Everything Not Right Was Highlighted Against Forest

In a match where a win could have given us a remote chance of Europe and edging ahead of Sunderland in the League - the same old faults were laid bare yet again.

The faults run deep and are getting deeper

After a somewhat fortunate win against Brighton - a game we could just as easily have lost - no honest fam really thought any 'corner' had been turned after a run of five successive defeats came to an end.

Forget corners being turned; against Forest it was back to running up the same blind alleys and into dead end cul de sacs that has been a feature of our play all season in the PL.

Yet again, when we dominate possession in the oppo's half we are as shot shy as a box of spent cartridges, instead of driving into the heart of the oppo's defence we play easy to defend triangles near the corner flag, and when we finally get crosses in they are overhit or no one is on the end of them. And, our goalkeeprs and defenders are capable of calamnity.

Scoring first? Every fan now knows with this team that isn't a green light that we will go on to win the game - but a red light that we'll cave in and lose points. 27 already lost from winning positions this season. More than half as manay points as we've gained.

Less games, more of the same

A piled high fixture list that eventually gave way to one game a week was seen as the opportunity for Eddie and his coaching team to wave a magic wand on the training pitch and right some of the persistent wrongs in our play.

No fan was expecting miracles, but we haven't even had a three card trick.

There has been chopping and changing in terms of set up and players, but the truth is NUFC currently look like a drifting ship with the captain and crew asleep in their bunks.

We have players in Trippier, Schar, Gordon and Tino who have almost definitely played their last game in the shirt, Tonali who probably has, Woltemade, Wissa and Elanga who many fans (and possibly those players too) hope they have, and Pope and Ramsdale who know they are on the priority list of being replaced.

The rest of the first team squad also know that dramatic changes are planned this summer and only half a dozen of them at best can be absolutely certain that they will be playing at SJP next season.

Add in the uncertainty about Eddie's future and the instruction to freshen up his backroom staff and that drifting ship is anything but stable in the water.

The togertheness and team spirit of the early days has taken a hammering.

Wolt, Wissa and Elanga, what next?

It's becoming almost boring to talk about these three and their combined cost of £180M.

No matter how much Eddie tries to sugar coat it - as he did again last week - these three have been an absolute disaster and are a big part of our downfall this season.

Woltemade isn't cut for the PL, Wissa can't cut it, and Elanga simply isn't sharp enough.

My opinion back in January was that ruthless decisions need to be made with all three, and if that means selling them, taking the inevitable hit, and recouping the losses by selling three or four of our bankable players - never mind a couple - then so be it.

IMO, again stated in January; if Eddie decides he can get a tune out of any of them and he recommends they stay, then he has to take 100% of the responsibility if they flop again next season.

Sometimes you have to take a step back to go two forward - and new forwards, as in the front three, is what we desperately need ,and especially at CF.

Barring a miracle upturn in form from all three of last summers signings, I have zero confidence that keeping them will result in anything but mid table again next season.

Lastly.

Whatver the results in our last two games, no matter what the results...

My mind won't change on anything in this post and the belief that massive changes and improvements are needed in every single area of recruitment, sales, squad quality, management and tactics.

Where we are at now just can't continue.

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