JRC

If you watch video clips of his highlights he did appear to be playing centrally at times. It's not unusual for young strikers to play out wide initially. The fact he was likely to play more centrally may have been part of the reason he chose us. If Uche wasn't injured I'd be quite happy with our attacking options. Watching a little of Mighton playing he reminds me of Tony Sealy; my favourite Vale loan player. Particularly in his first spell when he often played up front with the Chamberlains he was unplayable.

Connor Wickham hasn't played since May. You are probably looking at mid March before he's fit. Without looking at the list it probably leaves Deeney and Gayle. Gayle will have suitors, what we can offer him is regular game time. Similar situation with Deeney. Does seem this window has been reminiscent of the Maynard window, where we held out in the hope of a signing fans would have been very happy with; ultimately missing out on lesser players we could have signed. That's football. Sadly I think we may end up finding out how good Debrah was as a centreforward.

With no local press coverage it was a strange end to a window. Before The Sentinel or Radio Stoke would tell you no further signings are expected and you'd know there was no point checking the Internet. There must be a way the club can pick up the slack on that. Even the run of PR messages last January was better than the absolute silence post the McDermott departure. It's not really Flitcroft or Crosby's job but the marketing and communication department just aren't good at getting information out at times, which is a little sad as there was a time when there were good.

I think they brought in some complicated arrangement where you send something in by 1100 and then have an hour to submit the remaining documentation. I don't fully understand how it works but it was in response to the Bristol Rovers and Wrexham problems in the summer. I think it was more straightforward just to keep a simple deadline. It also means you can't ask questions when completing documents as I assume the offices are unmanned after 11. Whether the rumour about Smith or any other player is true is a different question.

The two signed yesterday look good signings, I'm reasonably confident both will improve the team from a week ago and would have improved the team prior to the loans leaving. Uche is a loss, although that isn't the fault of the recruitment team. The real loss has been Devine and Arblaster. Devine was patchy when he played as a 10, so I don't think we are any worse with Weir or Mighton playing there. Devine and Arblaster we both very good in that sitting role. Against Portsmouth Gore and Weir together looked a bit lost. I thought Weir looked better when Sang replaced Gore. Really the determinant of whether it's been a good window or not will be if Gore can perform for most of his loan at the level of the two we lost. I think all of us are hoping something will be announced on the striker front. Thomas, Bulmer, McDermott, Cass and Conlon hasn't made the first 11 weaker. With the current injuries I'd have kept Conlon but the manager was selecting Walters ahead of him.

The striker I 100% agree on. I think Shorrock has made signing a LWB more difficult. He's looking better each game. Currently he's better than Small ever was for us; who was regarded as the next big thing by many Premiership watchers. He's also better than McCarron who Leeds paid 250k for. Unlike many I did think McCarron had some potential but he was further away than Shorrock to being a decent league 1 wingback. The issue is whoever we brought in had to be better than Jack and I suspect a lot of PL 2 players aren’t. That may have been the reason we didn't go back to Denver Hume. Not sure we need a RWB, Massey is playing his best football since joining. Sang improved in that position, Clark must be getting back to fitness and personally I think it will end up being Plant's best position. Lomax has also done OK when he's played there. Towards the end of the window I was starting to think cover for Ojo might be more beneficial. If we could have got a wingback better than Grant (who has been a little disappointing compared to what I'd hoped) then it would have been good news. Otherwise someone who could add what Ojo does started to look more appealing. Maybe Walters will step up if required.

Can't imagine we did sign anyone last night as you would hope they would have posted it at the least. Also the selling or parent club for a loan would have released the information. It's possible we could sign someone like Dwight Gayle who was released from his contract by Stoke quite late. That often means a shot term deal has been arranged and it's too late in the window to get medicals completed. Not sure if anyone else was released from their contract last night. Troy Deeney could be a possible, I think Crosby did some coaching at Watford when Deeney was there. Otherwise I guess we go with what we have. Crewe getting Charlie Kirk until the end of the season was good late business for them. We've got Wilson, Chislett, Mighton and Weir fit who play the role he could have occupied for us; plus Garrity when he's fit. I've always liked him when I've seen him play.

I think it's linked to FFP regulations being enforced.

So far today I think we've definitely signed players who will improve us. Conundrum now is 1 loan space and we need a lwb and a striker. I suspect the Uche injury has changed the importance of one over the other. Always possible we could sign someone permanently; or a player near the end of his contract gets released.

Good luck Lewis Cass. Never quite hit the heights I'd hoped he would. Loved his rampage forward. Sadly his distribution never really improved. Always looked like he gave his all. Ultimately I'd say Lomax has looked a better and similar prospect this season.

Can't see Mighton at LWB as he looks predominantly right footed. I suspect he'll play off Loft or Wilson initially. He certainly has decent pedigree with 56 Championship appearances at 21, even if most were off the bench.

Not sure we need a centrehalf if Cass stays. We've got Lacovitti and Debrah who are tall. It only makes sense if there is someone better than those 2. I suspect Williams was signed so we could sell Cass. It's a bit late in the window to be replacing Cass. If it's 3 centreforward, LWB and someone in midfield or another forward for me.

I was s little said the initial post didn't just read: Sturge on the verge of signing.

A team like Portsmouth can and should be able to cope with our level of injuries; they just have much bigger squads. My big concern this season would be that 2 of the relegated teams from last season proved they were comfortably mid table during periods when they had few injuries, they just didn't have the depth of squad. All bar the first relegation under Rudge we had bad seasons with injuries. Equally under Rudge most promotion seasons we had relatively few injuries. I'm not sure we have the depth of squad right now to stay up IF the injuries don't clear very quickly. It's not just the number of injuries: Clark, Ojo, Uche and Garrity are 4 of our 6 most influential players.

They offered him a big pay rise to stay and he turned it down. He's certainly off somewhere.

It's a tricky one but with Clark still out and our current league position I'd be happy to have seen him come back. We are very short at wingback.

Better 18 year old at Premiership Clubs are often on crazy wages. We don't pay all the wage but we will have to pay an agreed wage.

Whether some fans like him or not right now we all need to get behind him. As of yesterday he's become a crucial player for us.

There's plenty of close by league 2 teams, Stockport, Wrexham, Notts County, Mansfield, Salford, Accrington, Walsall. None of them fancy taking him on? It's a bit like asking why did James Norwood sign for them. He'd have scored more goals for us this season than any of our forwards. Nobody knows who else enquired after Conlon (or Norwood) but one can assume they offered him the best deal overall.

The why is he playing there? Why didn't a L2 team take him on? Wage and I don't think he's keen on relocation. Didn't he have a first child recently?

A hypothetical question but would the club have released him if they'd known Devine was going to be released? When we had Sang, Arblaster, Devine, Ojo and Chislett he wasn't anywhere near the first 11. Yesterday I certainly don't think he would have done worse

The starting midfield yesterday struggled. Chislett looked good throughout but Gore and Weir struggled. We desperately need Ojo back. It's easy to have knee jerk reactions after a defeat and that was a first game for Weir and Gore. In the ideal world I think we do need a more experienced player who can play in there, particularly with the Garrity situation. I guess the alternative is a LWB with the option to move Grant inside. If Uche is out for a month or longer we definitely need a couple of forwards. I don't know the finances but in the ideal world I still think we need 2 strikers, a LWB and a midfield player. We have a very small squad of players. I think we have 18 over 21. Even if we just bring in a couple of journeymen on short-term contracts. I don't think our first 11 is a relegation side. However, take Clark, Ojo, Uche and Garrity out of the team and I think we might be. I doubt we will sign players better than those 4 but we do need a couple in who are better cover than we currently seem to have. Someone like Olamide Shodipo isn't going to get into our first 11 but he would offer something different if needed over the next 6 months. I think we've reached the point with injuries where there has to be some focus on the here and now as well as the longer term. This season we need 20 plus more points in 20 games. I fully accept it's going to take time to progress to a higher level. There does need to be some focus on delivering today.

He's played for 2 clubs, he can't play for another EFL club.

Possible, although it's a bit simplistic to say because 2 players are tall they are too similar. Constantine and Sodje were both tall men but very different players. Uche and Loft aren't that similar, although I don't think they would compliment one another.

I don't really know a lot about Hudlin apart from he's tall. If you are looking for a precedent I think he's about the same age and height Kevin Francis was when Stockport signed him from Derby. He was considered a bit of a donkey at the time and that turned out well. As you say 2 + 2 may be equalling 5.