Ishmael

So his cross for the first goal and first time touch to beat 2 men to win the penalty looked even better on the highlights. Amazing player.

blackburn overall were crap. it's unlikely we'll give them as much space 25yds out to pick out the pacey yakubu. my worry is hoilletts movement but we ought to have too much from the middle for them. I've been impressed by Blackburn so far this season tbqh. I'm not that worried though because Pardew is too wise to underrate them in any way. And yes, Hoilett scares the shit out of me.

Does seem a proper happy bunny. Was all smiley at the end when he threw his gloves into the crowd. Can accept him not saving the first if he didn't see it, but maybe he should have moved to see it? Just a thought.

I enjoyed writing it, but not as much as going; makes me sad that I can't make more games. Credit to the lad who sat behind me giving Lee Camp the 'father' treatment in the second half. Had me giggling.

He genuinely seems to love the club and the support from the fans as well. Was one of the first over at the end of the game for an extended applause. Still bitter that he messed up the chance Ben gave him though. Wouldn't have heard the end of it about Ben's run

Don't like the comment about the supposed 'hoof ball'. They were mainly channel balls that were essential because we had no safe way out of the positions. They were clearly well rehearsed and 2/5 got us good field position. There was some lovely link-up play in midfield though. Said to my brother halfway through the first half that we would not have got this result last season. We wouldn't have had this much depth last season either. Great stuff.

Krul Simpson Saylor Colo Raylor Obertan Cabaye Tiote Marv Ben Arfa Best Make it so.

Yes. Stayed out wide more so than his other performances for us tonight, due to Ben Arfa being in the hole. Had loads of space down the left and exploited it well. Was shifted into a central role late in the game (where Ben Arfa started). Probably because he was knackered and Pards wanted to use Sammy and Obertan as the pace to get at them from wide.

Just back to my pad. Here's what I made of most of it: Elliot 5 - Failed to take advantage of the start. Would want our goalkeeper to be doing much better with 2 of the goals Forrest scores. Nowhere near the standard of Krul. Our GK coach blasted one past him in the warm up and then smiled and said "not even krul would get that". Harsh, but fair. Was all smiley at the end when he threw his gloves into the crowd. Simpson 6 - Bog standard Simpson performance tonight. Did some back-tracking and extreme standing off, which I was hoping was going to disappear from his game. Missed some touches now and then and had poor delivery into the box, which resulted in his goal! Was pretty comical, when it went in. Generally solid sums it up. Colocinni 8 (includes bonus goal hero point) - did everything that you would expect him to do in a game. Clearly a class above. Did his marauding runs now and then and was generally solid. Definitely struggling against the really physical strikers though, which brings me onto our main problem of the night... Perch 6 - It wasn't that he was 'bad' as such, just not good enough or physical enough, a la Saylor, to make up for Colo's physical deficiencies. Was out of position, missed headers, miss-directed headers, missed passes... just not good enough for us. Had some epic tackles though, 2 to be precise. 1 was on fatty Reid which was EPIC. Ferguson 6 - Proper fighter this kid. Went through the motions tonight doing everything the right way. Made tackles, clearances, simple passes and overlaps all night. Very restraint, but showed some maturity you might not expect. Size was an issue at times for his defending, but he gave it everything. Gosling 5 - slow, cumbersome, dunno - just underwhelming really. Don't think wide right is his position as he lacks the pace or movement to succeed there. Don't know what we're going to do with him frankly. Abeid 7 - Dirty c***. Loves a tackle and was getting stuck in all night. Proper little professional foul for his booking. Immaturity showed a few times and he's not as technical as I expected him to be. Definitely a defensive midfielder though, which is great because even with his little issues he's twice the player smith is. Got a 7 because he did a great job for somebody of his age. Guthrie 7 - Was nice to watch. Played some good stuff when in possession, linked well with our tasty Frenchmen. Lacking a little in mobility though and did go missing for HUGE spells of the game. He's solid if called upon, but I'd rather not. Marveraux 8 - MoTM. Assisted our first 2 goals. Glorious delivery for the first, GLORIOUS touch to win the penalty. You will not see a better first touch all season I swear. Other than that, there were signs that he will link up well with Ben Arfa and co. Lovely on the ball and was always an outlet. Definitely offers more than Jonas ever will in the final third. Awesome. Ben Arfa 7 - Dreamy. Will get this out of the way - lost the ball in a really s*** position once, but battled to try and get it back. Right, anyway... Played a beautiful ball onto Marv's foot to get us our first goal. Struggled to get into the game in between the Nottingham lines and only came into it when he dropped deep to get the ball, but when he did he was a tormentor. Played a killer pass to Gosling early on that had everybody looking like "how the f*** did he do that?". Going to be intense. Lovenkrands 7 - Ran hard, with a hard job to do as a lone striker. Took his chances, that were gifted on a plate tbf. Missed 1 glorious opportunity. It's not too bad having him as a reserve, but at least his heart is there. Obertan 6 - Assisted our winner with a nice cross, and did put a few good low deliveries in. Ruined an amazing opportunity to score when slicing over the bar. Was looking ok in possession and linked up extremely well with whoever was wide with him. There's legs in this player only if he learns to control his composure when close to the goal. Lacking loads though. Sh. Ameobi 5 - annoying tonight. Slow, cumbersome, OFFSIDE. Had a physical battle on his hands and gave away loads of freekicks. Felt sorry for him though as they were proper 50/50s that went against him. Was quiet otherwise, not too bad. Sa. Ameobi 6 - great dribbler, but raw with his deliveries. Wasted loads of chances that he made himself to put good balls in. Really player to be had here if he keeps going. Did some amazing tricks at his feet in the game too. Awesomeness. Pardew 7 - Subs were spot on. Fair play. Andy Reid - HAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU ARE f***ing MASSIVE :lol:

Forgot to mention his dribble early in the second half. Just strode at a canter down the center of the field for 50/60 yards before slipping a ball to Loven right before 3 defenders closed out his space. Loven duly fucked up his glorious chance.

Didn't install much confidence in me tonight. Want to watch the highlights again, but 2 of the goals looked like simple saves / simple processes that Krul would have made with ease.

Great dribbling again tonight. Took some touches that made Ben Arfa look average. That's serious btw, no exaggeration. Problem was that his end product was very week, and mainly his crossing and judgments. There's a hell of a player in there, which I'm sure we'll get to see. Seemed less smiley tonight

Worked his socks off tonight to be fair to him, but lacked quality now and then. Had 2 goals gifted to him, both by the glorious Marveraux. Ben Arfa put him through on goal after a ridiculous run down the middle early in the second half and his 'finish' was fucking abysmally weak. Just rolled it into Camps arms. Still, he put a lot of effort in tonight and got 2 goals. Credit.

The part of his play tonight which shone the most was his eye for a pass. He found Marv' out on the left with ease time and time again, with one long pass starting off our first goal. Prior to that he had dropped deep to receive the ball from Colo before beating 1/2 men and playing an audacious switch ball to Gosling along the deck that bamboozled everybody in the stadium. Was absurd. Showed good signs on the ball with his dribbling, beat a few men now and then and showed flashes of real skill. Lost the ball in a really dangerous place one though, was his only failure of the night. Going to be massive for us!

His passing and movement was outstanding again. Great cross onto Loven's head for the first goal. Wait until you guys see the touch he took to beat two defenders and win us our penalty. It was out of this world

Just not good enough. That simple. Tonight was the cherry on the top of the proof cake that he so unskillfully baked during his time here. Out of position too much, weak in the air, weak in possession. Him and Elliot combined to cost us 2 of the goals.

Load of level headed fans is all I can make out.

Anybody can purchase for the away end. £20 adult. £10 U18.

You can get them direct from the Forest ticket office, which you can then pick up from the ground before the game (6pm earliest). I had no trouble yesterday and the girl at the ticket office said there were 'plenty' of tickets left in the away end

On no other forum would my first thought be 'oh dear lord that's genuine' and not 'he's just trolling'

Who have Sunderland got in the cup this week?

Would expect an over zealous Steven Taylor celebration to go terribly right, with Mike and Decca (and possibly the trophy) left squashed under the wheels of the BUS@SPORTSDIRECT.

Hope he turns out to be an extremely good player for us, even in the short term. Smith and Guthrie knocked back another step if he does