General Observations from a "Part Timer"

[downendcity]

Living away and with work commitments last night was my first game since Forest, and the following are some of my observations:

1. A half-full modern stadium is a soulless place. If we hadn't been there it would have felt like being in a Crematorium for a funeral.

2. As with the Forest game, the City travelling fans are fantastic. In view of point 1., it's just as well, otherwise there would have been no atmosphere, but it must give the players a huge lift to come out of the tunnel to be greeted by the massed ranks of City fans and hear their support throughout the game.

3. We look a very good team. Reading other threads there is some debate as to who was MOTM. I think our strength is that we don't rely on one or two stand out players, it is the team as a whole that performs and Gary Johnson does seem to have the knack of making the the value of the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

4. Regarding our strikers , perhaps we have been looking at things the wrong way round. We think we need a quick striker to play off Brooker. Having seen the performance after Jevons went off, I think we should look for a striker to play off Enoch - and we already have him in Steve Brooker. Showunmi looks a completely different player when up front than when he's out wide midfield and is a real handful to defences. Also, Brooker looks a better player getting the ball knocked off to him than when he is played as a target man, and has to go to win the ball himself.

P.S. McKenzie would be a handy player to get.

5. Following on from 4. above, another benefit of playing Enoch up front means that he won't have to track back near our penalty area, as we certainly don't want him getting the ball anywhere near there as defensive play is definitely not his strength.

6. What are they putting in Scott Murray's tea? Heard a Coventry fan on 606 say that he thought Murray was "different class". I don't know about that, but he looks as though he's really up for it at the moment and scored an excellent goal. Tthe only shame is that he no longer has that extra yard of pace, or he would have torn their full backs to shreds last night.

7. Why do we play all the "fancy Dan" stuff? The only time we looked in any sort of trouble was when we tried all the tricks and flicks. Our strength is good football, and we looked at our best when we were playing the easy ball to feet and Coventry couldn't get a look in. The minute we tried flicks and backheels ( Johnson (jnr) the worst culprit) we kept losing the ball in the wrong areas of the pitch and gave Coventry the chance to get into a game they didn't deserve. If this has been happening in recent weeks, then I am not surprised that we have started conceding so many goals.

8. While we defend as a unit, we still don't get a foot in in midfield and poor though Coventry were poor last night, they were still able to run through outr midfield too easily ( I saw the same at Forest as well). I still think a strong defensive midfielder is a greater need for the team than a striker.

9. I do think we need a specialist left sided midfilder. JMW is better suited to that role than Enoch but neither are really god enough defensively. If GJ brings in a new player then it could cause him another problem as, if Enoch and Brooker are our best front pairing ( as I think they are at the moment) then he will no longer have the "spare" position out wide in which he can drop " spare part" Jevons. If this should hapen, would GJ be prepared to drop one of his favourites? Being a sucessful manager calls for tough decisions to be made from time to time, and this would be a tough one for him. Last night confirmed to me that Jevons is pretty good in and around the box, but offers very little else. Enoch is also good in and around the box but offers a lot more besides ( scaring defences 5h1tle55 being the main one - he scares me 5h1tle55 and i was in the stands!) and would be my choice ahead of PJ.

10. On last night's form we should fear no side on this division. Be aware and wary of them yes, but I hope GJ is telling the team that if we play to our strengths then we don't need to worry about the opposition, but let the opposition start worrying about us.

A great result, a great night and hopefully the team should go to Oldham full of confidence. I still think a draw would be a great result for us, but after last night perhaps we need to start turning around our underperformance on the road.

P.S. Further to point 1,. I've just realised that we were there for a funeral - Mickey Adams'!

[old_man_terry]

typical modern grounds, horrible, concrete and no passion or soul to them

plus they all look the same!

Reading, Swansea, Leicester, Derby, Coventry, Hull all the same! disgusting!

[Chivs]

4. Regarding our strikers , perhaps we have been looking at things the wrong way round. We think we need a quick striker to play off Brooker.

Oi, stop nicking my ideas.

PS It was good to meet you Tuesday night.