saintant

Agree - we've already seen with Sulemana, Big Les and Tall Paul that Russball prevented us from seeing the best of players and also restricted their chances.

Could this be connected to the fact that Rishi Sunak is a Saints fan?

Forest fan saying Tall Paul gave them more problems than any other centre forward this season. Said they are always confident to let crosses into their box but today they couldn't deal with TP because of his size.

Doesn't matter - it came as a result of a corner to the near post flicked on by Dibling.

They had that coming. No more best buddy with players and rightly so. RM treated the players like his best mates and the training ground like a place to have a laugh. Juric will soon make his mind up who is with him and those that aren't can do one. The days of being told they're so brave are over so some home truths might come as a shock but the little flowers are paid a lot of money and need to start earning it.

In his defence he was clearly indicating to Downes that a better pass was on but for whatever reason he was ignored and put under pressure - Downes has not been the same player since RM left so better to leave him out if his heart is not in it.

Funny how, with new coaches, we suddenly look much more dangerous from corners. We've scored twice from them in our last two games plus Bednarek had his late header cleared off the line. What did RM and his coaches do on the training ground? I think it must have been a couple of quick sprints, a jumpers for goalposts kick about for ten minutes then a collective laugh and a joke - that's on the few days they actually went in.

And ones who played less under Martin but now look better 🙂

One Forest fan saying 'Can we get that big fucker for our bench ' 🙂

Wouldn't pick Downes again unless injuries mean we have to. Head's and heart not in the fight now.

Forest fans forum is funny. They're squealing that we played too rough so maybe Ivan is beginning to get his point across. Clearly their fans wanted us to roll over meekly but Juric must have read the riot act at half time and threatened a few outside if they didn't show more aggression 🙂

Some positives from second half - goal from TP and Big Les showing that Russell couldn't spot a player if he tripped over him.

Very poor performance but not surprised with Big Les and Sulemana left out after playing well on Thursday. Not sure Downes heart is in this club since his mate got the boot.

There is a reason we pay fitness coaches - if players could be relied upon to achieve elite fitness levels themselves no clubs would pay to employ fitness coaches. Plus there is the question of extra days off including Xmas Day.

Anyone know if Dibling is going to be fit for this one? Hoping he is as the front three with him, Fernandes and Sulemana worked pretty well against Man Utd.

Not sure but when he eventually comes back it'll be like a new signing.

If you say so.

Hopefully he'll make one of his first jobs weeding out the scouts who aren't cutting the mustard and bringing in replacements who can spot a decent player.

Knew you'd try to cover your error.

Yeah and if me aunty had a pair of balls she'd be me uncle.

Just to be pedantic we didn't buy him in 2025 🙂

Yeah, you're right on that. Bang goes my Italian theory. Maybe someone quick because allegro means done at speed 🙂

No such team as Notts Forest - they are Nottingham Forest. However there is a Notts County.

The difference is we played a high intensity press under Ralph whereas under Russell it was largely walking football so no excuse for running out of steam unless due to poor fitness.

Yeah, I get that Russell trained the guys to play a lot of walking football so you don't need much fitness for that. The fact is if you want to compete at the most elite level then your players need to be as fit as the fittest teams and we aren't which is clear from just watching us and comparing how our performance level tends to dip in the last half hour of matches - that is down to Russell and his coaches particularly in terms of the important pre-season work but also days off after weekend games and the fact that he's granted Xmas Day off despite us having a Boxing Day game.