Andrew3000

Bit of a weird one, they’ve young forwards coming through and it’s a bit of a nothing season for them. I thought they’d rather breathe through they’re youth than spend big wages on a 6 month loan.

4 if you include Wilson when Nyambe returns.

DET saying Charlton backtracked and accepted Derby's 2nd offer - £250k. That's good business if so. In any case, he looks one to get bums off seats and I'm looking forward to seeing him play.
On a general note, with the players we've managed to secure on longer contracts, I reckon this has been a quietly progressive window for the club. We seem to have adopted a 'we won't sell for beans and we won't overpay either' kinda stance and I like it a lot. Whatever else happens, we'll start next year in probably our most robust financial health in years, hopefully coinciding with our first game back in the Championship.
And on that note, how about that midfield fix, Mr Clowes? I reckon that might just about do it, don't you? Oh, and the big lad in on loan if there's still coins down the back of the sofa. We don't ask for much, you know! 😋
 
 

3 quality wide players in the match day squad, means one comes on 60-65 mins and is a nightmare for defenders. Hope we keep Barks, he is a confidence player and his recent goals will boost him.

Done by your friendly neighbourhood muppet mod.
No, not that one, I meant me.

I see what you did there. How KTI are you though? 🙂 

31Vickers 6
2Wilson 7.5
35Nelson 6.5
6Cashin 7.5
20Elder 5.5
17Sibley 6
11Méndez-Laing 6.5
8Bird 7
4Hourihane 7.5
7Barkhuizen 7.0
5Bradley 6
19John-Jules 6.5
16Thompson 6.5
9Collins 7.0
ATG
Too late to give a detailed individual breakdown, but I did watch the game again on Sky the next day. That made me mark JJ up, because he did some really good connecting play, as did Bird, stuff that seems to go un-noticed by many.
Hourihane was good too, very involved all game. 
Elder made a mistake early doors as well as being done for their second, and Nelson really should have come out to Seddon, Cashin was already moving across to cover. 
It's easy to say with hindsight, but we really should have been more comfortable than we were. This is what defensive frailties and a bit of luck do to you. We need to be more ruthless when we're on top so we don't put ourselves in these situations. 1-0 was a poor return for our first half dominance and that's what nearly cost us.

31Vickers 6 
2Wilson 7.5 Relentless driving forward even from the deeper position he was asked to play kept the ball so well, great skill and some lovely balls in. 
35Nelson  7.5  supreme in the air, used tbe ball well too. Took off half a mark for being uncharacteristically too passive for first goal. Thought he could have put more pressure on Seddon.
6Cashin 8  Solid and takes so much responsibility with the ball to start moves. One right footed chip over their player (when played into a difficult position at the back ) was just a delight, took all pressure off instantly. 
20Elder 5.5  Still not sure what he is.  More legs than Fozzy is helpful but reticence in defending and attack. Did drive forward well occasionally, put in a decent ball but more often check back inside rather than driving on outside or playing tbe fozzy ball. won a couple of headers but some wayward passing.  Match sharpness and confidence lacking, hopefully there's a much better player in there.
17Sibley 6
11Méndez-Laing 7.5  it's great to see 90 mins plus of running from him now. Constant threat to them, great assist, some great balls in. But yeah, lost the ball for the goal.
8Bird  6.5 Decent shift. Good awareness to cover defensively at times. Balance in midfield wrong of course but not his fault.
4Hourihane 7 very mixed night. Worked hard, some good dead balls, some sloppy passing and just gets run past easily. Such a wonderful finish though. Once again, can we get him in these positions more instead of further back?
7Barkhuizen 7.5 Not as persistent a threat as NML but great finish, loved to see him pointing to where he wanted that ball and a nice headed assist.
5Bradley 6
19John-Jules 6.5 Battled well, some key touched but as others said, we need to vary our attacking play to see him thrive. Trying to get on the end of endless crosses did not seem to suit him.
16Thompson 6 one of the few who can press really well.
9Collins 7 mixed night but huge effort, well taken goal and some decent link up.  
 
ATG

More likely over confidence in Derby’s team and a total demolition of any confidence in the NC team.
Total imbalance of skills. Anyone going up to the first team may be under the delusion they will have similar time and space and be rudely awakened by a Stevenage boot up the Khyber Pass.
 

Looks like he’s staying then- really pleased. I think, like Bird and Cashin, he’s miles ahead and of this league in terms of quality.
Hopefully we can sign him permanently in the summer and then he can bang in 30 goals in the championship next season and lead us to title glory 

I only saw the highlights of the Burton game, but it looked like he had a key involvement in the opening goal and in the creation of a number of other chances. For me, he's sharpe and confident, and I'm glad if he's staying.

It's always about a blend.
Our midfield absolutely didn't work, and still doesn't really, when we played Hourihane and Smith. Age is relative to athleticism, NML for example, is still quicker and more athletic than a lot of younger players you'll come across. Got to find the blend for the opposition - our old, slow players got battered against Posh's young, athletic, quick players.
So, overall, your post and assessment of TJJ is about as wrong as old Alan's was.

Cheers. Love your academy contributions - they are much appreciated by others too I'm sure.

If Wheeldon isn't a player then I'm a Dutchman

We started with 4 first team players so I'd hope they're close 😅 Sibley and Thompson involved with the first half goals. Ward and Fornah the other two involved.
DRobinson and DBrown are the closest from our U21s but would benefit from loans for slightly different reasons. Robbo needs first team minutes now so he can kick on and progress, whilst Brown needs a loan to get over the mental gap between U21 and first team football. I see him as being in a similar situation as Whittaker when he was put in the first team too early - he looked a bit lost and wasn't playing anywhere near to what he was capable of and showed in U21/23 games. On ability, I would put them at L1 and L2 level respectively.
Weston and Bartley a little further behind, perhaps NL level. Bartley's physicality means he'd be able handle himself at that level too.

Didn’t Warne say in his interview last night that his Wife had told him it was going round that he was signing a player from Reading and he said it was nonsense?

I was happy in the hay with a drunken owl 

I think CBT and Michael Smith would be good signings and fill gaps where we're lacking in this team. If we can also add a younger, mobile CM, even if it's someone like Charlie Savage who wouldn't necessarily be a starting player week in, week out, then that should hopefully be enough.
Going forward for the rest of the season I'd like to use Korey Smith as a back-up RB, I think he has looked better there than he has in the middle and offers more stability than Ward or Wilson who are more attacking.
It would give us the attacking options of NML, CBT, Wilson, Ward, Barkhuizen, Collins, Smith and TJJ. That might end up being too many, but we'd win games from the strength of our bench alone. We didn't have depth last season and it cost us because we looked knackered by the end. If we don't have that problem, then there's no reason we can't finish top 2 this year.

I'd be happy with we signed him and CBT. I would consider that a good January.

Yeah it’s all well and good you objectively presenting stats to show he’s actually quite useful at this level and could probably do a job for us.
You could also add in the fact he scored double figures for a side that won promotion from this league last season who were storming the league at one point, BUT you’re missing the point that he’s over 30 and once played for a club we look down our noses at! (Scoring 18 goals in 45 league games as they won promotion from this league too)

His 21/22 season he had the following (stats per 90):
0.43 goals 
6.37 aerial duels won (league highest)
5.85 touches in the box (98th percentile)
Also, won possession 43 times in the final third, which was a league high.
In 22/23, he also had 0.52 goals (0.43xG) per 90 which was near the top of the league.
He'll add a different dynamic in our attack, win us aerial duels up top and get on the end of crosses. It'd be a good signing.

Couple of things here, last season was our first in League 1, not only would incoming players be sold the bounce straight back up dream, Rooney was still around whilst deals were being lined up.
18 months later, are we to believe Warne hasn’t signed any quality players, players which have us 2 points off the automatics? Nelson, Wilson, Ward, are they crap?
To top it off and suggest Warne isn’t respected at this level, come on, his CV will earn him respect, let’s not needlessly slander the guy because we’re not signing players that we want and he may have no interest in.

What you talkin about @MaltRam?

Always liked Smith. Gregory surely past it