Nottingham Forest - Brighton

[Paplane]

Its true that the empahasis being solely on Johnson to peform has severly cost us in many games this season. He's a talented lad but at no other club in the league would he have had the focus he's had here. If he leaves in the summer he's going to be looking at being an impact sub for his new club, like Gordon at Newcastle.

[northeastred]

Tbh I agree. When Johnson plays you can see how one dimensional we are. It's all give to Johnson and hope for the best. Same with hit and hope to wood. We're back to passing it about and all having a go now.

[Paplane]

Cooper needs to find a way to make Awoniyi the focus of the attack with Johnson playing around him.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Cooper needs to find a way to make Awoniyi the focus of the attack with Johnson playing around him.

This /\

[Forest1970]

Same formation........strong midfield and Johnson on the bench and comes on late as a sub.

Only change I would make is Yates in for Freuler or Mangala if Yates is fit.

Yates can also then cover at one of the back 3 positions in the event of injury during the game.

Come on Steve, you worked out finally that having Johnno on from the start is not effective in the PL with our current squad as it makes the midfield too weak.........please note it and keep to it.............

It only took till near the end of the season to start having a pop at the lad. Pat yourself on the back.

Not at all. I have been moaning about him making our midfield weak earlier in the season.

Yes he is scoring goals, but we lose games.

Saturday showed what happens if you drop him and beef up the middle........we can play well and should have beaten Liverpool at Anfield.

We scored 2 on Saturday, and he actually missed a goal he should have scored to make it 3-3.

He is useful, but not as a starter...........you play either Johno and Taiwo or MGW and Taiwo.......but you dont play all 3 at the expense of controlling the middle.

Hopefully Cooper has finally learnt that simple lesson.

Johnson has got better, he works harder now.....he has been training well.........but ultimately if I had a choice it would be MGW and Taiwo starting with Johnson as the impact sub.


Some of you on here really are so far up Cooper and Johnson's bottom you cannot see the wood for all those damn trees in the way...........

This is not a Cooper fan club or a Johnson fan club........we are fans of the club, of Nottingham Forest and wanting the best for the club is what everyone should want.

Then what your saying is Johnson needs to stop missing scoring goals because he's the only one who can do that in the team ain't he. PLEASE remenber its a team game not just him and the team needs to buck their ideas up and I believe I've said that to you before so please stop blaming just Johnson.

Its fair to say you're full of s**t because I'm no President of Johnsons or Coopers fan club but its people like you who will persuade the young lad to leave Forest just remember he's still young and never played in this division like many of them but again its just Johnson who needs dropping because no one else f**ks up do they.

[Forest1970]

Its true that the empahasis being solely on Johnson to peform has severly cost us in many games this season. He's a talented lad but at no other club in the league would he have had the focus he's had here.  If he leaves in the summer he's going to be looking at being an impact sub for his new club, like Gordon at Newcastle.

I understand that but what I know about football is you play your best players and rightly or wrongly Brennan Johnson is one of our better players so needs to be playing but some on here ( JWJW) thinks the whole problem with Forest is Johnson when all the other players play like shite as well but no one else deserves to be subbed just Johnson.

[optimistic_red]

I think Johnson will start against Brighton at home. Hopefully for Freuler.

[Ciscokid]

The idea of improving by dropping your best player is beyond weird. If the coach can't figure how to set up and organise the team including Brennan then,in the words of the great man " you want bloody shooting".

[Paplane]

The idea of improving by dropping your best player is beyond weird. If the coach can't figure how to set up and organise the team including Brennan then,in the words of the great man " you want bloody shooting".

This is true, he's really talented but he's been put in a position where the whole team is set up to be reliant on him. Thats a 21 year old lad in his first season in the prem and only his third season in senior football. Oh, and he's had a world cup to deal with too. I understand Cooper adores him but why cant a way be found that supports him rather than him being the one and only focus of the team? If that would've happened maybe other players will have chipped in with a few goals by now the team would be more balanced.

[Tricky]

TBH, my major hope is that Niakate is fit tomorrow.

His throw ins caused Liverpool all sorts of problems. We scored as a result of 2 of them, Jonno hit the bar after one and Taiwo almost scored a worldy from one.

The tough part with playing Brennan is either Frueler or Mangala have to be dropped. (either/or TBH, as they were both pretty poor at times at Anfield), which thins our central midfield down and we get over run as we have seen for the best part of the season. If Yates is fit, it's a no-brainer, drop Brennan and keep the midfield compact with Taiwo and MGW up top.

Johnson does have pace, but that pace is only effective if the full back facing him doesnt have as much pace. In fact, we did have the pace down the wing still with Neco, so Johnsons omission wasnt that damaging. Jonno isn't strong in a challenge, nor is he good with his head, so at times, our midfield struggles because Brennan doesnt always come back to help out in midfield or defence. Sometimes, it seems we are carrying him for the odd burst of pace behind a defender. Can we seriously keep risking the odd moment of pace against strong challenging midfielders that leaves us under the cosh for between 70%- and 80% of the game or do we tighten up on opposition teams running riot through our midfield, thus taking some of the strain from our defence? Yes, we conceded 3 on Saturday, but that wasn't down to open play, those goals were all borne from set pieces. That, Boys and Girls, is another matter for another day to debate.

Just my take on things

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Many people had been saying Brennan was a passenger away from home so Cooper dropped and tried something different which appeared to work.
I would be very surprised if he doesn’t start on Wednesday which is a different circumstance.

[Forest1970]

The idea of improving by dropping your best player is beyond weird. If the coach can't figure how to set up and organise the team including Brennan then,in the words of the great man " you want bloody shooting".

This is true, he's really talented but he's been put in a position where the whole team is set up to be reliant on him. Thats a 21 year old lad in his first season in the prem and only his third season in senior football. Oh, and he's had a world cup to deal with too. I understand Cooper adores him but why cant a way be found that supports him rather than him being the one and only focus of the team? If that would've happened maybe other players will have chipped in with a few goals by now the team would be more balanced.

Yet people like JWJW constantly put the blame on BJ for missing a goal or not getting past the last player or anything else to that matter. He will not admit that its a team game and the other 10 players must take some of the blame when things go tits up.