Forest podcast brought to you by Nottinghamshire live [Music] hello you read as we preview Nottingham price visit of Manchester United and look at the departure of sporting director Philip geraldi after six months of at the club and joining me to discuss that is Red’s Van Michael Temple temps good afternoon how you doing good Mark you yeah not too bad can’t complain about anything so yeah doing all right well we have some discussions beforehand about uh yeah we won’t go into it but I’m fine yeah yeah all good all good right uh we’ll get into Man U and giraldi in a bit but uh obviously the big discussion is the relegation battle camp Forest stay up see Cooper’s future we discussed that at length with uh Lewis mcgugan and Greg on Monday which was a good chat to check it out if you haven’t but what’s your

take on the relegation biology it’ll probably frame the conversation a forest dead and buried or does it do you still feel they’ve got a chance and we’re not not then in Buried but we’re at the wrong end of the season now aren’t we I think uh 10 10 days ago we were looking at the prospect of a a week in which we’d have three games that we felt we could compete and make a good account of ourselves we didn’t uh

that might be a bit disingenuous to the Wolves performance which was positive until we conceded but one point from nine was not what we were looking for given the context of the matches that are to to come now so yeah look balance of probability is going to be really really tough for us to stay up now and the last the last week has um

quashed some of my optimism I don’t buy any of this I’m seeing about we’re not going to win another game or season there’s no way we can Peak and compete too many players out of the out of the mix and all the rest of it we’ll spring a surprise at some point um that the challenge is going to be whether or not that’s that’s too little too late because um

we’ve passed up 40 million opportunities and we didn’t get the result against wolves when we didn’t get the result against Leeds we still looked at the table thinking when the next one and we’re back in the mix feels really tough against my new I’ve been so impressed by them in the games that we’ve played against them they’re upturn in form since 10 Hogg really got a grip yeah look there’s no two ways about it

we’re in a real battle and all of the neutrals seem to think that we’re going to be one of the three I think you’re branded not ccglay is making you a bit staticky I don’t know if you want to remove it and show the people what you’ve got underneath I hope you’ve got something underneath just a classic Woolen Polo today Matthew good good yeah I think that’s better that’s good right well hopefully we don’t need to remove any more layers our Keaton Davis in Market Square but we should be uh it should be all right uh so I’ll just read out the other fixtures at the weekend just so people uh know where we’re at and it’ll probably emphasize the importance of this game uh it is

Southampton V Palace Everton V Fulham spursby Bournemouth Wolseley Brentford um I put Man City V Arsenal that’s actually Leicester city be Man City uh West Hamby Arsenal and Leeds V Liverpool so there’s still a lot of teams in it uh and you look at those games obviously tough one for Leicester Under New Management West Ham a tough one B Liverpool leads the tough one uh as well Everton V

Fulham I feel like Everton’s probably going to get a result there I mean is this man united game is it must win now or are we still at that stage where a Point’s a good result you think points a great result for me um this this isn’t one of the games I’d I’d Target even from even from this point to beat gung-ho and to to try to win I think this is one of the games where the counter and more importantly trying to trying to recover the ball in the final third might serve as well however that

game plan is most effective when Ryan Yates and Czech koyatta are available and they’re not going to be this weekend but you you’ve hit the nail there there are matches this weekend in which teams around us are going to pick up points last weekend wasn’t great for us was it in the manner that others did well um relative relative to us so yeah some some teams are in very direct competition with have got greater prospects than us this weekend I’m not going to say it’s my swin there is a route for us to stay up whilst drawing or even losing this game um but yeah it just looks it just looks so much tougher now doesn’t it if we

were to look at all of our fixtures in the round Southampton obviously is one of the games that we target but we need to we need to Spring a surprise at some at some point and yeah I can’t foresee um given recent form how we go about getting three points out of my new game but you know we’re gonna have to try yeah true if we don’t win I agree it’s not must win but it’s not far off because if we don’t win we’re gonna have to go somewhere and win and this is absolutely zero evidence of that we’re gonna have to beat Palace away maybe Brentford away if we do win this one I’d appreciate it’s a massive massive if but kind of opens the doors the Brighton home game next the Southampton game Palace we’ve kept saying this for weeks haven’t we it makes you more it changes the picture and I think we’re at that stage now the guy actually gets some points because we

can’t keep playing it but wouldn’t you like to see us go somewhere with the shackles off and not have this plan of trying to win one there were 25 possession to to try to take the game to someone to to pick an attacking team not to play with the the low block and just to try something different because you know hindsight is a wonderful thing but if we’d have tried that um 12 times to this point I’m almost certain we’d have a better return than than we do at the minute um from these away matches which is you know for me the one black mark against Cooper’s name exception the championship exceptional at home um it’s just that this this Premier League away record has been has been dismal and we need to try something something different we’ve made suggestions we we’ve looked at shapes haven’t we’ve looked at various different ways of of setting up the the team but if it gets to that point which it almost is now we have to Spring a surprise on the road I don’t think we’re best served by inviting teams on and trying to Nick it on the break one there I just I just wonder if we could yeah do a bit more change even more set up with more positive attacking intent and at least go down swinging in those games rather than letting other teams walk onto us it’s been it’s been really

frustrating watching the leads and Villa performances and seeing the same result from a from a similar setup Minds I mean I actually I was on here lobbying for a change of three at the back because it is instinctively more defensive I think probably I prefer to be a bit more pressing at home if anything and try and press save my advantage away from home like that Villa game I I’ll go back to Leeds actually I think you’re right we just let teams walk onto our fullbacks all the time we’re too open I think I just didn’t understand it the Villa game though that first half we were just nice on for a nil nil and if we played like that in every away game I’m just totally convinced we’ve got more points even if they’d been more ugly draws and snuck away in instead of having six away points we might have nine or ten and then we’d be out of the relegation Zone and we’d be feeling pretty comfortable obviously we discussed the Villa game at length but that Shelby one absolutely killed us but I thought we looked a lot more organized and I was pretty comfortable that first half of villa so I I wouldn’t have minded playing that way in every away game to be honest but it’s all hindsight it’s all gone now pretty much with three or four away games today you can ask me a Shelby question are we going to wrap that up into team selection slash recruitment team departure uh Team selection we’ll come on to team selection now actually I’ll put uh I’ll put your team up which I think we both agree is the most likely team will see and then I’ve done a kind of a counter one which is a little bit not Maverick but a bit more out there but I still kind of quite like it so uh let me just check I get the right one yeah I think this is this is basically our predicted team so I’ll read out for those who are listening do feel free to comment on it as I’m sure you will in the comments section if you’re watching us live uh Navas and goal with Dean Henderson still injures Williams Felipe war on toflow across the back with we assume Rea out and Lottie out and we not had Cooper’s press at the time of recording this and the cafe AG with 303 froiler denilo and mangala so you know we’ll come on to Shelby in that and then a front three of uh Morgan Gibbs white as that kind of false nine Brennan Johnson on the right and bringing the entire world uh awani on the left uh shall we start yeah let’s start with Shelby then temps I mean Greg said he doesn’t have the the trust in him to uh deliver when it’s under pressure do you would you want to see him play again this season is he written off completely for you or are you just want him out for this game yeah it’s like I think the the last uh game was a bit of a reprieve for Shelby because we spoke about that lack of defensive intensity and the choice that he um had to make in altering that element of his performance and then what happens he has the chance to clear his lines he tries a cute pass in his own six yard box in the okate and uh the yeah the rest the rest is history they they score from from that moment and my head’s in my hands because we’ve seen that twice before already this season a player of such obvious Talent completely undone by a real lack of defensive awareness and intensity and he he can’t for me he can’t have another opportunity to make the same mistake I’m sure that was his his brief pre-match do what you do get on the ball in the middle third the final third get his ticking get the ball moving use that range of passing but please if the balls at your feet in your own third just put it in Rosette and he didn’t heed that warning and I I don’t think um Cooper who is fighting for his for his job and more importantly fighting to keep Forrest in the Premier League can place his trust in in Shelby again hence that changing in in the Midfield um to restore danila freula mangala I think that the headline change here is is the return of taiwo we’ve seen flashes from the bench that he’s um back into some kind of fitness and he offers a different type of threat doesn’t he I hope um in that position off the left the occupying the box when Brennan’s making his runs down the right can allow Morgan Gibbs white to drop into the hole even more get on the ball even more and uh yeah bring that bring the best out of of him because there’s no doubt about it you made this point but Shelby has cast a bit of a shadow over over Morgan Gibbs why in in trying to be the one making that making that telling pass so I think this is the best available 11 for Forest this weekend however there are eight players I think we calculated on the sidelines injured um that could command the place in this side so there are a couple of sticking plasters in places perhaps most notably at fullback where aurier Lodi would undoubtedly play if they were fit but to answer your question uh in my mind John Joseph started his last game for Forest yeah I agree I think you’re right I feel like unless you’re a team like a top team like man city or Liverpool well Liverpool some of these days the oh Arsenal you know you tend to have very energetic Fields now don’t you who who press hard and try and win the ball but we saw that be leads didn’t we uh and Aston Villa as well I think I think Shelby’s not he’s not right for this team at this moment maybe that changes and if we’re in the championship and probably no Premier League team’s going to take him or he’s not going to want to go on the money he’s on then in the championship he might be a different player we might see a lot more of him but right now I don’t think you can pick him not against man united certainly I don’t think so I think you’re spotting about taiwo he needs if he’s fit enough then I think he does need to start Emmanuel Dennis has done well to be fair obviously we’re critical of him for that missed chance where he didn’t Square it against uh wolves but I think since the World Cup he’s done a good job but it feels to me like you need taiwo in we need two threats with pace and strength who can threaten the uh teams going the other way and I think he’s the man to do that with with Brennan and hopefully give more gives right someone else’s opacity so that does make sense to me um you mentioned the back four there uh thoughts on world coming back in Lewis on Monday defends him and said he doesn’t let you down and with Felipe alongside him he thinks he’ll be all right what do you think I think Felipe could be a good foil for Joe because Felipe will be the leader another voice and another leader by example um in that back four Felipe for me is a bit of a Rolls Royce son at half not not only does he does do the dirty work are you winning the heads and tackles he then comes out of Defense with his head up and finds finds a pass I think if we’d have had him at the start of the Season uh our Outlook would have been markedly different um look I trust Joe world I’ve had people criticizing me saying that I blindly trust the the boys that have been produced by the academy uh I think that he cares about Forrester in the Premier League as much if not more than any other player and the scale of the task in this game and for the rest of the season won’t be lost on him there’s been there have been some high profile mistakes this year yes that have been from everybody that’s um that’s that’s played for us frankly but let’s not forget that apart from Scott McKenna coming back all other other Senator halves are injured so Joe’s Joe’s the man who needs to have that shirt he’ll capped in the side on Sunday and it would mean the world to him if we win and I think alongside Felipe he’s got every chance of of succeeding challenge is going to be a fallback I think if I’ve got a concern amongst our back four it’s it’s probably Nico we know that rashford’s out and he could have given him a really tough time off the left but they’ve got more than enough quality that they can replace him with might be Sanchez that comes in and gets the nod so that that defensive brief for Nico is going to be important and I’ve probably got slightly more concerned there than I’ll ever have about um Joe Worrell the Bedrock for any kind of resort here is a clean sheet and for that to happen him and Felipe will need to form that partnership quickly and keep Man United at Bay because despite having a game tomorrow night um you know and the on the second leg of the their quarter final against Sevilla next Thursday they have enough quality in depth in that Squad to put out an 11 that would find anybody I I look like it’s the man city game as well and remember that warl and Felipe were the pairing for that game and I know we rode our luck and Harlan missed some chances but if we’re going to beat main ID or get a draw then we’re going to ride our luck and they’re gonna have to have an off day and forget the chances how good of a show against earning Harland yeah yeah a man fully play exactly and you know Joe’s played when we’ve got good results alongside Willie Bolly that was probably our best center-back pairing pre-felipe arriving so I don’t have worries about Joe um and one other point I make I was reading a piece earlier about Leicester in my day job they’ve got a lot of players out of contracts a lot of players know they’re on the way we probably have that to a degree as well if we go down there’s probably players who are going to go but I think there is some value at this stage of the Season having players who are going to be here next season probably and actually do care a lot I know Joe Wall’s not the perfect center-back he’s going to run through a brick wall and we’re going to need players like that in these last few games we’re going to need bottle and mental resolve and I don’t think we’ve had enough of it in away game so I think there’s certainly some value in having him in the team for that reason um you mentioned fullbacks so I’m going to put my alternative team oh I should just say quickly as well about um Navas and goal obviously I mentioned Henderson been out but he couldn’t play in this game anyways it’s against Manchester United someone else point that out in the comments but uh Henderson could come back in just quickly would you have Henderson straight back in when he’s fitted Liverpool or not uh no I wouldn’t so look there’s been a bit of criticism for Navas particularly because of that um that the flap it leads right when he he gave them a simple rebound to convert and change the game he’s the welfare forest and there’s been games in which he’s been a man of the match leads at home being one of them actually so I don’t think it’s that clean cut and there’s coming back from a pretty serious injury which kept him out for a considerable amount of time um I do think hendo will finish the season as our first choice goalie but that those two or three weeks where he’s telling us he’s fit telling the coaches he’s fit but he hasn’t proved it through any kind of appearance in a match will be really telling there’s not going to be the what you do with any other position of introducing with 30 minutes to go you don’t you don’t do that in the Premier League so I’ll have to make a call at some point but I I think for the this immediate run of games it’s Navas in possession yeah if you hadn’t been out for so long I’d be more keen to get him straight back in and we’ll see how this weekend goes but I keep I think probably yeah you need a couple more weeks training so I think now us will be in goal for this game obviously and probably Liverpool as well and then review it Dallas is an interesting one because you mentioned the Leeds game and he was brilliant and I think since then how many saves does Navas made where you think that’s a brilliant save he’s bailed us out there and I’m struggling to think of too many I know people go don’t like XG but he’s massively performed underperformed his xg’s letting like three or four more goals and he’s actually suggests so I’m not as convinced by him the leads flap doesn’t really play into my mind as much but he’s on a steady job but for them this experience and the money kind of expected a bit more am I out of line there do you think no no no no one’s going to lose sleep over this if Hannah comes back in like fantastic he’s he’s his last appearance of forest was was brilliant he’s a he’s a he’s a class player he did a lot for his early season I mean like the Liverpool game in particular he was he was Unreal wasn’t he um I’m not concerned it’s a it’s a marginal call there’s two players there who are both Premier League ready um it’s split in the comments isn’t it between those that would have hando back in and those that would continue to back Navas so the our truster coaches do the right thing there when they when they make that change it will because of the showing in training the proof of hendo’s match Fitness he probably offers a little bit more proximity shot stopping perhaps a little bit less than Navas in terms of distribution but they’re both excellent Keepers and forests are going to be lucky to be able to call on both of them in the final few weeks of the season I just hope we’re still playing for something true a bit of a mute point anyway or moot point going into it this week anyway let me go back to what I was saying about fullbacks so here’s my alternative team which we would protect the fullbacks but it would detract from Morgan Gibbs white a bit so I’ll put it on the screen so this is what I’ve come up with again I’ll read it out for people listening on iTunes and Spotify now that’s in goal back three of whirl Felipe and McKenna coming back into the side now he’s fit again Williams and toffalo as Wing backs again due to injuries Danilo froiler Gibbs whites Freud could easily be mangala I’d still like the nether in there and then Johnson in a one year as a front two to stretch them and add some presents I don’t see the problem with playing two up front especially against May and I are just to try and disrupt their back four and make a bit more hard for um who would it be it won’t be sure who’s the reserved fullback marciala or something like that uh the left back and one of the second try and stop them getting four as much anyway and this would protect um Williams and tophalo a bit but on the the negatives are we’ve no idea how it fully fit Scott McKenna is and we’re throwing him back in against Manchester United and uh Morgan’s white at the point of a Midfield three which were named Lewis on Monday said he wasn’t sure he was sure if Steve Cooper thought he could do the nasty side of Midfield but then my pitch would be I remember the cup game at home uh Gibbs white gave casemiro actually quite a tough time and took the ball off him three or four times and so I think he does bring a bit of energy to Midfield but he’s going to be playing 20 yards further back so I don’t know there’s there’s positives and negatives to this team what do you think about attempts well the reason why it could work is we’ve got the physicality of uh our one year for when we’re clearing our lines and one of the reasons that um this this kind of shape had felt in the past was because we were using the punt to relieve pressure and we had nobody upfront capable of challenging for those jewels and I hope that um taiwo can I don’t think he’ll pick Mckenna over mangala because of the point you’ve made McKenna’s had a a long time out and whilst it’s great to see those pictures of him competing in training is he ready to go straight into a game against man united in the Premier League um probably probably not uh Gibbs why in that spot I think I think that’s quite natural for him I think that’s the position he’s played for the majority of his his career um Johnson and our knee would be up against the you know a pretty formidable man united backline there and would have more to do and would be getting closer attention so I mean that that for me is a shape that we would either use to close out the game or if the game plan was to try and shut them down the first half before opening up I think that does give us slightly more defensive resilience as you as you said but I I can’t see a spring in brakes or attacking with quite the same um threat that we would have with the the shape that we think is more likely to happen so yeah look it’s valid and it certainly does solve to a point that challenge of um exposing the exposing the fullbacks by by adding the First Central Defender I just think it’s quite unlikely given that we’ve got a injury crisis at Center half that they’d they’d pull McKenna in to start a game of this magnitude having been out for so long yeah I think you’re right it’s a shame that you know obviously Steve Cook’s out of the squad and Bullies injured and near Cutty we assumes injures so that is a shame it puts a lot on them I did like Williams at Wing back at Villa Park I thought he had his one of his better games for us that’s his natural position isn’t it yeah I know obviously he’s not perfect to ride back and he’s had some criticism this year you know it’s been warranted at times I think he struggled defensively but I do see a player in there much more as a wing back than a fullback but he’s only 21 he should be able to learn that side of the game but yeah I think that’s I do see some merits this team but like I said at the start I don’t think it will be the one that we see I think he’ll go Steve Cooper will go back to a back four really just mostly out of injuries and obviously you know as soon as I am might be fit for this game uh Ren and lodgy I don’t think will be from the very sketchy comment we got saying he’s gonna be out for a while and uh Ryan Yates would just I think I must be games game with his shoulder I don’t know what’s happening but he was 100 be in that team uh for me instead of uh for Oiler I mean I’m getting I I increasingly like zanino what do you think about him is it are we asking too much for him playing game after game after game is it should it still be mix and match or not a lot of player great potential isn’t he I think he’s his physicality and those flashes you see where he’ll receive the ball in tight proximity to his markers use that pace and power to get away and then you just want to see that bit more end product don’t you he’s had a couple of flash shots which have gone wide some of his final ball hasn’t quite been there but look I can see what this I know we’ll get onto this but I can see what the scouts are in him I think he’s a player of immense potential um but we’d be extremely lucky to keep if we were to get relegated because he will become a player however he’s cutting his teeth with us at the minute out of necessity because coyote and yet you see are unfits take their place in the side so I like I like what I see he’s one for now because he has to be because of those injuries he’ll become an established Premier League player or at least playing a top European league in the future I’m sure but my hunch is if Yates and check your coyote would fit he wouldn’t be anywhere near this side at this moment in time yeah that’s probably true because I say we’ll be in it but you know we’ve signed too many players who were too injury prone haven’t we koyate Bolly I know people we’ve had this whole indirect and repeat the point in the thing with the medical staff and I don’t think we can really do that without any evidence at all but some of the signings we’ve made they haven’t got a great injury record have they that’s been one of the issues no that’s I’ve got praise for the resilience of a couple of boys who who’ve had a bit of criticism elsewhere Brandon Johnson and Morgan gives away one thing apart from that calf strain that that gives what it had if I can contact myself a little bit before we even made the point they’ve made themselves available for as many matches as they can and there’s there’s two types of Sportsmen there’s those that want to scan every week and there’s those that stay away from the Physio and

try best to manage themselves and I think those do those two to their credit have tried to make themselves available as often as they can um they’ve been resilient they’ve run through walls for us they’re rarely substituted and that’s that’s the attitude that you need and there are there are one or two players who we expected so much from and have just constantly had little Nicks little niggles so they’ve kept them out lingard probably being the best example of this we hoped and expected to get so much um from from that player and he’s found himself unavailable for selection for long periods of time and then then for form and and fitness has kept him out of the Reckoning for the for the starting 11. he comes back in the game against Spurs in the cup looks like a world beater and then before you know it he’s he’s missing again so certain players are naturally more resilient than others um Yates he would have been another one if it wasn’t for the you know the unfortunate circumstances that he’s found himself in uh this this year but I just I just want to praise those two because I think they have shown resilience at at a young age having not experience the rigors of a Premier League season before to keep themselves in Nick keep themselves available and yeah to a point churn out pretty consistent

um performances uh Brent Brennan in particular I think he’s um he he’s developed into a an out and out Premier League player and even if we’re not in the Premier League next season he will be uh I have to contradict myself a little bit because someone said creative never gets injured and I’ve checked actually the last two or three years he does have a pretty unblemished injury record he had quite a lot of injuries earlier in his career but in the last three or four season he hasn’t so I have to retract that one for the sake of accuracy to be fair uh let’s move on to Felipe giraldi’s departure for the last five or ten minutes that we’re here six months so the club he came in after George siriano’s head of Recruitment and Andy Scott the chief Scout were both sacked I assume paying the price of the summer transfer window and do I do we think geraldi is paying the price for the January window well he is isn’t he I think there’s there’s two things there what one is a bit of paper talk about a difference of opinion between him and the ownership about what’s best for the the leadership of the football department

and what’s best in the in in the coaching room in particular and the other is that Recruitment and the impact of the players that he’s bought through the door um if I’m critical about one player in particular there it’s probably Andre are you I haven’t worked out what his Elite attribute is I haven’t worked out why he’s been um bought into the mix ahead of other options on the bench in in recent matches um you know I I could be wrong maybe he’s doing stuff in training that we’re we’re not party to but from what I’ve seen he hasn’t impacted games enough um to earn the minutes that he’s been getting recently Shelby’s a disappointment because I could see the logic of that one the pace of which he was able to move the ball the range of passing

the at the expense of that flatness lack of intensity defensively and you know some pretty high high profile mistakes um in in recent weeks Chris Wood you’d have to say um is neither value for money nor has it worked statistically we didn’t see the best of him he would have had more chances May well have proved himself by now but had that injury against um is it West Ham or Spurs when he when he got the when he got the got the knock so look that’s that’s a pretty expensive and pretty disastrous transfer window uh in the context of those players that I’ve mentioned there Navas I still think was a was was decent recruitment Danilo will come good in time and I think scorp long predates Felipe giraldi if those players had made an impact and we’d have been six or seven points clear of the the drop at this moment in time I don’t think giraldi loses his job there’s no debate about Cooper’s position because it’s not warranted so that that argument of the ownership doesn’t happen and the players that he’s brought in are at least part of the reason why we’ve got ourselves clear however as it’s transpired we’ve given those players opportunities we

haven’t seen the upturn that we wanted or expected in in performance or results someone has had to pay the price it’s obviously been some intense discussions behind the scenes and it’s it’s your older that’s disappeared I’ll say one thing is in his defense I’m probably breaching confidence as to a point here but I sat in front of him for a couple of games and his his passion in like living every moment of the game and encouraging players and you know um chirping about decisions that the officials are making everything else I can see there was a passion there and he cared and he and he wanted he wanted to win he was certainly extremely vocal but it’s the resource industry he’ll get another job elsewhere off the back of what he did at Watford we’ll pull someone else in off the back of what they’ve done at Southampton in the past or whatever else this position is a merry-go-round in the

same way that managerial appointments are he’d come in with a transfer dossier he was resourced to the hilt to make those uh make those moves a reality and ultimately they’ve they’ve failed or have haven’t made the impact that anybody would would desire so I was a little bit surprised to see that departure so soon after the sirianos crew who were obviously blamed for the lack of lack of output from the from the summer window never likes anybody lose their job but if it brings about positive change and the next window is more successful he’ll just become a footnote in history soon forgotten do you this is a very hypothetical question around are you I mean if the game’s on the line on Sunday and Steve Cooper thinks I use the man for the last 20 minutes to shut this game out or get us a goal but he knows he’s putting his head on The Chopping Block because he must know what people think of are you in the fan base do you think he’s silverings are you on or does he turn to a more popular option in Dennis who can’t defend for toffee but his Lively or some story seems to run off oh I can’t I don’t think IU gets minutes this weekend I think he’s just been not even mistakes for like things he’s doing wrong just like quite Anonymous performances and with certain changes certain uh Personnel you can see what they’re trying Dennis will run at a fullback all day um Sam sures will look for opportunities for a one-touch finish in the Box he’ll be more physical when the ball’s in the air I just haven’t seen what IU does I think um Cooper needs to be seen to be trying something different plan C for a few weeks has been minutes for under are you it hasn’t worked he’d be he’d be foolish in my view to um even consider him as a bench option this weekend and just lastly under Aldi in a wider picture I think this season has been pretty chaotic and I think it probably was always going to be because of like we said on Monday a promotion built on eggshells they needed to move quickly

they needed to take risks in the transfer market going forwards I suppose we hope that there’s a massive debrief at the end of the season and they formulate a plan for some long-term stability to hopefully get us back in the Premier League if we go down and establish ourselves if we don’t that’s that’s the obvious aim isn’t it yeah the suggestion from Broad Street journalists that wrote this story is that one of the things giraldi wanted to install was a long-term plan um he was Pro Steve Cooper good relationship with him wanted longer term certainty for him and felt that he could work with him to support him in recruiting players and getting him through the door the challenge is right we haven’t come up with uh um a Brentford or uh is Norwich a good example well try trying to build a team around the team that came up we we came up with a a plan backed by serious Finance to sign the type of players that we thought would keep us in the in the Premier League so it’s um you know we we’ve got a budget which the the ownership perhaps rightly think should keep us in the Premier League so he’s judged on that on that yardstick and I think there’s a lot to be said for longevity and consistency and giving people certainty over over a period of time um

but the traditionally the premier league isn’t the place where that that happens nobody gets uh um forgiven for making five mistakes if if the sixth player they bring for the door is is uh proves to be a quality addition he had too many misses and not enough hits and the ownership was decisive they don’t think they’ve resourced this team to be scrapping for um 17th 18th Place they feel perhaps rightly so they’ve resourced this team to be three four places higher than that it hasn’t proved to be the case they’ve taken action and that’s that’s their right in the whole in being the holds of the purse ring so look I don’t think I don’t think giraldi can be um that that surprised he put his name to the recruitment plan it didn’t work here we are I do think the scene will be three or four places higher but for the injuries and I said this on Monday but if you take out the five key players from other teams in the Premier League then you know you’re gonna suffer and we’ve seen that with Yates and uh oh who else Bollywood the longer term injuries of Mr trunk Henderson also she brought in a very capable replacement to the owner so fair play there but yeah it’s been a rougher he’s not been doubt a good hands Steve Cooper Aussie and I know he’s made mistakes and we’ve discussed those around you know exposing fullbacks and being too open and or ending this away record but it’s funny you talk to people outside of the forest fan base and people say oh Steve Cooper’s under pressure and people like why that’s the thing because we saw this before he finishes he finishes what ninth in the League last year sorry if he finishes seventh in the League last year it’s seen as a fantastic season because he’s dragged us from where he was however there’s a there’s a reset in the mind of the neutrals the second they get promoted and have this this massive budget now look I

I hate all the hindsight chat but we could have made more of a more of a play to get a spine of that team retained we could have grafted to get Keenan Davis we we could have negotiated with brie Samba um who knows if we could have pushed harder for for Jed Spence there’s two or three other notable examples Garner probably being another one would that continuity have been a better option to spinning the wheel and you know getting the 20 plus players in that we did we’ll we’ll never know but the ownership felt that they’d employed the right expert to make a more scientific call that changing more personnel for those proven at a higher level was that was the right way to go I think I think there are some um players like you said that if we’ve had a full season out of we could have been marketed we could have been in a markly different position

I put Lottie in that number as well I think if he’s in from the start and doesn’t doesn’t miss too many he would have been a a massive addition or a was a surprise package to a point coyote was a surprise package sort of point yatesi and Brennan grew into the the level quite quite quickly and individually brought a lot to the table so yeah look everybody’s made mistakes but they haven’t been there haven’t been too many times especially at home where I’ve disagreed with what um Cooper’s done I like him I know there’s a growing element of the fan base I think it’s time to time to shuffle the deck um but who’s out there there’s a stat you you showed me on Twitter before that nobody has changed their manager at this stage of the season and stayed up right it’s 100 relegation rate from anyone that’s changed their manager in the um at this stage of the season so I’m I’m saying back him um but I I know that that’s that’s irrelevant really it’s the it’s the owner’s decision and if he thinks a change will bring about an upturning results he’ll he’ll do it yeah true true it’s still it’s interesting about that last season team isn’t it with like Keenan Davis hasn’t done a lot of Watford I don’t know what’s happened what happened with Sam but that’ll be a good story one

day there’s two sides to it well she’s got an absolutely smashed it in lawns and he’s in the French wood so fair plays here I don’t I never got the impression The Spence deal was on as soon as Spurs came in I think that was it and I think they looked elsewhere and the Garner to Everton won that happened quite late in the window and we’d made our moves and we’ve gone for freuda and again with hindsight to me James Garner would be better in this team than what we have but it’s kind of a a mute point a is the one you better than Keenan Davis I think he is to be honest uh yeah he’s got more potential hasn’t he but Keenan would have been a good option for me I I certainly think that Pete Keenan last year does more than we saw from from Chris Wood in the side because of the way that he holds the ball up brings others into play occasionally comes deeper for it there’s plenty of times we saw him on the turn at uh you know left Midfield and and made that made those barraging runs forward but as people rightly say in the comments there’s a massive goal between the championship and the Premier League and we’ve got Rose tinted specs to a point

because we saw them trouncing relatively poor teams um I don’t know mate look we’re just we’re just chucking out chucking our opinion out there aren’t we but tyros tyro’s got a future um at this level for me there have been times when he’s been a little bit raw but if you were to look at him as uh uh in pure potential terms he probably can go further than Keenan in this league yeah yeah as you say we’re just bouncing names around now we’ve been doing 40 minutes so we’ll end now uh I do agree that um yeah peaky am I gone am I back can you hear me you’re back you’re back ah well all I said was Keenan Davis is better than Chris Wood and while you while I was gone so I’m back right uh I thought we’ll leave it there thanks very much for everyone who watched along and commented very much appreciated uh we shall be back on Monday talking about the United game it might be slightly later I think it might be about half one we normally record in the mornings but we uh shall be back as ever attempts thank you very much cheers Martin let’s say we’re celebrating on uh on Sunday stranger things have happened and I just hope there’s there’s more twists in this story yet hopefully so hopefully so it’s quite hard work talking about defeat after defeat or you know there’ll be 10 games that’ll win if we don’t win this one so yeah it would make a massive difference to everyone’s morale and the direction of the season so yeah have a good few days everyone enjoy the weekend if you can and we shall see you on Monday

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