As I said yesterday, we aren't playing well enough to win automatic promotion and we are nowhere near the confidence and momentum required to win through the play-offs. Apart from our marvellously refreshing start to the season where we won seven in succession and played some sparkling football, it's largely been a grind since then with the sequence of results ever so gradually deteriorating. Others will point at Leeds' recent loss of form and the fact that they needed to come from behind to take a point at fortress Elland Road against mid-table Brentford. I would concur with this argument but perhaps Leeds will find themselves mirroring our own slip and having to find some inspiration for the play-offs.
Our last 25 performances have largely been of a mid-table side and whilst results have clearly been better-than-that, we have hardly had a single game where we have dominated our opponents and beaten them soundly. The 4-0 win at Tranmere came during the initial surge and since then we have only the 5-1 win over MK Dons to point to in terms of a convincing scoreline and even that flattered us a little on the day.
This might sound light a spoilt child or the arrogance of a big-time-Charlie. Phil Parkinson will say it's results that count and that we have had to cope with a number of injuries to key players in recent months, but I am afraid it doesn't wash. The simple fact is we haven't played well enough or with enough determination in games which we are clearly better than our opponents or where we are leading. A lead is usually the signal to sit back and hold on to what we have. Rare two goal leads haven't changed anything as yesterday's game demonstrated to good effect.
There probably isn't an easy answer but the central midfield pairing has been a problem for some time. I don't have a solution because we don't appear to have a complimentary two-man pairing that can hold and press and is yet mobile enough to protect the back four, so you have to look at changing the formation. The five we played earlier in the season due a shortage of strikers capable of playing the role was certainly effective, although we weren't all entirely happy with that either because we expect to see us playing more attacking football with forwards scoring goals, especially at home.
Suggestions on a postcard.....
Surely there are some Premiership or Championship clubs with a couple of eager, young, talented prospects, presently in the reserves, who we could borrow for a couple of months to perk up the troops a bit.
ReplyDeleteI didn't go yesterday so can't comment on the performance but I do think we need to go back to a midfield 5. We dominated games at the beginning of the season with that formation and whilst it meant less goals it made as far more secure at the back.
ReplyDeleteWith the tough run in that we have ahead of us I really do feel that we need to strength up the midfield and try to dominate some of those teams or we could find ourselves on the wrong end of a couple of hidings which will badly affect confidence.
It really was very disappointing yesterday. 2-0 up after 10 minutes against a side struggling at the bottom ought to have set up a much better performance. I agree that the problem seems to be in central midfield. I’m not really a fan of Bailey. Though his work rate can’t be faulted and whilst his goals are invaluable, he clearly lacks the quality to provide a fluent engine room. I also feel Racon has been a bit of a let-down and I’d hoped that with the pressure off yesterday we’d see a little more from him in a creative sense, but it wasn’t to be. Before the double substitution which brought Burton and Wagstaff into yesterday’s action, I had wondered whether we might see Parky try Shelvey in central midfield with either Racon or Bailey making way. Maybe it was too much of a gamble, but Jonjo remains the only player with real quality. It is no coincidence that he was in the side when the team played that “impressive, passing football” we all remember from early in the season and I can’t help thinking that if the Club is to win promotion, either directly or through the Play-Offs, Shelvey will play an important role somewhere along the way.
ReplyDeleteIn essence the run-in comprises two types of games; “Cup Finals” which will be very tough to avoid defeat in let alone to win and “Must-win” matches against so-called weaker opposition. The former category includes the three home games against Colchester, Norwich and Leeds and the four away games at Millwall, Huddersfield, MK Dons and Southampton whilst the latter comprises the home games against Gillingham and Carlisle and the away fixtures at Oldham and Exeter. Perhaps a 4-5-1 in the Cup Finals (Semedo away, Shelvey at home?) and 4-4-2 in the Must-wins is the answer. The bizarre thing is that notwithstanding the downbeat assessment of the team’s performances (which I share) the chances of automatic promotion, though still slim, are much better than they’ve been since before Christmas.