ClaphamFox

Where is Faes going?

Why do people assume these announcements are made on the hour? They're usually just announced on social media as and when the go-ahead is given - whether that's 3.52pm or 5.27pm or whatever...

The reveal video is taking a while to shoot as it features footage him wandering around Rome, Hoffenheim and Instanbul etc, each time frowning and shaking his head, before finally showing him walking down Granby Street smiling and nodding.

I would absolutely take him on a free.

That is actually quite funny, to be fair.

I was initially dismissive of the claim that I must smell of poo because I was born in Leicester. That's ridiculous, I thought. But to be doubly sure I checked with my kids (neither of whom were born in Leicester), and I was shocked to discover...well...it turns out...

I've been wondering whether the lack of other names linked is because we're still pursuing this one. I just hope we've got a back-up arranged in case this one doesn't....Ha! Who am I trying to kid?!

In 2022/23 the club clearly believed Rodgers was too expensive to sack so they stuck with him and hoped for the best. When it became clear he was taking us down, they decided to swallow the cost and sack him. Unfortunately it was too late to save us - if they'd have acted a month or two earlier, we'd have probably survived. I strongly suspect the club has ensured it would cost a lot less to sack Cooper.

If a manager isn't good enough, there's a major problem in sticking with him. Cooper has been given the clear mandate that we have to survive this season. If we're bottom of the table at Halloween and there is no indication we'll get out of it, there is not a chance in hell Cooper will keep his job.

The club is not anticipating relegation. It's all very well saying 'one step back, two steps forwards' but reality isn't that simple. Getting relegated represents huge jeopardy - if things don't go to plan and you fail to get back up quickly, you can end up in obscurity for years. If it looks like we're heading for relegation at the end of October, Cooper will be sacked.

Stop it. It's getting boring now.

I wouldn't put Maupay and Sargent in the same bracket. Unfortunately our options are limited. We're not in a position to sign a proven striker who we know will be a success for us. We have to take a gamble on somebody.

Based on what?

The only slight caveat with Sargent is that he was 21 when he played in the PL. Plenty of top strikers weren't prolific at that age. Also, Sargent's goals-per-game ratio has shot up over the past two seasons - he scored 13 in 40 Championship games in 2022/23, then 16 in 26 last season (almost an identical rate to Szmodics). So he's clearly improving. Sargent would be a gamble, but we're in a position where we have to gamble. Maupay wouldn't even be a gamble - we'd already know he wouldn't score many goals for us.

Surely it would be crimes against our sanity?

Note the inverted commas.

Well he’s gash. So my guess is that yes, people would be disappointed.

Is it ‘delusional’ to express concern over Forest’s away record in the PL under Cooper? Many would regard that as a legitimate reason to question his credentials. If he shows he’s learned from it and now has a much better understanding of how to set teams up away from home in the PL, great - we’ll all be happy. But if we prove to be as bad away as Forest were in 2022/23, we’ll need to act fast to avoid relegation.

That would be extremely underwhelming, but you may well be right.

We’re clearly not going to buy a proven ‘elite’ striker. But realistically, what’s the best we can hope for? I’m struggling to think of any plausible targets that I actually want. What’s our best-case scenario here?

Villa finished one place above Spurs last season, with two more points and a near-identical record in terms of goals scored and conceded. Given that we drew with Spurs last week in our first game back in the PL and will have learned a lot from that experience, why are so many people convinced we'll get completely thrashed by Villa? They're a decent side, sure, but they're miles behind the likes of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool...

*Being used as pawns in a cynical ruse to get around daft PSR rules

After the Spurs game Cooper said that we need to pick up wins at home. Draws won't be good enough, especially given our likely points deduction. Cooper has also been banging on about our need for more creativity at the top end of the pitch. For these reasons, I'm not convinced that he will play with three DMs and leave Buonanotte on the bench.

The Casablanca Cascarino