and this is why May had to play bits and pieces.
early Jan this happened.

Huddersfield Town loanee Leo Castledine has been recalled by parent club Chelsea in order to sign for Championship outfit Middlesbrough on a permanent deal.

The attacking midfielder impressed during his stay with Town, netting 12 goals and providing five assists in 27 appearances for the Terriers.

“Signed on a season-long agreement in the summer, Chelsea retained the right to recall Castledine within a specific window of the month. In discussions with the Premier League side, they confirmed that unless a significant bid for a permanent transfer was received, the player would remain with Town as planned.

and i am right peeved off  -- how the hell could they concede 3 against Burton  - yes he had to go -

 I still believe they can make the top 3 along with Stockport

Brandon Fleming has two new teams mates, two brothers Patrick and James.

Quote from: GazLaz on January 18, 2026, 04:27:00 pm

Quote from: Chris Black come back on January 18, 2026, 02:35:29 pm

Don't Gotts and Broadbent both sit and play deep? Isn't that the obvious pair there and then the third more advanced player can be Clifton, or Gibson.

Don’t need two holding midfielders doing the same job.

With Gotts and Broadbent it provides extra cover for our defence, but both are quite capable of moving forward, the cover it gives both enables them to move forward as well without losing that base at the back. Just look at what it did yesterday, Gotts was popping up all over the place feeding the front line, and Broadbent had two good attempts on goal. I will be happy to see both playing there for the rest of the season.

I agree with that. They can work in tandem while providing a solid base. Broadbent is more of a straight line player while Gotts is more flexible. We should be happy we now have two players (plus Robinson) who can compliment each other. Any example of a pair who I think played similar roles were Whiteman and Sheaf.

The more they play together the better that'll understand each others games and boy do we need some consistency in there. 

If you’re his teammates you’d be fuming, he was trying to be clever, it backfired on him, last minute pen to win it, just hit it hard and high

Crossed my mind he deliberately gave the keeper the chance to save the penalty.

Farcical end to the game.

I think Senegal walking off/Mendy mind games got in his head massively and he wanted to humiliate them. Surely you don't deliberately miss the chance to win a major international final even in those circumstances.