.... if we had taken our chances the game could have been over by half time. What we should be looking at are the two underlying issues that, if not resolved, could ruin this season.
First, despite reasonable peformances from Cattermole and Colback, they are very similar in their roles. It was good to see Colback make some clever runs into the channels and create chances. However, we still lack the craft of a central midfielder who can pick the pass that will unlock a defence and create a genuine chance that a good forward (e.g. Bent or Phillips) would gobble up.
Which leads me onto the second issue. We need to replace Bent, they (Bruce and Quinn) said they would spend what ever it took to replace him with a quality striker ..... we have not done it! Yes, Whickham and Ji are great investments for the future, and yes Sessegnon can play off the front man and yes, on his day Gyan is world class. But, what happens when Gyan is injured or loses form, where is the competition or the instant replacement that can score goals for us? Simple we haven't got one.
Until these two issues are fully addressed we will continue to be a mid table team that will surprise us with good results against the quality teams, but also dissappoint us like today.
We have around 10 days to sort this, come on Short, Quinn and Bruce, get it sorted.
First, despite reasonable peformances from Cattermole and Colback, they are very similar in their roles. It was good to see Colback make some clever runs into the channels and create chances. However, we still lack the craft of a central midfielder who can pick the pass that will unlock a defence and create a genuine chance that a good forward (e.g. Bent or Phillips) would gobble up.
Which leads me onto the second issue. We need to replace Bent, they (Bruce and Quinn) said they would spend what ever it took to replace him with a quality striker ..... we have not done it! Yes, Whickham and Ji are great investments for the future, and yes Sessegnon can play off the front man and yes, on his day Gyan is world class. But, what happens when Gyan is injured or loses form, where is the competition or the instant replacement that can score goals for us? Simple we haven't got one.
Until these two issues are fully addressed we will continue to be a mid table team that will surprise us with good results against the quality teams, but also dissappoint us like today.
We have around 10 days to sort this, come on Short, Quinn and Bruce, get it sorted.