Heron

I don't really think this is a game where we can sit back and hit them on the counter like we have done against the likes of Arsenal. I think our best chance of getting anything is to really go toe to toe with them and if the game gets stretched that will benefit our front 3 in particular. My concern would be more around our two centre halves though, because, despite Burn being one of our players of the season both he and Schar aren't particularly quick. That's why for me Dubravka also starts and acts as a sweeper keeper.

I find him canny frustrating this season tbh. Feel like he's never really got going with any real consistency. Clearly a very good player and when he's on his game he's unplayable, just don't think he's found the form he had prior to the Euros.

Will give him the benefit of the doubt. He's played little football for a sustained period now. Feel a bit sorry for Osula though - he'd have been a better fit today.

Yep. I think SJP is one of the worst grounds for nervousness transcending to the players too. Can feel it around the 60th minute mark nearly every time we're leading.

Agree with a lot of this but not that Forest deserved anything. Thought they were fairly shite tbh. Offered very little and simply tried to disrupt and bully and bombard our penalty area. I'll be genuinely surprised if they make the top 5 by the end of the season. I thought it was a game of two halves ultimately and neither side really blew the other away. They were piss poor first half and we sauntered through them numerous times. Could have probably been several by half time for us. Second half we were dogshit and they didn't really show enough quality to benefit from it. That being said another 10mins and I think we'd have drawn. We got what we deserved for me, as did they. Really need to learn how to control games though from winning positions.

Dont think it's embarrassing that folk want to join together and have a good time to be honest. Just think it's more of a concern that we're kinda happy-go-lucky runners ups. Really want the fans and team to bring their A game on the final day and not the night before this time.

Possibly a really stupid question, but is it just like North Eastern teams who take over an area of London when at Wembley? Like are Liverpool fans being advised to go to another part of London and congregate somewhere like our lot are? It seems like it's only our side (perhaps for the distance we travel and lots are staying overnight)...

O'Nien - was that their last time in the PL?

I am keen to see some of the RTG gems that will be unearthed following this debacle.

With a Shelvey winner...

What makes it better is my plane taking off late so all the obnoxious Mackems on board missed kick off. #RyanAirMagz

What a fucking crease.

That accent man

It is also worth noting that we didn't have the same start as some clubs with regards to our expenditure. We were absolutely stripped back to the bare bones as a club and almost nailed on for relegation. Howe has been backed, but has been limited in the backing he has received owing to PSR and FFP. When we got out of a relegation fight and almost into the top 10 in half a season that was almost miraculous. When we got into the CL that was almost miraculous, given the general standard of around half (if not more) of the playing squad, to see us nearly achieve European football last season given the horrendous injuries we had to deal with (and the difficult cup ties across all fronts) was almost miraculous. You only have to look at Spurs and the bad luck portrayed by the media every other week - and big Anges whinging and whining each week. None of which we really received or took part in when it was us. Howe did a great job last year with the players available. We haven't seen anything of that level this season but again, we're 3 points of the CL spots and in a cup final with another potentially on it's way. So by the end of the season, it could quite rightly be miraculous. Howe is getting the absolute maximum out of half a dozen players who regularly play for us. When they don't play to their maximum we get dicked. If Man City don't play to their maximum they bring on top drawer players to fill the gaps. It is more alarming the games against Fulham and Bournemouth, etc. But even so, all this immediate talk of Howes day's being numbered and questioning how long he has as soon as we have 2 or 3 bad performances or a bad loss away at Man City who were the best domestic side in the world around 12-18months ago and who won the league last season is just a bit (to say the least) toys out the pram and knee jerk. We are 90 (albeit very difficult) minutes from him being immortalised in our clubs history. If we win that, then what will folks excuses be when we have two or three bad performances? Last time (before Christmas) everything was his fault for the transfer activity, it was him versus Mitchell, it was he's a one trick pony, he's hit his limit. Now it's, he can't win big games, crunch games or season defining games. What would people have done differently at the start of yesterday's game? Trippier out maybe? Okay - fair. But what else? Like it seems to me plenty of folk offer radical statements and problems but I see very little by way of alternatives or solutions... We all know the Saudis may not be as forgiving and patient as the fans - but so far - I've seen a lot more evidence of toys out the pram from supporters not the other way around.

I'll be honest - performance wise, I think this has probably been Howe's worst season to date with us, and yet he's got us into a cup final and the 5th round of the FA Cup at present, and only 3 points away from CL spots. That shows how mental it is that people seemingly have him on borrowed time - to me anyways. It still has the potential to be an absolutely phenomenal season results wise and we're halfway into February...

Fair. We will learnt hat through experience though, as everyone does.

Aye. Because they're all relative. Quarter finals aren't now big games to us on the whole but that's because we've managed said "big game" previously and now consider it a normality thanks to Eddie Howes ability to have won such fixtures...

It is until you make a final though, surely?

We are our own greatest enemy because we go into a tailspin whenever we lose and think we're the best team on then planet when we win. We seem to be flip-flapping from big to season defining to crunch games now in an attempt to categorise games and tbh I find it all a bit bizarre. Today wasn't a crunch game for sure if we're saying crunch games are the final games to make something specific happen or be achieved. Nor is it season defining - its 3 points in a league that is highly close and competitive - in which case it can only be argued as a big game (which it absolutely was). We were shite, we lost. However, we have beaten sides and not lost to sides who are above or around us this season in equally as big games and therefore, if that's the basis for this debate as moreso as @J7 alludes to then it's incorrect what yous chaps are saying. You are absolutely correct if we're talking cup finals as being those games though...

Big games aren't just the finals or the crunch scenarios though there are big games that lead you those 'end' games. It also doesn't matter if a team is shite, it can be a big game. The derby was a big game and always will be a big game irrespective of league. You weren't particularly clear in your 'dividing'. You're now divvying up your argument to make it relevant tbh. You have to win big games to even be in crunch games. So we discussed big games. So we're now basing Eddie Howes capability to take us to the next level on a 2-1 loss to Milan and a 2-0 final loss to Man United? Give owa.

Okay, I see your point more here to be fair. However, I don't really see why that would be under question at this stage. We're almost in essence saying we're 90mins from being "next level". He's only been here like 3 years or sumit... Gotta be reasonable, and with all the FFP constraints etc. I think it's unfair to suggest he is incapable of being the person to take us to silverware. That's opinion though.

If it means we win the final when those 'first teamers' come back in then so be it

Yeah, this is bang on for me. Howe has to take some blame for today as dk the players, it seems.

It is and we were. The issue for me with NUFC on the whole is mentality and whilst we have a paper thing squad that will remain. There isn't enough competition to make players fight for their place in the side and so, when semis or finals come along players want to be available for them instead of simply playing so well they have to be played in them. Confidence, fearlessness and attitude are huge to us and when we don't have one of those components we collapse like a house of cards. We gain in these when we have a squad capable of pressuring players and knowing that when someone is having an off day they can be easily replaced.