Bong

[Tricky]

I felt Bong did ok.......nothing more, just ok. Jenkinson on the other hand was appalling!

[wassy04]

Nice to see we are giving Bong time to settle in and get up to speed (not).

So are we writing this lad off after just 60 minutes in the Garibaldi?

Thing is Sniff, we've only 14 games left now. Players bought here in Jan should already be up to speed. At the very least they should be able to see most the game out.

Bong was blowing after half hour, and I'm surprised he lasted until the 60 mark. He looks a good 5-10 games off match fitness at least.

He's 32 in April as well, so it's not as if we're developing him.

I think Bong was due to do no more than about 60 mins whatever happened, due to his lack of match fitness. 
I also thought he wasn't that bad, other than that backpass. Worse debuts have been seen many times. Muric and Mir for starters.

I agree Alf that he would need a couple of games to get up to speed, but he is still better suited to our system than want away Chema. If we lost Ribs for 10 games, we would suffer more previously than we would now. If Ribs stays fit then its a moot point.

Honestly though, the abuse he has got on here is too much. He wasn't even our worst full back on the night and in truth his crossing was also better than Cash on the night, though it was a bit weird how good Cash was up to the point of delivery to then spoon it over/long.

32 is no age IF he is still fit. Presumably, Forest still conduct a thorough medical?

Welcome to Forest.

Exactly! Jenkinson was worse I agree, the abuse is crazy for a very much backup left back. He wasnt the reason we lost and is barely going to play.

If Rib gets injured I would expect his fitness to improve as he played more. Perhaps Sabri shouldve asked him to do a bit less like when Chema played LB

[Alf]

Nice to see we are giving Bong time to settle in and get up to speed (not).

So are we writing this lad off after just 60 minutes in the Garibaldi?

Thing is Sniff, we've only 14 games left now. Players bought here in Jan should already be up to speed. At the very least they should be able to see most the game out.

Bong was blowing after half hour, and I'm surprised he lasted until the 60 mark. He looks a good 5-10 games off match fitness at least.

He's 32 in April as well, so it's not as if we're developing him.

I think Bong was due to do no more than about 60 mins whatever happened, due to his lack of match fitness. 
I also thought he wasn't that bad, other than that backpass. Worse debuts have been seen many times. Muric and Mir for starters.

I agree Alf that he would need a couple of games to get up to speed, but he is still better suited to our system than want away Chema. If we lost Ribs for 10 games, we would suffer more previously than we would now. If Ribs stays fit then its a moot point.

Honestly though, the abuse he has got on here is too much. He wasn't even our worst full back on the night and in truth his crossing was also better than Cash on the night, though it was a bit weird how good Cash was up to the point of delivery to then spoon it over/long.

32 is no age IF he is still fit. Presumably, Forest still conduct a thorough medical?

Welcome to Forest.

Why are we signing players in Jan for a promotion push who aren't match fit though? 

Bong recently spent a 19 game stint at Oly, where he was widely regarded as a joke. To quote a post from some Oly fans about him

"He made mistakes and tactically he was very poor. run like a headless chicken sometimes which was odd because he is fast, strong and gives you the feeling he'll eat the opponent. Let's not mince our words, he was a joke."

I think you're being incredibly optimistic here Zic. My prediction is a brief stint of crapness here, followed by trying to move him out the club asap.

IMO his debut was one of the worst I've seen.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

I thought he was poor too but it was his obvious lack of fitness that annoyed me the most. I dont buy this “hasn’t played since September” excuse either. It was the same for Jenkinson, however poor he was too he at least managed to run for 90 mins. I assume Bong has been training with Brighton? Even if not playing it is basic professionalism to keep himself fit.
However not giving up on him yet, we need LB cover and he has good experience at a high level so he must have something about him.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Bong recently spent a 19 game stint at Oly, where he was widely regarded as a joke. To quote a post from some Oly fans about him

A little unfair, that was over 6 years ago, he has over 50 appearances in the premier league since then.

Im not defending his performance on Tuesday though, just saying Im not writing him off completely yet.

[zicorice]

Nice to see we are giving Bong time to settle in and get up to speed (not).

So are we writing this lad off after just 60 minutes in the Garibaldi?

Thing is Sniff, we've only 14 games left now. Players bought here in Jan should already be up to speed. At the very least they should be able to see most the game out.

Bong was blowing after half hour, and I'm surprised he lasted until the 60 mark. He looks a good 5-10 games off match fitness at least.

He's 32 in April as well, so it's not as if we're developing him.

I think Bong was due to do no more than about 60 mins whatever happened, due to his lack of match fitness. 
I also thought he wasn't that bad, other than that backpass. Worse debuts have been seen many times. Muric and Mir for starters.

I agree Alf that he would need a couple of games to get up to speed, but he is still better suited to our system than want away Chema. If we lost Ribs for 10 games, we would suffer more previously than we would now. If Ribs stays fit then its a moot point.

Honestly though, the abuse he has got on here is too much. He wasn't even our worst full back on the night and in truth his crossing was also better than Cash on the night, though it was a bit weird how good Cash was up to the point of delivery to then spoon it over/long.

32 is no age IF he is still fit. Presumably, Forest still conduct a thorough medical?

Welcome to Forest.

Why are we signing players in Jan for a promotion push who aren't match fit though? 

Bong recently spent a 19 game stint at Oly, where he was widely regarded as a joke. To quote a post from some Oly fans about him

"He made mistakes and tactically he was very poor. run like a headless chicken sometimes which was odd because he is fast, strong and gives you the feeling he'll eat the opponent. Let's not mince our words, he was a joke."

I think you're being incredibly optimistic here Zic. My prediction is a brief stint of crapness here, followed by trying to move him out the club asap.

IMO his debut was one of the worst I've seen.

Ok, coming back from a bad injury it sounds as like he had a mare at Oly.

My optimism is based on much more than the odd viewing for Bong though. When living on South Coast, I regularly got freebies to Brighton. In their promotion season I attended 10 games at The Amex live, plus watched a few on sky. (Subsequently I hate Brighton) I wished them to lose every time (except against sheep) but they didn't, instead they got promoted in 2nd spot. The year before I had 7 freebies and they finished 3rd (on GD I think) losing in play offs.

At that time, through that season and the previous one Bong was starting left back in every game I saw. Sabri and Hughton set up their teams in a surprisingly similar fashion. The full backs were/are particularly important in the system. Now I accept players can lose it or not be suited to a certain  club (God knows we have suffered this enough times over the years), but I am giving an opinion based on 17 live games plus a few on Sky, 2-3 1/2 years ago about what Bong is capable of if fit across a period of time. He is still only 32. Brighton's other full back those seasons was about 100 years old and did a season in the Prem!

He was never terrible, defensively he could be caught out, especially if CF got on him in the air. However, going forward was very effective. Look at the ball he put in against us last time we played down there. He is not Matty Cash, but he can be as good as Ribeiro.

I get he has been struggling with injury and is not match fit and over a year has passed since I watched him play (until Tuesday). But form is temporary..... 

What I do know is, that being written off after 60 odd minutes is nuts with his previous. He was outstanding for Wigan before going to Brighton. Let's be absolutely clear the lad can be decent for us, but all our experts writing him off based on Tuesday is only going g to make it less likely he will regain his form.

Some people accuse us of delusions of grandeur, I normally refute this and just say that we have high Hope's for better times. But I am starting to see it a bit now. Chema wanted to leave (he was OK, but limited as LB, too weak in air at CB) Robinson got (amazingly) a prem offer and was costing goals when he played. So a LB was needed as cover. Are we really going to be able to sign a quality ready to go (ie 1st team regular) in Jan? Unlikely.

If Bong is on he bench all season, great as it means Ribs is fit. If needed for a run of games he is more than capable. 

I just hope he doesn't go into his shell as a result of the over the top criticism he has received online. I assume everyone wants to see the player I saw at Brighton and not "a brief stint of crapness...". That would represent genuine competition for Ribs.

I will leave it now.

[PsychoStanleyStone]

compared to Da Costa, Bong was absolutely amazing, i'm sure Da Costa first touch was after 16 minutes on the pitch with a ridiculous foul, it was a bad foul, not in the sense he almost killed an opposing player you hated and got some sort of selfish blood lust satisfaction from, it was 'bad' as in ''embarrassingly pathetic to the extent of seeming like he was crying and wanting to pick the ball up and run home to mummy. Bong showed bits n pieces and 100 times better than Da Costa, to the extent i quite dislike Da Costa at the moment. He also seems like a shrunken version of the guy i was watching in youtube highlights, i feel a bit robbed at the moment and can't see him proving me wrong anytime soon as he showed no potential to Sabri whatsoever.

[ThePromisedLand]

^ eh?! ^

[WrexhamRed]

My opinion is that nobody could possibly have shone in that team selection.
New players should be introduced one at a time, not all thrown in together along with back ups & players that have barely played all season. As much as I love Sabri & what he's doing here he had an absolute brain fart with that team selection & how anybody could expect anything other than what happened is beyond me. 100% Sabri's fault. Not the players & not the recruitment team.
I also thought that Bong seemed to have more about him than Jenkinson but I wouldn't have a go at Jenks either considering that, before this game, he's played what, 3 times this season? However Bong's confidence visibly drained from him as the game went on & he obviously had to come off before he was completely destroyed.
Let's face it, the whole team was dire, not just one or two players. Even golden balls Lolley didn't exactly cover himself in glory, how many crosses did he make that didn't sail over everybody & out for a throw on the far side? Not many for sure.

[Strawberry Avenger]

Forest aren't Chelsea. We can't leave out 5 players and expect to beat Charlton. That's what you get when you don't play your best 11.

Now? The pressure is on to beat WBA. If they win, that 'small' gap we'd worked so hard for becomes a 'big' gap again.

They beat Reading 2-1. That's the difference. We let Reading go...twice. We gifted wins to Birmingham and Charlton. That's? 10 points.

Very Da Costly.

SA.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Forest aren't Chelsea.  We can't leave out 5 players and expect to beat Charlton.  That's what you get when you don't play your best 11.

SA.

To be fair we only left out two. The other 3 are/were carrying knocks.

[Strawberry Avenger]

The Coach held his hand up regarding the 'two' he left out. Maybe we would have scraped a draw had they been included.

Regardless, it shows you can't lose '5' players (whether by enforced or whimsy) out and expect to turn over Charlton.

Or any side in the Championship.

It shows, despite that the fact that the overall picture is moving forwards, Forest aren't there yet. We're a little bit behind WBA, Leeds, Fulham maybe Brentford in terms of having a plan and progressing the plan over time.

It 'is' what it is.

We can't lambast the Coach for keeping out Sow, Grabban due to injury. Even WBA went on a 'very bad run' without their best player.

They're beatable. Just like Leeds were. IF.

Sow and Grabban are available. 5 points ahead due to their Reading win.

If we beat WBA then Charlton's abject 'throw the game awayness' will be soon forgotten.

I've got a bad feeling we may regret all the points tossed away vs 'last minute.com' and the cheap loss of 3 points to Birmingham and Charlton come the end of the season.

I'm confident if we keep Sow (and Grabban) fit we'll at least hold top 6.

But it's been agonisingly close to the top 2 and we've not head easier chances to get into the top 2. We do Leeds and Brentford but confound ourselves with Readings, Birmingham and Charlton. Frustrating.

That's chip newspaper now.

'Tomorrow's another day...' Scarlet.

SA.