Ghost of Clough

Midfielders (7) - Bird, Hourihane, Adams, Thompson, Smith, Fornah, Sibley Wide players (4/5) - Mendez-Laing, Blackett-Taylor, Barkhuizen, Wilson, Ward (?) We're perhaps a Smith/Fornah and a Ward too heavy in terms of squad size but not too bad, especially as Wilson/Ward also cover RB. However, we would be a tad heavy at CF in a 433 once we sign someone and other players are all fit (5): Collins, New, Washington, Waghorn, John-Jules

I think most fans think he'll come good. I also think I'm an outlier in thinking he should be moved on, but that's mostly because when we signed him I had the opinion that he "isn't much of an improvement over Smith (if any at all)" and haven't seen enough to change my opinion. I can recall 2 games where he made an impact - I think it was the Cambridge home game where he mopped up everything in midfield, and the Bistol Rovers game where he came off the bench to assist our last minute winner. His performances since then have lacked effort, topped off by walking back when Bradford were breaking up the field. I am perhaps being a tad harsh on him, as looking through his match ratings when given conssitent starts in the absense of Bird and/or Hourihane, he did quite well. We've also only lost 2 games which he started in - his first start for Derby was against Bolton when Wildsmith got sent off, and the other was against Shrewsbury when we was brought off at half time (score was 0:0 and we went on to lose). I can see why Fornah may be frustrated with not being given more starts, which will have been a cause for his recent poor displays when given a rare opportunity in the team

Are you worried John-Jules may be a bit lonely on the treatment table later in the season?

We had Luke McGee on loan from them. He was also part of their 21/22 L2 promotion team

Other than Robinson, the rest of the U21s are unlikely to get EFL loans so we can still send them out to the National League (or lower) later in the season. The club will be reluctant to weaken the U21 too much. Whilst results haven't improved as much as we'd have liked, performances have improved considerably. We've been undeservedly beaten in a few games, including agaisnt Forest the other night - it took 2 red cards and an injury time goal for them to beat us. We haven't been beaten by more than a single goal since September, and that was the last of only 3.

Still over 12 hours left to sign one It seems like you missed yesterday's news - we signed a defensive midfielder... Exactly wehat you're crying over. We also didn't need to sell our best midfielder to get someone in. Seems like you put your tin hat on too early and can't see what's right in frot of you. There's still budget left in the pot to sign a forward WITHOUT selling anyone.

The only way I see this happeneing is if we do a straight swap with Fornah, with them having enough time in to get loan cover in for CF. Unrelated, but I didn't realise how small their squad was. Outside of their first 11, they have Clarke-Harris who has played a bit part role this season, a winger who comes on when Mason-Clarke or Poku need a breather, and a backup kepper. They also have a CB who hasn't started since September (following 7 goals being conceded in 2 games). The rest of their squad has played a total of 622 minutes between them. If they don't suffer from fatigue in the 2nd half of the season, they'll surely pick up a couple of injuries with results dropping off.

Warne'll no doubt go with Adams, Hourihane and Bird once he's settled. Personally, I'd have Thompson or Sibley (when not filling in at LB) in there over Hourihane to maintain a high press. I've said it before, but Hourihane should have a reduced role in the squad - coming off the becnh every game to see games out or provide a different threat if chasing a result. I expect Smith to be loaned out tomorow. I wouldn't be surprised if Fornah is loaned out either.

That's the kind of personality which will lift the team when on a bad run. It's clear how excited he is to have joined us and you know he'll try his best when out on the field.

To be fair, the injury which kept him out for all of last season was afreak accident "never seen before in football" and doesn't seem to be a problem which could reocurr. He's been releatively free from injuries throughout his career. If his performances at Forest Green are anything to go by, he'll be the 'midfield enforcer' many people crave. He also had a good attacking output for a DM when playing for them. Much better than what you'd expect from Fornah and Smith.

Which would be another dissapointing signing when Brown has a better strike rate than him at U21 level this season. It's similar to us signing White last season, which resulted in Thompson deciding it was best for him to go out on loan.

More "poorly used" than "limited"

Tbh, I think it's been hinted at a couple of times. They overestimated how long it would take to 'rebuild' the academy, so didn't expect many players to come through for a couple of years. This would have likely been a factor towards opting for a manager with minimal histroy of bringing through academy players, and no working history with a category 1 academy.

Boro's Rogers was actually a £1.5m signing in the summer. Similar situation as Whittaker signing for Plymouth and now being linked with £10m+ moves. There's a common theme with the clubs selling young players for a lot of money - they have 'modern coaches' who have faith in playing youngsters. The market for Championship players used to be only PL clubs, but that market initially slowed down around Covid. However, clubs from Europe (Germany and Italy in particular) are now starting to take greater interest, in the hope of churning a massive profit to PL clubs in the future. Young players prefer signing for clubs with modern coaches, and the club trust them more with their players. Carrick is a great example. This season alone he's signed Rogers, van den Berg, Azaz, Greenwood and Thomas. Rosenior has signed Philogene, Connolly, Carvalho, Delap, Twine and Morton

Just because we're currently operating under a business plan doesn't mean we couldn't have signed players who would have played a greater role than the ones we did sign. A few free agents signed by L1 clubs which could have been alternatives to who we signed (and who they signed for): Bradley: Pennington (Blackpool), Lopata (Barnsley), Jones (Charlton), Shaughnessy (Portsmouth), Poole (Portsmouth) Elder: Sparkes (Portsmouth) Ward: Dacres-Cogley (Bolton), Clark (Port Vale) Fornah / Embleton: Morgan (Blackpool), Chislett (Port Vale), Knibbs (Reading), Wing (Reading), Matt Smith (Wigan) John-Jules / Washington / Waghorn: Martin (Bristol Rovers), Harris (Oxford), Rodrigues (Oxford), Smith (Reading) Of the players listed, all are rated higher according to Whoscored than the players we signed, with the exception of Waghorn who is higher than Harris.

Gregory's use to us should be similar to the use Lampard had for Nugent. Handy backup as a 3rd choice CF when playing with just 1 up top. If we were signing him for that role, I would be happy with it. However, we need someone who will play a more important role at this moment in time.

Not stricly about January signings, but I thought an profile comparison with our 3 main promotion rivals would highlight where we were need to focus our attention on. A few points of note: 1. I would say Warne's intended age profile is close to what Bolton currently have - the majority between 22 and 29, with more regular starters being in the upper end of that range. However, Bolton are known for having a more patient passing style. More game time over the rest of the season to the likes of Blackett-Taylor, Nyambe, Fornah and Ward would go some way to addressing the imbalance. 2. Those 3 clubs combined have given players aged 30+ 10538 minutes. We've given almost double the minutes to players over 30, with overr 12000 minutes to those aged 32 and over. Peterborough have almsot no players over the age of 24! 3. Both Portsmouth and Peterborough have given more minutes to those 21 and under. This is where we should have included Thompson and DRobinson much more than we have done. Occasional game time to the likes of Brown also would have helped. Rooney's injury is a mitigating factor.

It's not exactly 60% as it's 60% of some income and 100% of others. Derby will be around the 60% mark though.

I mentioned it in another thread, but McIntyre is exactly the type of player we should avoid. Since being in the Reading first team, he's been out for an everage of 4 months every season, including 3 motnhs out already this season.

That forward Burton signed has only scored 1 goal more than Brown at U21 level this season and that's in a side which scored 10 past Sunderland as well as 5 against both Sunderland and Blackburn. We're looking for a better forward than who Burton target.

Out of contract in the summer but he would still be a risky signing. He was playing in the Welsh leagues up until last season. He only scored 2 L2 goals last season, but has hit form this season, scoring more this year than he ever has done in the Welsh Leagues

It's based on how long they were at our club and at what ages. Ebiowei was only here for 1 season, so that would be 0.5%. Plange, only 6 months on a permenenat then laon for the next 6 motnhs - I think he'd still be 0.5%. Festy joined us at 16, so we would get 2% and Bray Wanderers another 2% Gordon and Delap left at the end of their U16 seasons, so we would only get 2% for each of them, unless we still have sell-on clasues for them (didn't Quantuma cash in on them?)

Only added depth. Mason-Clarke and Poku will still be their starters. Olakigbe will be a bench option alongside their only other winger (Ajiboye). We've strengthened our winger options more than them.

Bradley, Nyambe and Forsyth can all cover CB (dependant on formation). It could even be an opportuntity for Bardell/Bartley to step up, or DRobinson to fill in if there was an injury crisis. Even if Collins picked up 2 yellows in the next 2 games, the third game is Feb 13th, around the time we expect to see Waghorn and Washington return. In the unlikely scenario of us not signing a forward, Mendez-Laing would be the player used at CF for a game or two.