Ghost of Clough

2 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

I do feel bad for Oduroh at Hartlepool who presumably isn't coming back. It felt such a coup when he signed, after skippering the Man City youth team IIRC.

That said, I did wonder if Bates was gone for good too, but maybe this is to give him experience (18, same age as Brown)?

I'll be surprised if Bates is here next season. Despite being a regular starter last season, he's struggled to get much game time ahead of DRobinson, Fapetu, Radcliffe (when fit) and Hawkins this season, nevermind getting close to the first team. We also have central mids from the U18s ready to step up, such as McAndrew and Allen.

Bates is also 20 (not 18)

1 hour ago, Millenniumram said:

He’s out for a couple more weeks isn’t he? Unless I’ve missed something 

I thought we'd be lucky to see him before the end of the season tbh

1 hour ago, tinman said:

I see James Scanlon’s little brother has signed for Man Utd too. 
another case of little brother joining big brother after being forced to leave Derby for the money in previous years. 

James Scanlon made his international debut last week, coming off the bench in both games vs Lithuania.

1 hour ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

Top end midtable/top 6 I reckon backing I reckon certainly considerably more backing than Warne would get next season in the championship. Their budget will be more than Ipswich, and even the baggies, Cov, Preston the majority of the teams fighting for that 5th and 6th spot. Look at the signings they’ve made. Philogene £5m+, Aaron Connolly who won’t be on cheap wages either, Delap will come with a hefty wage contribution. He’s done a solid job at Hull but no more. 

FWIW I didn’t agree with letting him go and i liked what he was trying to build, but I also don’t get those (mainly on Twitter) who whenever Hull win point Rosenior effectively saying “this is what we could’ve won” and use it as another stick to beat Warne with. There are no guarantees we’d have fared any better under Liam, I actually don’t think we would’ve fared any better. 

Their transfer spend this season was funded by last season's sales.

Their wage bill last season was only £23.6m which is ranked only 14th is the league. You're looking at over £35m for a top 6 wage budget (Bristol City would have been 7th last season with £35.9m).

Im at a rather embarrassing 21.

3 PL, 9 Championship, 7 L1, and 2 L2

2 hours ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

Potentially they look like they’ve blown playoffs despite being very heavily backed by their owners. Was thinking exactly the same about Blackpool. 

"Heavily backed" by a midtable budget?

6 minutes ago, Carnero said:

I thought it strange that KRobinson was on the bench rather than DRobinson anyway, given DRob's extra experience and the fact that he covers multiple positions including centre back. Was he not available do you know?

Probably because Kei is a CB who could cover LB with no one else in the squad covers these positions.

Darren is a CM who can cover CB and RB. We already had 3 CMs on the bench, and had both Ward and Wilson starting (so 2 players who could play RB)

There will be a heavy emphasis on attacking set pieces, so Sibley and Ward will be starting. They've conceded almost half of their goals from set-pieces. We'll also sit off, letting Portsmouth have most of the ball and hit them on the break.

Truth be told it's hard to not see the same 11 starting - the only changes due to fitness (Washington and Blackett-Taylor got over an hour first yhe first time in a while) or injury (Mendez-Laing struggling with his injury?).

The bench will probably be the same too, with KRobinson potentially being the only change. Elder or DRobinson most likely to take his place on the bench.

1 hour ago, sage said:

Some good suggestions. What do you think to McNamara at Millwall and Browne at Preston?

McNamara plays in a position we don't need to recruit. Awful end product too so not someone I would sign even if we needed someone.

I like Browne and may have suggested him before. However, I don't think he'd get in the side over Ebou Adams or Herbie Kane, and I doubt he would want to join a side to sit on the bench.

44 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Agreed. It wasn’t pretty but that doesn’t matter right now. Just grind out the results.

No doubt some statto will come on saying we didn’t “deserve” to win because they had more possession (which they did) and completed loads more passes (which I assume they did) etc. but, as you say, it was a deliberate tactic to allow them to keep possession and pass it around where they couldn’t hurt us. I expect to see the same at Pompey - it’s not a game we’re likely to dominate.

It’s not a tactic you’d want to see deployed too often (especially at home), but sometimes it’s necessary.

 

xG favours Blackpool (0.49 vs 1.19) so we clearly didn't deserve the win 😉

However, in terms of xGOT (0.77 vs 0.13) we clearly deserved to win.

Rodri has pictures of Ebou Adams on his bedroom wall

4 minutes ago, Matchday Fred said:

Apart from 3 pts and other results ….

Wash got 70 mins

Collins got 20 mins

No further injuries

CBT was decent

Barkhuizen must be close to a return

Gayle is now one week closer to a return

Not sure about Bird, maybe he’s flown away

Barkhuizen may be fit for the last couple of games, same as Gayle. Bird supposedly back after the Portsmouth game.

Doubtful we'll see any of Nyambe, Rooney, Forsyth, or John-Jules again this season

7 minutes ago, littleover ram said:

Lincoln have scored what looks to be a late winner, would hate to finish 3rd and get them in the playoffs! 

They've now only conceded 1 goal in the last 8 games, scoring 23 goals.

Out of the top 16 in the league, only 2 sides are currently winning 😮

5 out of the bottom 8 winning.

The same lino once again showing he's blind

Barnsley 2-0 down

Collins and Tommo coming on. Probably for Mendez-Laing and Washington

1 minute ago, littleover ram said:

How does xG work? Ours is 0.25 apparently and Blackpool’s is 0.83…

Adams scored from a low probability shot (xG of just 0.04). Washington's was 0.16, taking us to 0.4. Mendez-Laing having the only other decent change in the 3rd minute (0.14 xG)

Blackpool have had 4 decent chances and a few small ones. The effort by Byers in the 29th minute was 0.22 xG.

Carlisle 3-0!!

Lino is blind.There's no way anyone should have got that throwin wrong

A brilliant half of football. Can't ask for much more than that

The table looks beautiful at the moment. 6 points clear of Bolton and 10 points clear of Peterborough/Barnsley

1 minute ago, Blondest Goat said:

Looks like Wilson at RB to me

Yep. Warne obviously doesn't trust Ward at RB in a back 4 🙈

12 minutes ago, eddielewis said:

I have it as this: 

                        Wildsmith 

Ward        Nelson       Cashin        Sibley

                 Smith         Adams

   Wilson             NML              CBT

                     Washington

 

I would say the 3 behind will probably be free to switch around. Elder needs sacking off in the summer this is his 4th spell out of the team for a senior player that's on a fair wack we should have been expecting a more reliant player.

This is what it'll be

24 minutes ago, IlsonDerby said:

Who’s Robinson? 

A CB who has played at LB on the odd occasion. Still a 2nd year scholar.

53 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I expected their wages to be north of £160m, so not at all surprised it’s thereabouts. It’s considerably more than a lot of teams in a similar boat in the Premier League, though (Brighton: £110m for ref) and the liabilities (both player performance and financial) are massive. The fact they’re so heavily indebted to other clubs and financing instalments on player sales at relative high interest have to be huge concerns - that’s not even me taking the piss. 

Relegation, along with the Greek losing interest, doing a Mel, they would die because of the huge payments classed as football debt. Relegation would ultimately lead to heavy point deductions in the Championship regardless of the Greek’s penchant to fund an unsustainable business. It’s a dangerous game. 

It’s a top 10 wage bill, more than the likes of West Ham, etc 

In 21/22, a £147m wage bill would have been the 18th highest in Europe (ahead of AC Milan) and 10th highest in England.

In 20/21, only 8 teams had a higher wage bill than £147m.

Less than 10 years ago (14/15) Liverpool were 5th highest with £144m.