Coventry will have the pacy Michael Mifsud in their side, so it is important that Clarke Carlisle is fit to play. The rest of our defence is woefully short of pace. Defending has been an issue of late, with players out of fitness and form or both, and also seemingly not in sync with goalkeeper Brian Jensen. The Beast may pay the ultimate price for inexplicably conceding the first goal at Home Park, losing his place to Kiraly. But that would be papering over the cracks, we need to be more solid at the back.
Up front, it seems that Akinbiyi and Cole may miss out again due to injury and illness respectively, leaving us short of striking options. Robbie Blake has been hit and miss all season and Kyle Lafferty is struggling to win the fans over.
For me, the case with Kyle is clear cut. He's young, only 20 years old. He's played most of his games for Burnley in an unfamiliar left wing position. From that position he's tried to be a winger when he blatantly isn't one. He's tried to cut inside and be a striker. He's tried to get involved in the game. Those of us with half-decent memories will remember he was our best player in the Arsenal game until his red card. The talent is there, it just needs time to mature.
However, Burnley fans are notorious for not giving players time, and it may well work out that Lafferty leaves in the summer to prove himself elsewhere and we miss out on a top-quality striker due to a sheer lack of patience. Time will tell.
So, to the Coventry game. To use a well-worn cliche, every game until the end of the season is now a Cup Final and needs to be approached as such. Win tomorrow and the gap is back down to two points and it's game on. Fail to win, however, and yet again we'll have dropped points at home that we need to collect to be deserving of a play-off place.
Coventry have recently appointed Chris Coleman and I'm not too sure it's a good move. Coleman had his Fulham team playing nice football but still losing. Owen Coyle's side are capable of out-footballing any team in the league on their day. Coventry are in a mess at the moment and we need to take full advantage.
Let's hope that the side puts in a good shift and picks up a crucial win.
3 comments:
Got to say that i agree with you completely on all points raised. Especially about Lafferty. He is a wonderful player and one that one should be proud of.
Good blog mate.
Si (NMIS on CM)
Nice perspective on where we stand as a team. I was at Plymouth and, for long periods of the game, we played them off the park with Wade, in particular, causing mayhem. There was, however, no real cutting edge - no Cole or Ade, Robbie suddenly looking every day of his age and Kyle....
To be honest, I havent seen it with Kyle - for a player of his size he seems to be pushed about by his opposite number and singularly fail to win his fair share in the air. Maybe he simply needs a run in his favoured position but he seems to lack some of the fundamentals for a centre forward.
Anyhar...just thought I would drop in as another exiled claret! Good luck with the blog!
A young striker who hasn't performed consistantly and can't get a run in the side in his favoured position. With many clubs offering big money, and a club with a relatively low transfer budget, it may be the right decision to let Lafferty go.
However, timing may be wrong, with clubs not willing to take the risk, after the disaster that has been Nugent in the Premiership.
In my opinion, Scotland beckons for Lafferty, where, it seems, the 'Old Firm' seems to be willing to slog it out.
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