Both have had fantastic careers and it’s fan-f-n-tastic we’re guna be able to discuss this till the cows come home and a bit more.
Wood has been lucky. At Newcastle not a soul was interested in passing to him. I feel like Cooper did a lot of work talking him up and getting him on the radar of Gibbs-White, who is just a wonderful player, as yesterday’s assist showed.
Thought Wood played quite well outside his goal. He almost got an assist or two, as well.
My only disappointment is that the partnership he and Elanga had sparked up for his hatty hasn’t really been renewed yet.
Origi had a better game and it seems that Nuno is hopeful that he, too, might have a run of goals in him. I’m not really sure what to make of Origi as a player. I don’t think he’s ever been highly prolific. Hudson-Odoi rarely looks for Wood, preferring to cut in and shoot.
I think that like Nelsen was, Wood is generally well liked and held in high esteem, and often the refs will listen to him. He also is a fairly unselfish player and usually holds the ball and links well when he drops deeper to collect it. There’s also a bit of a sneer that accompanied Dyche’s Burnley that follows him, especially after Newcastle in certain quarters. He’s answering that this season and no striker is an island!
Where will Wood be playing next season?
I honestly reckon he’d make Manchester United or West Ham better as a rotation striker. But neither fan base would be particularly happy about that you’d think. But he would improve them. Not many other sides he’d gel with tbh. But strikers like Evan Ferguson struggle at Brighton for example. It’s partly their playing style. (Imo De Zerbi is overrated and doesn’t look after his players. I think he should have rested and rotated Mitoma much more, but he just played him into the ground.)
Anyway- Forest are a good watch in this relegation scrap, but you feel like they should have been better than they’ve been this season. Injuries and cohesion, or concentration to avoid late goals the way they did today. If they stay up and rationalise their squad while keeping Gibbs-White they could finish ahead of the likes of Fulham, Bournemouth and other mid table pretenders.