A week is a long time in football.
Heading into the game at Burton Albion a week ago on Saturday, City had just come off the back of a disappointing transfer deadline day. Earlier in the day, City announced the arrival of Admiral Muskwe, on loan from our Carabao Cup 3rd Round opponents Luton Town (note, it’s unlikely he will be approved to play). The follow up interview with City boss Caldwell confirmed that he was confident of a couple more arrivals before the end of the day.
The hours passed and social media went into overdrive, particularly on Twitter. Various rumours emerged of players that were expected to join.
As the window came to close, there was still no news. It wasn’t until after the Burton match that Caldwell explained how Fulham had pulled the plug on a loan deal for exciting prospect Luke Harris, 15 minutes before the window shut, despite the deal being agreed for weeks. City clearly cannot say too much on this issue as we may want to deal with Fulham again in the near future, but this decision leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth.
City followed up with a largely dominant display over a poor Burton Albion side. Trevitt & Carroll again excelling in the middle of the park and controlling the game. It was Trevitt who got the match winner with another good strike from the edge of the box. What a classy player he is.
During the first half, an injury to Dion Rankine forced him to depart. This is where the bad luck started for City.
It’s since been confirmed that Rankine has a hamstring issue that could keep him out for 6-8 weeks. He is currently back at Chelsea receiving treatment and both clubs will liaise as to when he is ready to come back to City.
Jack Aitchison was already unavailable after a collision with the advertising hoardings in the 2nd Round Carabao Cup game vs Stevenage. The prognosis was likely concussion, and the young Scot is yet to be seen back out on the pitch since. Hopefully Saturday’s home match against Cheltenham will see his return, alongside James Scott, who has also been out with injury.
Without Rankine, Scott, Aitchison and the Finnish internationals Sinisalo & Niskinen, City were already looking depleted ahead of the Leyton Orient match. Added to this, new signing Muskwe and Vincent Harper also obtained injuries in training.
This left City very short on Saturday, which is why I definitely won’t be hitting the panic button. City started with Sonny Cox up top on his own, with no back up option on the bench (Caldwell has admitted Scott wasn’t fit and was used as a decoy). Both Demitri Mitchell & Pedro Borges had spells playing through the middle in the second half, and Reece Cole & Ryan Trevitt were played out of their normal positions. While the City boss likes his players to be adaptable and play different positions, I felt that we missed Trevitt hugely in the middle of the park. He was not able to get on the ball and affect the game anywhere near as much as he can do.
That being said, the injuries did pave the way for a league debut for 16 year old Jake Richards. The young City academy graduate put in an admirable performance in the middle of the park. He was very tidy on the ball and looks another prospect. He wasn’t able to dominate the middle of the pitch, like Carroll & Trevitt have been doing, but that should not be expected at this stage of his career either. I thought he showed enough to suggest he could be a future regular in the first team squad.
It’s fair to say that Orient fully deserved their win and the score line could have been much worse. The O’s hit the bar from close range twice and had plenty of other opportunities. While back up keeper Gary Woods could have possibly done better with the Orient winner, he also made a couple of outstanding saves at 1-1 to keep City level.
The one bright spot of the performance (other than Richards) was Demitri Mitchell’s wonder goal, which, you would think will be September goal of the month barring another outstanding effort. The strike was so good that it will likely take some topping for goal of the season. Richards played the ball over the top of the Orient backline and while their defender made a hash of dealing with it, Mitchell wasted no time in hitting the ball on the bounce which flew towards the Big Bank and into the net off the underside of the crossbar. They always look better when they go in off the bar.
The atmosphere on the Bank immediately after that goal was special, although very short lived. As were the chants of “To the Championship we’re on our way”. I am one of these superstitious City supporters that cannot bring myself to sing such things until it’s an almost certainty. I have seen enough in my 20+ years of watching City to not get carried away.
To “finnish” the week off, Ilmari Niskinen was forced off for Finland in the 13th minute of their Euro 2024 qualifier against Denmark. We will all be hoping that Niskinen is able to play some part for City at the weekend.
City have acquired a couple of free agents since the transfer window shut, in Jack Fitzwater (defender) & Shaun MacDonald (goalkeeper).
Fitzwater has been highly regarded and only days before City secured his signature, Championship club Stoke City were rumoured to be interested in him, so this signing appears to be a coup for City. How he fits into the backline remains to be seen, but signing a two year deal also points towards next season. The likelihood of Alex Hartridge departing in January or at the end of the season would seem high.
MacDonald will provide competition and back up for Vil Sinisalo & Gary Woods, while allowing Harry Lee to continue his development with regular game time. I think this is a shrewd move, as we do now have to cater for these international breaks. One more international through the door would give us the opportunity to call our matches off during the international break.
Lets see what challenges Saturday and Cheltenham bring and let’s hope that we have some bodies back in the squad and maybe another through the door.
A View From The Bank 