HarvSFC

Wolves need a goal scorer with only 5 goals in 11 games to their name. Raul Jimenez looks to be riddled by his injury and then they spent big on attackers in Guedes and Kalajdzic in the summer, while you'd imagine Costa's picking up a nice wage. So, you wouldn't think they'd have too much to play with in January. They've also committed to another Terry Connor situation, so you'd like to think they're going to struggle from this point forward. Forest didn't have a plan in the summer, got overly excited by the names and lights of the Premier League and it's now showing. One of those sides who many say won the transfer market, but perform terribly when it counts. 1 win in 11 and 3 points adrift, got to get their act together soon. Leicester, score plenty of goals, the most in the bottom 10, but can't defend. You'd imagine if they get a competent goalkeeper in the winter window then they'll move to a comfortable mid-table position. Aston Villa, have big issues even without Gerrard. A lot of money spent on dross/unmotivated players. Coutinho and Ings aren't motivated by football anymore, hence why they ended up at Villa Park in the first place. Watkins and Mings are poor Premier League footballers, Buendia, Bailley and Traore have all flopped and Martinez and McGinn are having bad season's. Wonder if they can do any better in the manager hunt. Leeds, also missed out on Gakpo and are also now struggling for goals, even with Bamford back. They can't rely on their defence either, as seen in previous seasons. We'll hopefully and probably be competing in January with them for an attacker, though. Everton, poor manager, who for whatever reason has full backing from the deluded over there and long may it continue. Also struggling for goals with two less than us, but you'd imagine Pickford and their defence could grind out the required results. Bournemouth, still persisting with Solanke, should probably go down. So, I reckon we've got to do better than three of these and so far after 11 games we're doing better than 6 of them, so it's not all bad!

I reckon we lost to Villa because we couldn’t face Bednarek. How he manages to jump out of the way of every shot is a skill in itself, would never have made a block like Lyanco’s last night.

Three points is three points. Wasn't pretty, but over the last few years we've had really shit spells of form mixed with great runs of form. Hopefully tonight is the start of the latter with some confidence getting back into the team. 4 points from West Ham and Bournemouth was key. So far this season we're doing well to be better than three other teams in the league and may it continue. Adams was very good tonight. Good header and bullied their defence on occasion. Was well up for the fight, which is very much needed in our current situation.

Last season you could excuse the second half performances as our players being knackered. This season, we don’t press and we don’t dominate the first 45 anymore. I just don’t get it. We don’t have any control at all. Bournemouth should be the side looking tired after the first 45. And great. I know KWP’s not having a great season by his standards, but him joining Lavia and ABK in the physio room is just what we need.

This ref is really poor.

Blackburn play high pressing and either win or lose, no draws this season, 9 wins and 7 losses in 16 matches. Sounds quite similar! Although, they're top of the Championship, so it's working for now. I think we need someone more solid, someone who knows how to grind out results, not it's either good, or bad.

As said a few pages back, Pompey claim to win the league and that they'll be playing us in the next after two games with each passing season and by the end they get nowhere near. Plymouth are this year's runaway side. We're bad, but we're not losing 3-0 away to Charlton on Sky in League One bad. 4 of their players on the pitch tonight started against our B team last week and two more were unused subs, so at least they got their big day out for the season.

On the topic of Djenepo, what's happened to him? Done alright as a makeshift left-back in a time of desperation. Signed one of those charitable contracts we like to hand out and then hasn't got near the pitch since. I know it's picking the best of a bad bunch, but surely he should be ahead of Walcott in the attacking pecking order with reports of him starting yesterday and his moments are better than anything Elyounoussi's produced. Seems like we've tried everyone in attack, but him.

We're all Charlton fans tonight.

Norwich at home, 22 games ago, which says a lot to be fair.

Wanted 4 points from West Ham and Bournemouth, so I'll await the midweek result to bemoan another dropped two points. We played well, up until we went a goal up and Adams could've got a couple as well, but after that we were dire and West Ham didn't give us a touch of the ball. We need to stay in touching distance of the rest of the pack and spend the Gakpo money on a star attacker in January, not do the old spread it around 3 mediocre players. But, then again, we could barely string a few forward passes together today and an attacker isn't going to change that, levels need to be upped still.

Red and white stripes have served us well previously.

A reminder of the last time Pilchards pretended to be ITK regarding a managerial change:

He's deleted his Instagram account, so he may miss out on any Goncalo Ramos updates.

Fair points. I still don't think Shields is completely proven either. As said, he very much relied on his Man City youth contacts in the summer. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with a much bigger budget while looking to secure the higher profile players. I don't think he has actually proved anything here yet, but the early signs were promising. But, also, there was probably a better number 10 out there than Edozie, who was ready to be a starter from day one and there was probably a better left-back than Larios. Also, probably a better CDM, as you said, while he was also fixated on Delap, again the Man City obsession, who's struggling in the Championship and didn't secure us an alternative, leaving us weak up top. So, his only summer window wasn't entirely successful and I don't think Chelsea will accept Man City youth players, other than Lavia, who is an extreme talent.

I guess his legacy was liking that Benfica striker’s Instagram post.

So, that’s the set-piece coach and now Shields leaving us already after joining in the summer. Doesn’t look too great from the outside looking in. Not liking the project? I guess we could have a bit more variety on our signings again now, after a summer of raiding Man City’s youth department. Expect Chelsea to add ABK and Lavia to their squad in the not so distant future.

There sure have been a lot of strikers over the years who scored for fun at youth level, but barely made it as a professional. Cedric Baseya the original, Jamie White, Ryan Seager, Olufela Olomola, Jonathan Afolabi. Probably missing someone obvious too. Not a striker, but I liked the look of Kayne McLaggon when he first broke through too, but he's spent most of his career at semi-pro level.

Bradley Wright-Phillips. Ian Wright's son, a striker, brother of Shaun Wright-Phillips, a £21m player at the time, scored on his debut off the bench in a 2-2 draw against Derby. Everything was written for him to be the main man, but he never really pushed on. Had a very good career in America, though. I had a lot of hopes that Idiakez would be the main man after he signed too, same squad.

Feels similar to Dortmund's collapse in Klopp's final season there.

Put him in the same boat as Gakpo and Moussa Dembele, who didn't want to come here. Semmens is on record as saying it doesn't matter where we finish in the league, when it does as the next bracket of players/managers do not want to be anywhere near a side constantly flirting with relegation.

A good lineup for West Ham at home, so if we do get taken apart today, we’ll likely go back to three at the back with Elyonoussi starting and Adams up top on his own next week.

And all those years ago you probably expected/hoped to never see Lancashire in a Saints shirt again!

I believe Crocker and Cooper will have worked together previously when part of the England setup, so he'd definitely be on our radar. I, myself am ooing and arring with him. Before this season, I wanted him, if Forest didn't get promoted. He got Forest promoted against the odds and did a very good job at Swansea also. The only glaring thing, is that Forest have conceded 8 more goals than us this season, and we need somebody who can shore up a defence up here. Sometimes the Premier League is one step too far for managers. Although, I'm also pretty sure he himself didn't want two new squads worth of players this summer, not signing any of those they had on loan. Last season he was influential in his one January window with Forest, signing players he knew from the England youth levels in Surridge, Panzo and Davis, while also bringing in the experience of Cook to get them over the line. This summer, from the outside it looks like someone from the top wanted to grab the headlines. You can probably attribute Williams, Henderson, Richards, Toffolo, O'Brien, Lingard and Gibbs-White to Cooper's influence from his Liverpool, England and Championship knowledge. But, I doubt he's looking at players like Aurier and thinking they're up for a Premier League relegation fight.

Six of Forest's 23 signings were full-backs. Was an uncoordinated and a scatter gun approach. Their owners are slightly more forgiving than Watford's when it comes to manager's, so expect Cooper to go next.