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The large number of free agents is probably a blessing. Allows the club to reshape the squad for the Championship, and get a lot younger. Gregory deserves the freedom of S6 for that cross at Wembley and I wouldn't mind keeping him around for a year at the right price.

I watched every Bolton Wanderers game last year in League 2 (housemate is a fan and it was lockdown). They used it tika taka style there, passing out from the back, knocking it around and after a slow start (they were 19th around Christmas) it clicked and they got promoted automatically. They've carried that form into League 1 and are 3rd in the table. So it can certainly work in lower leagues.

Paterson seems an odd fit as one of the wide forwards but he's coming off a decent match. His defensive abilities could come in useful if we're up at the half. If not there's plenty of options to replace him on the bench.

Like the team. Going all out for the win. Brown at LB will give a more attacking outlet. Palmer will be solid at CB. Creative midfield with Byers in there. Lots of attacking options on the bench.

As suspected, Moore resting Hutch and giving him a full 24 days between games. We have the squad, we may as well make the most of it.

I believe it's on ifollow

Yes. Analytics has transformed American sports. UK sports have been a bit slower, but are catching up. Still some way to go, as revealed by some of the comments in this thread Couple of write ups about xG from 2017 here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/mar/30/expected-goals-big-football-data-leicester-city-norwich https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/no-seriously-what-heck-expected-goals-xg Simon Rolfes, Bayern Leverkusen’s Sporting Director: “We always look at our xG as it provides good feedback on how our attacking play is developing. Basically, it’s good for us to have a high xG in comparison to our opponents, because it means we’ve taken a lot of chances. For fans, xG is a good reflection of how a game is going, something other stats such as possession, shots on goal, and duels won perhaps don’t always do quite so well.”

It's great to be top of the league, unbeaten and without conceding a goal. Ultimately those are the stats that matter and if they continue then HMS PSL will be full steam ahead. However the odds are that it won't be quite that straightforward over the next 40+ games. For a slightly more detailed look at the performances so far I took a look at the xG stats. For those that don't know xG stands for expected goals scored per game. It's calculated by taking into account shot positions, shot accuracy (on/off target), shot frequency (number of shots), attack dangerousness and overall attack pressure (possession amount and depth of possession). It's generally understood to provide a more detailed assessment of how a team is playing than the win/loss column, even if that is all that matters at the end of the day. Top teams use it to assess their performances (and it's used a lot in fantasy football). So far Wednesday are: 18th in xG with 0.62 per game. I think many have pointed out that despite picking up points we've not actually been clicking on all cylinders yet and this would back that up. Certainly areas to improve and as the squad gels hopefully better performances will come. A note about Saturday. That game will be between the worst side in xG at Home, Morecambe, with 0.37 per game against the us, the second worst side in Away xG at 0.32. It might not be a classic for the neutrals!

This is well put. *Of course* all such decisions come down to DM and the medical team. Coming on Owlstalk to tell people to stop discussing topics about Sheffield Wednesday seems a strange use of someone's time.

We all love the Hutch-Iorfa partnership at the heart of our record-setting defence but we also know Hutch will need careful management to last the season. His body has already failed to make it to the end of the 4th game of the season. No doubt we'd love to see him back as soon as possible but if we rest him on Saturday against Morcambe we could get him 24 days rest. That's because the Sunderland game on Sept 4th may be postponed for international call ups meaning he would next play on Sept 11 v Plymouth. Moore said the injury was from too many games: "We think it was general soreness with Sam from the volume of games. He has had the last couple of days for it to settle down. "We did not want him to aggravate it… We have given him another 24 hours for it to settle down." Hutch probably could play on Saturday but giving him the maximum rest may prove beneficial in the long term. Plus Dunkley has just had a full 90 minutes with Iorfa and the rest of the defence so the pairing have something to build on. And Dunkley was just named in the League 1 team of the week. Just something to bear in mind should Hutch not be on the team sheet this Saturday. It may not be a sign of a serious injury, just some squad management to keep Sam upright for the rest of the campaign.

Brilliant stuff, thanks for sharing. Makes a change from the usual "matchday vlogs" by teenagers walking to the ground etc Two minor points: there were actually 5 changes to the line up, he missed Johnson for Brown. And we didn't release Green, we sold him for a fee. But quibbles aside can't wait for the next one.

I'm not worried about him being bullied at school. Just want to know if his hamstring is intact.

@YesWeCrann any chance you can ask Moore about this and put our minds at ease?

I don't have a problem with playing in the competition, what is demeaning is that the kids from the top tier teams are included. They should leave it to the clubs of the football league, not a practice tournament to benefit the Premier League backups.

If he was sold I suspect we would wouldn't rush in another CB but instead roll with Hutch, Dunkley and Lewis Gibson with Palmer and Brennan as cover and Brown playing at LB should Palmer need to come inside. That's not a terrible group but the way the defense and Iorfa have started we should do all we can to keep the group together. He looks happy enough, so assuming there's no release clause we should be ok. The fact other big names Bannan and Windass have re-signed must give him some confidence to follow suit.

Great thread this. Thanks for crunching the numbers.

No rush selling him now. Wait for the window to close, try and extend him and if he doesn't then sell him in January. That way we still cash in but we get half a season of him.

I think we all agree it's demeaning that we're in a competition against Newcastle's U23s. I'd be happy to only play our reserves for as long as we're in it, but there are rules which stop us doing that. The depth of our squad means we probably won't have too many issues but here's the rules on the four 'qualifying' players we must include the team: EFL clubs must have at least four 'qualifying' outfield players in their line-ups, with such a player meeting these requirements: Any player who started the previous or following first-team fixture Any player who is in the top 10 players at the club who have made the most starting appearances in league and domestic cup competitions that season Any player with 40 or more first-team appearances in their career Any player on loan from a Premier League club or any EFL 'Category One' academy club A club can play any eligible goalkeeper in the competition

We could really do with that Sunderland game being postponed. Would be tough at full strength, much more difficult with an out of practice Wildsmith in goal.

So exciting to see us top of the league and a) we're not clicking on all cylinders yet and b) Windass, Shodipo, Sow and Corbinau haven't yet seen the field. Windass was clearly our best and only striker a few weeks ago but now I think our 'best 11' probably has Gregory in the middle and Windass wide. But as we've seen today Moore is happy to mix and match the forwards so I expect he'll be tried in different spots.

Agreed. Am particularly interested to see how these two get on considering how often Celtic seem to hoover up young players who then disappear

We probably missed his athleticism and physicality in the middle against Fleetwood who cut through the middle too easily. His defensive abilities also may allow Bannan to play further forward where his through balls (and shooting) can be maximised. But I can see why Moore played him out wide last night to 'get the best 11 on the field'. Hopefully the arrival of the new wingers getting fit will mean the best 11 includes Adeniran in the middle. With our injury history and once the wretched Papa Johns games begin we may need to have a rotation anyway to keep them all fresh.

Curious why we're arguing about a story published in July concerning the specifics of how a popular but ultimately mediocre and injury prone former player left the club. Of course feel free to chat about whatever you want, but considering the great start to the season and new culture and environment the club appears to have created, it seems like a strange choice.

The problem with adapting too much to the opposition is you can end up putting worse players out on the pitch. Harris and Murphy are a real threat and are probably two of our best players on form. Sometimes the trick is to just to play them and force the opposition to adapt to us. Looks like the right team to me. With such competition no need to rush Bannan back in, especially with a game on Tuesday.

Why all this talk about being happy with a point? They finished 4th bottom last season and should be happy to avoid the drop this year. We've won two from two and are looking at promotion. Obviously no easy games etc but these are the games promotion chasing teams should be looking to win, not draw.