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Thread | Let's not just write this season off...
at 18:37 25 May 2025
The narrative has been that a 2 division jump has been too much, that we never had a chance, and so on, but we do need a little bit of reflection on gambles that didn't pay off, and some really poor recruitment. If the top brass of the club have genuine bought players for next year's Championship then that's a different discussion, but wow.
1. The goalkeepers: Muric was never good enough, and then we find out that there are off the field issues. Palmer has done adequately, but is no better than Walton, who I think will be first choice next season.
2. Defence: I wouldn't be sorry to see O'Shea go, I think he's overrated, where as Burgess has been our most consistent defender this year. Tuanzebe needed to have been fitter for longer, Greaves made too many errors, and Davis won't be going anywhere in the summer because PL teams worked him out early and he spent most of the season being mauled on MoTD. McKenna obviously didn't fancy Woolfenden, and Godfrey was a shambles of a signing.
3. Midfield: Cajuste a real bright spark this year, would run the show in the Championship next season, but that's highly unlikely. Morsy off the pace in the latter part of the season, and Taylor never really seemed to be able to grasp his chance. Luongo ended up a bit part player, and as for Kalvin Phillips, we'd possibly have been better playing George Weah's cousin. Phillips has been such a let down, and it's hard to work out where he goes from here, unless Leeds offer him a sentimental move.
4. Attack: Delap is still raw, but probably worth £30m. I'm struggling to see who would pay similar for Hutchinson on this season's form. Not good enough to play behind the forward, so gets to play on the right, but has offered no end product for months. Ogbene and Burns have been a real miss, as has Szmodics and alternately Chaplin and Broadhead. I do wonder why Broadhead has had so few minutes this season. Jack Clarke will almost certainly bag 10+ goals next season, and a Hirst/Szmodics partnership is quite exciting at Championship level.
What do you think? |
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Thread | We gambled on our signings, and most of them haven't paid off.
at 18:35 5 Apr 2025
It was an interesting model, seeing Forest spend big last year, take the points penalty, spending most of the early part of last season playing as a team of strangers, before doing enough to stay up. We spent big this year, and with the exception of Delap, I would struggle to find any other signings that have been worth the money in terms of contributions to the team. On can question McKenna in terms of tactics and how we've failed to close games out, but the bottom line for me is that we didn't recruit well enough. I understand we were fishing in a smaller pond but bloody hell, most of these players haven't turned up.
Muric, Clarke, Philogene, Hutchinson, Smods, Ogbene, Greaves, O'Shea, Phillips, Godfrey have all been nothing like the players we had hoped they would have been. In theory they should be great against the likes of Preston, Stoke and Cardiff. I'd be interested when the club review their scouting and recruitment methods!
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Thread | ePremier League
at 19:41 1 Mar 2025
Not being knowledgable about these things, I decided to watch the ePremier League on YouTube today and watched the two guys representing Ipswich smash the rest of their group, only to realise they have no affiliation with the club, and have been seemingly bought in to play for us, like a proper transfer? Anyone know how this works? |
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Thread | Premier League or not...
at 21:59 24 Feb 2025
The Championship is far more entertaining. I know Leeds are always on the telly, but that was a really good game to watch. |
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Thread | Fulham’s Neutral Fan Area
at 18:02 5 Jan 2025
Went to the game today and although there are never any away tickets, we got some in what Fulham call the Neutral Area at the Putney End. Really interesting idea, obviously mostly Fulham fans there, but also a good number of Town fans. We didn’t out ourselves until our penalty when my emotions got the better of me, but we engaged in some decent chat with the home fans without any fear of being hassled. I noticed a few Town fans got removed from Fulham’s new stand, but I’ve never come across an area like this in English football. Do any other clubs have something similar? |
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Thread | Let's keep a bit of perspective about Walton
at 23:01 30 Dec 2024
I always felt that Walton was a better all round goalkeeper than Hladky, but Vaz had such good ability with the ball at his feet, it really helped us turn defence into attack at many key points last year. Once we'd settled on a style of play, Hladky grew into that position and it was nailed on. Somebody somewhere thought that Muric was an upgrade on Hladky, and whilst he has pulled off some great saves, he's also been involved in a lot of errors that have led to goals.
So against Liverpool, CW did no wrong, and tonight you can tell that he is not the most comfortable with the ball at his feet, but he claimed his crossed, made some good saves, one outstanding, and most importantly committed no major errors. If Walton is only in tonight because of KMc's tactical game plan, then so be it, and tonight's game in context shouldn't be the one where we judge him, even if we had to park the bus at times. I'm not sure he's the long term answer, but he probably causes fewer errors than Muric, which might be the difference between 17th and 18th place. |
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Thread | We should be scouring the French league!
at 13:24 16 Nov 2024
My goodness, first Bordeaux, now Lyon. The Ligue 1 clubs are in financial turmoil and it looks like Lyon will have to have a fire sale in order to avoid compulsory relegation. If we are in the market for signings in January then surely that’s worth a look. |
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Thread | In 2022/23 Forest had 4 points after 9 games
at 16:43 20 Oct 2024
...and only 10 points after 15 games. Yes we were toilet yesterday, but we have a lot of new players, like they did, and once the playing style gets settled, and the kamikaze defending goes, we might just start to pick up a few more points! |
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Thread | Nottingham Forest 22/23 should be our benchmark
at 10:36 7 Oct 2024
I was mulling over the defeat at the weekend, whilst at the same time trying to maintain some perspective - and happened to think over Forest's first season back in the PL, when they bought a load of players and managed to stay up - despite a horrific start of two wins in their first 14 games, which included a 6-0 against Man City, a 5-0 against Arsenal, and a 4-0 against Leicester. Indeed they only score 11 away goals that season all together.
At this stage of that season, Forest also had 4 points, were bottom of the table (W1, D1, L6, F6, A21) and yet still managed to come good. I might see how this pans out as a comparison...any thoughts? |
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Thread | McKenna Presser Bingo...
at 08:55 29 May 2024
MA/KM - "There was always going to be speculation"
MA - "Keiran has shown his commitment to the club / the project"
KM - "I was not focused on anything but Ipswich"
MA - "The club will continue to give Kieran the oxygen he needs..."
KM - "It is always flattering to be linked with those sorts of clubs, but my focus has always been on Ipswich"
Any others? |
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Thread | Do we think McK was actually serious about leaving?
at 20:56 27 May 2024
As all the pieces start to come together, I think Brighton were serious about getting McK, and that in reality Chelsea and Man Utd were not. Much as we love him and all that, to the outsider, McK getting a job at a top 6 club this early in his career just seemed a little far fetched. Either way his agent has played a blinder, but I reckon any new contract comes with a £10m+ release clause. Do you think he was serious about going, or was this a bargaining tool for a new deal? |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 79 | | Comment Votes: | 1 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 80 |
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