Ben Nelson

[Dahnsouff]

Ben and Faes please.

[Chelmofox]

5 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Ben and Faes please.

Agree. Can't stomach seeing Vestergaard stand on the ball again.

[honeybradger]

7 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Ben and Faes please.

I understand the frustration with Vestergaard slowing the ball down too much but i still think he's a better centreback partner than Faes. Faes is just too erratic which wont help Nelson find his footing in the team.

[LCFCJohn]

It’ll be a poor decision if he is put in at this stage. You can’t put a young guy in who hasn’t had any minutes since mid-August, straight in, with the pressure both of the teams form and also the spotlight over his own inclusion (or lack there of) and expect him to hit the ground running. Not to mention injury risk coming in from the cold.

 

It will either end up with him getting injured or having large sections of the fan base turn on him for making mistakes.

 

Marti has made his bed and he needs to deal with it.

[Dahnsouff]

17 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

I understand the frustration with Vestergaard slowing the ball down too much but i still think he's a better centreback partner than Faes. Faes is just too erratic which wont help Nelson find his footing in the team.

Was going to say Okoli, but somebody more senior than Caleb is possibly required. Have no issues with Vestergaard,  but wholesale change seems appropriate. 

[LeePhilpottsBaldSpot]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

It’ll be a poor decision if he is put in at this stage. You can’t put a young guy in who hasn’t had any minutes since mid-August, straight in, with the pressure both of the teams form and also the spotlight over his own inclusion (or lack there of) and expect him to hit the ground running. Not to mention injury risk coming in from the cold.

 

It will either end up with him getting injured or having large sections of the fan base turn on him for making mistakes.

 

Marti has made his bed and he needs to deal with it.

Agree we can't expect him to hit the ground running, but of course we can put him straight in.

 

He's a professional footballer who has been in first team squads for years and played regularly at this level last season.

 

I don't see why he'd be an injury risk.

He's a 21 year old 6'5 unit of a centre back who trains every day.

 

I also think the fans will be much more forgiving towards a local lad who isn't to blame for recent poor performances.

[LCFCJohn]

8 minutes ago, LeePhilpottsBaldSpot said:

Agree we can't expect him to hit the ground running, but of course we can put him straight in.

 

He's a professional footballer who has been in first team squads for years and played regularly at this level last season.

 

I don't see why he'd be an injury risk.

He's a 21 year old 6'5 unit of a centre back who trains every day.

 

I also think the fans will be much more forgiving towards a local lad who isn't to blame for recent poor performances.

Because he had a bad injury last season. Having had no minutes at all for 2 and a half  months, of course he is high risk. He needs essentially a pre-season, a few minutes here and there to build up. That won’t apply to the likes of Evans and Aluko who have been playing regularly for the development side. They could drop straight in from a fitness and match practice point of view.
 

Can’t agree on the last bit. People will be expecting him to hit the ground running and he will be getting the Huddersfield first half thrown back on his face at the first sign of an error.

[ClaphamFox]

10 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

Because he had a bad injury last season. Having had no minutes at all for 2 and a half  months, of course he is high risk. He needs essentially a pre-season, a few minutes here and there to build up. That won’t apply to the likes of Evans and Aluko who have been playing regularly for the development side. They could drop straight in from a fitness and match practice point of view.
 

Can’t agree on the last bit. People will be expecting him to hit the ground running and he will be getting the Huddersfield first half thrown back on his face at the first sign of an error.

No he won’t. Our fans are pissed off with senior pros who are failing to put a shift in week-in, week-out. They will not take it out on a young player just returning to the fold after being unfairly frozen out for three months. If you think they will, you do not understand the fanbase. 

Edited 3 November 2025 by ClaphamFox

[LCFCJohn]

4 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

No he won’t. Our fans are pissed off with senior pros who are failing to put a shift in week-in, week-out. They will not take it out on a young player just returning to the fold after being unfairly frozen out for three months. If you think they will, you do not understand the fanbase. 

I understand our fanbase just perfectly 

[dmayne7]

24 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

No he won’t. Our fans are pissed off with senior pros who are failing to put a shift in week-in, week-out. They will not take it out on a young player just returning to the fold after being unfairly frozen out for three months. If you think they will, you do not understand the fanbase. 

Had to laugh at the last statement. Half of this place absolutely ripped him to shreds for that Huddersfield performance or are suggesting those that have actually watched him are completely wrong and he's not ready for this level. Not to mention how much our academy products generally get pelters (rightly or wrongly)

[Chelmofox]

2 hours ago, dmayne7 said:

Had to laugh at the last statement. Half of this place absolutely ripped him to shreds for that Huddersfield performance or are suggesting those that have actually watched him are completely wrong and he's not ready for this level. Not to mention how much our academy products generally get pelters (rightly or wrongly)

And Page got lots of pelters for not being good enough too.

[Claudio Fannieri]

Glad to see him included, if true, will need patience and time, hopefully after Saturday Marti will be allowed to pick the group of players he wants. If as fans we want to see genuine change at the club then we really need to show our academy homegrown players some love.
 

On Saturday even Jakub was getting booed for slowing his distribution down when on many occasions there was no opportunity or person to play the ball too. 
 

I for one would happily forgo promotion this season to see more academy players bloodied in the match day squad and a good few of the wantaways left to rot until January or the summer. Let them train in their own little group away from the rest so they cannot undermine the main group.

[LCFCJohn]

6 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

And Page got lots of pelters for not being good enough too.

It goes back to Barnes, Chilwell and KDH too.

 

Barnes was slated for being too quiet on the pitch. ‘All’ he did was score and assist goals. We’d love some of that now 
 

KDH, when they couldn’t find fault with him on the pitch, people turned to smearing him with digs that he isn’t one of our own being born in Nottingham and allegedly supporting Man Utd as a child. 
 

And like you say, Page as well. I can’t remember an academy player who was fully accepted, in my lifetime anyway. Was Heskey? He came through before my time so I don’t know.

 

Which is why I don’t agree Nelson will be accepted, supported and given time. The amount of references to the Huddersfield game are a massive red flag in that respect. 
 

In my view, there’s far too much scrutiny and too much of a spotlight on him due to his bizarre treatment so far. That will have heaped so much more pressure on his involvement. There will be those who are expecting him to instantly fix our issues and those looking for any fault to justify why he wasn’t included before. With the bad injury before as well, I see a young player who the decks are stacked against.

[GingerrrFox]

As much as I will be glad to see Ben play if he’s included tonight, for me that really cements that Marti hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing as he should have been given opportunities before now and he’s gonna throw him into a game against the team that’s 2nd in the division, cold. This is a desperate attempt to stay onside with the fan base.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, GingerrrFox said:

As much as I will be glad to see Ben play if he’s included tonight, for me that really cements that Marti hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing as he should have been given opportunities before now and he’s gonna throw him into a game against the team that’s 2nd in the division, cold. This is a desperate attempt to stay onside with the fan base.

Hopefully he comes in, performs well and even if Cifuentes is moved on he's in the picture for the next man. Need Page and Evans to light it up in the U17 WC too.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Please don't be shit  

[Noahfence]

He’ll deffo come in and have a howler after all this 

[Aleksz]

24 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Please don't be shit  

Regardless of the result or performance, I guarantee there’s a post of “I ThOuGhT hE wAs oUr sAvIoUr!!!!!” In about 4 pages time

[Mickyblueeyes]

He can have a dodgy 90 minutes. And even if he does. You know what. He will be better for it the next game and the next game and the game after that. 
 

At least we will be building and working towards something. Which we are currently not doing with Faes and Vestegaard. Who are just dodgy.

[adam]

8 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

Regardless of the result or performance, I guarantee there’s a post of “I ThOuGhT hE wAs oUr sAvIoUr!!!!!” In about 4 pages time

You'll 100 percent see that on Facebook. Probably from one of the back the lads crew.

[moore_94]

18 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

Regardless of the result or performance, I guarantee there’s a post of “I ThOuGhT hE wAs oUr sAvIoUr!!!!!” In about 4 pages time

The I told you so’s will be straight on here at full time

[Sankey93]

He can’t be any worse than the others 😂 he’s going to be rusty the lad hasn’t played but a run of games we all know what he can do especially in this division 

[Harpenden Fox]

If he does play let's hope we make him feel loved. He's clearly talented. He will clearly be nervous, and he's coming into a side with zero confidence. He's the future.

[ClaphamFox]

Scenes when he doesn't even make the bench again 

[dmayne7]

Thing is, it's not even like he's been over hyped. He was excellent in this league for a weaker team, a team that would have tested more facets of his game as well. Plus I cannot think of another centre back who's been talked about for us when they were 16 coming through the ranks. Linked with all the big boys then, and again this summer to Chelsea and others. Not saying he's the second coming of Bobby Moore, but I think it shows that this is a lad that has consistently been highly regarded.

 

If he does play (doubt it), he needs to be given a run of games even if he has some absolute stinkers.