murphy

It is a system problem and it has been pointed out before, buts it's cooper's way of creating an extra body in attack. I can't see him shelving it, but it keeps leaving us exposed, it is a weakness that is being targeted and it is hurting us more than it benefits us.

Buonanotte has impressed and looks a real talent but this thread needs to calm down a bit. Talk of generational talents and £80m fees are very premature. He might well get there but he is not there yet. It has been said before, but the most impressive thing about him for me, is his commitment.

We may be the least engaged on social media but whenever I have visited other fan forums they seem a lot quieter and less engaged than ours. I'm yet to see a forum as good as FT

Another stat were bottom of the league for. I blame Cooper!

Personally, I like to hear from other fans, even forest fans. This guy has been reasonable and engaging, there is no reason for you all to turn on the bloke. Bit unnecessary and unedifying.

As far as put downs go, the "you're too insignificant to be our rivals" line is a good one. Especially when we are being eschewed in favour if Derby bloody County. We have to admit, it has many of us on strings.

Good point, but since I can't spell it myself, I'm unlikely to notice.

I think we need to drop this 'Goodnight' moniker. It's a bit too much like a romantic pet name, like sweetcheeks or something. Anyway, Goodnight will always be Britt Ekland in The Man With The Golden Gun. Never liked Little Cabbage or Timmy Chestnuts either. Can we have less camp nicknames in future please? Edit - Oh yes, this is the Fatawu thread. Fine player. Carry on.

It was never nearly a done deal but the protracted 2015 pursuit of Charles Aranguiz always makes me smile. He couldn't have been less keen to join us and called us a small club. Of course we went on to sign an unknown called N'Golo Kante and won the league whilst Aranguiz went to Leverkuesen and got injured straight away. In 2024, Leverkuesen went on to win their first ever title and domestic double. Aranguiz had left the year before.

No. You have totally misunderstood. Err... lol. I was not attempting to explain every event in the game at all. You mocked the guy that suggested the players carried the day despite Cooper and I agree that is likely unfair. So I presented the other extreme, that the fact that we were dominated in the first half was all part of Cooper's ultimate master plan, again unlikely, which leaves the more likely option in which Cooper reacted to the situation with substitutions and change of shape, for which he deserves credit, but it still shows that he set us up poorly again and was exposed, thus it was hardly grounds for a smugfest/vindication on your part as we still have big problems. That was all I was saying. It leaves me conflicted as I still have grave concerns but you can't argue with two in two however it comes and the changes at least give me hope for the future that he might be learning. Anyway, you misunderstood my original post so the rest of yours is largely redundant but it does show that you are doubling down on your assumption that Cooper is unpopular just because he is unpopular and not for of a multitude of very valid footballing reasons. I have tried to explain that to you before but it seems that went straight over your head too. edit - btw Iversen is not at Stoke. That was last season. You really ought to have checked that before using it as a stick to beat others for the 'depth of their footballing knowledge'.

Not a chance that he will come here, Brighton would be fools to sell him, especially as he is still developing/appreciating and anyway, why would he choose us over Brighton? If, come May, we're still in this division, I think Buonanotte will have played a significant part in that and I will wish him well.

OK,: B) poor sset up and selection again resulting in heinous first half non-display until... Over the brow of the hill here comes sir cooper on his white charger with his tactical masterplan to save the day and lead us to glory.

Aside from his obvious talent, his commitment and aggression are great to see. I think he will go to the top but hopefully, Brighton or any prospective buyers will see that he is better off staying here for the remainder of the season to continue his development. Would be gutted if he was recalled in January.

Great win and I'll take the points however we can come by them. My worry was that we were squandering winnable games under Cooper that we could ill afford (ie Palace and Everton) but two on the bounce buys him credit, but as you mock fans for saying this was down to the players and not Cooper, let me ask you which one of these options is most likely in your opinion: A) Gameplan executed perfectly. It was always meant to happen this way. B) Poor set up, selection and formation again resulting in another heinous first half non-display, but rescued in the second half with tactical changes and subs. C) Clueless Cooper bailed out by the players. I reckon B) which shows he is still making the same mistakes, but the changes at least show some flexibility and give me some hope for the future, but if you agree, it is hardly grounds for a smugfest. At least having conceded early we never saw the Cooper that camps in his own half cus that really makes rage

The set up, selection and the first half is the not learning bit, but credit for changing things second half.

9 - 0 home spanking, 9-1 aggregate over two wins last year and now this absolute sickener. Southampton must absolutely hate Leicester City.

You're kidding? You are literally moaning about moaning that hasn't even happened.

Let me put it to you this way. I am old enough to remember Peter Taylor and after eight games and despite some really horrible signings we were somehow top of the league. We know what happened next. The point I am making is that you cannot trust the table at this point in the season. To put it in childlike logic as above is ridiculous. If you want to look at numbers look at the underlying numbers, the stats and they will tell the story that our current league position is very likely unsustainable, as does the evidence of our own eyes.

Just look at the Bournemouth game. First half we were the better team because we were allowed to play, so perhaps the squad is more competitive than you think. Second half we conceded chance after chance because Cooper had us camped in our own half and failed to respond to the Bournemouth subs. Now any team that is behind will press for an equaliser and gamble a bit more, so was it a case that Bournemouth pushed us back? I say no, at only 1-0, they would still have to be circumspect as a second could kill the game, but Cooper made it easy for them with his tactical retreat, repeating the mistakes of the Palace game. They could pour forward at will and afford to replace their full backs with attackers because we offered no threat whatsoever. These tactics, in a nutshell are why I want him gone. Yes, we will be scrapping for survival this year but inviting teams to attack us is a terrible way of doing that imo. To be honest I'm baffled as to anyone would be baffled.

I think if he were to win the next three (quality of opposition notwithstanding) it would buy him credit and leeway and people would have to pipe down, myself included....but that's a huge, monumental 'if' considering that we have only won once out of our last seven games and extrapolating 57 points by the end of May is a fantasy that would make Barbara Cartland blush. You say that fans have made up their minds but reading your posts, I would say so have you. You seem to have come to a blanket conclusion that fans have just decided that they don't like SC and would not accept him from the outset, before a ball was kicked but you should not make such assumptions. Speaking personally, I was open-minded about SC. All I knew about him was that his Championship Forest team gave our much vaunted PL team a good hiding in the cup. I even defended him from those that couldn't tolerate his Forest history....Then the football started. I have been horrified by his approach. The handbrake on, anti- football, camping in our own halves for extended periods of the game, clock-watching is not only an ugly spectacle, but in my opinion sets us up to fail. Take the Bournemouth game for just one example. SC's defenders will point to the fact that we won the game but fail to see the bigger picture. Having out-played Bournemouth in the first half and restricting their chances by actually playing football ourselves, he went full defensive to protect his lead in the second. The result of that was an alamo style siege on our goal, hit the post, hit the bar, disallowed goal and 12 shots on goal (from memory). We got through it by luck and despite Cooper. I could go on and on about other games and show how we are bobbing along the bottom of the stats barrel for just about every metric there is, but I will leave it there and move on to my second objection to Cooper's tactics and that is the fact that I object to this way of playing on principle. It is craven, timid, an embarrassment, deserves to fail and I don't want my club associated with it. This is his MO and for that reason it is unlikely improve and therefore the reason that it is reasonable to take this view after just 7 games. When Cooper's defenders point to the fact that we are outside of the relegation zone I roll my eyes. It seems to me a kind of blindness. A refusal to acknowledge what is in front of your eyes and the obvious conclusion as to where it will lead.

Well this is just nonsense. The limitations of Steve Cooper, his track record, tactics and the reasons for wanting change have been discussed in fine details going round in circles ad nauseum. On the other hand, I am yet to see any semblance of a counter-argument whatsoever.

Can't believe no one has put this one forward: 96 years ago this Sunday, we beat Portsmouth 10-0. The famous Arthur Chandler six swans match. 7-0 v Port Vale 1924. Another double hat-trick, this time by Johnny Duncan (Chandler scored the other one). 5-5 v Luton 1949. 5th round cup game, Jack Lee scored an equaliser in the last minute of extra time to take to replay which we won and ultimately reached the cup final losing to Wolves.

The eleven that I was talking about had a good balance with Skipp and Winks behind the forward three, not a Carsley team full of attackers and not a Cooperball drudgery XI.

Imagine if our Arthur took penalties...

Imagine that - putting our best eleven players into the team. It'll never catch on.