honeybradger

Definitely not! Just saying that we would be happy if we had spent money on these players and £5mil is the typical sum to buy a good championship defender. In the context of the market £15mil on Faes and Vestergaard each was ludicrous and is not the norm!

Selling Skipp for £10mil would meaning 6 mil less we can spend this year but we get £10mil of PSR headroom for the years after.

I definitely am calling for them to be in and around the starting XI. We need to play our best players irrespective of their age. Monga is arguably our best player despite being 16 and we were crying out for a centreback with Aluko's pace and reading of the game all of last season (and since Fofana and Soyuncu left in general). We were also calling out for a midfielder with technical ability plus physicality which we now have in Page. Evans is also our best striker in my opinion and has looked very mature in his appearances so far. Seriously, if these academy players were all new signings and playing this way in pre season we would have no question of whether they should be competing for the first choice positions. We would also be saying this is one of the best transfer windows we've had in a while. It's only because our fans innately do not trust academy players that they are being written off as not ready.

Which players are you talking about? Monga, Evans, Aluko, Jayden Josheph all played at u21 level last season with the first 3 having cameos in the PL. Page had a run at u21 level and went unbeaten then got dropped back down again for no reason. Alves and Nelson were on loan in the championship last season and are definitely ready for that level. So of the players above you can only attribute the performance of the U18s to Page and he proved himself at U21 level which outranks the U18s. If the opposition are just going through the motions then surely our senior professionals should look even better but the reality is that the academy players are simply outperforming them.

We now have 3 academy centre backs who look to be better defenders than Coady. Nelson, Aluko and Wilson Brown all looked very good today, would be very happy if all 3 were new signings bought for £5mil. What value is experience if the player attached to it isnt good? Much rather have the better players starting if you ask me.

I thought we played OK honestly and Monga is simply ridiculous, at 16 he's already our best player. Stolarczyk, Thomas, Nelson, Wilson Brown, Aluko, Page, Monga, Alves, Evans is a ridiculous generation of talent for a club our size. All of them are arguably better than the non academy players in their position. Was sadly disappointed with Baybrooke, think he looked very nervous today and there were quite a few misplaced passes which isn't normal for him.

Aluko and Nelson are starting quality in my opinion. Miles better than Coady or Faes who have started countless times for us. It's between them two and Okoli for the starting places next season if I had to choose. Edit: Just watching the last bit and Wilson brown looks impressive as well, would rather have him starting that Coady, Faes, Vestergaard as well.

Harry W*nks, after that initial run of form he's become an absolute bombscare for us. Get him gone.

Everyone who hits a purple patch is linked to the big 6, it's what sells. Edouard was linked to Arsenal not so long ago as well. Edouard has a goal or assist every 210 minutes in the PL compared to Evan Ferguson's 180, not quite hyperbole to compare them is it? Bobby Reid has a goal or assist everyone 290 minutes and is a winger. Much rather go into next season with Evans up top personally because A. He is actually our player B. He's not shot of confidence like Ferguson and C. He can carry the ball and link up play which Ferguson is not very good at.

Jake Evans > Evan Ferguson. More talented and more well rounded. People just want what they don't already have, if we had Ferguson as our own player we would all still be saying we need a proper first choice striker. He has barely put in a single decent performance in 18 months and has a similar goal threat to the likes of Edouard and Bobby Reid in the PL, no thanks. Also outside of the pitiful goal record what is he good at? Not got good holdup, passing or particularly fast.

I didnt make it up just forgot to factor in Nelson's FA cup minutes and got mixed up between the EFL trophy and EFL cup for Nyoni. I stand corrected though Nelson has more than Nyoni.

Hearing what Guy Branston had to say about Nelson was a bit gutting, just looking for a reason to knock a young player down a peg. 'Doesnt train hard enough' nonsense, how many times has Vestergaard been frozen out by managers yet he gets endless opportunities and is probably still in the pecking order ahead of Nelson. Same goes for Winks and Faes, poor mentality but still preferred due to experience. They dont care about attitude in training, theyre just gutless idiots who are too scared of young players being an unknown so they dont even give them a chance.

Nelson was not on loan in our championship season and was barely utilised, if minutes were given out on merit he would have had more than Coady at least. He should have been considered as an option in our last season as well but we went out and signed Okoli instead and re signed Vestergaard. Alves could have had Cordova Reid's minutes last season and would have likely performed better. Mavididi and Fatawu were injured yet Monga and Evans still barely got minutes. I'm just pointing out that the barrier for entry for our talents has always been too high, the club almost never look at the academy first for players ready to make the step up. When we signed Soumare we had Dewsbury Hall ready to make the step up, Dewsbury Hall only got a chance once Soumare underperformed. Barnes had multiple wingers signed in front of him that needed to flop before he got a chance (Ghezzal, Diabate), Chilwell had to threaten to leave before he got minutes but that is more understandable as he had a club all timer in Fuchs ahead of him. Again why on Earth have we spaffed time and wages on Bobby Reid when we had Alves available? You only need to look at the fact that Trey Nyoni has more minutes for Fing Liverpool than any of of our current academy players has for us to realise that our club doesnt give our academy players enough opportunities.

Yes, definitely excited to watch Alves as well and for the next season in general. Still wary of how the club may mess up the opportunity to bed in an exciting young team though.

I think Monga will displace Mavididi this coming season. Mavididi struggles to beat his man sometimes whereas Monga always looks effortless. Still a big fan of Mavididi though and hopefully they will both have good seasons (at the expense of Reid and Ayew).

Skipp got 1100 minutes, Cordova Reid got 700 minutes, Coady has 1700 minutes for us last season and 700 in the championship season. Meanwhile Nelson has 200 minutes for us total at 21, Alves has 50 minutes, Monga has 70 minutes, Evans has 20 minutes. Our academy players arent given minutes on merit, there is no way that Coady is that much better than Nelson that he deserved 3x as many minutes in our championship season. All it took was one loss against QPR and Nelson barely got another look in that season and wasn't even considered going into last one. Similarly I dont think Cordova Reid is better than Alves so why bring him in in his place and give him first team minutes whilst leaving Alves to rot? Skipp undeniably has an automatic place in the first team based on us paying a transfer fee and high wages for him. He has been so unbelievably awful yet he's still in the mix for us. If I were Page i would be looking at him disappointing in training then still getting on the teamsheet and thinking 'I cant compete with that, this is not fair' and starting to consider my options. He would be stupid not to.

Im sorry but this opinion would be acceptable if we still had Maddison and Tielemans starting for us but not now. Skipp had 10 PL starts for us last season and was more and more terrible in each successive one yet he will still get plenty of minutes next season. Page has every right to look around and say 'that guy is getting consistent first team minutes and im better than that, why should I stay if im not valued properly?'. Academy players should not be held to higher standards than senior pros! If Skipp was 18 he would have been thrown back in the reserves and forgotten about until his contract ran down. Why is it that Page has to 'earn his place' when Skipp and Winks can put in the performances they did last season and still be lined up as the first choice midfield pair going into this one?

It's more like Scarlett Johanson finding you on drugs and homeless in the street. Then taking you under her wing, putting a roof over your head and having sex with you whilst travelling the world, making you experience things you'd never dreamed of. Then she has sex with your best mate. Like yeah it's sh*t but 13 years ago you wouldnt have dreamed of having a roof on your head let alone bang Scarlett Johanson. Her having sex with your best mate doesnt really put a dent in it. Have a watch of this and you'll forget Forest ever existed for the next 75 minutes.

I'm pretty sure every training clip i have seen with Skipp in this pre season has him looking out of his depth. He is miles off the rest of our squad which is filled with mediocre players. Winks i dont like but will probably start. Daka i dont mind starting but would like to see Evans getting regular minutes up top as well.

Our squad gets promotion as it is without any additions to be honest. I would be happy with going a summer without bringing anyone in and hopefully offloading a few.

Im not going to get excited. I just know that if I do the starting team of the season is going to be some arrangment of Faes, Coady, Vestergaard, kristiansen, Winks, Skipp, Soumare Cordova Reid, Ndidi, ayew, Daka. Not sure that my ideal manager that would come in and ruthlessly bin off this dogmuck even exists.

Surely your joking? Vardy's legacy with us is well and truly sealed, a couple seasons at Forest isn't going to change that.

Ricardo wouldnt have signed without Puel, he recalled Barnes from his loan. He definitely did have an input into the likes of Maddison and Tielemans as well, Soyuncu too. Considering how evidently clueless Rudkin is you simply cant downplay the contributions of the people underneath him, Macia shares the main responsibility for the good transfer business but Puel gets credit as well.

The praise for Puel is not about his tactics which were poor but his squad building. It is as clear as ever how important it is for a Leicester manager to steer the club in the right direction in respect to signings after the debacle of last summer signing Ayew, Reid, Skipp, Edouard and the demolition job that Rodgers did on the squad that he inherited. People just appreciate that side of Puel more the worse our squad devolves.

Having the ability to manage in this league means nothing, it's a poor league compared to our squad, Scott Parker just got Burnely promoted with 100 points ffs. All of Dyche, Wilder, O'Neil, Rohl, Van Nistelrooy and other manager that our fans would rightfully groan at like steve bruce or sam allardyce would get us promoted via the automatic spots, that's not what matters. What matters is whether the next manager leaves our squad better off than when they found it.