verlaine1979

I think it's because, hand on heart, I think he is a much better player than Redmond, who has many of Boufal's flaws and nowhere near the same level of natural ability.

He hasn't even seen Boufal train yet. All anyone is saying is that they hope he'll be given a chance to impress in pre-season, rather than being judged prematurely surplus to requirements. Why wouldn't we?

Indeed - are we really debating whether raising the overall quality of a team generally raises the performance level of individuals within it? It's not complicated - if the players around you start finding space more easily, either because they themselves have become better at it or because the team now has a strategy that increases work rate and movement - it will be easier for creative players to find open passes and create chances. This is true even for players like Messi and Ronaldo, whose achievements over the past decade have been significantly magnified by having the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Modric alongside them.

Eh? You see him beating his man and moving the ball on over and over against arguably the best defense European football has had over the past five years or so. Sure, a couple of moves end up in wayward shots, but what were you expecting? No one is claiming he's up there with the likes of Hazard, but in terms of his ability to create space all by himself we have absolutely no one who can do what he does.

Redmond's decision-making has improved under RH, so no reason why Boufal's couldn't too. Another thing to consider is that creative players (particularly immature ones) often tend to exhibit that trying-to-do-it-all behaviour when playing in struggling teams. But as we've seen, once the team starts to play with more of an identity, and with more of a sense that the 10 other people on your side can be trusted with the ball, there's less of a need to try and single-handedly win the game every time you get the ball. Put another way, you can only make creative/unpredictable players conform to the team system and ethic if the team actually has a system and ethic for them to conform to.

Ralph's preferred system needs players who are able to carry the ball and break between the lines. I'd be surprised if Boufal wasn't reintegrated, as he's pretty much tailor-made for the system.

Well, this aged well.

We're carrying zero threat now. Will be pretty miraculous if we hold out for another 20+ minutes.

JWP simply awful. Doesn't look like he can handle the responsibility of seeing so much of the ball so deep.

Looks like a corner that an attacker gets their head on will count as a key pass under the opta stats as long as it heads towards goal. So not a hugely useful stat in comparing the contributions of Redmond and JWP since the latter gets about 4 or 5 uncontested opportunities to 'create' a key pass more per game. Truth of the matter is they're both probably in the form of their lives right now, which says quite a lot about the baseline of mediocrity they're springing from.

That's fine. If it ever happens to you, feel free to acquiesce with nary a whimper.

Eh, it seems pretty likely that VVD knew his transfer was being blocked in order to facilitate the sale of the club. Under those circumstances, I'd probably have been pretty narked too if I felt that a significant period of my relatively short career was being used as a bargaining chip.

Hard to say whether we were about to fall apart before he came on or because he came on - either way, unlike Sims' cameo against Spurs, there was nothing today to make you excited about Gallagher's next appearance in the side.

Great finish.

Wasn't he in the Forest midfield alongside Jenas? I remember hoping he'd be of a similar ability, but alas he was just another tidy midfielder without any game-changing qualities.

The luck in the Spurs game was really in them spurning so many chances in the first half. We were fortunate to still be in the game at half time, but on balance of play and chances created, we 'won' the second half fair and square.

You're right - I'm thinking of the attack when Hoj broke into the box and fired over.

His first touch and passing in the game were very good. Particularly the first-time lay-off in the run up to Redmond's second shot into the side-netting. Almost Tadic-esque.

Yes, and I'd imagine none of those occasions are the same or equivalent to an anonymous internet forum. I pray that whatever business you're in, its success is independent of your ability to parse meaning and context.

Always found the cap-doffing insistence of some on here referring to him as 'Mr. Cortese' really f-ing weird.

Thought Sims did really well. Knew he was quick, but didn't realise he had such a deft touch. The first time pass in the build up to the second chance Redmond put into the side-netting was Tadic-esque, and there were a couple of other instances where his control and passing were a cut above what we've seen in attack most of the season.

We're slow, weak and look incapable of stringing more than two passes together at a time. Not seen us play much worse this year.

Yoshida's back foot was playing him on.

To be fair, they should be two up with a decent penalty shout and a marginal offside inside 15 minutes, while we're yet to muster an attack worthy of the name.

The one at the top is a success story, the others are - at best - inferior to the players they replaced, with the probable exception of Gunn.