the referee's decision is final and we don't want to be in the limelight, but I think the FA have maybe taken it a little bit too far In my opinion, I understand there has to be some punishment for maybe some of what Forrest have done.

We don't know what Marenackus has done in the tunnel either behaviour-wise. So we're only speculating here, but it is a little bit disappointing not just to receive it, but also just to see it and to be in the limelight again, isn't it?

Yeah, it's unwanted attention, but there's just a sense that the FA are almost gleefully rubbing their hands It happens that throwing stuff at us at the moment. No club is squeaky clean. Emotions run high in football. That's why we love it. Sometimes those emotions run just a little bit too high. Like the pan of boiling milk, they slip up and over the edge. Do you know what I mean? I just think Mr. Marinox is a very passionate man, very ambitious man. He is there fighting our corner. He gets involved. It's his baby, if you like. It's all of our baby. You know what I mean? For all of us, the thousands of us associated with Nottingham Forest, but for him in particular, it means a lot because he's investing He invested a lot of money and a hell of a lot of emotion in it. So there are times when he's not going to be happy when things don't go well, and him being him, he's going to say his peace, and that's fair enough, I suppose. The Nuno and Morgan thing, I was at the Amex that day, and it was a bit frustrating because all I saw was our captain, our glamor boy, if you like, our talisman, not acting like a luxury player.

He put in a fantastic run to track Jao Pedro, and he put in what we all of us felt was a good tackle. And then it just ran on from there. It was Jal Pedro made sure that the entire world could see in a way that a rugby league player or a rugby union player or an ice hockey player would not have done. They'd have just brushed it off. He made sure he wanted the whole world to know. Hertzler then said his piece, Anthony Taylor, of course, had to have his say because the day Anthony Taylor passes, the world will stop turning because it will have lost its power source because Anthony Taylor is here to lead all our lives and dominate all our lives. I'm thinking of making a cup of tea, but I've got to ask Anthony Taylor first before I can do it. Then he'll review whether I can make a cup of tea or not. I don't normally get annoyed about referees, but I've always been I was brought up to, Those are the cards you get dealt, play them and move on. ' But with Anthony Taylor, I think there's a certain amount of childish ego at play.

The lad, I guess, he was probably picked last at school and didn't get a game, so he had to come and make his mind up. I find him distinctly irritating, to be honest with you, Max. Just put him in his duncey's corner. I just looked at it and I thought Morgan was harshly treated at the time because I thought it was his work rate. It'd be quite easy for a guy in Morgan's position to say, I'm the golden boy, you run around for me, you do this, that, the other. But Morgan's not like that. And one of the reasons why we've improved, I think, is because people like Morgan, while they'll do the X-Factor stuff, they'll get their hands dirty at the cold place and they'll put the effort in. And I thought, I didn't think it was a sending off. Rob Jones. I mean, maybe he doesn't know what a sending off is because he sent Willy off last year for a perfectly good tackle. And this time, maybe conscious of what he did against Willy in that Bournemouth game, thought, 'No, he went like that. ' As if to say, Morgan gets swiped for the ball.

Hertzler then encroached upon the field of play, which he has no right to do, and he's too young anyway. He should have asked for a note from his mom to go on to the pitch him. And then Nuno is like, 'Hang on a minute. ' So Nuno had his say. And I I think it was a storm in a tea cup that. It's Anthony Taylor's fault, really, because if Anthony Taylor had trust in Robert Jones to referee the game, it was almost like Anthony Taylor was saying, I'm sorry, Robert, but you're not qualified to referee this match because that decision you've given is incorrect. If Anthony Taylor had acknowledged that he is the fourth official and Robert Jones is the ultimate arbiter on the field of playing that Brighton game, none of this would have happened because Robert Jones would have quite happily said, No, it's a fairly untidy challenge, but it wasn't the sending off offense. None of this would have happened. I find it all deeply irritating. So many of our family will be of the belief that the FA have got it in for us and all this stuff.

You can perhaps draw that. You can see it. Yeah, you can see it a little bit.

But you know what, mate? A rebel club in a 'Rebel City'. While I'm always like, 'I don't want this unwarranted unnecessary attention, there's a bit of me this year has changed my view a little bit. I quite like the idea, like I say, the 'Rebel Club' in the 'Rebel City'. I'll tell you where it came out for me, and I was really proud of it. I'm not a fighting man. But that moment at Stamford Bridge, where Nico and and Cucurella were haring down the line, and Nico, I don't know if he caught a stud in Cucurella's hair, but he went down like a thing that went down quite a lot. Then he basically rugby tackled Maresca, It was a catalog. It was like something out of a Monty Python show, Max. It was like Maresca had been tackled by one of those tumbleweed bushes in the desert. Maresca went arse over whatever. All of the Chelsea went, We're worth a billion pounds. How dare anybody look at us? They all came charging out of their bench, their dugout. Next minute, Willy Bolly appears with Woody behind him and Nottingham Forest, and I was so proud of them, said, You pick on Nico and you pick on me and you pick on him and you pick on him.

And it basically said to me, Nottingham Forest's team spirit is really tight, really close knit, And that then came out in the minutes that followed when they were down to 10 men and they could have won it. They were absolutely... I thought at Stanfield, Anfield was wonderful. Tactical masterclass, right? And they played it perfectly. And I've noticed everybody now has gone on to talking as if Liverpool are unbeat. Well, they're not. Nottingham Forest won there at their temple, where their support tell everybody that Liverpool never walk alone. And then as soon as Liverpool are one-nil down, they'll go home, right? So coming out of Stamford Bridge, Max, I was just buzzing and with pride. Nottingham Forest is a football club. There's lads on the field and everybody is in Stamford Bridge following our teammates. So while the suspensions and all these other tomfooleries a little bit irritating, and I'd rather we didn't have it, it's almost working in our favor to draw our lads closer together and make them harder to beat. And, yeah, they've got to use it as fuel now. Stick it in the engine and use it as fuel, mate.

Yeah, they do indeed. Right. Let's look at a head to Palace. Obviously, Forest will be without James Ward-Prowse with the sending off. And of course, Morgan gives away, even though he's probably going to be injured is what I'm assuming. But also, Morgan has been given this one match suspension, so it works nicely in a way. So we'll be without Morgan for the Crystal Palace game. So hopefully he'll be back fit and ready to go against Leicester. But it's obviously a really big week for Forest this, and not too long between those fixtures on a Monday and then straight away again with a trip to the King Power. But Dave, I think we were just talking, actually, before we started recording and coming on air, and you said about how you don't think Crystal Palace's league place at the minute, it almost reflects performances and potentially even reflects Oliver Gleisner, a great manager. He was linked with Forest last season. We talked lots about him, I can remember. But This won't be an easy game on a Monday night. Forest without Ward-Prouse, without Morgan gives a right. They're two quite influential players. But I suppose they have to adopt, Stevie Cooper always used to talk about, but you've got to adopt that next man up mentality, which you were talking about the team spirit there.

Well, they've got to show that and go out fighting on Monday night.

Yeah, I think if I'm Nuno, or whoever's in the dressing room, I don't know how close to the lads Nuno is going to get. He'll be hovering above the city ground on a drone or something, handing his instructions down.

In the Trenton, come here, Nuno.

I'll look after you, mate. If you like a sweet? I don't As long as you don't make me program off me, I'll be all right. I just think if I'm new now, I'm going to say to him, Do what you did for the last nearly half an hour. I think James James and Morgan pretty much went off with about 15, 20 minutes to go, something like that at Stamford Bridge, and then there were 13 added on. It's around about half an hour. And Forest did not have Morgan because he had to... The poor lad had to limp off. And they didn't have James because James had to somehow curtail Nicholas Jackson or Madwecki, whichever one it was, from running through clean on goal. So Forest proved there and then they can go toe to toe with a supposing big Six Club without Morgan and without James Wright. So I'm not as worried this season as I might have been in previous seasons about, say, losing Morgan and losing James, because I think there are people that can come in and do a job. I think Elliot Anderson could do a job. I absolutely adore Jotter Silver.

Whether he's the same guy starting a match as he is off the bench, but in every game he's played that I've seen, he's made things happen. He is a character. I mean, he could have won it for us at Stamper Bridge. That was a brilliant... At one point, he ran and retrieved the ball off somebody charging upfield. Then obviously, he got his head on that free kick or whatever towards it. He always put the ball in and he's nearly won it for us. He's a terrific player. It's bizarre, really, Max. I mean, Nuno's trim the squad and it's a leaner unit in terms of personnel, but I think he's got more options. So I'm relatively sanguine about whoever he picks on Monday night. I mean, it's They're all doing a grand job. If somebody said to me, 'You'd be 10th, bang, near the end of October in the Premier League, I was going, 'Wow, yes, please give me that now. Where this week is tricky for me is, we've been to the AMEX, we've been to Stamford Bridge, we've been to Anfield, and we've put fantastic performances. But they, in and of themselves, do not make it certain that we're going to beat Crystal Palace and Leicester.

Especially with the home form recently, Dave, as well.

Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? For two seasons, we talked about the home form will keep Forrest up. And then when it became a thing, it stopped being a thing. And then for two years, we were like, Oh, Forrest can't win away. ' That became a thing, and then it stopped being a thing. And now we're great away from it. It's almost like as soon as you start to establish something as a trend, Max, and as a theme, the opposite happens. I think it's brilliant. I've got a really good friend who's a Luton fan, Dave Gregory, who does a wonderful Luton Town podcast called 'Lol When The Town' and Dave's gone to the Luton Watford game at the Kenny today, and Luton have been dire. Luton have been awful. And he's going, what hope. And then I looked at, I don't know if it's still the same score, but Luke Moutuna playing really, really well. So just when you think you've got it pegged, it's when football switches it on you. Cluff always used to say that. Always expect the unexpected in football. So I think it'd be very, very unwise to say Crystal Palace lightly.

No, no, the coaching staff, the lads, certainly won't. And I don't think we should as fans, really, because they've got some hellishly good players. I just think the only thing I would say about policy, some of their lads to me, particularly the likes of Adam Wharton and Mateta, have looked tired to me because they played a lot of football. Mateta was playing an Olympic final not long back. Eze obviously is still a major threat. He's a wonderful footballer Eze.

Gerhi obviously is a good player. Of course, Nketia as well, that was linked with Forest.

Nketia. I mean, he's a lively lad. Whether he can score the goals or not, that remains to be seen. That's the thing that Eddie has to prove, that he can score the goals to add to his work rate. Gerhi is good. Wacky and Anderson in goal. They've got a good side, but maybe I think... Okay, they're missing Elisa, but I think they're missing Wacky and Anderson probably more because he was so solid at the back. He was like their Malencovitch figure last year. So I think it's a close game. I don't think it could be a classic. I did think at Stamford Bridge, it was going to be quite a goal for us. I think I'd like a five goal through This one, I think one goal either way will dissettle it. I just hope that we, as a football club and a family, get behind and become that 12th man and keep Pallies in the bottom three, and we can move a little closer up into the top half because if we take six points from these next two games, goodness me. We love a Clipsterby's record, so obviously that's good. And then we're like, we're not that- Are we still thinking about it.

Yeah, we always do, don't we? We're not too far away from halfway towards the seemingly magical 40 points. So they're good Good fixes, but I like what Forrest are doing. I said to somebody, I was chatting to somebody, and they remind me, I don't think there is good, but they remind me of Nuno's wolves that finished seventh, two years running. There's a sense of togetherness, a sense of organization. They're not flash. They're not spectacular. But they're at the moment, they're getting a job. There's quite a lot of them on redemption missions. Nuno is, Callumunsa Nuzo is, Anthony Alanger is. A lot of them are trying to find their way. Olerena is another one. I think Cluffy will be looking down, and I think he'd have a lot of time for the current Forest squad and the current Forest team. So it's going to be a good match. I think it's going to be one for the purist. It's I'm not going to be... I don't think he's going to hit you. He's probably four-four now because I've said that. But I think one goal either way, and I'm going to be like Chris Sutton on the BBC, I'm going to lean towards us getting it in the hope that the fans do their bit, Max.

Absolutely. Yeah, spot on, Dave. Some good thoughts there. And you know what? It's funny, actually. I was lucky to cover Port Vale's press conference the other week for the BBC, and I was talking to Darren more about Forest just off camera and things, and we were on about And Darren said how good Nuno was as a manager with time and a plan together. And funny enough, mentioned the whole wolves factor and that togetherness. And I think we have surprised a few people this year, just in football and in the media in general. But let's keep it that way. Let's keep going as almost the underdogs. Let's keep going as a club that people don't expect to go to Big Six or the big six away from them and get to them.

I think staying under the radar, Max, and not getting ahead of ourselves is the way to go. It's always been the way I wanted to go in football because I've always thought, you stick your head above the parapet and it's not making big statements, we're this, we're that. Somebody's there waiting for you. There's always somebody out there waiting for you. And I'd like us to keep doing what What are we doing? And then maybe somebody said, I still don't really know how good we are. What I will say is we're better than we've been the last two seasons. But as to truly how good we are, I do not know. Are we in that middle echelon yet? I don't know. Are we Are we going to be just above the relegation? Are we going to get drawn? I don't know. I think we'll have a better idea. Ask me after we've played Tottenham and Everton at Christmas, and I might be able to think, Yeah, that's where we are, and take a measured, considered view of it. But what I've seen thus far, it's been really encouraging. It's been likable. We might eventually go about the season establishing ourselves.

And I tell you what, it might be the right time to do it. I've been watching quite a lot of Championship matches recently, and I begin to think that the gap, the Premier League is pulling further away from the Championship I watched Leeds and Sheffield tonight last night, and it was a Rimbutious match. Yorkshire Derby, we didn't see enough quality that would last very long in the Premier League. And I thought to myself, well, I thought to myself, maybe last two seasons, Forrest might have found that a bit of a difficult job to play over those two. I watched it last night, I thought, 'Forester could have got this. ' So having got into the Premier League at the time they did might end up being the best thing Forrest ever did. I don't think the Championship this year is going to offer up anybody. I may be wrong, frequently am. I don't think the Championship this year, Max, is going to offer up anybody that's going to come into the Premier League and make a big impact. Do you know what I mean? So if Forest can be one of that established top 15, 16, that to me would be wonderful, mate.

Yeah. We shall see Monday night Forest in action. Of course, it's on telly. Is it eight o'clock kick-off, isn't it?

Eight o'clock kick-off, mate. I've got the day off. That's good.

Very nice. Enjoy, mate. I shall be there as well, traveling down from sunny Manchester. So looking forward to it. It should be a good one. And then Leicester away on Friday night. A bit of a different week with the podcast, messing us all up with this schedule. We should hopefully have a postmatch episode Tuesday, Wednesday. We'll also look ahead to the Leicester game then, so we'll do almost a review and a preview in one, and then we shall be back next Saturday or Sunday for our main episode after the Leicester game. So all happening, keep following us across Spotify and Apple podcast. Appreciate the support as always. And from me and Dave, no suspended sentence for us, so we shall be there on Monday night.

Nobody suspends. Monday night. No be suspended.