Even accepting that the probability of survival in the unlikely event of promotion is low, the mantra should be to be as ambitious as you can and spend a reasonable amount to try and stay up whilst recruiting players of a certain type ie avoiding too many players over a certain age and ensuring that wages offered are never potentially crippling should we come back down. You can't "allow the majority those players who take us up to try and keep us there" through some noble deed, if you can improve upon any of them then great. Forest have taken a financial risk by spending quite as much as they have and some of their signings do not fit in with the above but it looks like it will pay off. You would look at Forest and the likes of Navas, Shelvey, Wood, Felipe, Lingard etc and think maybe they are the types to avoid but I guess some of them seem to be either on short term deals or signed from a strong position. They have signed players like Gibbs White, O'Brien, Toffolo, Williams and Bowler who would all be stand out players if they came down although their problem with half of them is that they have potentially upset them by signing quite so many players as to sideline them.

It shouldnt come down to "giving players a chance" to prove themselves. The decision should be made then and there as to who will and wont be good enough (resources pending) and then going from there. Football is a ruthless business. I dont think that any of our players are Premier League quality but of course we wouldnt change them all.

Chelsea can point to (admittedly under a different owner) a very aggressive policy in terms of not showing endless patience with underperforming managers and equally a trophy room packed full of trophies. Im not sure with Potter. I felt that the job he did at Swansea was unremarkable and Cooper did far better there. At Brighton in his first two years his finishes were no real improvement on the Hughton days, last season was a very good one although his work seems to have already been improved upon by De Zerbi and they are a generally excellent run club who sign some superb players. Maybe it will prove to be a jump too far and he may struggle with big names. They could have spent their money much more wisely but there is still lots of quality to be able to do better. The Aubameyang situation is telling, it seems like he is not showing a commitment to banish him totally (he came on today) yet kicking him out of the European squad wont have gone down well. He is probably still their best out and out striker but if his face doesnt fit then it wont help doing a half arsed job.

I would like us to go strong, its a chance to continue with momentum and also if we win we are a game from Wembley. There are changes we could make without unduly weakening us just to freshen things up. Thomas can't play so bring Hedges in. Brereton also should play at the weekend so maybe give him a cameo at most, and Pickering could come in for whichever full back is deemed to need a rest the most, which could be either for different reasons. And bring in Adam Wharton over Buckley. That way you have Brereton, Buckley, Thomas and Rankin Costello or Brittain well rested for the weekend. We have 24 hours extra rest and Sheff United I would assume would go fairly strong against Spurs. I dont want to see the likes of Edun, Vale and Garrett chucked in and the white flag held aloft before we kick off.

Forest have been extreme in their recruitment but half of their Championship team had gone back and their policy should keep them in the league. "Giving the bulk of the squad a chance" is a phoney mentality accepting defeat before you start. There is a balance between wreckless spending and "giving the squad a chance" like Norwich seemingly did.

Im not convinced that the higher level of players have the same respect for him as managing teams of a lower reputation.

Brereton has been forced back into a left back position when he was playing recently, and also clearly was physically struggling. We are a better team with him in it, he is aside from a recent dry spell our best goalscorer, we are a better side with him in it.

Cant imagine Potter staying long at Chelsea at this rate.

I don't see why we would not keep Dack, he is still so important. He is our most dangerous attacking option contracted into next season (if we activate his option) and he has been back to his old self. He is better than Szmodics, he offers goals and he also offers leadership. For an attack that already will require major work, why would we create more for ourselves?

The getting up to speed argument is a seperate one and is perhaps somewhat justified although Wharton is far from up to speed and has barely played many minutes all season, so there is inconsistency there. But Burnley have Josh Brownhill who is good enough, I doubt they would turn down De Bruyne though!

QPR are a really poor team but so are Rotherham, Wigan and Cardiff and we lost to all of them and we have only won 6 away games out of 18. Todays win and the manner of it was important as it looked like a play off chaser swatting aside a much lower team. 7 of our remaining 12 games are at home where our record is excellent but they include some tough games including Burnley, Sheff Utd, Norwich and Luton. Away from home we have Birmingham, Huddersfield and Stoke and we have to look to replicate what we did today and try to give us at least a bit of margin for error.

O'Brien would be comfortably our best midfielder so I can't see the downside of the potential scenario of a player coming in, helping us to a lucrative promotion and signing a long term deal as our best midfielder.

Has he ever played for Wigans under 23s? He has played the full game most of the time he has been available.

How can him being potentially the difference between the play offs and not be "not worth all this faffing about?"

It isnt by design. Ross Stewart got a bad injury and Ellis Simms was temporarily recalled with the expectation that he was to go back upon Everton signing a striker. Do Coventry?

I dont think he would ever become a player who would suddenly start regularly getting into those positions.

But if you can get a player who is better than all 3, surely you dont say no to an upgrade?

He quite clearly is not a "rank bad full back" hence why he was a regular part of us finishing 8th last season. Brittain has been good and Rankin Costello has been outstanding since he came back, an unexpected turn because he never played anything like this before. Seems like an attempt at saying "I told you so" by massively exaggerating, including adding a supposed insider view.

Really good win and a performance that was far more dominant than recent weeks which made it doubly enjoyable to watch. QPR are woeful hence a record of is it 1 in 19 but there were bits of play from us on another level. Rankin Costello the star of the show, that bit of skill and then composure for the cross for the third was brilliant. All of the defence were good and protected Pears aside from a poor clearance from Carter for their goal. Travis again very good and his pass to set up Szmodics was outstanding, and a good finish by Szmodics who was bright. Buckley played pretty well too aside from dawdling again once or twice, plenty of good work. Gallagher wasnt outstanding in terms of general striking play but he did the most important part of a strikers game by getting into positions for 2 tap ins. Dolan is better wide, Thomas the least effective player on show for us.

Or most likely new owners and a total change of thinking at the top.

You are assuming that there must a hidden reason why Adam Wharton doesnt play. It hasnt crossed your mind that Tomasson may not always judge selections correctly as it is obviously subjective. Whereas when people say that we may get financial penalties for not including Morton in squads, that is a "conspiracy." Morton or Adam Wharton for the squad? Buckley's performances have dropped this season and IMO he isnt suited to playing so deep. Adam Wharton has not played that often but more often than not has stood out.

How was it the best he could do?! It might be for Morton specifically but he was through on goal and missed the target, how is that the best anyone could do? Our overall goals conceded per game this season is actually higher than last season, and we lost one game 7 nil last season. But we are keeping more clean sheets in general so its more jekyll and hyde.

Yeah must have done, it cant possibly be that Tomasson doesnt have perfect judgement! Would you have Wharton over either Morton over Buckley? (I expect a cryptic retort about form and fitness but how would you rank them in terms of how much you rate them at this present moment?)

I wouldn't get any pleasure from showing up the EFL or causing a change in any processes. It won't cause any consolation to me if it means that we only get the player for not far off half of the games we wanted him for and we have even acknowledged some internal issues so we have still been partly responsible for this fiasco following a move so late in the window. It also from our point of view overshadows a transfer window that was a failure for reasons beyond the O'Brien mess.

I do get that and I do think that even if he signs, we carry an element of responsibility regarding the failure to sign him from Feb onwards. That being said, he would be a massive improvement on our current midfielders and we are 4th in the mix for the play offs so still worth pursuing.