A Maturing Squad

When you look at the rest of the squad, the players you get most excited about belong to us. We might have seven loan players in, but which of those would you go out of your way to bring here permanently? Carl Rushworth, obviously, but top young keepers are relatively easy to come by on loan (Palmer and Griffiths prove this). Up top, we might have Luke Plange on loan, but Ben House is fast becoming a top striker at this level, and he’s ours. Harry Boyes, a key part of Forest Green’s early season matches, can’t dislodge our own Sean Roughan from left back. We have enough centre halves to cover injuries and suspensions with ease, as shown on Saturday. The young squad is maturing and coming of age.

Of course, the trick is to blend that with loans, and both Shodipo and Diamond form part of our attack now, but I imagine a football team like a Christmas tree. If you have a firm base and a good trunk, then you can borrow the pretty things to hang off. Even if Regan Poole leaves in the summer, you’d imagine it’s a keeper, a couple of wide players and a right back we need for a starting XI. Supposing we sign three or four on loan, it still leaves a really good nucleus of our own players.

I panicked before the transfer window a bit, but one signing has really put things into perspective. However, it’s the others we’ve signed in the past that have begun to emerge and stand out again. Obviously, Paudie O’Connor has been excellent all season, and now Lewis is back (or will be) he’s got some ability to one side of him. TJ has looked so comfortable in a three as well, and young Sean Roughan is getting better every game. The way Roughan dealt with Mendez-Laing against Derby was a perfect example of the fact he’s going to be a top defender – it was one of the standout performances on a night packed full of them.

Then there’s Ben House, who I have touched briefly on. I think him, O’Connor and Roughan are the players I lump in with Ethan as my ‘favourites’ right now. Everything about Ben is exciting. I remember describing Tom Hopper as the perfect example of a defensive centre forward; Ben is the perfect example of the defensive centre forward we need in League One. He presses hard, he’s intelligent, but he’s also great going forward. He has a lovely touch, he’s good on the ball, and he’s a goalscorer – okay, seven isn’t the sort of tally you call prolific, but he’s scored 24% of our league goals (seven from 29), whereas Sheff Weds’ leading league scorer, Michael Smith, has scored 19% of his team’s goals – the same percentage as Ryan Hardie, Plymouth’s leading scorer. The issue is not then Ben is not prolific but that we haven’t created enough chances for him to have a higher tally. He’s got seven from 22 starts, so a goal every three games, and he outperforms his xG by 1.3.

Do not underestimate the quality we own right now. Yes, we have some loan players around the squad, but this is the first season where I think we can honestly say that they’ll go and we can focus on bringing the same quality in without too much trouble. That’s got to be a great reason to be positive, and the fifth I’ll leave you smiling about.