James Forrest

Ange himself said the second half suffered suffered due to the changes. Forrest can’t rely on his pace anymore but can more than make up for it with game intelligence and interplay.

More than happy for him to be back up.

 

Due to the changes and due to the fact that our replacements were way below the standard of our first XI.

Said it earlier, aye he’ll probably pop up with a few goals and assists but I think we could do much better. If Abada is out for a few weeks and we’re relying on Forrest to fill his spot, I think it severely weakens the team. Huge drop in pace and output.

 

3 year deal was just completely unnecessary.

Especially with him still having a year left on his deal so it wasn’t like we were desperate.

 

Looks to have a list a yard or 30 of pace

 

Forest has been a great celt and servant but his time is up

 

Feels the same as it was watching Broony at the end.

 

If, like you say, Abada is out, there is the option to switch Jota and bring in Maeda. Forrest got on a lot of ball yesterday but his crossing was hopeless.

 

I think that's my main problem. Forrest has completely lost that burst of pace. It happens to everyone eventually. However, you would hope that he could at least be good on the ball in terms of his finishing or his crossing. None of that is up to scratch. He will definitely chip in with a few goals and assists, like he always does and had this been the wee mans final year like it was originally meant to be, I think most of us on here would be quite happy to see him play back up for the year, knowing he would be moving on after and we could either see if there was someone coming through the academy, which I don't think there is, or go and sign someone else, another young winger in the Abada mould. Raw but has electric pace and excitement to his game.

Been said on this page heavily but the 3 year deal is mind boggling for me. I say that as one of Forrests biggest defenders over the years. I love him and I do think his loyalty should be remembered and appreciated, like McGregor but he looks done now.

 

I think we are unlikely to see the best of what he has left in him now unfortunately. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation with him, at his age he needs a constant run of games to get his match sharpness back but he's only going to get games here and there, or bits of games, now due to the form of Abada and Jota, meaning he's never going to be able to recover his top form here.

I think we have to accept he's going to be a bit part player for us, but that he's never likely to get back to what he was now. That or we need to move him on, but I feel that's unlikely due to the length of his contract and I don't get the impression he wants to move. It's not a great way for his career to wind down as I think he could still do a job for someone if he was playing regularly.

 

Should of been punted 2 seasons ago when he still had value..

 

I think he probably understands that there are guys ahead of him now and he is part of a bigger squad now than a first 11. I think that's probably why he was given the 3 year deal. He's decent enough back up and happy enough to sit in and wait for some minutes while we try and get the best out of Abada, who we know will go onto net the club some serious cash. So, could we find someone who would be younger and would be happy enough to play second fiddle for a year or two while we improve Abada? I'm not sure we would. If anything, I think Ben Doak moving on was a tough one to take. I believe he was probably the guy to replace Forrest in a couple of years time, in terms of our quota etc.

 

Great servant yada yada yada.

Forrest has been one of our biggest under performers for a good couple of years now. Giving him the 3 year deal always looked questionable at best.

And please don't bump this when he puts us 3-0 up away to St Mirren in a few month. His contributions in recent years didn't merit the level of commitment Celtic have placed in him.

 

Surely we can wait until the season actually starts before we're slaughtering players?

 

For the amount of money Forrest will be on, unless he took a massive pay cut, I'm pretty sure we could have got a young back up for Abada without much problem. And I think we should have as we may be struggling to keep a hold of Abada for more than another season if he keeps progressing the way he has, by which point Forrest will be another year slower and even less able to replace him. Better to have brought someone in now to get used to the system so they are ready.

 

I think that's where the disappointment over Doak comes in. He was raw but by *, for 16 he looked impressive. No doubt in my mind he was going to start making more appearances under Ange.

 

When I look at a player, either first team or sub you want them to be able to play and have an impact on the game. Sadly if Forrest starts or comes on as a sub he just really doesn't have that killer instinct, nor the ability to change a game. That's ok if your cruising against teams but when you need a sub to change a game he's no longer up to that job.

 

James Forrest has made a massive contribution to Celtic over the years and has always been held in high regard by any of the Celtic managers he has played under but I have to admit I was surprised by the length of contract he has been given - 3 years seems excessive; if his powers are beginning to wain now then you wonder what level will he be at in 2 years time

 

He will never get enough game time to get full match fitness and form. So yeah can be a decent option but as someone mentioned before jota and maeda can switch on to the right and that would probably be the first option.

 

As far as the Celtic fans are concerned Ange walks on water but a 3 year contract for Jamesy looks like a mistake - Rodgers managed to take Forrests game to another level to the point he kept Paddy Roberts out of the team; maybe Ange believes he can do the same; a peak James Forrest is a fantastic player but if his legs are failing him then even Ange cant turn back the hands of time

For me players like Brown; mcgregor; Rogic; Forrest are the true Celtic Greats of recent times - They have given the vast majority of their career to Celtic and were the backbone of our 9 in a row run and Quadruple Treble - There were other players who arguably had more ability who appeared for a couple of years then disappeared as quickly as they arrived; they were very good players but I dont hold them in the same regard as the aforementioned Celtic greats

 

That's it free contracts for all * merit, fitness and quality. Glad your not on the board we would be bankrupt in a few seasons.