Sadly today’s ‘from the owner’ column (definitely not an interview as touted by the club) doesn’t bring much more confidence to how things can improve from where the club is at. I won’t be the only one who hoped there would actually be some suitable January signings made, most notably the purchase (not loan!) of a proven goal scorer, but as point 5 of ME’s ‘5 point plan’ says, he will continue* to invest in young players to develop. That to me reads as if there will be more loans of younger Premier League players and then the very rare bit of good business from the lower leagues, to improve and then sell on again. Our own home grown players don’t get the time, so I don’t see how this plan is any better.
We are just under 3 hours away from tonights match against Bristol City who are on a run of 4 games and 4 losses, but I dread that tonight will be a game they are going into knowing they can get something from it based on the way Town set up at home. Scared to attack, lacking in creativity and playing some players who really shouldn’t be anywhere near the team. For me there needs to be a clear out, there needs to be a new system and there needs to be a couple of strikers who actually score goal rather than spending most of their time defending! Earlier this season I posted on twitter a 5-3-2/ 3-5-2 (depending on how you look at it) set up that meant we would be more attacking from the wings, but have the solid defence of 3 CBs, whether that’s Berra/Webster/Chambers or any other combination based on the possibility that Webster may be sold or Berra doesn’t take a new contract at Town. We have the players to make that formation work, so why doesn’t Mick try it out? I think he’s done it once but then freaked out that we let a goal in early.
I want to come back home later of the back of a convincing win, but more importantly, having watch the team play with some style and passion. Right now the team just seem to be going through the motions and not really putting their all into the matches. The fans want to see them try, take players on, play the ball forward and not rely on the goal keeper from being the star man match after match. Getting Sears upfront to me is still a priority, have someone like Didz or Varney to play the Murphy role of holding it up or knocking it down to him. He has the pace that we desperately need to get round defenders. I am dreaming with this of course, Mick has broken Sears now and won’t try to fix him.
Let’s see what 9.45pm brings, but I fear at best a draw, and further calls for McCarthy’s head. A loss today ahead of a tough trip to QPR on Monday where a draw is the most we can expect out of that, then I really think Marcus Evans needs to stop ‘standing by his man’ and start looking to make changes now so the future of this club can start to become clearer. Right now, it’s as foggy as it is outside at the moment. At least that will cover some of the poor football we will most likely see tonight at Portman Road.
*come on Marcus, there’s been hardly any of this recently!