Views from the Sieve

The manager has now confirmed that Andy Carroll will be out for a period of time with his injury. This is obviously a huge blow as he has been excellent and will be a huge loss to us.
Will have to see what formation and personnel we have out today but don't feel that confident as we now go into the busy holiday period.

There is no plan B, as demonstrated against slough once he went off, I doubt very much that we will continue with the unbeaten run.

No news on the fitness of Scott who seems to have disappeared without trace and would have been useful against the giant but slow defence of Slough on Tuesday. Wilson seems a permanent sicknote so we might go into the game with Stephenson our only option and he is not exactly a goal machine. We ought to be able surely to get someone in on loan as we have with the goalkeeper and da Silva although what his preferred position is is anyone's guess and he doesn't look like a striker.

Stan Leech signs on contract to the end of the season

Lusala,Wison and Lawless presumably all out injured.

I didn't see the game but another point in a game where we were twice in arrears.
We had a number of players missing through injury but good to see Reggie Young returning after a lengthy absence. Apparently a decent performance and first goal from new signing Stan Leech as well.

We were the better side. The goals we conceded were a shambles. If you score two away you need to win. Having said that, we could have scored more. We lacked a lot in wide areas until Young came on - shame Gitau left considering how depleted we are in the wing back positions. Dieng was quite disappointing today, he needed to take more control.

Failing to win at home against the team with the worst away form and then again away against rhe side with the worst home form has pretty much ended any chance of play offs, now need to get results over Xmas against much better sides.

If I told you that Carrol, Wilson and Lawless would all be out injured for much of the season nobody would have been surprised about it, these types of signings were a big risk and that’s cost us another season. We have a decent budget but it’s do good being spent on sick notes.

Scott is not injured, on compassionate leave.

Great to score 2 without Carroll is about as far as the positives go for me. This slow down in performances in the build up to two huge games isn’t great, our midfield and back three really are all over the place now. Not even sure if Dieng is fit given his recent drop off.

Youngs back is a plus, but he won’t be ready for Boxing Day. The new lad coming in and playing well is a plus (and very exciting), but he can’t be expected to handle this new level immediately when the matches are coming thick & fast. Lusala, Carroll, Wilson, Lawless, Scott, Hemmings, Kalambayi, Howes, Burley all unable to play for us right now is pretty shambolic. Yes some are unavoidable, but those loan moves, or yet again a decision to gamble on perpetually injured players are yet again not working in our favour (Carroll aside). Letting Gitau go, who was literally no cost to us when not playing, is also a poor decision on reflection.

Where this leaves us though is that senior players in the squad need to step up and lead the likes of Haigh, Stephenson & Broad to be as good as what they should be. Bench players like Khaleel & N’Guessan need to stop coasting. Which when you say all that aloud, it does not inspire confidence.

With less than half our games played so far, it seems a bit early to definitely say we won't get into playoffs as it is to say we won't get relegated. With regard to Rashawn Scott I hope his issues are soon resolved as he was our best player a couple of months ago.
I take the point made about Lawless and his injury issues and although a good player was surprised we offered him a new contract considering how many games he had missed since being with us.
It is not going to be easy without Andy Carroll but hope Stan Leech can do a decent job up front as his like for like replacement.