CJ is good at times and terrible at other times. And we get a mix of both in a match. He can certainty beat a player and he tracks back well when he needs to. I don't think that he was our worst player last night and think there were some wider issues:
1. Defence. Marv - as already mentioned, unless he can play a simple square pass then he seems incapable of bringing the ball forward or playing a decent forward pass on the ground without putting someone else under pressure (decision making awful at times). He does occasionally hit a long pass, but usually when he is under pressure and has no other options. I thought he looked slow last night. I have seen Pennington in other than one match and he looked decent. It may be worth trying him or Connolly, with Casey, who has looked our best centre back so far this season. We are still missng an experienced left sided centre back in the squad. Lyons has looked lacklustre this season and needs to improve. Husband has been very good, but as a left back /LWB rather than a CB. It will also help when Gabriel is back to give us more options on the right.
2. Midfield. Norburn has been a great signing but some of the others have been AWOL for large parts of matches. Carey, in particular has been poor so far this season and should not start atm. Dougall and Morgan had no presence in the first half, although did improve (particularly Morgan) in the second half. Because of this their midfield were all over us and we hardly ever tracked them or showed any mobility ourselves. Virtue should be given a start as he offers more going forward and scores a few goals. . Early days on Weir, but midfield last night was lacking the creativity go open up defences and support the attack with some goals. We are still lacking that and need to sign someone.
3. Attack. The service to Lavery was very poor. Already mentioned that there was poor production from midfield and even when a player got to the byline, the delivery of the cross was usually poor (and not just from CJ). And not having any height up front, until Beesley came on later, just doesn't work when we pumped quite a lot of long balls forward or hit high crosses. Whilst we haven't seen Joseph yet, we still lack quality and depth up front. And Grimshaw needs to improve his kicking to the forwards!
4. Tactics. NC says that we are still learning and will need a bit of time to properly gel and that we haven't conceded a goal yet. That is fine, but we also haven't faced what we expect to be the better sides in this division yet either. And we need to create chances and put them away if we are to stand any chance of promotion. Keeping posession across the defence at a slow pace just invites the opposition on us and also allows them to keep a shape to defend against us. We need to move the ball much quicker and to go forward more readily. The start against Burton illustrated that. That also requires the midfield to be more mobile than last night. I am not convinced yet by this wing back system and wonder whether we have the quality of players to do it. Husband seemed to be biggest threat going forward last night. Defences hate out and out wingers if they get behind defences and cause havic in the box. We seem to lack that option atm, together with at least one more striker to support Lavery.
Solid start, but a bit disappointing and must improve and we also need to add some additional quality before the window closes, if we are to be promotion contenders.
UTMP