Player Ratings After 12 Games

[GaribaldiRED]

Following up on the post from Duncan where he challenged us all to post more.

I will therefore try to do a rating of all our players this far into the season. I will split it up per position as it will be too much initial work to try to do it all at once. I will start with the keepers and then take the defenders, midfielders and ending up with the strikers.

First of all I would like to state that I strongly believe that we turned a corner after the first international break. From the Swansea game and onward we have gradually improved game by game except for the odd slip up (read the last 15 minutes against Millwall). In this period we have played 7 games, drawn 3 and won 4. Our form has been excellent and we have seen some very strong individual performances but the most pleasing thing has been that the team now seems to play as ONE team both in defense and in attack. Forest going to Middlesbrough and outplay the home team says it all really. Great feeling all around.

Okey then, let's start with the keepers.
 
Pants: 6
Done okey I guess and is very engaged and vocal on the pitch but I'm really disappointed about his distribution. His kicking (and throwing) leaves a lot to be desired as he rarely is able to find a Forest player with his long kicks. When our defenders get pressed while trying to play out from the back and they are forced to give the ball to Pants I'm quite certain that at least in 80% of the time that is equal to giving the ball away. I can assure you that this assessment is not heavily colored by the Millwall game but an objective observation from all the games Pants has played in. Sadly enough, I don't think he will improve in this area and because of that I believe we should be looking for a better overall keeper.

Steele: 7
Not seen as much of Steele but I believe that he has played quite well in his two cup  appearances. Looks confident and seems to have settled in well at Forest. Would like to have seen him get a chance in the league as well. From what I have seen I think he's better than Pants at distribution but then again who isn't (a bit harsh maybe but Pants is really pants in this area  :D ). Maybe Steele should be our number 1 keeper or maybe Smith should get another chance. I for one fail to see that Pants is an upgrade from Smith.

Now girls and guys, do you agree with my assessment or do you see it differently?

[ThePromisedLand]

Not sure that we have a goalie that can take us beyond this season on the books Gari.
But then I still recall the difference that Shilts made...

[GaribaldiRED]

Agree. But who's the best one to take us through this season? One of the keepers that we already have or should we buy somebody new in January?

And, it's of course not 12 games (as I wrote in the headline), we have to include the cup games as well  :)

[ThePromisedLand]

Can’t answer that one. Not sure Steele any better than Pantilimon but not sure either better than Smith.
Much of a muchness - as I type this I’m starting to convince myself ( to my surprise ) that we should give Smith his chance.

[Redgirl]

Smith was playing with an inept defence with a style which would've been difficult for the most experienced goalie, I feel for him. Is he good enough for where (I hope) we are heading,not so sure, but neither am I sure that Pantilimon is good enough. We need an excellent goalkeeper to compliment a solid defence (which I think we will become shortly) and tbh I don't think we have one.
However, good experienced goalkeepers are very hard to find, if we couldn't get one in the summer I highly doubt we will get one in January, I think we are stuck with what we have until summer.

[GaribaldiRED]

Yes, I really felt for Smith at times when the opposition was hunting our players down while they tried to play from the back and in a last desperate act they passed the ball back to Smith who then had to deal with the problem that none of the defenders wanted while the opposition was sprinting to close him down. Not many keepers would have come out on top from that type of scenario.

Maybe our good friend Mendes have a keeper to spare?

[Duncan Mckenzie]

Following up on the post from Duncan where he challenged us all to post more.

I will therefore try to do a rating of all our players this far into the season. I will split it up per position as it will be too much initial work to try to do it all at once. I will start with the keepers and then take the defenders, midfielders and ending up with the strikers.

First of all I would like to state that I strongly believe that we turned a corner after the first international break. From the Swansea game and onward we have gradually improved game by game except for the odd slip up (read the last 15 minutes against Millwall). In this period we have played 7 games, drawn 3 and won 4. Our form has been excellent and we have seen some very strong individual performances but the most pleasing thing has been that the team now seems to play as ONE team both in defense and in attack. Forest going to Middlesbrough and outplay the home team says it all really. Great feeling all around.

Okey then, let's start with the keepers.
 
Pants: 6
Done okey I guess and is very engaged and vocal on the pitch but I'm really disappointed about his distribution. His kicking (and throwing) leaves a lot to be desired as he rarely is able to find a Forest player with his long kicks. When our defenders get pressed while trying to play out from the back and they are forced to give the ball to Pants I'm quite certain that at least in 80% of the time that is equal to giving the ball away. I can assure you that this assessment is not heavily colored by the Millwall game but an objective observation from all the games Pants has played in. Sadly enough, I don't think he will improve in this area and because of that I believe we should be looking for a better overall keeper.

Steele: 7
Not seen as much of Steele but I believe that he has played quite well in his two cup  appearances. Looks confident and seems to have settled in well at Forest. Would like to have seen him get a chance in the league as well. From what I have seen I think he's better than Pants at distribution but then again who isn't (a bit harsh maybe but Pants is really pants in this area  :D ). Maybe Steele should be our number 1 keeper or maybe Smith should get another chance. I for one fail to see that Pants is an upgrade from Smith.

Now girls and guys, do you agree with my assessment or do you see it differently?

Thank you GaribaldiRED. Good thread. Lots to discuss.

I couldn't agree more on your assessment of the goalkeepers.

[Mcforest]

I would say we have good championship goal keepers and they will do us well while we are in this league. I would keep pants over smith solely on the basis that he talks to the defence and everyone knows what he wants gos. Now i did not see that in smith manly because he is still young and learning. It could also be that the defence at the time would just do whatever they wanted and he just gave up as they would not listen.

If we were to go up then yes a goalie is a must and we have seen how important a goal keeper is in the top divisions across Europe with the amount of money being spent by clubs in bring in real quality between the sticks. With such fine margins between winning and losing the goalie can make all the difference to a team. It is no longer a keeper it is a sweeper keeper that is used. Teams press so high now that space behind the defence has become increased and must be filled by a keeper outside his 18 yard box so direct balls and fast breaks are not used by the other teams.

[Strawberry Avenger]

Following up on the post from Duncan where he challenged us all to post more.

I will therefore try to do a rating of all our players this far into the season. I will split it up per position as it will be too much initial work to try to do it all at once. I will start with the keepers and then take the defenders, midfielders and ending up with the strikers.

First of all I would like to state that I strongly believe that we turned a corner after the first international break. From the Swansea game and onward we have gradually improved game by game except for the odd slip up (read the last 15 minutes against Millwall). In this period we have played 7 games, drawn 3 and won 4. Our form has been excellent and we have seen some very strong individual performances but the most pleasing thing has been that the team now seems to play as ONE team both in defense and in attack. Forest going to Middlesbrough and outplay the home team says it all really. Great feeling all around.

Okey then, let's start with the keepers.
 
Pants: 6
Done okey I guess and is very engaged and vocal on the pitch but I'm really disappointed about his distribution. His kicking (and throwing) leaves a lot to be desired as he rarely is able to find a Forest player with his long kicks. When our defenders get pressed while trying to play out from the back and they are forced to give the ball to Pants I'm quite certain that at least in 80% of the time that is equal to giving the ball away. I can assure you that this assessment is not heavily colored by the Millwall game but an objective observation from all the games Pants has played in. Sadly enough, I don't think he will improve in this area and because of that I believe we should be looking for a better overall keeper.

Steele: 7
Not seen as much of Steele but I believe that he has played quite well in his two cup  appearances. Looks confident and seems to have settled in well at Forest. Would like to have seen him get a chance in the league as well. From what I have seen I think he's better than Pants at distribution but then again who isn't (a bit harsh maybe but Pants is really pants in this area  :D ). Maybe Steele should be our number 1 keeper or maybe Smith should get another chance. I for one fail to see that Pants is an upgrade from Smith.

Now girls and guys, do you agree with my assessment or do you see it differently?

Good dissection, Red Garibaldi.  Pants is a presence, vocal and has some stopping ability which he demonstrated against Boro'.

However, increasingly, I feel he's very static.  He's been culpable for a 'few' goals now where he let 'emotion' get the better of him (but I guess is that any worse than mouthing at the ref' or kicking the ball away or diving and getting yourself sent off...) which led to a goal at Wigan because his mind wasn't on the ensuing corner.

For 6.7 he should come and claim every ball but often remains rooted.  A couple of times he's tried to come and claim it and it's led to a goal.  His fast redistribution vs Millwall gave them a quick and easy counter attack goal that boosted them.  And for the 2nd goal he doesn't get off scott free either, but neither does Jack Robinson or Heff or Fox or Yanko or Dias who was stood watching...ie it's a team game to defend...

He's 'good enough'.  His saves vs Boro kept a clean sheet vs the mistakes vs Millwall that cost Forest the win.  Smith didn't do that well in the cup game...which didn't inspire confidence.  He doesn't talk.  And any decent keeper has to be able to do that...not kung fu the opposition and get sent off.  Steele has done ok in the cup games but wasn't invincible either.  ...will get a chance only if Pants keeps doing a 'Millwall.'

Aitor has ridden a few choppy waves knowing that a settled side and time develop into the promise Forest currently have.  We can see the improvement.

Pants will stay between the sticks.  He talks. ;)

SA.

[Kylos247]

Pants was a God send last Jan, everything we was crying out for. Decent shot stopper, comes for crosses, talks to his players. However i do feel he's off form this season so I ask why, I believe it all stems back to when he didn't play towards the back end of last season due to personal reasons. Can anybody shed any light what these problems were as I'm convinced his heads not right. We only have to look at Murphy when he had troubles, he's a totally different player from then.
I do like Smith but he had to much pressure for a young kid.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Not sure that we have a goalie that can take us beyond this season on the books Gari.
But then I still recall the difference that Shilts made...

I agree with the above.

It's such an important position to fill.

I would like to see Steele in goal for this season.

IF (big IF), we manage to get promoted then in my opinion we will need to sign a top class keeper. I don't think we have one at present.

[Maltared]

I agree with most of what is being said above in regard our keepers. Problem is that we are stuck with Panti, as a signed a couple of year contract-if not more-so whatever happens we have to pay him off or sell him (doubt many teams- at least at our level will take a punt on him).
In regard Steele I havent seen much of him apart from the Newcastle game and the highlights of the other two up games, so I cannot comment much, but from what I hear in here , many are saying that worst then Panti is not, so if AK decides to give him one or two leagues games, I guess no much harm can be done.
And for Smith, what a wasted season for the boy. he didnt deserve it. If AK was planning to have another back up keeper for Panti that wasnt Smith, he should have let him go on loan at least. As things are, he is throwing away a year of his professional development.