The defeats against Sunderland and Swindon have certainly showed the fans the areas that need to be sorted to prevent slipping into the Championship. Performances had started to improve after the horrific run of defeats early on in the season, but, and you could put this down to tiredness after the hectic festive period, the team has not looked as good in recent weeks.
An area that has been on my mind recently has been Martinez’s transfer policy. Since coming back to the club, Bobby has signed his fair share of players and made the team his own. For me, our strongest area is in midfield with a number of players fighting to get into the team, apart from that we look vulnerable. In goal, there is no real competition for Ali Al-Habsi. Chris Kirkland looks to be on his way out of the club in the summer and Mike Pollitt is more of a goalkeeping coach these days and an emergency back up. Lee Nicholls is there as well but has a massive lack of experience.
Against Sunderland, we looked very poor at the back. We missed Gary Caldwell for his leadership qualities. He may not be the best defender in the world but he sorts the team out, something that was missing last Tuesday. For me Emmerson Boyce should have started ahead of Steve Gohouri, mainly because I think he’s quite similar to Caldwell in the leadership department. If we are to survive, I’d like to see another defender come in and challenge for a starting spot to sort the back line out.
Like I said earlier, the midfield seems to be our strongest area. Momo Diame is having a great season and we’ll miss him while he’s on international duty. James McCarthy looks to be getting back to his best and Victor Moses is starting to reach the form that was expected of him in pre season. We have great depth with Shaun Maloney and Albert Crusat struggling to get into the team which is a shame as I’d love to see them get a good run in the side but the most improved player for me has to be Jordi Gomez. He’s been great so far this season and looks to be settling down after a tricky 2 years at the club.
The biggest area of concern for me though is the goal scoring department. Since taking over, Bobby has signed Jason Scotland, Marcelo Moreno, Mauro Boselli, Franco Di Santo and Conor Sammon. There may have been others but they slip my mind. If you look at these strikers, they have struggled to reach double figures in the goal scoring charts with us. This could be down to a lack of service, the fact that they have struggled playing up front on their own without the help of another out and out striker or they may struggle with the pace of the Premier League. It always seems like the responsibility of scoring goals always falls on Hugo Rodallega and if he’s out of form which he is at the moment, we struggle. It seems like everyone is struggling to find that striker to put the ball in the back of the net at the moment but at least our midfield is chipping in with a few goals to keep us in contention of survival.
I’m not having a go at Martinez, far from it. I rate him highly as a manager but we are lacking in these areas and a decent signing or two could give us a decent run in form to try and get us out of trouble. I think everyone would love to see a goal scorer at the club and it’s crucial we get one now to help us out. Nicky Maynard, Billy Sharp, Jordan Rhodes and Mame Biram Diouf have all been linked with us. I know they are all lower league strikers (apart from Diouf) but I think they could do a job for us if Bobby goes out and gets one. We are in need of goals and hopefully we will see a new signing or two sooner rather than later.
Source: FOOTYMAD
