Ghost of Clough

8th in National League South. He came off the bench for the final 4 mins + injury time when already 4-2 up. He made 2 starts for Buxton in the National League North earlier in November. He's 21 year old, and I beleive we only signed him on a 1 year deal, so I wouldn't expect him to get an extension here.

Wildsmith Nyambe Nelson Cashin Elder Bird Adams Sibley Wilson Mendez-Laing Barkhuizen Subs: JThompson, Bradley, Ward, Smith, Thompson, Blackett-Taylor, Gayle

"No end of chances"? Taking this season as an example, his chances at CM/AM were: 14 minutes as a sub when returning from injury and helped see out a 1-0 win. Injured for thr next 2 games. 2 months until his next 'chance'. A last minute sub when winning 3-1. 3 weeks later, he starts and gets 71 minutes. Starts the next game, gets an assist and is subbed at half time (we were losing 2-1 and eventually lost 3-1). Unused sub in the next game. The following game, he came on for the last 10 minutes when losing 2-0 to Crewe, then assists our 93rd minute equaliser. Over 3 weeks until his next 'chance' at AM - a 95th minute sub. A start in the next league game (2 weeks later) and scores. Subbed off at half time in the next game (0-0, game finishes 1-1). 24 minutes off the bench in the next game. 6 weeks until his next game at AM. Subbed off at half time against Bradford (score was 0-0, we lost 1-0). A couple of games later he gets another start at AM, followed by 27 mins off the bench a few days later. 3 weeks until he gets another chance. This time 13 mins to see out a 3-0 win. 9 mins a few days later and scores the only goal in a 1-0 win. Maybe if he was given a consistent run of games in his favoured position we would get some consistency from him? Even so, he's averaged 1 goal contribution every 88 mins when playing central. The problem is he's played at LB or on the wing 75% of the time.

Is that Thompson LW and Weston AM?

4231 (after being corrected by Angie) JThompson Bardell Bartley KRobinson Gill DRobinson Fornah Ward Thompson Weston Wheeldon

Yes. Too many people wanting to watch Derby and Blackburn U21s instead of Everton and Palace.

He picked up an injury early in the season and just returned to the matchday squad last week (unused sub)

Perhaps because he contributes more than other midfielders when he actually plays. Minutes per goal contribution: Sibley - 176 (even higher when looking at CM/AM only) Hourihane - 227 Bird - 236 Wingers and forwards being: Weston - 25 Mendez-Laing - 113 Washington - 130 Waghorn - 134 Collins - 140 Barkhuizen - 148 John-Jules - 188

Skip to 54 seconds for behind the goal

Can you find a still of both incidents? I haven't seen the replay from the one yesterday (it didn't even occur to me it was near an arm), but I also have no idea what the one from 3 games ago was 😅

The U18s finished in a respectable 7th position last season, only 2 points off 4th spot. As far as I'm aware, we haven't recruited from other clubs for our U18 side this season, all progressing from our U16 side. The small improvement this season is from a combination of having a very talented group of 1st year scholars, as well as not needing to fast track too many into the U21 side. The U21s certainly had a season to forget last year. Results have improved, but even the games we are losing are typically by just 1 goal (we've only lost by 2 or more 3 times, the last was in September). There are a few reasons for the improvement. The 3 main one being: 1. More high potential U18s progressing into the U21s. Last year's 1st year pros were all released in the summer, with only 1 2nd year pro retained (Bardell). This to me highlights the low potential of the U21 squad last season. 2. Solid recruitment - Weston, Gibson-Hammond, Bartley, etc. These signings have helped us maintain a healthier flow of U18s into the U21 side. Jeffcott and Lindsay helped plug gaps too. 3. Perhaps the most important- having good CBs playing at CB. For most of last season and early this one, we had players filling in. Bartley returned from injury in October and gave us a good platform to build from. Bardell is back now too. Early this season we had DRobinson, Radcliffe, and Bradley Johnson filling in. Last season Grewal-Pollard and Clarke were often played there too.

Correction: the win put us 4th, 3 points ahead of Wolves.

Tuesday is the earliest

At least Bolton are losing

2-1 FT. 5th, but level with Wolves on 21 points. Only Man Utd, Man City and Liverpool Mintus came on for Richards at half time. Augustien and Green on for Hawkins and Osong around the 80 min mark.

2-1 Oguntolu (assisted by Eames) in the 33rd minute

1-0 Osong (Osayande assist) in the 10th minute

He played the full 90 for the U21s earlier in the week

Derby U18s vs Newcastle. Kickoff at 1pm Price Perry Banks Osayande Gough Tola Hawkins Richards Eames Osong Oguntolu Subs: Hardy, Canoville, Green, Minutus, Augustien

I dont think it matters. FA Rules state: Any Club altering its team selection or numbering after Team Sheets have been exchanged may be fined. A Player who is named on the Team Sheet may be replaced without fine if he is injured warming up after exchange of the Team Sheet. Any subsequent changes must be notified to the referee and to a representative of the opponents before the actual kick-off . EFL rules are pretty much the same, except teamsheets handed in 75 minutes before kickoff and cannot reveal to anyone else until 60 mins before kickoff, with detail on replacements also stated: Should any nominated Player or substitute sustain an injury or become otherwise incapacitated after the submission of the Team Sheet to the Referee and before the kick-off, he may be replaced; the Referee shall be informed. Should there be any other extenuating circumstances which require a nominated Player or substitute to be replaced during the aforementioned period, the Referee shall allow such replacement and report the full circumstances to The League. The League shall then initiate any inquiries it may deem fit so as to satisfy itself as to the bona fide nature of the replacement.

A late change due to someone picking up an injury during the warm-up 😉

Alternatively, you could look at goals/assists per 90. 23/24 - 0.22 (1 in 402 mins) 22/23 - 0.29 (8 in 2458 mins) Prior to that he was at Newcastle in the Premier League, and anything earlier isn't anywhere near relevant to his current ability. Essentially he's a '1 in 4' type player at a Championship club. He would still do a job for us in League 1, which is all we would need until one of our other forwards returns. It's also a better option than moving Mendez-Laing central and being forced to use just Barkhuizen, Blackett-Taylor (struggling with injuries), Wilson (may be needed at RB), and Sibley (may be needed at LB) on the wings.

Weston's more of a 10 who can also play out wide. If he is to play upfront, he would need to be partnered up with a more traditional 9... which doesn't exactly solve our problem.

I swear Warne (or Pearce?) said we had a long list of CF options. After finding out the wage/fee demands, the list was reduced to just 3 (or 4?) on deadline day. We agreed everything with 1 of them, then at 8pm their manager or owner decided to cancel the move.