Ghost of Clough

29 minutes ago, Rich3478 said:

Yeah he’d be a great upgrade on bird. Must be getting close to moving on too. Is probably not going up with Oxford 

has a lot more end product than bird, just seems a really neat and tidy footballer.

him and Adams be a great centre mid

 

Bird - 10 non-penalty or set-piece goals/assists

Brannagan - 7

Yep... a lot more end product than than Bird.

6 hours ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Simon Francis was the replacement but they wouldn't budge.

Francis was a RB who could play at CB. He has never played at LB in his career.

We signed Christie a couple of weeks after Bournemouth refused to sell Francis

5 minutes ago, Crewton said:

I wouldn't start him, simply because he's been out for so long, nor would I discriminate against him simply because he's opted to go somewhere else, but to suggest he can't tackle is just plain wrong, as the stats below indicate. His creativity may yet be needed at some point in the next 2 games.

As you show there, he makes the 2nd most tackles out of all of our CMs. As you also point out, his creativity may be needed - Adams, Smith (and Thompson) offer very little, whilst only Hourihane creates more chances and that's only due to set pieces. From open play, Bird creates twice as many chances as the next best CM.

1 hour ago, Animal is a Ram said:

Would love for him to get a 5min cameo against Carlisle. Such a shame to see a good talent hampered by injuries.

Does he deserve to get back into the squad based on a few days of training, after being out for 3 months), when we have Collins, Washington, Waghorn, Mendez-Laing, Blackett-Taylor, and Barkhuizen as fit attacking options? That also ignores Bird, Sibley and Wilson as potential options in a front 4.

1 hour ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Interesting one this, not sure what role he’ll have to play (if any) in the final games, but with his contract being up in the summer is there one eye on encouraging him to join us permanently I wonder 🤔 

I hope not. We've only got 375 minutes from him in all competions despite being on loan for the whole season. Only 981 mins last season at Ipswich, and 709 the season before. His career high across all competitions in a season of men's football is only 1369 mins when on loan to Doncaster in 20/21. Even at U18 and U21 level, 1884 was the most he ever achieved.

Even in Joe Ward's worst ever season for injuries, he's still managed more minutes on the pitch this season than John-Jules has achieved at any club. We need to be targetting players with more reliable injury records.

At this point, would he even be ahead of DBrown in the pecking order? As we'll also have Washington contracted for next season and should be looking for 2 new CFs in the summer, is there any value at all in signing John-Jules permanently?

8 minutes ago, Eoghan1884 said:

Genuinely wondering, if we needed 4 strikers in the summer which I think we do if Collins and Gayle don’t get new contracts. 
 

Would you take Clarke Harris (29) at Derby as a fourth choice striker for a squad option. A big physical presence who bags goals on a free. 
 

Fell out of favour with Peterborough as he wouldn’t sign a new contract but still has 13 goals and 3 assists in 38 appearances mostly from the bench. 
Averaging a goal every 154 minutes in the league. I’d certainly take him on a 1 year contract with a 1 year option.

Brown and Washington are contracted beyond the summer. Anyone we sign for a Championship squad should be better than them, with a view to being starters.

Clarke-Harris has only been good enough to start 14 games for Peterboroughthis season, with only 2 since October. He's also only scored/assisted in 3 games since September.

The title is still on! 🐏 

2 minutes ago, Sidd10 said:

What is the thought process on dropping Smith? Very interested to know. 

To get Bird back in the side whilst keeping Adams and Thompson in there...

Wildsmith

Nelson   Bradley   Cashin

Wilson   Adams   Thompson   Sibley

Bird

Collins   Mendez-Laing

Subs: Vickers, Smith, Hourihane, Barkhuizen, Blackett-Taylor, Waghorn, Washington 

Unfortunately, the U21s lost 3-0 to Leeds this afternoon which means we've dropped to the bottom of the table. All 3 conceded within a 10 minute spell.

JThompson; Radcliffe, Cox, KRobinson, Moloney; Stepien-Iwumene, Hawkins; Nto, Wheeldon, Allen; Weston

Subs: Shattell, Osayande, Gough  McAndrew, Oguntolu

1 game to go with a home game vs Everton in 2 weeks time.

22 minutes ago, oomarkwright said:

Anybody know how he's doing? 

In and out of the matchday squad since he joined Glentoran.

They've had 12 league games since he joined them. In the squad for 10, starting 1 game and came off the bench in 5 others. He scored in an 8-2 win.
They also had 3 cup games, where he started 1 game, came on at half time in another, and an unused sub in other. He scored in the game he started (they won 2-0).
Overall: 2 goals scored in 255 mins of action.

1 hour ago, G STAR RAM said:

That wasn't the question, I asked how much of him you have seen?

And my lack of watching a player doesn't stop me from givign my opinion on who won the award.
How many games have people seen of all the other nominations to say Cashin was overlooked?
In fact, how many games have the people deciding who's nominated seen of each player? Afterall, Mendez-Laing probably won't even win our club player of the season, despite being nominated for league player of the season

5 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

How much have you seen of Wyatt out of interest to conclude he was not worthy of the award?

3 hours ago, Crewton said:

4 EFL Trophy appearances over 2 seasons seems to provide scant evidence of his quality, so one must assume he's got a good record at U18 level. 

Only 2 first team appearances for Northampton this season (in the EFL Trophy). Loaned out to Rushden and Diamonds (in the Northern Premier, 2 levels below the National League) since October where he has scored twice in 19 appearances.

2 hours ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

You didn't mention Fapetu in your summary, @Ghost of Clough - would you say he doesn't have the same potential as the players referenced in your post?

I'm a bit undecided on him tbh. In his role, he needs to add more end product to his game. He showed it in his 2nd year with the U18s, but has struggled a bit in the U21s this season. He needs to be targetting 10 goals/assists next season if he's to make it into our first team.

This season we have Cruz Allen with 3 goals in the equivalant to less than 5 games, and Hawkins (a DM) with 1 goal and 2 assists in the equivalent to just over 8 games. Those are the contribution rates you want to see from your midfielders.
For comparison, Fapetu has just 1 goal and 1 assist in his 1049 PL2 mins.

Not sure how this wasnt given to Brown

1 hour ago, Comrade 86 said:

That stat rather leapt of the page didn't it! 😂

Also noted the six shots on target, scoring with 5 of them. Ouch! One hopes the Steer family cat survived the night.

I think that while both Bolton and Posh are sometimes quite easy on the eye, they don't always convert possession to points. Posh seem to dominate games or do very little and actually make us look ultra consistent. Bolton are probably the best footballing team in the division, but they seem to score in clusters and can be frustrated by defenders who maintain shape and discipline. 

The more I think about this league, the more I think that for teams to succeed, they have to be adept across the board, in the top percentiles for all key metrics. We're slightly light off 'excellent' in the total goals scored column and in a season where we've bungled so many chances from open play, our set pieces and defensive qualities are what has really kept us in the hunt, especially in the final quarter of the season.

Points Accrued: 2nd
Goals Scored: 5th
Goals Conceded: =1st
Goal Difference: 1st

Interesting to note that the top two in the table are equal top in the goals conceded charts and by clear water too. Not a coincidence IMO.

Lincoln are also tied with us for goals conceded.

5 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Has everyone got used to the safe standing now? I remember some grumpiness when it started.

I still disagree with them checking tickets at the bottom of the stairs. Just leave the check for when the stairs split between upper and lower sections.

1 hour ago, IlsonDerby said:

Do we have a group with a good chunk ready to break in to the first team in a few years time or do we just have a team that’ll do well at this level? 

From the U21 squad, we already have Evans (3rd matchday GK), Radcliffe, DRobinson and DBrown who I would consider to be on the fringes of the first team squad. Weston a little bit behind them.

We then have several players who could still play U18 football but stepped up early - 2nd year scholars Cox, KRobinson and Hawkins, and 1st year scholars JThompson, Gill and Allen.

Davidson has had a lot of trouble with injuries but has always looked promising when in the side. He missed the first half of last season and most of this one (last played in October), but would have been a regualr in the U21 squad (still a 2nd year scholar) if he stayed fit.

McAndrew is on the cusp of stepping up and is still only 16! 

I think all of these youngsters have a very good chance of being Championship footballers (or higher), with some doing it with us in a couple of years.

4 games to go. The challenge now will be to hold on to 3rd place

2 minutes ago, O'hare is the goat said:

Anyone know who the two trialists are?

No idea

McAndrew hattrick.

Now half time.

3-0. 20 mins played

Trialist, McAndrew and Osayande woth the goals. Perry and Eames with assists.

U18s just kicked off vs Sunderland.

Price

Perry   Canoville   Osayande   Gough

Augustien   Tola

Trialist   Eames   McAndrew

Oguntolu

Subs: Shattell, Green, Mintus, Trialist, IGordon

2 hours ago, Rich3478 said:

Exactly, am genuinely happy to pay £10 to stream a game when option is available. Is not an option though so can go the vpn route, or a dodgy box.

personally think efl and premier league are nervous of going this route as eventually will be clubs selling direct to fans rather than a package. Man Utd season ticket rather than premier league for example. Makes Sky almost redundant at some point. And then the gap between big and small clubs grows massively and exponentially.

They could change the rules so the club keep a fixed percentage and the rest goes into a shared pot