There are mitigating circumstances last night, with House, Roughan and Virtue out. Virtue’s loss is massive – we don’t have a central midfielder that I feel is good enough to carry the others right now. Max Sanders is hot and cold – sometimes (alongside Virtue), he is excellent, and he came on and looked alright last night, whilst Lasse works hard but lacks finesse and the control needed in League One. Together? Not a League One quality midfield pairing, in my opinion. Ted Bishop started last night, but like last season, he’s hit and miss, all-too-often injured, all-too-often unable to live up to the quality we know he has. The Ted from the Fleetwood game, a goal threat full of running and creativity, where has he gone? Virtue’s absence (prolonged absence) is a real problem, not just last night but going into the next three games.
Ben House is a big loss, and although Tom did put a decent shift in last night, I’m not convinced he’s a striker that will bag a brace in a league fixture against a side that isn’t as haphazard as Accrington. What is slightly concerning is our top striker (House) was considered a midfielder at the start of the season, which poses the question of how on earth we allowed the last deadline to pass without signing a forward? I’m always going on about it, and I know the market is challenging, but Accrington didn’t struggle to bring Pressley in, did they? We went into the first half of the season with two centre-forwards, one of which was playing central midfield when we started. It’s not enough – I think you need a third striker, and the fact we brought on Jovon Makama last night, who played just three times for Brackley during a loan spell, highlights the lack of depth in that area. That’s not a slur on Jovon, he’s developing and a player who has crept up on us in terms of ability, but right now, he won’t win you League One matches.
As for Roughan’s absence being felt, there’s an element of bad luck there – Sean would have likely played on Saturday and last night had he not been injured. We got the Robson deal done quickly to bring Harry Boyes in, but he was cup-tied, meaning no left back. I’m sure the club didn’t imagine we’d be in that situation, and if we’d known Sean was to be injured, which we couldn’t, then the Robson deal might have been delayed. However, they were three absences that hurt us last night; three players missing meant the difference between £50k in the bank and no more midweek cup games that feel like friendlies.
For the first time since Cambridge away, I’m a bit concerned, and I know I’m jumping the gun. We’re rumoured to be after a winger (although Vernam is now thought to be heading to the Cods on loan). We’re surely in need of a striker, and we’re surely (please) going to have to go and get a midfielder from somewhere. Given that Tashan is barely kicking a ball, I hope we can bring in two loan players (Virtue’s injury means we’re only likely to play Rushworth, Boyes and Diamond for the foreseeable), loan players with a spark going forward who can complement Mandroiu, House (when fit) and maybe even the fading Diamond.
I don’t feel worried about our back three or five, as I have seen evidence that we’re tough to break down there. That does rely massively on the midfield, however – is it any coincidence that (Burton aside) we’ve started conceding more sloppy, silly goals since Virtue has been injured? Or have we looked utterly ragged since Mike Garrity left us? I’m not sure, but since the Southampton game, we’ve not been an attacking force, and two brave home draws against the odds, with ten men, seem to have masked a team that feels like it is slowly breaking down, with injuries and key players just losing form.
I really hope the next couple of days see a new face come in to pep up the attack and that by the end of the month, we’re in a much better place than we are right now because, on last night’s evidence, I fear we have four months of looking down and hoping, rather than looking up and planning for next season.
Disclaimer – This article was written by a man definitely suffering the post-Christmas blues
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