Ghost of Clough

To be honest, it's this kind of game DRobinson, Weston and Brown should be playing in to earn loan moves away this month. I would add Bardell, Bartley, Radcliffe and Lindsay would be in the same at the start of next season too

For reference, in Wigan's promotion season, he played half his games on the right (7 goals and 7 assists) and the other half down the middle (8 goals and 3 assists)

For reference, in Wigan's promotion season, he played half his games on the right (7 goals and 7 assists) and the other half down the middle (8 goals and 3 assists)

Our most promising youngsters from those age groups were already in the first team picture, hence them not being able to play due to the Covid groups. I think the U23s were struggling with injuries at that time too - with Festy only just returning to training.
JBrown,  Minkley, Buchanan, Bird, Knight, Dixon, Whittaker, Cashin, McDonald, ABrown, Sibley, Wilson and Stretton were all unavailable (some were training with the first team, others were injured) and would have been part of the U23 year groups.
Whilst those U18 year groups were less promising than others we've had come through, there were still a couple out injured who would have been part of the squad - Grewal-Pollard, Borkovic, Kelly

Our most promising youngsters from those age groups were already in the first team picture, hence them not being able to play due to the Covid groups. I think the U23s were struggling with injuries at that time too - with Festy only just returning to training.
JBrown,  Minkley, Buchanan, Bird, Knight, Dixon, Whittaker, Cashin, McDonald, ABrown, Sibley, Wilson and Stretton were all unavailable (some were training with the first team, others were injured) and would have been part of the U23 year groups.
Whilst those U18 year groups were less promising than others we've had come through, there were still a couple out injured who would have been part of the squad - Grewal-Pollard, Borkovic, Kelly

There is another option - promising youngsters from leagues such as Ireland and N. Ireland.
Oxford's previous signings from those countries since 2014 were aged 22, 21, 21, 24, 24, 21, 23. Two of those older 3 signings are back in N.Ireland whilst the other had a brief spell in the Championship scoring 2 goals and 2 assists in 53 games (he's a winger)

Our most promising youngsters from those age groups were already in the first team picture, hence them not being able to play due to the Covid groups. I think the U23s were struggling with injuries at that time too - with Festy only just returning to training.
JBrown,  Minkley, Buchanan, Bird, Knight, Dixon, Whittaker, Cashin, McDonald, ABrown, Sibley, Wilson and Stretton were all unavailable (some were training with the first team, others were injured) and would have been part of the U23 year groups.
Whilst those U18 year groups were less promising than others we've had come through, there were still a couple out injured who would have been part of the squad - Grewal-Pollard, Borkovic, Kelly

Our most promising youngsters from those age groups were already in the first team picture, hence them not being able to play due to the Covid groups. I think the U23s were struggling with injuries at that time too - with Festy only just returning to training.
JBrown,  Minkley, Buchanan, Bird, Knight, Dixon, Whittaker, Cashin, McDonald, ABrown, Sibley, Wilson and Stretton were all unavailable (some were training with the first team, others were injured) and would have been part of the U23 year groups.
Whilst those U18 year groups were less promising than others we've had come through, there were still a couple out injured who would have been part of the squad - Grewal-Pollard, Borkovic, Kelly

Typically, as you go up the leagues and have better finishers, you also have better keepers so you don't notice much difference.
However, someone like Kane scores roughly 50% more than his xG. Bellingham is currnetly 80% higher, whilst Leon Bailey is 100%. Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the scale is Darwin Nunez who is getting close to half his xG.
It's still early in the season to truly judge players vs xG though. Even a full season can often be a bit unfair.

Good to know that you'd be content with dropping points against Fleetwood, Burton, Lincoln and Cheltenham, but I won't be. We don't have a divine right to beat those sides, but a side competing for automatics definitely should be beating them.

First one to snigger about NML getting an extension... etc... etc... 🙄

I get your general point, but Embleton has been at Sunderland since he was 7. Them loaning him out is no different to us loaning a youngster out to develop them.

Nice one - second column (ie passes per cross) very useful in this context I think, maybe more so than the third. Thanks!
But yeah this feels intuitively right. Stevenage and us do seem quite 'crossy' in our approach.
 

I don't think the stats are visible without paying for statsbomb or something like that, but I'd love to see the types of crosses these teams are putting in. I imagine Stevenage, Derby and Pompey are mixed crosses, probably mostly at head height, whereas a LOT of Peterborough's crosses are along the floor/cutbacks.

With the current top 6 crosses only:

Good to know that you'd be content with dropping points against Fleetwood, Burton, Lincoln and Cheltenham, but I won't be. We don't have a divine right to beat those sides, but a side competing for automatics definitely should be beating them.

Jeez that’s quality retort and use of stats 😂

Yeah I did think Thompson’s injury came at an unfortunate time for him - he’d just broken into the team and was performing well, I think he’ll struggle to get back in now. In terms of Fornah, he hasn’t had much of a chance to start - but his performances have been so ineffective off the bench, he’s not really pushing for one. As I say, for me neither of those two are the answer - Sibley or a new player is, to bring some creativity and spark to our midfield.

Can’t believe all this talk about Max, a lot of his work goes unnoticed he’s an integral part of this team, get him on a new contract and build a team around him

He now leads the charts for CMs with open play assists. Other than that, he's just a good all rounder - generally above avergae at passing and shooting (for this league), but he also isn't bad at much either (just aerial battles)

I’d imagine Savage, Arblaster and others are a contingency if Bird is moved on. 

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.

4 of the next 6 are at home. Then Exeter away, followed by another 4 out of 6 at home.

More shots than any other side from set pieces, but only 10th for goals from them (avering 1 every 3 games) - we top the charts in that category (13 so far)

Excellent stuff from Bird for 2 goals today