Garth Crooks is the latest pundit to criticise Nottingham Forest for the signing of Jesse Lingard. The BBC Sport man made the claim after the Reds were beaten 2-0 against Newcastle at the weekend.
Forest weren’t at the races in their first Premier League match for 23 years. Lingard played the full 90 minutes and showed flashes of brilliance, although they were in short supply.
The Reds were battered by Newcastle. The home side dominated possession and Forest didn’t really have a genuine chance to score to speak of.
Sam Surridge did fluff his lines when he should have done better with a second-half header. He wasn’t expecting the delivery to reach him and produced a tame effort.
Crooks picked on Lingard following the defeat to Newcastle. He’s not sure whether the 29-year-old or Forest will look more foolish out of the deal.
He said in his BBC Sport column: “Precisely what Lingard is doing at Forest I am not entirely sure, but a one-year deal on a free transfer? What sort of commitment is that? Does Lingard think we’re all stupid?
“Take the deal and split if the team goes down – is that the plan? I’m not sure who looks more ridiculous. Lingard for signing or Forest for accepting the terms.”
Crooks criticises Lingard
The constant bemoaning of why Lingard has chosen Forest is growing increasingly tiresome. Yes, Forest have been out of the Premier League for 23 years but showing ambition was to be expected.
The Reds might be critiqued for offering him a one-year deal. However, if Forest do go down they won’t be left with Lingard on a sizeable contract in the Championship.
Saturday wasn’t the dream debut for Lingard. It’s not that hard to fathom that Forest might actually want to stay in the Premier League and not become a yo-yo club as Norwich and Fulham have in the last few years.
Crooks’ criticism of Lingard seems lazy. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before the former Manchester United man starts producing the goods to fire Forest up the division.