25/26 Recruitment

[wassy04]

The good thing is that I think the EL squad can be changed if we get through to the next stage.

How many changes can we make, anyone know? We'd need to add Aina back in too presumably.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

The good thing is that I think the EL squad can be changed if we get through to the next stage.

How many changes can we make, anyone know? We'd need to add Aina back in too presumably.

"Teams remaining in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League are allowed to register a maximum of three new eligible players after the completion of the league phase and before the start of the knockout phase."

Presumably that means you can't change if we are in the play off round.

[Paplane]

The good thing is that I think the EL squad can be changed if we get through to the next stage.

How many changes can we make, anyone know? We'd need to add Aina back in too presumably.

"Teams remaining in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League are allowed to register a maximum of three new eligible players after the completion of the league phase and before the start of the knockout phase."

Presumably that means you can't change if we are in the play off round.

Is that 3 subs or 3 additions?

[Paplane]

There's only Boly in the squad that you could say is expendable.

[wassy04]

There's only Boly in the squad that you could say is expendable.

Aina for Boly and Hutch for Kali? 

Abbott and Cunha can provide sufficient cover at CB along with Morato right?

Thinking about it further, three wingers plus Dominguez, McAtee. Jesus as wide options. Do we need to register a 4th? 

(Obviously we don't have to decide now which 3 have to be registered of those 4). 

Zinchenko another option you could leave out and rely on Abbott to cover at fullback (which I guess was the original plan).

If we had to do it right now based on what we've seen I'd do Boly for Aina (assuming he returns to fitness) and put Hutch in for one of Kali, Bakwa or Zinchenko.

[The reds]

The good thing is that I think the EL squad can be changed if we get through to the next stage.

How many changes can we make, anyone know? We'd need to add Aina back in too presumably.

I’m pretty sure Aina would come straight back in when he is fit again. Zinchenko is only a temporary replacement.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

I think its fair to say that at some stage many thought that Williams was a poor signing, Sels was a poor signing and Wood was crap.

But given a bit of time they all came good.

[DeesideRed]

I think most the signings make perfect sense and are more with a mind on the future than the immediate.

Looking at McAtee, has potential to be MGW replacement, certainly not this season which is why we probably acted quickly to block the spurs transfer (incidentally spurs second option Simmonds looks far too lightweight for this league). Hutchinson i rate, Bakwa is a similar exciting talent, Ndoye was the established player to replace Elanga.

Think the only signings which have a question mark are Kali as he doesnt really fit the mould of what we do and Zincenko who is great on the ball but perhaps not the left footed wing-back option we thought we were targeting.

[Reds73]

There's only Boly in the squad that you could say is expendable.

Aina for Boly and Hutch for Kali? 

Abbott and Cunha can provide sufficient cover at CB along with Morato right?

Thinking about it further, three wingers plus Dominguez, McAtee. Jesus as wide options. Do we need to register a 4th? 

(Obviously we don't have to decide now which 3 have to be registered of those 4). 

Zinchenko another option you could leave out and rely on Abbott to cover at fullback (which I guess was the original plan).

If we had to do it right now based on what we've seen I'd do Boly for Aina (assuming he returns to fitness) and put Hutch in for one of Kali, Bakwa or Zinchenko.

Cunha wasn’t named in the original squad.
So for me it would be-

Ola for Zinchenko
Cunha for Boly
Hutchinson or Taiwo for Kali

[Fumanchew]

Don’t forget cuibano, do we try and cut zinchenko short? Is cuibano more defensive then zinchenko?

[Trailer Park Tom]

I think there's some good points raised here that are linked to my previously retired opinion of the summer recruitment. Sangare has had some health issues and is only now starting to look like a premier League player. Usually you won't expect it to take this long but it does happen with training, experience and conditioning.

This is why you don't want to have too many people at the same time being signed in the same position. All of them can be good players for forest and in the prem but the volume of uncertain players isn't worth the disruption. You can't be carrying 4 or 5 of these players in your squad. We are carrying 4/5 of these players in the squad and now we have to do it the hard way for everyone.

[wassy04]

I think there's some good points raised here that are linked to my previously retired opinion of the summer recruitment. Sangare has had some health issues and is only now starting to look like a premier League player. Usually you won't expect it to take this long but it does happen with training, experience and conditioning.

This is why you don't want to have too many people at the same time being signed in the same position. All of them can be good players for forest and in the prem but the volume of uncertain players isn't worth the disruption. You can't be carrying 4 or 5 of these players in your squad. We are carrying 4/5 of these players in the squad and now we have to do it the hard way for everyone.

The counter is that in terms of the team that finished 7th last year, the starting XI is only missing Elanga (apart from the injuries). So although we brought a lot of players in, it would be reasonable to expect the first team performances to remain broadly consistent, just with added options on the bench to bring on. Obviously injuries to Wood, CHO, Dominguez, Aina have made that more difficult and forced earlier changes. Not to mention Luiz yet to remain fit and the extra matches.

If we'd signed less wingers for example, say we didn't sign Hutch. Who are we bringing on yesterday? Jota Silva?

Last year we found a clear issue with depth outside the first team and made a concerted effort to address that with young players that will need time. Honestly, I still think we had a really good window, only issue I have is that we didn't sign a better backup fullback and that that wasn't prioritised above Bakwa say. However, at the time, we didn't know that Aina would do his hamstring for three months!