We should not be 18th at this stage of the season with a budget that is competitive with the top ten at the least at our disposal.
We should not be bringing Feeney on when we need a goal, he is just not good enough and we need tough decisions to be made about his future. My preference would be not to see him play for us again and for some of our youngsters to be given a chance instead, Lecointe deserves a chance after being thrown in at the deep end last season. Chadwick can also probably be considered in this bracket as well. Up front I think we have two capable forwards, in Griffiths and Madjo, two out of their depth, in Feeney and Chadwick, and a few good prospects deserving of a chance, in Lecointe, Sims and maybe even Tyler Harvey, although I have not seen him myself so it's hard to say.
We are still very vulnerable from set-pieces. We give away too many around our box because too often we end up defending too deeply and get suckered into giving away silly free kicks. If we aren't going to have height in our team then we need to press high up the pitch, to cut down on the opposition's chances of getting free kicks in dangerous areas, and be more disciplined around our own area. This also has the added bonus of allowing us to win the ball higher up the pitch, and, in my opinion, we have played our best football when playing a high line.
We have, however, improved in a few areas. Fletch has brought in a pacey full back, in Griffiths, which makes us a better prospect both going forward and in defence. We have also seen an improvement in our possession football, where increased confidence and movement has seen us boss games and look likely to score. These improvements are good signs, and Fletch deserves praise for them.
We have just lost two tough away games and performed well in at least one of them, the problem lies with the repetition of the same mistakes. We need to play a higher line, we need to keep pressing high up the pitch and we need not to see Feeney play up front. It will take bravery from Fletch to get us to push up the pitch, and to drop experienced players in favour of promising youth, but, if the old players aren't good enough then stop hoping that it might work and if you concede too many goals from set pieces then push up the pitch and make sure that the fouls, if they are still committed, are committed in less dangerous areas.
I've said it plenty of times before, and I'm going to say it again, inexperienced managers normally have experienced assistants, DoF's and coaches around them to help speed up the learning experience. I still think that Fletch needs these around him to help him build on the positive changes he has brought in, and to point out his persistent failings. Sometimes a new perspective can help. After recent signs of improvement I'd give him a few more games to see if he can bring about more improvements, if we see the same mistakes then we will need a fresh perspective and a fresh approach to the squad.
I would also say that we need to see an end to arguments based around limited resources and rebuilding. We have seen Fletch bring in a lot of players since he took charge so it is nobodies fault but his own if he doesn't have the required players in each position, we are not operating in the lower part of the league in terms of budgets and we are an attractive proposition to players at this level. We were in the Championship not long ago; our history shows that we have spent far more time at higher levels than this; we get higher crowds, home and away, than most in this league and we are able to compete in terms of wages with the vast majority of the league, this is what makes us an attractive proposition. For young players wanting games we are a club who can give them game time and has potential to progress through the leagues and to older players we are attractive because of location, lifestyle and the attraction of helping club turn itself around at the end of their careers.
