Hirsty The Blue 94

Would say there are some real double standards with Cooper and Ruud. If Cooper had lost 6 on the spin, scoring 2 and conceding 16 (2 against our relegation rivals at home without finding the net) his head would be on a spike outside the KP. Ruud seems to be getting the benefit of the doubt because of the ABC; Anyone But Cooper defence. Pointing to the fact that alot of the 10 points Cooper got were lucky, but conveniently forgetting the 1 game we have won under Ruud West Ham could have scored 7 and had the most recorded shots all season, and the draw was a game we were hammered in and scored 2 late goals to equalise, same blueprint as the way Cooper picked up his points. I think only a Moyes type figure gave us a chance of staying in the division but if he wasn't interested then our hands were tied. Arguably we do have a style now, but it's basically copy and paste from Enzo, but with worse players in a better league. The summer killed us in the recruitment, look what Ipswich have done, signed young players and improved beyond us rather than journeyman. Not convinced at all by Ruud yet, will give him another 5 games to show any improvement, I've accepted we're down, but if we go with a whimper then I'm not sure i trust him with the major overhaul needed for us to have any chance of being a relevant football club again.

Just need to change the words to the 'I don't care about Rudkin' chant to 'I don't care about King Power' Rudkin is all kinds of useless, but as perfectly summarised above you're just shouting at the puppet rather than the puppet master. Hoping away from home where the fans are generally less happy clappy more anger is turned towards the directors box.

Can't believe that someone could take us backwards from Cooper but Ruud has done just that. Utterly clueless once we go behind, atleast under Cooper we shitehoused our way to some late goals and were always in games by in large. It's too late now probably, but Dyche would solidify the back line, grind out a fair few 0-0's (he managed it with Michael Keane at centre half) and maybe steal enough points to have 3 teams worse than you when the end of season rolls round. Swamp needs draining from Top to bottom when we inevitably go down, from ownership, DOF, manager, coaching, sports science, physio department the lot, as well as obviously 3/4 of the playing staff. This is a Pearson like rebuild required which won't be fixed in 1 transfer window, can see it being a fair few years before we're on a sound footing to be able to be competitive in this league again.

No excuse for Rudkin and the clownshow now. Get Hamza, Eduoard, Cannon & Faes out the door and get in a RB, CB, ST and a winger and we have half a chance.

Any update on the injury? The thought of Faes or Okoli playing next to Coady considering 1 is a complete headless chicken and the other is a poundland Danny Amartey isn't an attractive proposition. In the next few games where we will likely look to dominate the ball need someone who can actually pass the ball out from the back.

Says a lot about his complete lack of understanding of the game that he didn't even have the intelligence/ability to commit a cynical fail to get us out of the trouble he caused. He's been exposed most of the season by having nothing in front of him helping him, but don't recall Mahrez defending much to help Danny Simpson out and he did okay. If you're in the team as a right back just be good at defending when you're battling the drop. Thomas proved today that someone of limited ability if they just stuck to their task as a defender can be effective.

Think it's quite alarming that we conceded 4 and could have been 8, and our best outfield player was probably our centre half in Vestergaard. Midfield was an absolute disgrace, no tracking of runs, no interceptions, no tackling. Then we did have it no hint of trying to do anything progressive, Hamza has never been a Prem player never thought I would say the day thank god Soumare is back next week. Full backs pair of competition winners, can't defend for toffee, always out of position and offer nothing the other way, a truly terrible le combination. Let's not lie to ourselves here, that was as bad if not worse than anything Cooper served up. The squad is dog turd, without additions in Jan (not the Skipp kind) we are doomed to go down, can't continually nick points and games all season, that luck will run out soon enough, we could conceivably on the same amount of points Southampton are.

Sadly can see the club being super conservative with this even if we do implement it, with the likelihood that they will just use that corner in SK1 where UFS are based and no more. Already seen plenty of Karen's in response to the survey on social media saying they have sat in the Kop for x amount of years and shouldn't be forced to move to accommodate Safe Standing, as if they own the seat. The dream would be the entire Kop be Safe Standing, with season ticket holders having the option to relocate into there should they want to or move out if they don't wish to stand (at the same price as their current seat.) As Southampton have shown, a radical change can make a massive difference to the noise of the home support, even Preston away we had an entire stand, everyone stood and was the best atmosphere I've experienced since some of the European days.

Think him and Vesty should be the pairing going forward. People always harp on about a lack of pace, but that's only really exposed when you play a high line and try to dominate possession of the ball, which in this league we won't. What we need are 2 solid defenders, which they both are. And with Vesty having the ability to pick a pass into midfield or into the front man off both feet, its what we need to beat the press of some of better sides. Nice to see some leadership as well, compare that to Faes smirking away to himself when he has had another howler.

Imagine my shock that all 3 goals are down the Justin/Faes channel. Genuinely think you could attribute 20 of the goals we have conceded to those 2 clown this year.

He's been in charge of the clown show for the last 4 years, maybe some self reflection into how he allowed a club to piss away millions financially, get relegated which was utterly avoidable and then appoint a bloke totally incapable of doing the job, only to sack him 13 games in and not have a replacement lined up.

So the only bloke who wasn't at fault for a goal last week of the back 4 is the one that is dropped from the squad. Another training ground bust up?

Would agree that some of that is probably psychological. Didn't see how Abdul did his but a good % of ACL tears are non contact, so wouldn't even just be confidence in a tackle, it will be any movements involving twisting or sudden changes in direction. Reason a lot of ACL injuries occur in skiing. Having known bugger all about ACL injuries 2 years ago now become a first hand expert 😅.

Very true, but even then as we have seen with Ricardo and JJ they aren't as sharp as they were pre ACL injury. Was reading a study in America on college athletes and they say on average even in elite collegiate athletes the average drop off in performance is about 20%, which is insane given the treatment and rehab available now to them. You're rehab sounds like mine, I'm currently 15 months post op having done the ACL clean as well as both meniscus, had to have a follow up surgery to clear out some scar tissue and I'm still not cleared to run let alone play any contact sport. I've accepted even at 30 my football playing days are done, as long as I can play golf and cricket then that will be a small win.

Wouldn't wish that injury on your worst enemy let alone our most promising player. Only positive for him is he is young, as studies show over half don't return to the level of performance pre ACL injury and that gets progressively higher as you get older. From personal experience the rehab is the most depressing period in the world, so hope the lad keeps that positive energy he plays with.

Fairly certain this wasn't a rumour, he was training with the 21's whilst having an 'ankle injury' whilst playing 180 minutes for Denmark in between. Shows how little power Cooper has that he has had to bow down to bring him back (and it's not like when we put our world beater in Mahrez on the naughty step, we're talking about an average centre back here)

I think he will get the next 4 games (not that I agree with it) with 3 of those being at home and the other at Brentford who are a decent outfit but not a place we couldn't shithouse a point from. If we're in the drop zone then I thing the trigger is pulled, will give them time to get someone through the door and assess the squad for 4 or 5 games and get a Jan transfer window to add what they need (if we have any left in the tank after spunking 25 million on Skipp) Just hope that other teams around us haven't already acted and brought in guys we would want, and we end up scrambling in the bargain basement for a manager like we did this summer. We already know Rudders doesn't appoint anyone outside the UK, so the target list would be Potter, Moyes, Van Nistelroy, Lampard etc.

Made 1 howler in the first half where they missed a good chance at the back stick, but much better with him in the side. Actually played a few passes that broke lines and in the main defended pretty well. Certainly an upgrade on the other centre halves we have.

Be tempted to go to a back 3 here to stem the tide of goals and chances we give up on a regular basis. Mads Okoli Vesty Faes Ricardo Ndidi Winks Mavididi Buananotte Ayew Vardy

Not into all the jibes about the way he looks, and it doesn't really bother me as much as some clearly about the Forest connection, given that our title winning captain and one of our greatest ever managers are Forest legends. What does bother me is what is happening on the pitch. Its been clear for everyone to see just watching the games and looking at the stats that an absolute hammering was on the horizon, I think had United not took their foot off the gas in the 2nd half it could have been much more. It feels like 75% of the goals we have conceded have been down our right hand side and yet we persist with this bombed on full back and get caught again and again. To compound that, I wouldn't mind if we were open and expansive and just accepted we might get whacked a few times a season, but we hardly create anything and have been incredibly efficient in our finishing to score goals. It may be looking back with rose tinted glasses, or expectations may have been lower, but when we came up under Nige we were probably on the same points total as we are now comparatively, but it never felt we were just clinging on for dear life and being outplayed for most of every single game. That squad in comparison to this was far inferior as well, this side is filled largely with Internationals, experienced Premier League players or from comparative top European leagues. I don't know whether that says more about the gulf in class between the Championship and the Premier League these days than back then, but having watched the likes of Bournemouth, Forest, Fulham, Palace I haven't thought they are streets ahead of us in terms of quality of player, which only points to one thing and that's the coaching staff. When we hired Cooper I was slightly deflated and thought it was an acceptance of relegation but we will have a fight and see where it takes us, given a double figure points deduction could come our way, but would back him to have a crack. The goalposts as we all know have moved now though, and the list of managers who may want the gig is broader than what it could have been. Moyes is obviously the quick fix to keep you in the division but there are plenty of managers in Europe who probably wouldn't have been interested in the summer who may be now. That being said, if we beat Ipswich on Saturday and build a 6 point or so buffer between us and the drop zone then Cooper will still be here for the run of more difficult games, where that buffer will be eaten into. I don't think this forum represents what happens in the stands though, at full time at Forest players and managers were clapped off all around me with just the odd voice calling out the crap, and they were looked at as if they had 2 heads. Can also see clear alienation between certain players and Cooper, when he walked through the door he said he wanted players to take control of things in game and won't coach them to death, yet it seems anyone with a bit of an edge to them, Vestergaard, Winks, Fatawu, Mavididi have all at some points in the season been bemusingly benched, the last beacon is Vardy, if he starts to turn on you, then you're toast as he is the direct line to Top.

Not a chance this bloke is 'injured' by the way. Fully fit to play 180 minutes for Denmark but suddenly his ankle injury resurfaces. He has clearly had a falling out with Cooper, probably in a similar way to the rumours of Winks and has been placed on the naughty step. I'm not having that he would be any worse than the defensive pairing at the back currently (1 clean sheet in 7, of which we could have conceivably conceded about 30 goals) and he can actually pass the ball out unlike the current pairing. He will either go out on loan somewhere in Januarry or outlive Cooper and be back in the side by then. Think the team is actually quite well set up to play a 3 at the back given none of the full backs can actually, you know, defend, which he would be well suited for.

That gutless 2nd half was similar to the Forest away game in the cup, which should have been the day Brendan got the bullet. I genuinely don't understand the obsession with not playing a traditional back 4 with normal full backs, instead either playing 1 high up the pitch leaving us unbalanced or inverting one to leave us equally unbalanced. The centre halves are not good enough to defend one on one so need all the cover they can get. Think the first half was pretty balanced as many have said, but 2nd half showed the difference between a proper coach and a bloke who is essentially a PE teacher on the sideline, they made tweaks to their shape to stop us playing and had a style of play however unattractive that worked a treat for them, we just looked like 11 blokes chucked on there hoping for the best. If we lose next week against Ipswich I would like to see him replaced before Southampton, Palace & West Ham are all in the market for new managers potentially. If we're being honest our 9 points on the board is flaterring to say the least, I can't think of a game where we couldn't have easily conceded 3 and there haven't been many if any games where we have created multiple chances to score.

I'll be sure to leave the pub and hour and half early to ensure I get one of these delicious snacks.

I don't even have a problem with playing a low defensive block and being hard to beat and trying to win games in that manner. But we're not even that because in every game so far this season we have had oppositions being wasteful or our goalkeeper to thank for keeping us in games. Every team that has played us has had an xG of 2 or close to it. Bournemouth missed atleast 3 absolute sitters today just from memory not withstanding having 1 scrubbed for offside in the 2nd half alone. We're in a no man's land of neither being organised enough to play a defensive low block, or adventurous enough to take the game to teams and score. 1st half today was the first time I recognised any pattern of play to our game, we looked like we were playing a system, then the 2nd half as soon as they made changes it took Cooper 20 minutes to react.

What I find most staggering about him is his claim that he watched all of our games last season and wasn't going to try and change too much and knew what our strengths and weaknesses were. Today he didn't start 4 of our most influential 5 players last season; Ricardo, Vestergaard, Winks & Fatawu (the other being KDH,) and completely ripped up everything he said he was going to do when he took the job. He got the result he needed today to keep him in employment, but just don't have a great amount of faith in him to navigate these next run of games where we probably need to pick up about 25% of our points from. Again in parts the players have shown they are good enough to go toe to toe with teams established at this level, first half today, 2nd half v Spurs, 1st half at Palace, last half hour against Everton and Villa, but are either not good enough to put a whole 90 minute performance in or are hamstrung by the way they are set up tactically, and managed during the game. We're not Luton made up of Championship journeymen, pretty much every player who has featured for us has Premier League or top European experience. I don't think it's unrealistic given the lack of points deduction that we should be able to survive this season given how poor the bottom half of the Premier League actually is.