04 Oct 2022 11:57:37
I'm trying to be rational and dispassionate about what is happening with the team. To me looking back we should have probably kept Garner, Spence and Zinckernagel, possibly got Davis so that we carried on the confidence in the spine of the team. Niakahate and Mangala are good additions, and when Richards is fit he could also be valuable.
We have clearly lost the Spirit in the team that was there last season, and because of the influx of new, international and many non-English-Speaking players the vision that the previous team had has disappeared.
It's a huge task to rebuild, and moreover to build something completely new so that it sits separate from what we had previously.
At the moment the players are not passionately playing FOR each other, plus we may well have a few duds - maybe Awoniyi, Lodi, Dennis, Lingard for example.
There does not seem to be a settled formation, and Cook, Worral and McKenna don't seem to be able to keep pace as a back three.
We have midfield defenders - Mangala, Kouyate, Yates, but are expecting them to be attackers as well and I'm not sure that is possible in this league.
I think Johnson is good especially when he combines with Gibbs-White, but Neco Williams does not have Spence's pace or foresight.
For me the biggest problem Cooper faces is not which style and formation to play but to get everyone desperate to play for each other and for the Club - I don't see the commitment we had last year.
There would be no point in a new manager as he would face exactly the same problems and Cooper is the best fit to do this anyway.
We need a few gritty draws to get us moving, but the deep-seated problem to me remains the Spirit of the team/squad, and at present there is a big hole there.

1.) 04 Oct 2022
04 Oct 2022 12:50:16
I think we wanted the Garner and Spence but it was them who didn't want to come Garner wanted to fight for his place and Spence wanted Spurs, Villa priced Davies out of a move so I'm not sure what Forest could of done apart from go elsewhere.

2.) 04 Oct 2022
04 Oct 2022 16:28:40
Nab all three now on loan?