Nottingham Forest - Fulham

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Just watched Newcastle - Bournemouth and Bournemouth played really well and look miles ahead of us at the minute.

[DR Forest]

Also, would love to see us play 4-2-3-1 as I agree it would suit this squad and allow Lodi and Neco to play as actual full backs

I wonder if, when everyone is fit, 4-3-3 might suit us best. Something like:

-----------------------------Henderson-------------------------
Williams----Niakhate-------------McKenna------Lodi
------------O'Brien------Kouyate-----Mangala----------
--------------MGW---------Awoniyi-----Dennis------------

Kouyate can be the destroyer and support the back four if needed leaving Mangala and O'Brien to be the more progressive midfielders. Any of the front three can be swapped out with the likes of Johnson, Lingard and Surridge. Likewise the midfielders with Freuler and Yates and the full-backs with Aurier, Richards and Toffolo. Looks good to me on paper but so many of our potential line-ups do.

I was thinking that team/formation too- though I hope Bade is a hit and not a miss and we can drop him in alongside Niakhate.
But thats more of just a hope based on his CV.

[wassy04]

Lot of fellow forum members looking back at what might have been or should have been, it matters not as we are in the here and now! I also agree with most on here that it appears SC is looking to use the same playing system with a different group of players who have differing forms of talent to those from last season. He needs to change and adapt quickly instead of persevering with 5 at the back, most teams in the Premier league play a form of 433, I hope he can see this or he will be gone by November or earlier. He is also missing SR which I believe was a big influence during our great run last year and has not been replaced (in my opinion) with the correct type of 1st team coach. The existing playing staff is good enough to be an average side in the league at the very minimum so if SC is unable to make the step-up then the Big Man will surely act. Over to you Sniffer!!!!!!

I find this comment very interesting and before I type what I am about to type I hope that we can discuss it without falling out. After all we are all Forest aren't we?

So what I want to say is this:

Have we overhyped Steve Cooper? Is Steve Cooper really as good a manager as we think he is?
I don't consider him to be very experienced and at PL level he has no experience at all.
He had a couple of decent seasons in the Championship with Swansea but that is about it.
Okay he won the World Cup with England under 17's but Veljko Paunović won the World Cup with Serbia under 20's but he soon got sacked at Reading.
So I am asking a genuine question here have we overhyped Steve Cooper.

Fair question, I would say it's probably its too early to say that. I don't think you could really answer that question properly without a much bigger sample size.

However, to add to the debate. The thing that makes him stand out for me was that team he turned into an elite attacking machine last year was almost exactly the same as the one that CH had struggling at the bottom of the league. Unless we're saying spence is really that good (maybe he is!)

[wassy04]

I actually think there were plenty of green shoots of optimism in that display.
Despite 6 minutes of madness, the team kept trying and were the better side for the last quarter.
This is exactly where I expected us to be in terms of team performances, if not points.
But for the injuries to Niakhate and Mangala, arguably two of our three most influential signings with MGW, I'd bet we would have at least double the points tally we have now.

The difference in the last two games has- ignoring how the chances arose- been world class finishing.
Yet at the other end, brennan cant control a perfect ball and Awoniyi cant hit the target with a second header 2 yards out. Its not even championship quality finishing.
If we had reached 2-0 we could have brought in OBrien and Kouyate and managed the game from there. But it wasnt to be.

The challenges are simple:- get everyone fit/match fit (Niakhate, mangala, Kouyate)
Get everyone to understand their roles and the team; and
Be brave in selection decisions: start Dennis over Brennan, Aurier over Williams etc if it is warranted.

Ignoring that MGW scuffed a really good chance at 0-0 after a perfect ball from Brennan? Also. Repeatedly underhit through ball opportunities.

Why would you bring in worse players? Further upsetting the balance of a team already struggling to gel.

I wasn’t ignoring anything - just didn’t think I needed to name every single piece of poor finishing in the last couple of games to make a general point.

And where did I say pick worse players? I was making the point about Cooper needed to be brave and pick whoever is in form. No one has a devine right to a shirt every week. 
You’ve no idea (and nor have I) who might be more effective as we haven’t seen aurier play at all yet and hardly given dennis a run out either.
The point was not to make selections on sympathy or loyalty.

Sorry, just getting annoyed with the general MGW getting a free pass whereas Brennan seems to have become the latest scapegoat. 

You're right though I was talking garbage! 

We don't know how good half the players are, there's too many of them!

[ozzyten10]

Leicester giving spurs a good game so far so do t expect an easy next game!

[wassy04]

Leicester giving spurs a good game so far so do t expect an easy next game!

They are not the greatest at defending though! Not replacing Schmeichel was a weird choice.

[Sausage Roll]

They're getting a shellacking now.

[wassy04]

They're getting a shellacking now.

Hope Rodgers survives the international break

[Sausage Roll]

Finished 6-2 to Spurs. Leciester's goal difference is worse than ours now.

[JollyLolly]

What's the odds on TWO new managers when Leicester play Forest in just over 2 weeks time? Lots of thinking time for both sets of owners, hope not but football is a very strange game!!!

[Paplane]

What's the odds on TWO new managers when Leicester play Forest in just over 2 weeks time? Lots of thinking time for both sets of owners, hope not but football is a very strange game!!!

What are the odds on the two clubs swapping managers with each other?

[selborne garibaldi]

What's the odds on TWO new managers when Leicester play Forest in just over 2 weeks time? Lots of thinking time for both sets of owners, hope not but football is a very strange game!!!

What are the odds on the two clubs swapping managers with each other?

I'd take him now. Cooper isn't going to turn us around; he's not keen on the players the club has bought this summer, and so he is done here. Time for a fresh approach. 

A real shame, as I think Cooper will go on to be an established Premier League coach. Just not with us.