Ghost of Clough

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.

1-2 Fulham. 97th minute.

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

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!

This came from the club's live Youtube Fan Forum. He was talking about making sensible business decision to cut losses and sell players at the right time (ie. not letting players leave for free at the end of contracts). Also referred to a discussion they had with supporters - if players don't want to sign new deals the will sell them which confirms both of those players will be sold - I would sign them both if they are affordable.
Other than a lot of waffle and hiring consultants for every department of the club, the key takeaways from that stream...
Charlton have lost £45m over their 6 years in L1 (£7.5m per season). Their board believe they have a top 3 wage bill (confirms my thoughts). They aim to cut losses down to £1.5m a season Identified a regular change in playing style as a cause of underperformance Plan for squad building is 8 top end L1 players capable of stepping up, 8 'consistent' L1 players, 8 academy graduates Concern over number of injuries. Their recruitment didn't consider historic availability when signing players (sounds familiar?) On the academy, they're ramping up the number of academy coaches and employing a coach to aid the transition between the academy and the first team (similar to the role Justin Walker originally had under Cocu?). Also linking up with a Jamaican academy. That was a boring listen. It makes me appreciate the Fan Forums we have with @Owen87ITK, Warne and Pearce a lot more!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

So after all that back and forth what have we actually learnt? Gerrard - good JJ - bad?!

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

Or indeed to John-Jules' 😉

Plus he always seems to give 100% every game…plus he had no pre-season and has been slowly building up his fitness as he actually plays in the first team…
Time will tell, but I think he’s a class prospect…

Putting aside any issues of whether he's good enough, I don't think Odurah is the kind of fullback Warne wants anyway.  I reckon he was signed by Rosenior to do the kind of job he had Hayden Roberts doing (and what John Stones does for Man City, for example), where he drifts into central midfield to give extra passing options from the back.  From what we've seen of him (which isn't much of course), he certainly doesn't look like the kind of fullback that's going to bomb up and down the touchline and whip crosses in.

The good news is we currently don't face top 6 opposition for 11 games (Barnsley) and only 2 other top half sides (Lincoln and Stevenage) so we have a very good opportunity to put another nice run together.

Potentially mate. Maybe we thought we'd sell Cashin in the summer and they would fund what we needed. Obviously now selling Cashin is completely unthinkable because of how good he's been. Also selling Cashin and Bird in the summer is probably best as we need a big rebuild then too.
We've got Embletons wages off the books haven't we. We don't know if we are paying more for TJJ really. The bit that Arsenal countered on could be to do with the structure of the deal and if we pay anything when his contract is up, depending on games played etc. We honestly don't know.
Personally I'd not be too fussed to see Sibley leave. If there was any interest.

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.

Would it be concerning? We may earn more than others clubs, but Clowes may have made the decision to run us more sustainably. For example, Charlton have averaged losses of £7.5m since they were relegated from the Championship. Clubs such as Oxford have also taken this season to push the boat out in an attempt to get promoted too.

Wildsmith
Nelson   Cashin   Forsyth
Wilson   Bird   Hourihane   Sibley   Elder
Collins   Mendez-Laing
 
Subs: Bradley, Ward, DRobinson, Thompson, Barkhuizen, John-Jules, DBrown