J Lingz

[Forest1970]

Credit to Lingard he was good but lets not get carried away.

He needs to be doing that week in week out not once every 15 games.

Over to you Jesse...

I think part of Lingards problem has been we have not offered him pace or mobility up front enough this season. Awoniyi and Dennis have not offered him the chance to put balls through, which he did well last night. Surridge also moved out wide when Jessie was central so they weren't getting in each others way.

Also, our midfield were higher up the pitch last night and closed the gap between defensive midfield and attacking midfield, which brought Jessie into the game more. He is a bit like Brennan, he is not a defensive player and sadly, for the most part of this season, we have had to play on the back foot, rather than pressing forwards.

There may be an element of this at times, but genuinely think it's more about him not having played for ages when he signed and hitting a run of poor form. 

Mis placed passes, crap clearances, poor shooting and the other stuff probably chipped away at his confidence and can not be attributed to formations, other players etc. It's not as if he was being asked to play centre back.

That said, his work rate recently has been the ideal way to try to regain his form - and its clear from his career and yesterday what a class player he can be- and if we see a few more performances like last night, coupled with MGW possibly repeating Saturdays performance level, then things may be looking up.

Only thing is can you play JLingz and MGW in the same team?

I think you can play anyone with anyone you just need to get them in the right frame of mind. You would never of thought Messi, Mbappe and Neymar would play well together but PSG are doing ok. ( In no way am I saying we're in PSGs league). 

Its just about getting that right mindset.

[wassy04]

Credit to Lingard he was good but lets not get carried away.

He needs to be doing that week in week out not once every 15 games.

Over to you Jesse...

I think part of Lingards problem has been we have not offered him pace or mobility up front enough this season. Awoniyi and Dennis have not offered him the chance to put balls through, which he did well last night. Surridge also moved out wide when Jessie was central so they weren't getting in each others way.

Also, our midfield were higher up the pitch last night and closed the gap between defensive midfield and attacking midfield, which brought Jessie into the game more. He is a bit like Brennan, he is not a defensive player and sadly, for the most part of this season, we have had to play on the back foot, rather than pressing forwards.

There may be an element of this at times, but genuinely think it's more about him not having played for ages when he signed and hitting a run of poor form. 

Mis placed passes, crap clearances, poor shooting and the other stuff probably chipped away at his confidence and can not be attributed to formations, other players etc. It's not as if he was being asked to play centre back.

That said, his work rate recently has been the ideal way to try to regain his form - and its clear from his career and yesterday what a class player he can be- and if we see a few more performances like last night, coupled with MGW possibly repeating Saturdays performance level, then things may be looking up.

Only thing is can you play JLingz and MGW in the same team?

I think you can play anyone with anyone you just need to get them in the right frame of mind. You would never of thought Messi, Mbappe and Neymar would play well together but PSG are doing ok. ( In no way am I saying we're in PSGs league). 

Its just about getting that right mindset.

Isn't that an example of where it doesn't work? They've got three of the top strikers in the world and not really managed to have the success you'd expect with that front 3.

Back to Forest, Lingard seemed to be playing properly as a number 10, can MGW play in a front 2 in place of one of the strikers?

[Shawoddyred]

I think part of Lingards problem has been we have not offered him pace or mobility up front enough this season. Awoniyi and Dennis have not offered him the chance to put balls through, which he did well last night. Surridge also moved out wide when Jessie was central so they weren't getting in each others way.

Also, our midfield were higher up the pitch last night and closed the gap between defensive midfield and attacking midfield, which brought Jessie into the game more. He is a bit like Brennan, he is not a defensive player and sadly, for the most part of this season, we have had to play on the back foot, rather than pressing forwards.

There may be an element of this at times, but genuinely think it's more about him not having played for ages when he signed and hitting a run of poor form. 

Mis placed passes, crap clearances, poor shooting and the other stuff probably chipped away at his confidence and can not be attributed to formations, other players etc. It's not as if he was being asked to play centre back.

That said, his work rate recently has been the ideal way to try to regain his form - and its clear from his career and yesterday what a class player he can be- and if we see a few more performances like last night, coupled with MGW possibly repeating Saturdays performance level, then things may be looking up.

Only thing is can you play JLingz and MGW in the same team?

I think you can play anyone with anyone you just need to get them in the right frame of mind. You would never of thought Messi, Mbappe and Neymar would play well together but PSG are doing ok. ( In no way am I saying we're in PSGs league). 

Its just about getting that right mindset.

Isn't that an example of where it doesn't work? They've got three of the top strikers in the world and not really managed to have the success you'd expect with that front 3.

Back to Forest, Lingard seemed to be playing properly as a number 10, can MGW play in a front 2 in place of one of the strikers?

There was a fair amount of chat in the summer that MGW could play as a conventional CM behind the forwards....

[wassy04]

There's a TV show about this too on Tuesday. Perhaps gives an understanding of why he chose to come to Forest. Hopefully things are starting to turn around for him again now, both on and off the pitch.

[Username]

FWIW I think his contribution has generally been overlooked, especially when some of the football has been quite agricultural.

He definitely gets more involved since we have moved to a back four

[wassy04]

Interesting read, thanks for sharing.

FWIW I think his contribution has generally been overlooked, especially when some of the football has been quite agricultural.

He definitely gets more involved since we have moved to a back four

I think it's because he came in with a big reputation, on the back of alleged massive wage, people were expecting more. He's obviously been held back by the team somewhat but he seems to have finally got up to speed lately. Will be interesting if we get a CF whether he'll get to play in the same role as against Spurs were he was so good. Unluckily for him MGW has also began to step up his game in a very similar position!

I do agree though he's largely put a shift in most games, just his shifts have not been at quite the technical level that was expected of him early on. 

He looks happy though and he's clearly an infectious personality, someone that could be really good for this squad in the second half of the year.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Thats really interesting. The programme is on 12.05am on Friday 18th. Not exactly peak time, it might have been had he still played for Man Utd, put it in the planner anyway.

I did kind of wonder if his over the top stupidity was in some way a front and it appears it is. Either way I am warming to the bloke and he is starting to have a real contribution now. Crucially he genuinely seems happy now, you can’t fake the reaction he has at the end or the way he interacts with his team mates and the staff. Im hoping he has started to feel he belongs here, thought he might want away in January if he didnt get to the world cup but a fit and motivated Jesse Lingard would be huge for us in the 2nd half of the season.

[Paplane]

If Cooper is helping him with his issues and putting an arm around him and showing him the Cooper love then he might fancy staying longer than the 1 year.

[Reds73]

If Cooper is helping him with his issues and putting an arm around him and showing him the Cooper love then he might fancy staying longer than the 1 year.

Coops is the perfect mentor for Jesse.
Such a good man manager.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Looks as though he's lost some weight and he also looks a bit quicker.

[Dog and Bear]

Looks as though he's lost some weight and he also looks a bit quicker.

That's good to hear so we will hopefully see a different Lingard when we restart.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Looks as though he's lost some weight and he also looks a bit quicker.

That's good to hear so we will hopefully see a different Lingard when we restart.

Yes he was clearly a bit overweight and off the pace at the start of the season.