As Mark Yates has already stated, we have twenty one games
left to determine how we are feeling come May. Will we be celebrating
promotion? Or will we be drowning our sorrows after having missed out for the
second year in a row? The first of these games was the 1-1 draw at home to York
on Saturday, so now we only have twenty games left to play. A lot can happen in
this period though. In March last year we managed to go from the automatic
spots to nearly falling out of the playoffs and over the Christmas period we
have seen us go from third and a couple of points ahead of the playoffs to
fifth and nervously looking over our shoulder. However we also saw last season
Crewe climbing from the lower end of the league to winners of the playoff final
in May. As I said, a lot can happen.
So what can we do to make sure we remain around the playoffs
and automatic spots rather than casually slide down to mid-table obscurity? The
main thing would be ensure to keep on doing what we have been, cut out the
basic mistakes and add a little extra quality to the team. We have proved that
we have a squad that can match the best in the league, as was shown in the 0-0
draw away to Gillingham and the 1-1 draw at home against Port Vale. The latter
we should arguably have won and were unfortunate not to. We must also be doing
things right if a club like ours with a small budget and small squad can be
fighting for an automatic spot and managed to reach the third round of the FA
cup.
But we have seen on several occasions sloppy defending
costing us results, most notably away from home. Too many times have we
conceded three or four goals in a game, six in fact, too many for a team in our
position. The fact that we have conceded too many and not scored enough is
reflected in our goal difference of 3, but saying that teams around us have a
goal difference that is similar. With the league being so tight around the
playoff spots a good goal difference could be worth an extra point at the end
of the season.
Therefore I think this month Yates and the board need to
bring in that little bit of extra quality into the team. I feel we need an
extra body in defence to provide some competition for the current back four and
there are rumours of a young defender arriving on loan from a championship club,
although that was supposed to happen before the York game. An extra body is
needed in the centre of midfield to provide competition for Penn, Pack and
Carter and to also allow one of them to have a rest every once in a while.
Whether Hanks is ready for a first team spot yet I don’t know and with D'Ath
returning to Reading I think another body in this position is important.
People have also been saying that we need to buy another goal
scorer considering goals have at times been hard to find. However I am of the
opinion we already have two in our squad. Duffy and Harrad are both natural
finishers and goal poachers so to bring another in would for me be pointless.
The reason neither have scored consistently is because neither have had a
consistent run in the first team, or when they have they have been played up
front on their own and therefore been needed to hold up the ball; something
which isn’t natural to either. They are used to playing off the shoulder of the
last defender. Therefore I think we need somebody to compliment them. Maybe an
extra winger to provide crosses for them to get on the end of. McGlashan and
Mohamed are our only natural wingers at present and Jake Taylor is due to go
back to Reading in a month.The most important signing for me would be a target man, a Ben Burgess-esque type of player. A lot of times this season we have seen the ball knocked up front to Harrad or Duffy only to see it knocked straight back to our defence. A target man would be able to bring the ball down or flick it on for Harrad or Duffy to get on the end of. A lot of the good teams have target men too: Pope at Port Vale, Akinfenwa at Northampton, Hanson at Bradford and Kedwell at Gillingham to name a few. You could argue that we already have Goulding, but for me he is not commanding enough in the air. You could also argue that by signing a target man would turn us into a long ball team but I don’t agree. Yes we would play long balls at times but a target man should also be comfortable at receiving the ball at feet and laying it off to supporting players. Look at Andy Carroll, despite not making it at Liverpool he proved during his time at Newcastle he was just as good with the ball at his feet as he was with it in the air. And remember, as much as I would love it, we aren't Barcelona!
