Ghost of Clough

8 hours ago, Topram said:

For Leigh Curtis to say it’s wide of the mark on Monday 

To be fair, if it's related to a club in the NW or something regarding to Savage, I would believe it.

8 hours ago, Old Spalding Ram said:

…………bloody hell, another one!
 

 

A lot of money for a 25 year old non-league forward whose best season infront of goal was 15 goals.

2 hours ago, therealhantsram said:

To Glentoran? Yeah right.

Last week, some people wanted us to sign a player in his mid-20s playing in the same league. It was a different player in his early 20s in the summer. Could Lindsay not play well enough in that league and force his way into our first team?

He was struggling to get in our U21 side ahead of Weston and now Wheeldon in that #10 position. This loan will at least give him a chance of regular football and spend time with his family.

Carlos Richards came on fron Weston just after the goal. Last few minutes now and still 1-0 up

DBrown, assisted by Weston. 1-0 up vs 3rd in the table!

5 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

 

JThompson

Oduroh   Bartley   KRobinson   Moloney

Fapetu   DRobinson

Weston   Wheeldon   Gibson-Hammond

DBrown

4 minutes ago, richinspain said:

Or indeed to John-Jules' 😉

4 minutes ago, Gerry Daly said:

Fancy going to all that trouble ferreting out those facts then making that blunder at the end lol

2 minutes ago, YorkshireRam said:

 

41 minutes ago, Returning ram said:

Gerrard had back problems at an early age and also several operations on his groin, he was also one of the worlds best players at the time. Yes, if you're judging players just by stats, it's a world of difference, however the point in the post is a relevant one, you can still have a successful career despite early injuries.
 

However I expect that the medical team would be best people to make that judgment based upon their experience.

The most John-Jules has played in a season is 23 games, back in 2021. Since then, he's managed 13, 21, and currently 11.

In Gerrard's debut season (aged 18), he made just 13 appearances (debut in November) but never missed more than 3 games in a row. The following season, he made 31 appearances, with a 4 game spell out of the team, 2 games out at the end of the season and a couple of single games scattered throughout. In 00/01 (aged 20), he made 50 appearances, never missing more than 1 game in a row. The year after, it was another 45 appearances, with a 3 game spell out injured. In 02/23 (aged 22), he featured 54 times, missing 3 league games in total due to injuries.

Gerrard's injury 'troubles' are in no way comparable to John-Jules'

Forsyth's injury is "quite severe" - I would guess at him being back towards the end of Feb.
Waghorn out for a "little bit longer" - perhaps available again in Feb
Ward and Kane "not 100%" - may be in the squad on Monday
Smith back in training - Monday may be too soon, but thavailability of other senior players may mean he's on the bench

15 minutes ago, DavesaRam said:

Err no. He actually was seeing if what was “the norm” for Rotherham under Warne had become “the norm” at Derby yet.

So has it? 

It could be that the increase in intensity takes players a full season to get used to it. It could explain why some players who struggled with injuries or fitness last season but the likes of Mendez-Laing are now 90 minute players. Of the 10 outfielders to have missed out on matchday squads the most, 7 are summer signings.

It's also possible that it takes Warne a while to understand what the players are physically capable of. In is pre-match presser, he mentioned adapting Mendez-Laing's training schedule to make sure they get more out of him on matchdays.

On 05/01/2024 at 12:42, Wignall12 said:

A certain young Steve Gerrard had a lot of injury problems in his formative years , how did he turn out ?

John-Jules is 22 and had made 73 first team appearances. At the same age, Gerrard had made 179 first team appearances, helped Liverpool win the FA Cup, League Cup, Charity Shield, UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. He made 31 appearances in the 99/00 season - the fewest he made between 19 and 22.

1 hour ago, sage said:

For all his dribbles. How many goals and assists?

1 goal and 5 assists in all competitions. Only Mendez-Laing and Hourihane have more assists.

It's an area he needs to improve on, but he is capable of it, as shown by his 3 goals and 14 assists at Forest Green in 21/22

22 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

So far we've got Collins and a lad that can play for about an hour at best. Why do you think we've got enough?

We're a Collins injury away from having nobody up front.

Plus Collin's hold up play is pretty poor so is his aerial ability. Smith is better in that aspect. 

Collins is a goalscorer. Needs to stay between the posts 

Washington is back in training next month and Waghorn will return at some point. As we appear to want to play with 2 upfront and Warne wants to play 352, then it's also where Mendez-Laing will play (Barkhuizen too?). That gives us 5 or 6 CF options so I can see why some may say we have enough. I would still sign one more.

14 minutes ago, simmoram1995 said:

Wouldn’t be adverse to signing knibbs not a bad return 6 goals and 4 assists for a rubbish side 

He's looked a lot better since moving into a central role. 5 goals and 2 assists in those 8 games. 1 goal and 3 assists in the 16 games played on the left wing beforehand. I would have had him in the summer when he was arguably the best AM available to us on a free, but not now. His passing is less than desirable and his assists are more from good finishing than good creative play.

I wouldn't mind one or two of their players, but feel they'll have set a high asking price for players they picked up for free in the summer

19 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Not just him I’d blame the recruitment department and owner. We have not wanted to pay upfront fees because of how limited the funds are. Free agents and we don’t know what wages were paid. I’d guess the summer before takes up a lot of wages when he wasn’t here. I think warnes actually done a good job with summer players apart from injuries which all teams have them. 
 

Wilson nyambe Nelson quality signings I’d even say ward and elder are good signings fornah has been good and bad in glimpses but to be fair hasn’t had a run of games. Washington until injury was hearing towards offering on the pitch even if it was off the bench. Tjj sold signing if he can get a run of games and stay fit. Vickers solid backup keeper. I’d say most of our wages are higher on the hourihanes and smith and sibeys birds who were on contracts pre admin and on the hurry window. We just need to sprinkle over what we have with 2 or 3 quality additions to aid us over the line and nyambe is back post January. 
 

with a 26000 thousand home crowd and money coming in plus embodying going back there is no reason not to compete with league 1 clubs in the position we are in. 
 

my fear is and everyone may not agree is we don’t add players and go with the current ageing squad and fall away which I can see happening. We don’t have the luxury of resting a nml but if we get a winger in the mould of cbt this relieves the pressure to rotate likewise with Collins if he gets crocked we have to rely on an injury prone tjj to carry the can. 
 

not asking for a million pounds d transfer splurge but we should be a pull and have the tour to aid the manager with the tools to make this a successful season and should take last January as a flash back point 

Ignoring quality of performance and judging players for minutes on the pitch this season against (guessed) wages, you've got to admit our summer signings on the whole haven't been great?
John-Jules, Elder, Ward, Washington and Bradley have got to be towards the bottom of the list. Nelson and Wilson have been the exceptions, with Nyambe, Waghorn and Fornah in the middle of the pack. VIckers excluded due to being a backup keeper.

3 minutes ago, roboto said:

The pedant in me wants to know where the missing game has gone? 😉 

But also, the numbers don't seem great at a glance, but that's 15 starts out of 20 (or 19 depending on which numbers are right) appearances. It's not the worst return from a loan spell ever.

That wasn't the only mistake I made 🥴

20 appearances out of 28, left on the bench for the remaining 8.
11 starts, with 7 full 90s and subbed off in 4 games
Came off the bench 9 times
An average of 57.5 mins per appearance, or 41 mins per matchday squad.

A few free agents who are available:
Derrick Williams (CB and LB cover)
Matt Sorinola (LWB)
Charlie Kirk (LW)

I think it's fair to say we won't be signing anyone currently without a club. Sorinola is attacking top end Championship interest, whilst the other two wouldn't improve our starting 11.

6 minutes ago, TomTom92 said:

Latest press conference was a barrel of laughs.

Got no right back for Monday.

Arsenal are playing hardball over TJJ despite his contract expiring in the summer.

OAP's like Hourihane, Barkhuizen etc could be playing for us for another season.

Sound.

John-Jules - we put an offer in, they countered, we've put a new offer in and we're almost there. Sounds like the loan will be extended until the end of the season. We could be negotiating on the wage contribution or an obligatory fee to pay if we want him in the summer (only 22 so Arsenal will be due compensation if they were to offer him a contract. 

1 minute ago, MadAmster said:

They've played 28 League games so far this season. Oduroh featured in 20 of them. That seems more like regular appearances to me than being "in and out".

7 full 90s, subbed off in 8, subbed on in 4, and unused in 8.

6 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

Teams are coming to PP now and “Parking the bus”. Only one win in our last four home games. They know most of our attacking comes down the wings. Could we sign a midfield player that could beat a man and set something up on a regular basis ? 

To be honest, there aren't many in this league who would be a significant upgrade on Bird regarding driving forward with the ball or forward passing. Ollie Arblaster would be one player to give both. The only others who aren't at promotion rivals are Carlisle's Owen Moxon (weak passing stats) and Bristol's Antony Evans (would be expensive).

Dan Kemp (recalled by MK Dons this month) would be the pick of the bunch in League 2. Mansfield's Davis Keillor-Dunn could be an option, but I think he'd be too expensive for us.

If looking at players not getting enough game time in the Championship, Adil Aouchiche from Sunderland could be an option.

13 minutes ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

We’re still operating under a business plan which is as much destined to stifle our competitiveness as a penalty for going into administration as to protect us from further mismanagement. Yes we can pay transfer fees but it all has to come from the same pot. Next season we will really see our financial power with being technically left to our own devices, it could be Clowes is happy with the budget we’re operating and doesn’t want to move from that which would be a concern.

Also concerning, Leigh Curtis also mentions in his article about Warne alluding to a number of players who are about to trigger contract extensions based on appearances!! We got into trouble with under Mel with the likes of Benty Bradley Johnson and others, if Smith and Hourihane for example are on similar deals then that means we’ll be saddled with their high wages next season which will mean we’re still restricted in what we can do. Both of these players are ones we should be thanking for their contribution and moving on in the summer IMO. 

Just seen that. He stated "a few" are on course, so at least 3 and not including Bird or Cashin, Whilst Thompson and Waghorn haven't played in too many games to be classed as "on course". Smith is injred with no fixed return date, and is also down the pecking order of CMs so I also doubt he's included. Although, that could be another reason for the rumours suggesting we're trying to move him on. Wildsmith, Forsyth, Hourihane, Barkhuizen and Collins would be the leading candidates - with only Wildsmith being a regular starter in the Championship

1 minute ago, Barney1991 said:

Even worse to the fact that if we were to go up on current squad without serious investment we could get trounced in the championship without serious investment. I’d say this squad is a lot weaker than Ipswich and I’d say Plymouth and Sheffield weds went up with better squads and Sheffield Wednesday have struggled albeit getting a bit of momentum under a very good and highly rated manager. 

Ipswich - 8 summer signings
Plymouth - 10 summer signings
Sheff Weds - 12 summer signings

In summary, it doesn't matter how good your squad is in League 1, you'll end up signing half a new squad anyway. We have 11+ players I would be comfortable having in a Championship squad (even if not regular starters).A couple of quality signings this month eases the summer burden, so I don't share your current concerns

3 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Is there a right back solution in the academy at the moment? Are the likes of Bardell, Bartley or Radcliffe fit and viable? 

Bardell is injured and I believe Radcliffe still is too. Bartley is a CB. DRobinson has played RB before (for us and N.Ireland) but he's been missing since our EFL Trophy game against Wolves in November so may also be injured.

The U21s also haven't played since December 15th so will be short of match fitness. Moore played in that game, and I would say he's some way off being ready for the first team.
Perry (started RW in that U21 game mentioned above) started the last U18 game (vs Forest on Christmas Eve) but he came off after half an hour with an injury. Osayande, who came off the bench to make his first team debut against Wolves U21 and played RB, played the rest of that game. However, he's primarily a CB and is some way off being ready for first team football (especially at RB)

It's unlikely that we'll want to move Nelson away from CB (as the next best RB option), hence why I think it would be Barkhuizen at RWB if Ward and Wilson are unavailable.

Just now, Rambalin said:

Could explain the return of Kwaku Oduroh from his loan.

Oduroh was sent back by Rochdale where he was in and out of the side. He needs another loan to a National League or National League North side.

13 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Not concerning but alarming that we could miss out on targets who are into the last 6 months of their contracts not going to cost a fortune and could get us out of the league while we are non a great position. What’s he going to do if we go up to the championship and we can’t compete with tinpot league 1 clubs? 

But players with 6 months on the contract will still cost a fee. They'll also have wages and agent fees to consider. That one player could cost 10% of our total playing budget for the season - and we'll want to sign 3 or 4 players.