Have we got one loan player too many

[selby]

  Many people know my theory (and it is only a theory,I dont know for certain) that if we do not play the loanee  we have to pay some or all of the players wages.
  Some of the substitutions over the last two seasons(Calder last season and the lad from Everton who were both poor for us, but still played or came on) and some this season including last night,are still done inspite of how the game is going,and to players on the field who are not playing as bad as other players who are on the field.Mandeville seems to be the latest player paying a price of  this to me.
  I would have taken Alfie off at half time myself and put on Mandeville an all round cleverer player who might have unlocked a deep defence.
  But no,with half an hour to go on go the usual loan players,one for Houghton who was playing well in a tight game,the other another defender changing two fifths of our defence in a tight game.I have not known a team do that in 60yrs of watching football at profesional level.
   

[MrFrost]

  Many people know my theory (and it is only a theory,I dont know for certain) that if we do not play the loanee  we have to pay some or all of the players wages.
  Some of the substitutions over the last two seasons(Calder last season and the lad from Everton who were both poor for us, but still played or came on) and some this season including last night,are still done inspite of how the game is going,and to players on the field who are not playing as bad as other players who are on the field.Mandeville seems to be the latest player paying a price of  this to me.
  I would have taken Alfie off at half time myself and put on Mandeville an all round cleverer player who might have unlocked a deep defence.
  But no,with half an hour to go on go the usual loan players,one for Houghton who was playing well in a tight game,the other another defender changing two fifths of our defence in a tight game.I have not known a team do that in 60yrs of watching football at profesional level.
   

Lad from Everton? Mattioni? He was a class act. A shame he was a crock.

[selby]

  Frostie,sorry I was thinking of Conor Grant,who did not warrant playing at the end of the season,it is noticeable that Mason has been subbed twice and dropped  this season,although I think he has been better this season than last.
   But there again he is no longer a loan player,and Tofolo is.
   There must be a reason why they have to come on,or start a game if they are on loan.Form and ability does not seem to make any difference,and in my opinion has  disrupted our team in defence last night,and also stopped us developing/playing our own younger players such as Mandeville last night,Lund and Middleton last season.

[drfchound]

He might mean Grant.

[MrFrost]

Ah yes, sorry.

[The Red Baron]

Re the subs. If Houghton needed to come off it would have made more sense to move Mason into the DM role. Whiteman looks like a fish out of water there.

[selby]

But if I am right, that would mean that we would have to pay all or part of Whitemans wages.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Nope.

[selby]

 D.B.R. is  that nope we have not got one too many(which I would not argue with by the way) or nope we do not have to pay their wages.
  If that is so I find it even more strange the substitutes last evening,surely changing the defence by two players in a tight game is asking for trouble.I have not seen many managers do that when not losing in the closing stages of a game.

[drfchound]

SoD used to bring defensive subs on late in games when we were drawing.
We lost most of those too.

[RedJ]

Think we should just stick a keeper up front to confuse them next time.

[selby]

Funny,we were crying out for Dickov to do it in a few games at the end of the season.

[drfchound]

Dickov was actually too defensively minded.
Ferguson is too attack minded.

Somewhere between the two would be quite good.

[Bessie Red]

Re the subs. If Houghton needed to come off it would have made more sense to move Mason into the DM role. Whiteman looks like a fish out of water there.

Agree with that wholeheartedly!! Although Whiteman is a talented player he is not a CDM.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

No, we don't have too many loan players. The long term loans means they become an integral part of the squad. If they were short term loans, I might agree.

Loan players remain on the payroll of their parent club. We pay a fee and the players become part of the squad to use as the manager sees fit. DF wouldn't take someone on loan if there were clauses about guaranteed starts etc, etc.

There may be some form of agreement between Chelsea and DF involving Houghton's recovery from his injury which you can understand. You can tell he's not 100% and I can understand why he's been subbed. Don't forget, we got him back sooner than expected.

[selby]

My headline is probably a little confusing as it is not meant to criticise the number of players we have,but more, does it confuse Fergies selections because of the number of mid field players we have on loan?
   I just wish we would stick to a settled side,after a great win at Plymouth why change it Tuesday if there was no injuries.
   It is a modern trend to rotate I know,but at times it seems like mucking about,and playing other players so as not to upset the clubs we loan the players from too much.
   Most of the great sides of the past,I think most supporters could pick the team for the weekend on Tuesday prior(Bremner Giles etc)and if they did not play supporters would get worried.
   Now managers go for squads,and it causes muddled  thinking,add the pressure of the bigger clubs wanting their players to get game time and I think clubs do not always benefit.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I think DF has struggled to find the right blend. Given he was hampered by the loss of Houghton and Luke McCullough, the deep role was between Whiteman and Mason, then with the loss of Andrew, he's had to reshuffle again.

Now with Houghton back, he's been able to move Whiteman further forward...but who provides more going forward. Whiteman or Kongolo?

I think that was the only change and it was only Whiteman's first 'rest' of the season. Overall, we were pretty good in the first half v Shrewsbury so I don't think the loss was attributed to that change.

We all want to see a settled side but with Baudry on his way back, there's another selection headache around the corner.

The area that concerns me most is the energy from midfield. It's not yet firing on all cylinders both attacking and defending plus, we're still a bit weak down the flanks. I hope we can get to a point when Blair can be released from defensive duties.