Earlier this week, I asked you all some questions about how you thought Forest’s season would play out – let’s have a look at what you said, and I’ll add in my predictions too!
How many goal contributions will Morgan Gibbs-White get this season?
Last season Gibbs-White became Forest’s main goalscoring threat, changing his role from being the team’s main creator. I’d expect normal service to be resumed this coming season under Glasner – so I can’t see Gibbs-White achieving 15 Premier League goals, but I also can’t see him only registering 4 assists.
The consensus among the fanbase is that Gibbs-White will finish with between 10-15 goals & assists this season, with 46.7% of you feeling that way. Personally, I think he should be targeting 20+ goal involvements, but that he’ll just fall short with a figure somewhere between 16 and 20.
Who will be Forest’s top scoring striker?
The departure of Taiwo Awoniyi does leave Forest a little short up front, especially considering that Arnaud Kalimuendo is essentially seen as an option in one of the two roles behind the striker. 46.1% believe that Igor Jesus will be Forest’s top scorer this season, with only 11% of you feeling that Chris Wood will top the charts – the rest of you feel Forest’s top goalscorer isn’t currently at the club.
I’m surprised the fanbase is still so low on Chris Wood, although I understand why people are a bit hesitant considering his knee issues last season and the relatively slow start to pre-season too. Without knowing exactly who Forest will bring in up front, I have to agree with the majority here and say I think Igor Jesus will be the team’s top scoring striker.
Who will get the most minutes next to Morgan Gibbs-White?
It looks like there’s one spot in the lineup next to Gibbs-White that at least 4 players are fighting for – Forest fans seem pretty convinced that Dan Ndoye is getting the first shot at this role, with 76.5% of you believing that he’ll get more minutes than Omari Hutchinson, Callum Hudson-Odoi & Arnaud Kalimuendo.
I’m in agreement with this too, I think the shirt is his to lose as he looks to make a far better impact on the field in his second season at the club.
Which midfielder will receive the most yellow cards this season?
This one is a little tougher to predict accurately considering the different amount of game time these guys are going to get, but most of you (38.9%) believe that Ibrahim Sangare will get more yellow cards this season than any of the other usual midfield options.
I find it hard to disagree with that to be honest, his willingness to try and hook his legs around opponents to win back possession can sometimes be slightly mistimed and result in bookings, add that to him being the midfielder with the most game time as long as he’s fit, then it makes sense for him to be the option here.
Which centre back will score the most goals for Forest this season?
This was easily the closest result of all the questions I asked, with 38.1% of you believing Ousmane Diomande will score the most goals out of the centre backs, and 35.5% of you going with Milenkovic. Forest’s first choice back 3 is set, so it’s no surprise to see just 2% of you thinking the top scorer won’t be those two players or Murillo, who received 24.4% of the vote.
Personally, I’ll be going against the grain slightly – Milenkovic has proven he can score a decent amount at set pieces at this level, so I think it’s most likely he’ll be Forest’s top scorer. In reality, I think if Forest could get 10 goals from all of their centre backs combined I think they’d be absolutely delighted.
How many goals will Forest score in the Premier League?
Only 2.4% of you think that Forest will score less than a goal a game – with 16.3% being very optimistic and thinking Forest will score more than 58 goals. The majority of you (51.4%) think Forest will score somewhere between 49 & 58 goals.
Forest have only broke the 50 goal mark once since promotion, I think that should be the aim for this season so I agree with the majority here.
How many goals will Forest concede in the Premier League?
I was pretty surprised to see 22.8% of you suggest that Forest’s defence will be solid enough to concede less than a goal a game through the season. The majority of you went with conceding between 39 & 48 goals, which I think is fair considering despite all the troubles last season the club only conceded 51 league goals.
I’m going the majority again here, although this would be a pretty decent achievement to fall within this bracket considering even in Forest’s most successful season back in the Premier League when they qualified for Europe, the team conceded 46 goals – if the club can beat that record then I think they’re in for a very positive season.
Where will Forest finish in the Premier League?
I don’t think there’s any doubt that internally at least, a finishing position within the Top 8 is the aim. 24.5% of you think that’s where the club will end up. Interestingly, only 0.3% of you think Forest will get relegated – far lower than I thought it would be!
Not to be boring, but I’ll be going along with pack again and joining the 57.9% of you that think Forest will finish somewhere between 9th and 12th this season. This would represent good progress, and hopefully would come alongside a decent cup run.
Will Oliver Glasner last the season?
There’s no doubting how positive Forest fans are feeling about this appointment, with a whopping 94.6% of you thinking Glasner will get to the end of the season. We all know what that means – for a manager to see out a season at Forest it suggests the season has been a pretty successful one.
There’s still part of me that thinks somehow the club will find a way to halt their own progress, but with the finances involved in bringing Glasner to the club, and the feel good factor around the team at the moment, I think Glasner will last the season as he leads the club to a top half finish.
My other Premier League predictions:
Purely so you can laugh at me when these are all completely wrong come May, here’s my other general predictions for the league this season.
Champions: Arsenal
Champions League: Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd (& Liverpool 5th)
Relegation: Fulham, Ipswich & Hull
Bounce Back Season: Nottingham Forest
Struggling Season: Sunderland
Surprise of the Season: Brighton won’t win the Conference League
Top Goalscorer: Erling Haaland 1st, Joao Pedro 2nd
Most Assists: Bruno Fernandes, Morgan Gibbs-White 2nd
Golden Glove: David Raya, Robert Sanchez 2nd