Two nil up and cruising, the football is beautiful, your star man is living up to his expectations that the crowd and media dictate. The team is so relaxed that they knock the ball around nonchalantly, which delights the crowd even though a little voice at the back of the mind warns of what could become if “we” under estimate the opposition.

So hands up, who has been in this position? England against Portugal 4 years ago, Spurs were 3 up on more than one occasion only to lose (Man City and Man Utd) and of course the Dutch against the Czechs.  

I ask the question, why do teams do this to us and why is it that we are never 2-0 down and end up wining?

Last night I watched the Dutch pass, move and shoot, their football was awesome and to be fair the Czechs were in a similar mood, the fact that Holland were 2-0 shouldn’t go against them but stand as a huge applause for the wonderfully gifted Czech team. It could have been 3-2 to either side or 6-6 but this does not answer the question.

One can only presume that a player being 2-0 up and coasting you want to show boat a little, all the hard work deserves a little time for fun and that’s when mistakes happen, isn’t that right Mr. van Bronkhorst?

There is one other solution to the question I pose, and that’s suggesting that footballers are not football fans, well not for the team they play for anyway. How many players we have in the Forest team that were not born in Nottingham, thus support another team, can we doubt their commitment? And what about international level?  

I know one thing, when I see Forest winning 2-0 I’m hoping we get a third before we relax and pass it around a little more than we usually do. Brian Clough said it only takes a second to score a goal. How true a word. So 2-0 can be easily 2-1, and 2-1 and be 2-2.

©ForestFC.co.uk, 2004