At least Halford gets on the bench; Thorpe (despite doing well and, indeed, scoring at QPR) has vanished entirely.
Halford maybe gets on the bench because of his perceived versatility including giving us the option of shoving him on up front late on to lump it at if we are desperate, as we did at Brighton. I agree that the absence of Thorpe is a bit of a mystery but if he isn't considered good enough for the first eleven perhaps SE just wants more attacking options on the bench.