Garner pushing for first Premier League start

He looks brave on the ball to me and worth a start. My only doubt is his physicality compared to Doucoure. Dyche has set up the team to be hard runners off the ball can he do that?

Yes, there is a big physical difference between the two players and we missed Doucouré versus Man Utd as we will for the next two games. I think Garner's natural ability plus his free-kicks, if given the opportunity, and possibly corner kicks will lessen the loss of Doucoure and also less risk of silly fouls and not-so-good passing.

If only Onana had been suspended… I wish! I think Garner would have slotted into Onana's place and would have been a great addition to the team alongside Gana with Doucouré staying in place. Oh well… it's no use crying over spilt milk!!

I hope I'm wrong, especially because he hasn't even had a full game, but I'd love to see him go and grasp the game. These are the type of midfielders that take any team up another level. We will see…

To me, he looks neat and tidy but he needs games for us to see what he has in his locker.

I hope he gets a start but Dyche might go for Davies, with all of his Premier League experience, if the manager's recent comments are to be believed.

Let's be honest – there is still the almost complete lack of movement with players when we go on the attack.

To give Iwobi his due, for once, against Spurs, he got the ball near the half way line, looked up and saw there was nobody ahead of him so he slowed down and came inside, beat a couple of players. He was giving the other players time to move up which McNeil and Godfrey did and Iwobi made a very good pass ahead to McNeil.

Good play… but this doesn't happen nearly half as much as it should and, with Garner still relatively new to the team, it will take time for him to get used to these players and how they play. It looks to me, up to now, he's got a football brain and knows how to play football. As you say, we will see.

More than I can say about big Frank. Who is back at Chelsea, chosen by James Corden, What The Fuck???

Chelsea obviously taking lessons from Moshiri and Kenwright. On the other hand, I'm sure Corden would do a better job than those two.

We've seen him for 36 minutes after a five-month layoff, mate. Let's not offer conclusions about his playing style until he's been on the pitch long enough to actually get his shirt wet and his shoes dirty.

After watching him in the promotion playoffs with Forest, my assessment matched Si's -- he's a deep-laying playmaker with excellent distribution. I saw no shortage of aggression or ball-winning in his game, but you're right, he didn't gallop around the field looking for the ball. He held position around the center circle and his teammates would look to find him as first choice.

And very often good things happened from there.

He was always available, always wanting the ball, neat and tidy and didn't waste a pass. He knew where to play his pass before he received the ball. He's worth a start in my opinion.

I followed him at Forest, and think he will become a real asset to our midfield over the coming years. He's got an aggressive, feisty streak in him the fans will love and I think he's still on an upward curve in his game.

Amazingly we have a midfielder who can shoot and score a few goals too (don't feint) and can take a good dead ball kick too. I liked the little chip he did against Spurs, in the channel right between the defenders and the goalie, just needed a natural goalscorer to read that and they'd get a toe on it.

He will need to improve from his Championship exploits but he looks to me that he will make the step up.

He has been wheeled out for the fanson the strenght of that, or hoping no-one noticed.

How did we miss him first time around?

Not hard, Tony, we're Everton – we miss players under our nose Antonee Robinson to name one of many

They showed both semis and the final here in the US, and I thought he was Forest's best player across the three games. The semi went to penalties and I thought he would take one because he was their free-kick specialist, but they subbed him out for Cafu just before the final whistle.

Though the big news today is Calvert-Lewin is back in full training and expected to play some part against Fulham. Can't imagine it will be more than a substitute appearance but, if he's anywhere near fit, we could really use him!!

I see nothing wrong in players wanting the ball but I see loads more positives in players who are prepared to go and get the ball whilst also taking the game to the opposition. I was just making a personal observation that I believe it's these type of players who will help take our team onto the next level. Fingers crossed!

I saw Garner wanting the ball v Spurs and sprinting in play. In fact, he did this on the lead-up to Keane's wonder strike

Also, he can shout from distance: something that could be very valuable to us.

I think Doucouré's two goals this season have caused you to lose your head a bit.

Since joining us, Doucouré has a goal for approximately every thousand minutes on the pitch. Nobody could be less likely to score except Gana and Pickford.

Some must have seen more of him to make judgement. I haven't and I understand he hardly played any senior games for Man Utd. I don't know enough of him.

We did miss Doucouré. And for a long time time, we berate the midfield, but often, when they look up, there are few options and little movement.

Those who saw the Chelsea game by whatever means, that second goal was a perfect example of what we lack. A midfielder (Doucouré) high up the pitch, instinctively plays a first-time pass for Simms to run onto. He barely looked. He just knew there was movement and a runner.

Under Dyche he's played further forward and has the highest goal involvement of any of our players. He's obviously not Benzema but he's at least some threat when playing AMC.

Even for a rampant Forest playing 40 games in a lower division Garner never scored more than 4 (whereas Doucoure managed 7 for Watford in the PL).

I think my assertion was sound.

Both these players have been effective in some respects but are also a big part of our downfall. They just aren't good enough on the ball and offer little more than running power. Passing range, positional discipline and goal threat almost non existent (despite Doucoure flattering to deceive in this latter respect).

It makes it really hard to build a decent midfield around such limited players.

Hopefully Onana and Garner can step up, giving us a better quality midfield base for a 4411 or 4231 (obviously jury is out on Onana but he does have talent).

Doucoure as an ACM will outscore Garner, because of their positioning and their natural ability in those positions. A midfield three incorporating Garner and Doucoure as first choices, then Gana or a more disciplined Onana occupying the third spot could be a great balance. With both Doucoure and Garner contributing much needed and elusive midfield goals.

We can't continue to use a player, who is simply not doing enough, from the start of the game while we need every player to do their utmost throughout the game because of the desperate state the team is in.

The jury won't mind waiting as long as the team get us out of the mess we are in.

Last week clearly didn't work so I'd be happy to see Dyche try it against Fulham.

If Calvert-Lewis is back then hopefully we'll soon revert to what we saw in Dyches first match against Arsenal, one of their toughest matches of the season.