Issue 12: The squad - Midfielders

As the case is with the defence, a lot of players are available to the manager that can play a midfield role, but there is a dearth of quality and a distinct lack of wide players.

Wade Elliott has easily been our best player for two seasons now, and it was a huge boost when he recently signed a new deal. The right-wing is one of the few areas of the squad where we have no problems whatsoever. Indeed, with Glen Little the previous regular occupant of the shirt, right-wing has been our best position for some years now.

Moving across the field to the left wing area, we begin to find problems. There is not one left-footed winger in the entire squad, which has resulted in various players plugging the gap out there with varying degrees of success. Kyle Lafferty has performed admirably there, but he needs to play up front to get the best out of him. Robbie Blake has not impressed when tried out there. Losing Albanian starlet Besart Berisha was a huge blow, he would be a regular in the side by now had he not got injured early in the season.


At the start of the season we even tried Jon Harley on the wing, but that didn't work, and neither did playing Steve Jones there. Alan Mahon could play there but is more effective through the middle and rarely fit. Chris McCann is left-footed but is never a winger. A new left winger has been a necessity for a while now, and Coyle addressed the problem in January but just missed out on Argentinian winger Marcelo Carrusca. Playing 4-3-3 recently has only alleviated the problem of having nobody to play on the left.

Despite the concern over this position, I'm still more worried about the central of the park. The midfield is where games are won. If you win the midfield battle you invariably win the game. And our midfield simply does not dominate other sides. A midfield pairing has two jobs: to protect the defence and to support the attack. It is rare that our midfield performs either job effectively.

The three men that have made up our midfield pairing for most of the season have been James O'Connor, Joey Gudjonsson and Chris McCann. O'Connor's failings are well-documented. He is too small and lightweight against many midfields that will simply push him off the ball. However, given the opportunity, he is capable of getting forward to good effect and scoring a few goals a season.


However, Chris McCann makes a far better case for being the goalscoring midfielder, with his height coming in useful when attacking and defending set-pieces. His use of the ball is improving all the time and Coyle has already been very vocal about his talents.

Gudjonsson has been a major let down. When he first arrived I thought we had a genuine Championship midfielder on our books, but over a year since he signed he has still yet to show the form he is capable of for the club.

Other midfield options I have not mentioned include former Bournemouth men John Spicer and Garreth O'Connor, who both look likely to leave during the summer. Frankly, despite Garreth's good start and Spicer's flashes of quality, neither looks good enough for this level.

Coyle's success in fixing our problems in the middle of the park will decide whether we can mount a realistic promotion challenge next term or not. We will need another winger to support Elliott and Berisha, and at least one quality central midfield player to give us a chance of finally breaking that all-important top six.

To sign off, here's a video of one of our finest performances of recent years, when we destroyed Norwich at Carrow Road. Notably, two of our four goals came from midfielders, and we dominated them in the centre of the pitch all game.