Ghost of Clough

I think only 1 win in 4 is a factor - we didn't score a single goal in the other 3. In that one game we did win, we needed a 93rd minute goal to take all 3 points. This was against a team in L2, a team in the releation zone, a team who were only 2 points clear of the releagation zone, and a team who had gone 8 games without a win.

People keep stating they have a good squad and a good budget, but they won't even have a top 10 budget this season. For reference, only 2 years ago (in the Championship) their wages were under £13m... a figure no too dissimilar to our wage bill in this league. Whilst their wage bill since then would have shot up it would still be a modest wage bill compared withthe rest of the division. Their transfer expenditure is also on the back of selling Lewis-Potter for £16m last season.

Warne has opted to only use Robinson in the EFL Trophy. Last season he got 45 minutes against Mansifeld - coming on as a half-time sub at 1-1, withthe game finishing 1-1 This season, he got a full 90, but only against Wolves U21s. He's been fit for most of the season and has been an unused sub in 9 games, including games where we won 2-0 (we only used 3 out of 5 subs) and 3-0 (we only used 3 out of 5 subs)

It's definitely too soon to smash the panic buttons. However, the way Warne sets the team up means we struggle when we're lacking squad depth - we saw it at the start of this season, we had it when we didn't rotate the squad as much as Warne would have liked last season, and we're seeing it now (6-8 players had been unavialble). It doesn't help that a significant number of signigns are injury prone or have a recent history of not playing much. Warne needs to trust the players on the fringes of his squad more (we said the same last season). There's no reason for players such as Ward to have just 30 minutes of football over a 4 week period when he's fully fit and other players are starting to struggle with fatigue a little bit. The use of players such as DBrown and DRobinson at the end of games needs to happen more frequently in periods when we do have a mini injury crisis as it helps keep the senior player fresher. More games for Brown earlier in the season would have meant he'd now feel comfortable playing more of a part now when we only have 1 fit forward. Instead we'll now have to rely on Collins playing full 90s or move Mendez-laing upfront and weaken ourselves on the wings.

Excluding our mortgage, our household expenditure is roughly £28k per year (2 adults, 2 toddlers). About £4k of that is the cost of having a single car and another £3k for childcare (I know some people who are spending in excess of £10k on childcare)

I think everyone at the club knows this squad would struggle in the Championship. In fact, I there isn't a L1 squad which wouldn't. Any side getting promotion this season will make at least 7 signings in the summer, as is always the case for promoted sides.

I think even Phill Brown would struggle to not finish top 2 with this squad. Someone like Warnock would jump at the chance of managing us thhrough to the end of the season, and it's easy to see him gettting a lot more out of us than we've seen

I didn't intend to imply it's all down to Warne. Mereley, a focus on situational passing in training and working on when to make the runs and when not to will improve the success of our passing during matches. If training wasn't a factor, then why do teams bother doing it? The best passing teams in the world rehearse how they're going to pass it from back to front, so much so they can almost do it blind-folded during games. It's no different at our level - the more practice put towards something, generally the better you are at it...

DRobinson's the only player who I think is ready for regular football at this level (lower end L1 level). I would trust his ability to play (and start) the odd game for us at this end of the table. He isn't yet ready for several starts. However, infrequent appearances throughtout the rest of the season would be enough to earn him a loan move for next season. He needs to improve his end product, but otherwise he's another safe and reliable player on the ball. DBrown is next in the pecking order. He too would be good enough for seeing games out and the rare start. His level (in my opinion) is L2. However, the benefit of a National League loan is our ability to recall him in an emergency whilst a L2 loan would be fixed until the season has ended. The exposure to men's football will be a big boost from him, as I think it could be the difference between him mentally beign ready to play regularly for us next season. Radcliffe and Weston have shown at other clubs that they are capable at handling themselves in men's football. Radcliffe played in the National League North last season, so a step up this season would have been a fair assupmption - he's been injured since October. Weston played infrequiently in the Scottish Championship last season for Partick and Cove Rangers. He's National League North or even National League level. Oduroh, who spent the first half of this season in and out of a National League side, is a bit behind Weston.

Warne opted to use Mendez-Laing in the middle rather than playing John-Jules there. What hope does an academy player have?

I think Nyambe is a better RCB than RB as his attacking output is minimal We'd also have a second 11 (with everyone fit) of: Vickers Rooney Bradley Forsyth Ward Thompson Fornah Sibley Barkhuizen Washington Mystery-new-forward Which leaves John-Jules, Waghorn and Smith in reserve.

To be honest, I'm expecting a shift to 343/523 sooner or later: Wildmith Nyambe Nelson Cashin Wilson Bird Hourihane Elder Mendez-Laing Baclkett-Taylor Collins

Some simple passes going astray are from the passer expecting the wide player to continue his run down the line. Others are from being caught under pressure. Both of these are a direct result from alack of coaching those aspects of play

That depends on which highlights you watched. The first was our 5-2 win over Lincoln earlier in the season in the Central League Cup. The 2nd was yesterday's 4-2 loss in the Central League

Defensively, Wilson's making just as many tackles as Nyambe at RB (dribbled past a fraction more. He's also making more interceptions and commiting fewer fouls. The big difference is the number of crosses Nyambe blocks compared with Wilson (he blocks crosse 3 times more often). Given Smith's contribution in his 1 game at RB was lower than what we've seen from Ward there this season (although less liekly to give away penalties), I would be reuctatnt to use him there either. It's less about Wilson's attacking output being wasted and more about trying to stay as defensively solid as possible. It hasn't helped that we've relied on just Barkhuizen and Mendez-Laing on the wings for the past few games with no-one on the bench to freshen it up - a factor mitigated with the Blackett-Taylor signing. It'll hopefully be just 1 more game of Wilson at RB before Nyambe.

Based on the effort he put in vs Bradford, especially defensively, I can't see him getting another start for a while

Bradley pulled down in the box. Argued with the ref and is lucky to not get booked.

John-Jules is off. Down to 10 men

523/343. Sibley and Bird CM. Blackett-Taylor, Mendez-Laing and John-Jules the front 3

Have we put John-Jules RW and Mendez-Laing CF?

1 down and we bring a CB and a wing back on 😅

Ref needs to book himself into Specsavers

Good chance following a bit of battling away. Mendez-Laing scuffed his shot wide. And the inevitable offside... Hourihane this time

Good play there. Elder showing he's going to be a great asset in the 2nd half of this season. Hourihane off the post

Barkhuizen clattered the Reading player. Ref showing he isn't biased by not awarded a foul