This is when McKenna said the quality of the strength in depth of the squad would shine through. One of the main issues for me this time round in the championship compared to last time is that we are going into games trying not to lose rather than trying to win. Our away form is dreadful - foe me, it is to do with the midfield which is just not balanced
I think the whole team doesn't really looked balanced, we're not getting enough from the players we have.
For me the last few games, only Walton and O'Shea I think have been consistent enough and Walton has a made a couple of mistakes including one of the goals yesterday, although that is partly how he is asked to play, the more annoying thing and it didn't just happen for that goal was how easily Leicester got past our forward/midfield players too many powderpuff challenges but also committed challenges which then left us exposed, sometimes its better to hold your ground rather dive in. Clarke, Philogene, Nunez and Taylor all really guilty of this. Too many "luxury" players who can create special moments but not solid enough. Even Taylor who brought good energy to the team recently for me has still showed why he couldn't get into the team the past couple of years (now after all that money spent he finds himself first choice). We brought him in as an attacking box to box midfielder and now hes basically our 2nd most defensive midfielder which is a concern in our team and formation.
After a wobble earlier on in the season, O'Shea recently for me has been outstanding, not put a foot wrong the past few games. Kipre 90% of the time looks outstanding and some of the passes he plays look outstanding but he's definitely got a mistake in him, he's got a bit of a higher level Nsiala about him.
Matusiwa as I've said before for me isn't Morsy's replacement, he's not a playmaker despite being decent on the ball but he's not someone who can control the tempo of the game nor is particularly good with his back to goal. He is outstanding defensively though and would've been a great partner for Morsy.
Davis hasn't been bad but we're not getting the best out of him. Our crosses into the box are really frustrating, we've never been a team under McKenna who has been particularly good at putting good high balls into the box and getting on the end of them. I really like Hirst but given his size and strength he really isn't great at getting on the end of crosses, his movement is poor and he doesnt try to attack the ball or get across his marker. Azon actually looks far better at this. It didn't matter quite so much under our previous McKenna team because we had Broadhead, Burns and Chaplin who were all half decent at getting on the end of crosses into the box for players who aren't strikers but our forwards now aren't great at that. Plus we seem to have almost completely lost our cut back which again was part of the reason it didn't matter Hirst wasn't great at getting on the end of crosses because he occupied the back line which created space for the cut backs. Again players aren't doing that in terms of their crosses but they also aren't picking up those pockets of space either. Part of the reason Hirst is having to drop deeper with his back to goal so much (something which exposes his terrible touch) because we have few players picking up that space and the distance just looks so far between them all.
One player who has looked good picking up those spaces when hes come on the past few games has been Cajuste. To me he looks a contender for the 10 or even the old Broadhead position which would give Davis more space down the left and us also more of a physical presence other than Hirst. But for me I dont think he's really a player who should be in the double pivot.
The problem is this is a real problem, too many talented players who we're not getting the best out of all over the pitch. It's either a failure of recruitment as we haven't brought in players to play in the formation we want or balance or a failure of McKenna to adapt and play in a way which brings the best out of each other.
