In the summer I think Clough was hoping this would be his first XI:
Howard
Alcock Collins Butler Harris
Flynn Basham Wallace Scougall Murphy
Higdon
On paper it wasn't not too bad.
Defence
For much of the summer we hoped to hold on to Maguire, but even when he left we had big, strong, experienced centre halves. A steady eddie at right back was brought in to replace Brayford, but Clough always hoped he would get Brayford in eventually. To compensate for the (at least temporary) loss of Brayford's attacking input he tried to get Freeman as an option, and he also brought in JCR at right wing, who would be able to create things without the support of an attacking right back. McEveley was signed to provide cover at both centre half and left back, and if chosen in the latter position we'd have a physically very strong back four, with good aerial ability. We also had McGahey and Kennedy.
Midfield
Wallace was going to be our talisman, playmaker and leader in central midfield. Creative and good on the ball he was going to offer more than Doyle going forward, but he's also the type who can stuck in. Basham was signed, to many's surprise, to replace Coady. Not as good on the ball, but fit enough to get into the box and it was hoped that he'd get his share of goals, and he also offered more height and power. In theory this should have helped get even more out of Flynn, Scougall and Murphy who all did very well the previous season. Further creative input was available from Baxter, Reed and Ben Davies.
Forwards
Higdon was also going to offer us more height and strength in this positon. O'Grady remained a target, as did Steve Davies. McNulty was signed and Baxter and Porter were also options that we saw worked ok last season.
So there was reason to hope that we'd be able to put out a team that would have no problems in holding their own physically, while also having some attacking flair that should have been enough to beat most League One sides. We also knew that we had money to improve the squad along the way.
But...
By the start of the season the centre half situation had changed. Collins and Butler both fell out of favour. McCarthy was signed on loan, but circumstances weren't ideal and Basham looked better when he played there. So Basham and McEveley became our first choice centre halves, with that also implying that we lost the option of McEveley at left back and Basham in midifield. In those positions we had to play smaller, weaker players. We started to struggle at set pieces, offensive and defensive, and were bullied in midfield.
In midfield Wallace's season never got going. Scougall and Flynn also had recurring problems with injuries. Doyle returned, and Reed played a lot. Baxter was often used in midfield roles that didn't suit him. Despite these players being good enough for the level we played at, we lost our balance and against opposition teams that were really up for a fight, we looked small, slow and weak.
Up front Higdon struggled and didn't even offer the physical element that we relied upon. Porter hardly got any time on the pitch and soon disappeared. Baxter was tried up front again, but it didn't work as well as last season. McNulty took his chance though, but playing him, a goal scoring all rounder, meant that we again lost height and strength and this was a huge problem for us.
January transfer window
Cup games apart, we had struggled to find any sort of rhythm by the turn of the year. The shape of the team had been changed completely from what we planned originally, so we had a lot to address in the January transfer window. Kieron Wallace and Adams had joined a while before and then Brayford, Freeman, Coutts, Holt, Done and (later) S. Davies were brought in and more or less thrown into the team at a time when we played Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, i.e. hardly any time for real training and for these new guys to adapt.
I think fans (and the management) underestimated the disadvantage of making signings mid season, compared to pre season. It is easy to just look at the options that are suddenly available and expect the team to suddenly click.
The attempts to use the new players immediately brought further inconsistency. Not all of the signings helped fix our problems with height and strength and we've continued to start games with only a couple of six footers. Niggles and knocks to seemingly half the squad make us look vulnerable as we approach the end of the season.
Optimism, after all
The good thing is that our end of season schedule isn't as tight as it has been. This may give us more time for knocks and niggles to heal, and more time to prepare and train well. If we do get fifth we should have a decent chance to again field a stronger and well balanced team for the Play Offs. It will be time to forget what's happened this season and mobilise everything we've got and show that our maximum level, after all, is higher than the other teams.
