MACKWORTHRAM

I thought they'd qualified to be honest?

Not in the Namibia squad today. Anyone know if he's injured?

No I agree with you there mate. I think we do have that. Last night for example I can think of twice where the movement was there, you can see it's rehearsed. Yet Hourihane (who out of our squad has the biggest pedigree and played at the higher level) inexplicably puts too much on a basic pass to set Wilson clear. That's what Warne cannot legislate for in my opinion.

People saying Warne was admitting to bypass the midfield too. He's not saying that at all. He's said that Reading like to press and press quick. So don't take too many touches in midfield, move the ball quickly. Essentially get the ball out wide and beat the press. Which we did and were it not for poor passes to set Wilson away or poor crosses who knows what could have happened. Ultimately these were the reasons we had no shots on target. Similarly people seem to be beating Warne with a stick about playing Wilson at right back and not rotating the squad. He's not been able to in recent games has he. Nyambe is not here. Smith is injured. Who would have gone in at right back you'd imagine. Thompson has only just come back. Fornah has been poorly the last two games. So he's had 5 midfielders with only two available. Collins is essentially our only fit striker with Waghorn and Washington out and TJJ made of biscuits. Out wide you've got Barkhuizen, Wilson and NML as your main options. So he's not been able to rotate any of them. Now Nyambe will be back soon and Blackett-Taylor is in, Thompson is fit, Korey Smith can't he far off and Fornah is back. Plus getting another striker in and Waghorn and Washington fit means he will have the chance to rotate his squad. But over the last few games it's been really difficult for Warne to rotate the squad because their hasn't been options to do so in the areas we need to.

Sorry mate but that's absolutely ridiculous. You can blame Warne for certain things but players not being able to play simple passes is not on him. Hourihane last night had two where all he needs to do is slip Wilson in down the right and he's in acres and passed both out of play. Players have to take a certain amount of responsibility also. The quality of balls in and the final third were atrocious, so was the decision making.

This is it for me. It's not about the football. We've lost two in 14. Yes last night was really poor. But I agree with what you say he has to manage the squad. In fairness to Warne he's been really unlucky in the respect that Thompson and Smith have been injured and in the last couple of games Fornah has been ill. So he's not really been able to change the midfield. Also he's had not choice but to play Wilson at right back, which I doubt he wants to do. Couple that with injuries to Waghorn and Washington and the only back up striker being John-Jules has meant he's not been able to rotate up front either. Same with the wingers. NML and Barkhuizen are the only ones now Wilson is having to play at RB. So in fairness to Warne the ability to freshen the team up hasn't been there in the last few games. As these players start to come back he should seriously looking at resting players. For a start on Saturday I'd have both Hourihane and Mendez-Laing on the bench. Also, sorry Ryan. But I hope you lot get beat tonight cos we need you back. Team for Saturday:- Wildsmith Nyambe Nelson Cashin Elder Fornah Bird. Thompson Wilson Collins Blackett-Taylor If that team can't heat Cheltenham at home then they are in bother. In 2-3 weeks time we should have a new striker, Waghorn, Washington and Smith back. So we'll have options to rotate.

Brannagan would cost £1 million as an absolute minimum. Considering we've had to borrow 300k out the loan plot to buy Blackett-Taylor. I'd say that's unlikely. Wilder has said they've already turned down championship loan offers for Arblaster

That's up there with the most angry I've been this season. The fact we could have gone top and have gone to a team in the bottom 3 and not even mustered a shot on target is a shambles really. Elder was the only one to come out with any credit. Nelson and Cashin were ok. Cashin gave the ball away too many times though. Bird and Hourihane were a joke. Half hearted tackles. No control. Offered absolutely nothing. We are crying out for a midfielder who can break up play, put his foot on the ball and dictate play. That midfield is all over the place. Collins was offside at almost every opportunity. Even when the ball didn't go to him. He's offside. Sibley and Ward came on and did absolutely nothing again. TJJ looks like he's done. No great loss at all. We still need 3 players in for me.

Plot twist he lives in a tent and hasn't passed his test

I think most of league one would want to sign him go be honest. He's a proven goalscorer at this level. What will work in our favour is we're at the top and I can't see Smith wanting to go to a team outside the top 6.

Might announce it tonight to cheer us up after watching that 😂

I've had a look at the fixtures from Tuesday and it's all I can see. Said he went to watch a winger and also a striker that has been recommended to him. Only thing with it is Olakigbe came on in the 99th minute. If that didn't go to extra time he wouldn't have come on. Would Warne travel all the way to London to watch a player that he didn't know would start? I don't think so. Plus he also said he wants players that are good enough and are first team ready now. Looking at that Fraser's stats, he's not had a loan spell anywhere? So essentially we'd be his first taste of proper football. Is that first team ready? I don't think so. But I honestly can't see who else it could be

I thought we were in complete control of the game until we gave their first goal away. Really poor from NML. Trying to be too clever. Also felt Nelson could possibly have got out to him and not let him shoot. From that point we lost our way and looked nervous. When we really didn't need to. Then the second goal is criminal really. But after that I thought we took control of the game again and in my opinion we deserved to win the game. They had 2 shots, which were both from our errors and scored them both. 66% possession, 7 shots on target. Should have been 2 up at half time and Collins should stick that volley away second half. That could be a huge three points that could. Reminds me of when we nicked that winner against Yeovil in the last minute. Got to get some strength up front though. Absolutely nothing to come on there and change the game at all. Sooner we can get CBT and a striker in the better really

Because we're a different club to 6 years ago. There isn't a chance Clowes would blow all our budget on one player. Not a chance. Plus getting him in on a 3 year deal. 500k spread over 3 years isn't a lot. Even if he ends up going for free at the end. But at the very worst, Derby could break even.

Even 500k is a no brainer for me. We're crying out for another winger. NML on one side, CBT on the other. There wouldn't be much better in this league. Now we know that the bid wasn't today, but last week. Makes me think that we're close. If they didn't want to sell him and we were miles apart on a fee, he would have played today. The fact he hasn't means we're close and they want to cash in now.

Yeah I'm hoping the bid being reported by Football Insider is the same bid reported by that Richard Cawley at the start of the week. Then we've continued negotiations this week and are getting close. CBT has probably informed Charlton that he wants to leave and move to Derby. So hopefully they've just said look we're close, not played him today and we can get this all done next week.

In all fairness all this means is he either is actually injured or a move is close. My only worry is we wanted him in the summer. But he had triggered an extension. So they obviously didn't want to do business. Now he's had a really good start to the season, if a decent Championship club comes in, they will be able to offer more than what we can.

Not in the Charlton squad today......

Funny really that some of our fans are annoyed, concerned, angry that we don't seem to have any money to spend. I'm just reading up now on how Newcastle can't afford Solanke. Arsenal have to sell before they could buy. Money in football really isn't there is it. Newcastle are literally worth billions and billions and have still been told that will have to sell a star player to find a transfer spree. Wolves made over £150 million in player sales in the summer and they are dangerously close to a points deduction. Everton have had one. I can't imagine Forest are far off either.

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.

Washington won't be match fit till March providing he doesn't have a set back. Waghorn who knows. At some point isn't really helping. Smith is proven at this level and offers something different to Collins. Whilst TJJ has potential. Not being able to play 90 minutes isn't really much help at all. If we signed CBT, Smith and Arblaster this month I'd think we could give it a right good go to get promoted. Strength in depth is key and being able to rotate and not weaken the side is key. Because last season we ran out of steam as we had nobody that could step in and replace any of our better players. We can't let that happen again.

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

Just about to say this but you beat me too it. Tell me you're signing Michael Smith without telling me you're signing Michael Smith.

Spot on mate. You won't find a consistent winger in league one and if you find one in the championship they are likely to get snapped up. We are a league one side. Who honestly do people honestly expect us to sign? I can't fathom it. These are the same people who didn't want us to sign Jordan "currently the top scorer in league one" Rhodes. We're a league one side, with a league one budget. Some of our fans need to realise that.

Who's said we've got no money to spend? Clowes took over last year where we weren't allowed to spend money on transfer fees, even if we could.