http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11675/8113840/Nottingham-Forest-sign-Jermaine-Jenas-on-loan-from-Tottenham It's only for a month, but it's reassuring! He won't show up in a CM pairing for us for a while. Hopefully he'll be in better shape on return.
Glad he's not going to be rotting in the outer, outer fringes of our squad. Hopefully this is something that can become a permanent deal or at least a deal for longer than a month.
I dont understand the negativity towards Jenas..unless it is for the fact that he is getting a wage off our club and not playing...even then not his fault. It is not as though he has a stinking attitude..as far as the modern day footballer goes JJ seems a good lad who is just extremely unlucky with injuries.....like i said last night...the guy just turns up whenever he is called upon...plays the game wherever across the middle he is put and then disappears again without a single complaint. He has given us many moments of joy against the likes of Arsenal and for that alone i will always have time for him and i hope for once his injuries dont get between him and what he can do if on song.
Good luck to him. Hopefully he'll either kick on and get an extended loan or treat this as a pre-season and then come back and be a useful part of the squad. I said yesterday on the Carlisle thread that I'd like to see him tried on the right in cup games, especially as we have virtually no suitable back-up for Lennon.
Whenever he played in central midfield, even alongside Davids, Carrick or Zokora, we always got caught on the break - which we weren't/haven't been with Modric, Huddlestone or Dembele. He may have been our most regular source of goals from midfield for a few seasons (which says more about some of the players he was alongside than anything else), but was always caught out on defensive duties so contributed to many more goals going against us.
HBIC How much of that was down to davids etc being up field with Jenas? Whilst he can't be classed as one of our greatest ever players, he certainly shouldn't be classed as one of the worst. And has been mentioned already, he scored some crucial goals against the goons!!!!
The main problem with Jenas is he never got anywhere near to fulfilling his potental IMO. He _should_ have become a bit of a gerrard. Box to box midfielder capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck. He has all the attributes, and a great engine, to be able to do that. Has he ever done it? No, or rarely against lower opposition. He was in the england squad/team from 21/22 and should have been there to stay but drifted. Otherwise, nothing against him. I also think he can do a job down the right and has done in the past (played there in the CL didn't he?)
It's weird how some average players get slated and others are adored. Take Jenas and Dawson. Both average but treated very differently by the fans and I don't see why.
Jenas was an important part of our team from 05 - 08. When we went from 13th in Feb 07 to 5th by the end of the season with a great run it was not a coincidence that he came back from a long injury lay off in Feb. His goal at OT in a 2 all draw was great and his performances in our cup win in 08 and his regular goals v arsenal shouldn't be forgotten. I agree that he didn't fulfil his potential but I think that he was unfairly blamed by some of our fans for some **** team performances. I hope he does well where ever he ends up
I think that his goals in the 5-1 semi-final 2nd leg and 4-4 draw against Arsenal are both very underrated, too. Not my favourite player, by any means, but it does surprise me that nobody else has tried to sign him.
Dawson was being slated all the time on Old606 a few years ago when we were routinely exposed at the back, due to a lack of bite in central midfield - a central midfield of Jenas and Zokora.
I think much of the criticism of Jenas stems from the fact that we had such high hopes for him; he's not a bad player, he's just not as good as we expected him to become. I fear Livermore may be in the same boat in a few years time.
It is being said by the papers this morning that Forest are paying a third of Jenas's £45k a week wages.
