Good stuff yesterday – now to progress

I’m not going to really dwell on a result that brought the smiles and good feelings to us, but rather give my two penn’orth on what we NEED to do…

Mig produced one of, if not THE best performance for us. He will continue to start with those displays, so that leaves the question of Flash. So point 1. Where – if/does – he fit in and if so have we sorted out any contract?

Back 4 – Brown and O’Shea are class, Titus looked backed to his sparkling form of last year and we have Mr 100% (McBardo) to come back. Imho these are our starting back 4, Tina can perform at a high level and we NEED him back fit and playing well. With these 5 we can “shuffle” if ONE is out injured or suspended, but if 2 are out/off form then KR will have to be called upon. He did well yesterday but… Point 2. Urgent requirement for a proper LB to round out a “core defensive unit”.

Midfield – CM looked a class above the first 4 games, so if Gardener/Vaughan get/are given the chance for an extended run then I have confidence we could see some solid displays, want to see Meyler backing them up. Catt’s will need to raise his level several notches to make the bench when all are available. Larsson’s workrate and delivery was top drawer but wouldn’t he be worth more on the right? Elmo kept going on and off like my kitchen light switch. He is inconsistent through 90 minutes. Sess has that deft touch and control that would be better utilised on the LW. Again the “core midfield” of Seb, Gardner, Vaughan and Sess looks good – Meyler, Colback and Elmo available in case of absence. Point 3. Play people in positions where their strengths are utilised – not wasted.

Forwards – Bendtner, to me, looks like a class act. He led the line, albeit in a bit of an unorthodox way well and he will score us goals this season (10 ish?), however both Whickham and Dong Wan have failed to show me that there is something there THIS year between them (albeit they’ve only really played cameo’s). Gyan – I’m not going there!! Campbell is out at present, and I’ve heard things are not looking rosy on that front, so we have a huge pitfall ahead of us if any combination of injury/suspension happens. Point 4. TWO strikers required in January.

Last, but no means least in this (excessively long) piece is leadership. O’Shea gave just that. Formally give him the armband with Bardo as his named deputy.

That’s it, part two of War and Peace will not follow you’ll all be glad to hear.

 

I tend to agree with what you say and on what we need to do. Good to see Gardener get on the score sheet. I can't see our strikers getting 20 goals between them. This means the midfield need to bang in goals and the back four, this is not an easy trick to achieve.

One of the things I found frustrating yesterday is that Sess tends to play with his back to the goal, he doesn't look to be on the shoulder of the last man (well he didn't yesterday) he's not looking to latch on to a through ball. For me I'm not sure if Richardson would be better there? Maybe the ball retention wouldn't be as good, I have to say Sess did that well, allowing our midfield to play. His link up play was good