New contributor Stuart Gent has his say on his beloved club being labelled ‘boring’…
A lot of debate has been raging not only through our stands but across many a forum involving our beloved club being labelled boring with no attacking flair, many of our squad suffering from second season syndrome and our failing in the January transfer window. I will try my best to break it down from my viewpoint.
In terms of the defence, after the opening game of the season the alarm bells were sounding, the defence needed some major work. Turner and Bassong have throughout the season become excellent partners and I am somewhat surprised that Whittaker finds himself on the bench, after all he was part of our long unbeaten run. I mean no disrespect to Russell Martin but he doesn`t have the crossing ability that Whittaker has, which is something we are crying out for at the moment. That aside, the new defence has become mean.
I firmly believe the biggest loss we have had at the back is John Ruddy. His presence and shear ability would have helped us with some more points – again no disrespect to Bunn he has done fantastically well going from a number two to a number one and becoming a valuable member of our squad but he’s no John Ruddy.
Our midfield seems to be a major problem, yes our strikers are not scoring but a lot of the time they are feeding off of scraps.
With Tettey and Howson losing their form, Surman has been missing for what seems forever and Johnson is no playmaker, which really has left a lot on the shoulders of Hoolahan as the chief creator in the middle of the park.
What has surprised me is the fact that David Fox has just been ignored, I can see no reason why he hasn`t been given a chance. He was a key player in our first season at the foot of the diamond with excellent passing ability it seems very strange as he is the type of player we have been crying out for in games.
Apart from Snodgrass who has had a very good season for us, the likes of Pilkington with his hamstring isssues and Bennett really haven`t shown us what they can do. I agree Bennett would need a run of games, but with Pilkington fit at times you felt the game just passed him by. Whether this is due to his hamstring problems we will probably never know.
We then come to our strikers. Since the start of the season after all the contract trouble regarding Holt he has not been the same player of previous years. Yes again our midfield hasn`t helped and at times he has looked poor, but I am a massive Holt fan and can`t thank him enough for his goals over the years. He just seems pre occupied by something else – we will never know whether it`s a personal or professional issue, or if there is even any issue at all other than form and tactics.
Then we come to the likes of Morison and Jackson. Many fans vented their frustration at Morison which made his exit inevitable. His replacement Becchio, who is a proven goalscorer in the Championship has found himself on the bench in our current predicament. I do find this strange as giving him some proper game time with a partner upfront would give us a better chance of bearing fruit.
No disrespect to the likes of Chris Martin and Jackson but they aren`t PL quality players. That leaves our loan man from Kansas who`s hold up play is excellent and with someone like Becchio or Holt with him upfront could give us a fighting chance. Another big beef we seem to have is substitutions or lack of in some cases, always made too late in the day to really give that player a chance to make the difference. The fact we seem to be stuck in the same formation with no plan B is dangerous as we already have found out. I`m not saying we should play gung-ho football like we did under Lambert as its not been working well for him this season either but we need to show some intent.
I would hope this week there is a team meeting to try and find out what is going on as we are bowing out this season with a whimper. With news of Ricky Van Wolfswinkel signing, I`m afraid its hard to show any sort of excitement when in all likelihood if we don`t improve and show some guts and skill to avoid the drop, he will probably never pull on our jersey.