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As we all know the defence is simply not good enough and without new defenders I don't see a solution. As I suggested elsewhere there is no guarantee they will be any better. Good defenders aren't any easier to find that top strikers.
The thing which has really struck me lately is you take Colclough and Dobra out of the side and we look very ordinary. I know Dobra has his faults but he is a very skillful player at this level. Let's hope Colclough, our other truly skillful player, isn't going to have his career constantly disrupted by injury.
Mandeville had a lot of the ball second half last night but didn't do much with it and doesn't look the player he was. Hopefully this decline isn't permanant and he doesn't become the inconsistent frustrating performer he used to be. Also there is real concern for Naylor who will still be player of the season, but he has also looked extremely ordinary for a good number of games now and mistakes have crept into his play. Although he still chips in with goals and for these alone needs to play.
Apart from Dobra and Colclough we have hope from Berry and of course Grigg's goals, although he should have scored more than one last night. I wonder how Kabby would have fared with the one on one? Banks is a decent offensive option but as has been recognised is defensively poor and Oldaker is certainly not the answer.
The ages of Banks, Naylor, Jacobs, Grigg, Grimes, Palmer, Williams and of course especially Jones are concerning - none are going to get better.
There is also hope with Hobson, but despite his good goal at Oldham, in the couple of games he has had hasn't pulled up any trees, although any player deserves at least half a dozen games to show what he can do.
If we have lost Grigg and Colclough for the rest of the season it will be a disappointing end. The points record has gone as it seems have Grigg's chances of adding to his goal tally, but we can still reach 100 points and goals. However the record I really want is to remain unbeaten at home as I have never known that. However, I genuinely fear for that record in the last three games.
Finally, a word on the pitch last night. Yes, it's the same for both teams, but it was only in the second half that we got to some grips with it. Prior to that players were struggling to control the ball as they were at Dorking and I noticed sometimes they were overhitting it in a bid to get it through the mud. Such pitches make it really difficult to judge the weight of passes.
Ironically, players in the Sixties and Seventies had to play regularly on such surfaces. However modern players, more familiar with snooker table surfaces, aren't used to adapting their game for unpredictable surfaces. I wonder what they would have made of the Baseball Ground? I must say though some of the pitches this season have been as poor as I have seen for many years.
This post has been edited by Zigsuk: 21 March 2024 - 10:09 AM
