Or like the defence has been drinking port.

Only 2 changes to the starting lineup. Hyam for Hill, Garrett for Tronstad.

What's that meant to mean, 'but a full 11 as we've previously seen'?? I certainly didn't think we were about to name a starting 10 instead, the injuries aren't that severe yet...

Two goals a game...although some games, it does feel like we've conceded two games...

I meant he isn't likely to make it at Championship level in the next two years, which is what we would reasonably need, if he is only getting a Northern Prem move at 22. I didn't mean he is too old to play in our ressies. Hilton probably isn't going to make it here either, but at least he's been trusted to sit the bench while Pears is out.

At 22, he's a bit far along in his development to only be playing at that level and have any real chance of making it here. Makes it seem pointless that we contracted him to 2025 in March. Imagine Hilton will be the u21 keeper when Pears is back.

Two things wrong with this post. The most glaring is that we absolutely do develop our own young players. The last stats showed we gave the second most minutes to players we developed ourself, out of all the clubs in England. The second is that you can't expect that having a good academy means you'll have players of the requisite quality ready to step in for all positions at all times.

Well I fundamentally disagree with nearly all of what you've said so I'll just leave it there.

Confidence. It's confidence based on confidence.

Szmodics didn't have a poor first campaign, he was good for the second half of last season. Dom Hyam won Player of the Year, but he's average at best? No credit for Tronstad?

In fairness though, the Travis deal was signed in March 2022, before the JDT and Broughton era commenced. Before the additional financial cuts this summer too. Absolutely the CEO's fault though if he put him on too much. Interesting to note that Travis is only being loaned out and is still contracted until summer 2026. Part of me thinks there's an understanding from the club that JDT may well not be here by this summer, and a new manager might value Travis more. Either that or we're hoping he shines for Ipswich and attracts a decent bid from somebody. But every chance he is still seen as having a future here, we'll see.

Anyway, anybody know much about this Chrisene? Not seen much opinion proferred about the actual player rather than transfer policy and his age. I get none of us have likely seen him but usually someone has at least heard something. LT article says he has 1 FA Cup appearance and has been part of the PL matchday squad on several occasions. I see he also played a League Cup game for Exeter at the age of 15 years and 7 months, against Coventry. A League Two sub appearance for them, and 3 EFL Trophy games, before Villa bought him. Had a season-long loan to Kilmarnock last season, made 13 SPL and 3 cup appearances before tearing his medial ligament and missing the rest of the season. Not sure how long ago he regained fitness after that injury, hopefully not something that recurs. That seems to be the extent of his professional experience. His total game time across all club levels U18 and upwards appears to be 63 games, with 4,287 minutes, equivalent to about 47 full matches. 2 goals, 4 assists, all for Villa at youth level. Has spent a little bit of time playing LM, 10 matches, not sure at what level of competition. Capped at England youth (U15s, U16s, U17s and U19s), 18 times in total, none of which included in the above stats. The Egg says: “He will bring additional pace and physicality to our backline, and he is very comfortable in possession. “Ben has spent the first half of this season training with Aston Villa’s first team squad and we are delighted that he has chosen Blackburn Rovers to continue his development.”

I wouldn't bother with that hope. I think all it means is they've identified there are no backup LBs who can be relied upon.

What JDT wants, and what JDT gets...seldom the twain do meet. Good of Elliott Jackson to admit he gave false impressions of how close O'Riordan was. Certainly different to the Nicko School of Denying All Mistakes. This negotiating over O'Riordan's fee...we met a minimum fee release clause. Generally means you haven't met what the club actually want for the player if you're having to resort to the clause. They won't be obliged to sell if the fee isn't up front (unless the clause specifies it can be staggered), so they're likely to insist on more than the 500k if it's structured.

The LT are actually wrong there, as according to transfermarkt, he played 90 minutes against Preston, and 90 minutes against Watford. Both at fullback though.

I'll be gutted if Vale plays any games for us. That would mean he can't join another club until the summer, and he simply isn't good enough to play here at this point in time (probably ever tbh).

No signing is going to solve all our problems, they can only solve one at a time. No left backs behind Pickering was one of our problems. That said, it was far from one of our biggest. If we were planning to still do a lot of business this window, these two deals would be decent enough for filling out our thin squad. But we can't receive funds for transfer deals from Venkys, and the LT 'understands' we are only looking to bring in three players this month. Presumably it was already known Travis would be off, and Hill's deal would be ended, so I assume we only have one more to go, which would likely be O'Riordan if we get that over the line. That would be a disastrous window. Our priority needs are blatantly striker and GK, not to mention experience and a lack of numbers. To improve our net numbers by just one, sign a 19 yr old and two 20 yr olds, and not sign a striker or GK could only be considered an abject failure. The only hope, apart from the LT just being plain wrong, is that it was three new faces prior to any departures, in which case there would still be two after O'Riordan. Leaving space in the plan for an experienced GK and hopefully striker. But even then, given our likely budget, I wouldn't hold out much hope.

Jake Batty you mean? Doesn't sound like he's ready to make that progress, nor is any other young LB we have. We've shown we'd rather play players out of position than Batty when Pickering is out, so this lad won't be standing in anyone's way.

Full game once (Watford), 3 other shorter appearances totalling another 71 minutes. Played 241 minutes in November too. I don't think Neil was being literal about him not playing since October though.

I see Brighton paid somewhere from £3.5 million to £5 million for him (reports vary, I presume the 5 mill is one of those potential add ons things) last January. Must have been fairly well rated at the time. Hopefully he comes good for us, we'll just have to see. Doesn't fit the profile of what I'd have wanted though, experience and other areas should be prioritised.

It's not 5 months he has given it here. He was starting pretty regularly until October. In December it sounds like he had kicked up enough stink about wanting out that he wasn't playing primarily for that reason (whether that be as punishment for being disruptive, or to keep him fresh and uninjured for his Ipswich move). So he's given it 2 months (3 if I'm wrong about why he wasn't playing in December).

I think we can take that as fact. There were strong rumours that Millwall were bidding on him in the summer, and someone was saying the other week that Travis' uncle was publicly saying (I think on Twitter?) in October that Travis had fallen out with JDT or something like that. It matches up too well with what JDT is saying (that he asked to leave in the summer and in October). Besides, it would be very stupid to claim Travis has asked to leave twice if he hasn't, as Travis could very easily contradict that at some point if he wishes.

No. Largely because there's no proof of that. Is it possible? Sure. But you don't need to drop someone to sell them anyway, in fact it's likely to reduce their suitors and market value. Fringe players being sold angers the fanbase less, but they've shown repeatedly they don't care about that. The homegrown captain being loaned to a stronger squad also isn't going to be popular no matter how little he has played recently.

Travis has been loaned, not sold. Also not entirely JDT's decision. It's a fair point that he mentions needing experience but dropped Travis and Kaminski. But Travis was actually dropped for someone 2 years older. Kaminski was dropped when injured, and it was more a case of not bringing him back in when fit. Which was a big blunder for me. The overall pattern of the team getting even younger is more down to cost cutting from above.

It's not paywalled as such, you can just only view LT articles so many times before you're paywalled. Try viewing it on a different browser or incognito mode though and you should be able to read it.