Ghost of Clough

Im at a rather embarrassing 21. 3 PL, 9 Championship, 7 L1, and 2 L2

"Heavily backed" by a midtable budget?

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

This is what it'll be A CB who has played at LB on the odd occasion. Still a 2nd year scholar.

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.

It looks like they didn't even name a CF on their bench at the weekend. Their 3rd top CF scorer this season joined York in January. Up until Brown got into the side, they had almost entirely played with 1 upfront. With Brown in there, they've started playing with 2 upfront, so probably see the need for an extra forward as backup.

Warne set the team up wrong, but I don't think it was engineered. I just think Warne is a poor tactician. In the first half, we had two forwards who want to occupy the same same space in the box. In the second half we took one off and put Weston on who is a #10. Weston was able to play his natural game, and there was an extra player helping to create chances - hence Collins scoring two more goals for his hattrick. I firmly believe Brown would have performed better if playing with Weston instead of Collins. Either way, he needed game time in men's football and wasn't going to get the chances he needed in the first team. I remember Ebiowei starting the 21/22 season on fire, averaging a goal a game for the U18s. His youth performances earned his a few sub appearances in the first team, but cost us a valuable point away at Cardiff (?). If Warne was manager, he would have been dropped back intot he U21s, if given a go in the first place. However, Rooney opted to give him a start the following game. He started the restvof the games that season, and was viewed as one of our best players by the end of the season, all because he was given time in the first team.

His first international goal

He wasn't 'mentally' ready for first team football prior to this loan to be fair. It was obvious he had the physicality to cope, and his goal record at youth level showed he had that killer instinct. However, when given his brief chances in the first team, he looked lost. The only way for him to overcome it was from game time, and I think it was reasonable to give him starts in Cup competitions. Unfortunately, he never got those chances. It still took him a few sub apps to get over that mental block when at Gateshead. His first goal was just what he needed to get going. Is it 8 goals and 2 or 3 assists in his last 7 games?