It's weird how some posters are so dead set against a manager / Director of Football that they start adding stipulations to feed their dislike. "Well if you take away all of Brereton-Diaz's goals / those 3 wins" etc. Makes me chuckle.

To be honest his agent should have had a quiet word with us about this already. "Don't bother, lads, he's going to spend the next 6 months in Miami / LA".

Pretty much. If you had a Brittain at LB to mirror Brittain at RB the team would look radically different going forward - they're meant to provide the width, instead we have to cut our cloth accordingly with Pickering and JRC. Obviously a striker that can lead the line and score goals would be nice too.

If the purse strings continue to be tightened, perhaps. Oh for the days when we could spunk £15m on strikers and spend 200% of our turnover on wages, eh?

Almost certainly. His last agents couldn't find him a job for 6 months after winning back-to-back Swedish titles and he ended up at this basketcase club. He'll be putting the feelers out for sure.

I think Hyam was our most expensive summer transfer. As for the acquisition itself - well firstly you need depth in this league, so even if JDT and Broughton could have predicted Dack returning to anything like after two catastrophic knee injuries he needs a quality backup. Ideally you'd like Szmodics getting 20 minutes every time Dack starts (and Dack getting 20 minutes every time Szmodics starts). Secondly, Szmodics' season has been massively disrupted by injury - when he's played he's looked very useful, but he's not been able to get a run of games together unfortunately. Finally, Buckley's best position is CM. Whether he ever develops into a quality one at this level (he repeatedly threatens to, then dallies on the ball) is another matter - he was played as an AMC out of necessity under Mowbray. He did a fine job there, but he was always makeshift as he's simply never going to score enough goals from that position.

JDT is trying to install a style of play and a formation which will permeate through the Academy. Obviously he doesn't have the players to properly implement it yet with the First Team, but I appreciate that there's a plan - and he's pragmatic enough to throw on another CB to grind out a win. With a good #9 (bearing in mind he's playing Gallagher centrally more often than not) we could have snuck into the Playoffs this year, despite the broken squad he was handed in the summer. He needs backing this summer if he stays, but I suspect he's already looking at his options. Mowbray, on the other hand, had no style of play or a formation - he flew by the seat of his pants and adapted his principles based on the PL loans he could snag. We saw 3-5-2, 4-3-3 (with a False 9 🤣), 4-2-3-1 etc during his time here - with Rothwell played as an AML, Giles as an AMR, Johnson as a False 9 etc etc. There's really no comparison when it comes to who is the better manager.

He's missed 4 absolute sitters (that I can think of) during this 12 game goal drought. It's nothing to do with the formation, he's just massively, massively out of form. He's a new father and his head has been turned by offers from Spain - he's only human. Whether he'll regain his form is another matter - for me he needs to sit on the bench for a few games as he's hurting the team.

We literally say that every year. If you have an organised team in this league you'll always be there or there abouts. The number of games means it's an absolute grind, so you need depth (or to be incredibly lucky with injuries) and that extra bit of quality always puts you over the top.

I'd argue Brittain and Hyam are significantly better than the players they replaced. I like Szmodics, but I'm not going to die on that hill. Morton has regressed as the season has gone on, but he's been 'fine' and has provided quality depth if nothing else - I hope he's phased out now for our own players. Hirst and Mola haven't worked out, but both were last minute loan deals - I feel like Broughton et al took a chance on them based on their impressive youth records. Thomas provides pace, power and directness - something we've lacked. Now has Broughton done ENOUGH on the transfer front? No, not for me - we needed a striker and he's failed to bring one in, but I can't dismiss the rest of his business because I'm frustrated at this failure.

We've no idea what Szmodics cost, but yes he's a very useful player to have around.

He'll at least link up play and help us retain possession.

Assuming Brittain and Hyam aren't fully fit I'd go with the same team as the Watford game, with Hedges coming in for Brereton-Diaz.

His mistake?

What's Vale done to warrant a game of football for the First XI ever again?

Vale, Gallagher and Brereton-Diaz haven't scored since the World Cup break (12 games). There's defeatist then there's realist.

We need to give it up at this point. He'll miss his third game on Wednesday - with the speed that this is being resolved he'll miss his fourth game on Saturday (even if he gets here on Thurs / Fri he won't be match fit, nor will he have trained with the team). For such an expensive loan, the benefit has now passed - the Playoffs are gone.

Out of interest, how many Champions Leagues have you won?

Nottingham Forest.

His head has gone and he's completely out of form - but you can see he's still putting a shift in with how laboured his running is late in games.

Best keeper in the world, that lad. Someone should offer £80m for him immediately.

I laughed at the time. As I've always said, when Gallagher walks through that door / runs out like a gazelle onto the training pitch every single new coach will think "bloody hell, we've got a 6'4" monster here". Then you see him try to trap a ball or shoot and your heart sinks.

Brereton-Diaz and Gallagher (or Thomas, or Dolan) are asked to cover in a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3. It's only when you play them upfront in the 5-3-2 (or whatever variation you want to call it - 3-5-2 etc) that you don't find them tracking back with the Full Back. He's not being asked to do anything out of the ordinary - it's a staple of the 'new' formations in football. The reason people are saying we were 'playing with a back 6' is because Watford were on the front foot.

It has to have failed - he'll miss the game on Weds too now. That's 3 matches he could have played - gets to the point where the loan isn't worth it.

No highlights I've seen (extended or otherwise) have shown the blatant dive for their FK. Poor, that. Also no highlights have shown Sarr's run down their left where he rinsed JRC and Carter (both tried to slide in and foul him, but they couldn't get near him) - it was the most impressive thing that happened today.