Having been brought crashing down to earth in the last few games in which we discovered that:
* we may struggle against the more physical/athletic teams who press hard and stop us playing as our midfielders can't do the pretty stuff under constant pressure - at least not yet.
* we can't afford much more in the way of injuries as we are dependent on certain individuals in key positions - we've already lost Johnstone for the season with an ACL and a couple more are struggling with injuries.
* we still can't compete financially against several clubs in this division.....
....we emerged from the transfer window in one piece.
On the one hand we didn't manage to land our top targets and given our recent financial history I am (reluctantly) grateful that we stuck to our guns and didn't overstretch ourselves to meet the high personal terms and fees demanded.
On the other hand we did manage to keep hold of Santos and Dion Charles and despite agreeing a £million deal for George Thomason with Brizzle, the player himself turned down the move to stay with us.
Two fringe players left on the final day of the window which will help financially and may give us some wriggle room in January if needed.
It would have been wonderful if we'd been able to strengthen but finances dictate we're going to have to do that from within our ranks by maximising the potential of the players that we have got - and there are a few diamonds in the rough who just might step up.
We play one of the aforementioned physical/athletic teams this afternoon when big-spending Derby come to town and at this stage of the season it will be a huge test of resilience and ability for our injury-hit and as yet unsettled squad.
If we get anything from the game it will be a bonus, but no doubt some of our fans, especially those deluded by the pre-season media hype, will be calling for the manager's head if we lose.
IMO, there's a long way to go, we're living within our means and although the squad is a bit thin, we have a lot of players with the potential to do well - so our season looks like it's going to be dependent on how well we can develop those players and integrate them into our attacking (reckless?) playing style.
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