January is Pivotal.
No passengers and Des needs to be ruthless.
Malcolm - needs a L1 loan.
Edwards - big question mark. Needs to be making a weekly contribution to the cause.
Goodwin - ? Where is he?
Dale - Is he good enough?
Nelson? - what the injury like?
In my mind, in comes a Centre Back, Centre Mid, Currie back in, 2 wingers and a striker.
Malcolm isn't ours to loan.
Besides that, I think it's too early to answer what I think is the main question - where are we with injuries?
The answer to that will dictate to a large degree what we do in January, and I'd caution against any expectation that there'll be wholesale changes because that's a rarity at any club, let alone one that brought in so many players in the Summer.
I expect the seriousness of Bennett's injury may dictate that Currie is recalled, and Edwards needs to prove he's capable of stringing some games together before a decision is made on extending his contract beyond January. However, the way Des has spoken about him in the past makes me think that he has significant credit in the bank with the manager.
Goodwin will, I'd hope, be given a chance to show if he's able to contribute meaningfully before January, and it might be that the sheer volume of injuries we have out wide and at centre back dictate another re-think on the formation that gives him a chance, even if it's from the bench to start with. If not, a loan would probably do him the world of good.
Beyond that, any changes may be in the loan department. I'm in what appears to be the minority who thinks Ebiowei has shown some promise, and I hope he's able to do a Dane and start putting in the type of performances that will get everyone behind him. But we do need to be decisive, and if he isn't demonstrating he's able to impact games to Des's liking, then we can consider an upgrade if one is available.
I'd love to keep Nelson for the rest of the season as he's been extremely impressive. Fingers crossed his injury isn't so bad that he's out for prolonged period, but is perhaps just bad enough that Leicester decide he's better off getting back to fitness and form with us, his absence hopefully alleviated somewhat by returning wingers and reverting to four at the back.
But with Summer being mostly about raising the ceiling of the squad, I would expect January to be more about raising the floor, combined with making sure we're making the most of the squad size available to us. I expect Thorniley will be available (as he was, unsucessfully, in the summer) and even if he doesn't manage to find anywhere else, we have a chance to bring in someone else to take his squad place, which we weren't able to do in the Summer because of the timing of Bennett's injury.
However, all of this will be dictated by the most over-looked aspect of any transfer window - who is available to us. Take Ebiowei for example. By January, Des will have a very, very good idea of what he's capable of, and whether he can have an impact in games in the second half of the season. Assuming Des sees something there (his continued presence in the squad would say he does; his not starting despite the absence of so many wingers is less convincing), would he sacrifice 5/6 months of integrating a player, coaching the way we play, etc. to then have to potentially go through the same process, for potentially the same or less in return, with a new player?
