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Jean-Phillipe Mateta

DizzyBala said:
There are two questions regarding Chris Wood.
  • Can he still perform to a level where he is an asset to the team and not a liability?
  • Should he still be the main man up top for us in 2026.
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I felt that season before last was fantastic for him and us but even then it was the summer to sign the big replacement and have all last season as a gradual blending and then maybe start the new guy a lot more this season.

Would've been handy if we had, eh? At 34 a player can be better than they were at 24, but the drop-off is exponential when it happens. Nobody's fault unless you fail to mitigate it, and we've not yet. Wood could do a couple more seasons here if we look after him well enough.

As for the replacement - Mateta would probably be about our level without Europe but that in itself gives us a change to take on a couple of more affordable prospects and see which blossom. Who knows, maybe Kali and Taiwo end up looking so good as a pair in some friendly that we go with it - this is a f***ing weird club after all.
 
DizzyBala said:
There are two questions regarding Chris Wood.
  • Can he still perform to a level where he is an asset to the team and not a liability?
  • Should he still be the main man up top for us in 2026.
Before I answer, I'll tell you right now, I think Chris Wood is a fantastic striker. He's not someone that necessarily relies on pace but he has a natural instinct for scoring goals.

So, to answer the first question, I absolutely believe he can still perform. I saw quite a few fans essentially write the guy off when he came back and it's like, a little perspective.

Chris was gone from the 18th of October until the 9th of April. When he came back, he was gradually reintroduced to the team but to be clear, he came back into a team that lost 2 out of the 11 games he played. He's 34 and he had a pretty serious injury, coming back and getting back to sharp fitness at the tail end of the season is no easy feat.

Which brings me to the second question, should he be the main man? I mean unless you can find someone that can bring others into play, score all sorts of goals inside the box and essentially lead the line in every way possible, then yeah probably.

This is Mateta's thread, so if you're asking me if Mateta would be better for us than Wood, I actually don't know. I think Wood gives Forest more overall when he plays but Mateta could perhaps do the strikers job more consistently.
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My concern is neither of the above, it's if he gets injured. We saw what happened last season. Based on that alone we definitely need another striker
 
Notcher said:
My concern is neither of the above, it's if he gets injured. We saw what happened last season. Based on that alone we definitely need another striker
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Agree, we all love him but there’s no room for sentiment here, if we don’t score goals we’ll go nowhere. His knee injury is going to need very careful management over what is likely to be another gruelling season, so I see him playing less this season, which means we need another proven goal scorer to pick up the slack.
 
Is it too much to ask for victor Osimhen? I'd love us to make a statement with signing a top striker. JPM isn't that for me although I wouldn't turn my nose up, I do rate him, but he's not the future at 29. Osimhen is 27 so should be peaking
 
Did Mateta ever get the knee issue sorted, I was under the impression he was awaiting surgery? As he's been in the US until now it wouldn't have been done in the close season and I can't see anything online about getting it done at the end of the last campaign.
 
Locadoodledoo said:
Did Mateta ever get the knee issue sorted, I was under the impression he was awaiting surgery? As he's been in the US until now it wouldn't have been done in the close season and I can't see anything online about getting it done at the end of the last campaign.
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Palace offering him a long term contract is a fairly decent indicator that it’s not a problem.
 
When he gets injured we can sing

🎵🎵"Boom boom boom boom
He's in the treatment room
We hope he soon gets better
Jean Phillipe Mateta."🎵🎵
 
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