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Hmm didn't really get that sense. Schar was pinging through balls to him minutes before he was taken off but either way, he had far more composure and control witj the ball than Longstaff had today, so Id have kept him on.

Think taking Anderson off was a bit of a mistake

Those 2 and Barnes seem to have a decent connection down the left.

how did we sign this guy

Doucore doing a man marking job on Bruno by the looks of it.

No we wouldn't get relegated and yes we would still win game. I think you took what I originally said very literally.

I can only use the small sample that's available to me but it tied exactly in with what I observed as well. We had less control in midfield, conceded possession a lot more, didn't have as many turnovers and most notably we had no one who was able to break the lines as consistently as Bruno does. You can't underestimate the importance of the latter. That spell last year stands out to me not because of the result but how noticeably poor our performances became. We coincidentally returned to form and our performance levels as soon as he returned.

None taken but you're gonna have to show me why it's objectively and observedly untrue. I can only go by the sample of matches that he's been missing for, right?

We can win games without Isak, we can't without Bruno. Both players are absolute unicorns but history and thr stats tells us that losing Bruno has far more impact on our results than losing Isak.

Ok, so that's Dubravka he has to compensate for, what about Trippiers playmaking skills? What about Joelinton's robustness and physicality in the middle? What about Wilsons hold up play? What about Isak's link up play? What about Willocks driving runs? What about Botman's anticipation and reading of the game? What tactic compensates for all that? Because that's the task at hand and according to some there's a tactic that would negate all that.

Peps win rate goes from 75% to 50% when Rodri is out. By your own logic that makes him tactically limited as he's unable to adjust his tactics to compensate for that despite having 24 other world class players at his disposal. Now let's test his tactical nous when 7-8 first teamers are out.

We need to concede less and score even more. I'd even go as far as saying we should win more games and lose less. Thank you for reading my tactical analysis - think I've covered most the points made recently.

My MOTM today. Scary to think we probably haven't seem him in full flow and in top form yet.

That last 20 minutes was what we were doing for the whole of last season and the beginning of this. Don't think we've actually seen it for about 6 months now.

Still might not get to see much of him this season but deary me, we have not missed with this transfer, he looks a player.

Best centre mid we've ever had.

I'm firmly behind Howe but I do believe he's had a significant part to play in our injury crisis by virtue of his squad management. Rafa was the only manager I can remember who had a marked affect on our injury list and made me realise the impact of good squad management. Perhaps it's naivety, perhaps it's just a case of wrong injuries at the wrong time or perhaps it is is just freak bad luck (although I refer to his last season at Bournemouth) but something needs to change and I don't think it's the medical staff which is a lazy conclusion imo.

We're owned by the Saudi's. I reckon I can stomach taking money from NFT's tbh

Have full sympathy for Forest. If PSR is about safeguarding clubs, then how exactly does potentially relegating them and killing their revenue stream help that cause? Similar to us really, just a club looking to invest and grow.

Really hope Howe sticks with this formation

As well? Sure, if its an option but if I had to choose one it'd be Giles.

Phil Giles is the best option from people I've seen linked to us.

Surely surely you can see the gaping wide contradiction between thinking that at the beginning of the season 7th was the minimum we should be achieving whilst also thinking we wouldnt be good enough to make up a 3 point gap to get to 7th with a quarter of the season left?? Both of those things can't be true ffs Anyway

You'd have taken 7th and nothing less. So the difference between the season being a relative success is (objectively speaking) 1 more win and 1 less loss, and furthermore you would not be happy being lower than that position at any point of the season, irrespective of whether we still have over 25% of the season still left to play. I know I said I'd end it with my previous post but I think I definitely will now seeing as though that's your actual position ?

What's on offer is not "not finishing 7th" it's objectively speaking being '3 points off 7th with 10 games to go'. (Plus 2 QF's) Put another way, if you were told at the beginning of the season that after 28 games you'd be 3 points off 7th, then would you put significant money on us finishing 7th from that position? Will leave it here though as I think we'll probably be going round in circles for a good while. Don't want to derail the thread.