A Striker Light and Kish Concerns

I'm struggling to think of a more convincing 1-0 victory. If Wigan had returned to the North-West on the end of a three or four nil spanking they couldn't have complained. And in Darren Bent it looks as if we may have at last acquired a striker who actually scores goals and, more importantly, wants to score goals. His first thought is getting a strike in on goal and if that strike is unsuccessful is perfectly happy to try again instead of hiding away in a corner.

However, I remain slightly worried on two fronts. Firstly, worried that if Darren Bent gets injured we are back to relying on either Bartlett or Lisbie to play the lone frontman role without an iota of the potency that Bent possesses. Secondly, worried, unlike others it seems, that Kishishev seems a first choice in midfield. I'm not convinced. I'd rather see Smertin playing the defensive anchorman role, a role to which he is especially suited, with Ambrose or, who knows, Bowyer, in a more attacking role. Smertin was getting forward considerably on Saturday but this is alien to his normal game as his goalscoring record confirms. However, if Curbs were able to sign one player before the end of the transfer deadline I would rather another striker were brought into the Club. Both Bartlett and Lisbie have their attributes but scoring goals regularly isn't one of them and with Jeffers conspicuous only by his absence we are worringly short of options up front.

On the plus side the formation of one up front seems to have evolved into a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-1-2-3 formation such is the fluency of the system. This system is both bringing out the best in Danny Murphy, who was awesome on Saturday, whilst also proving that Smertin is the piece of the jigsaw that we were so desperately missing last season. With Rommerdahl and Thomas working the flanks effectively, although Rommerdahl should offer so much more, and a decent striker up front we are finally seeing the sort of performances that this system should be delivering. The back four are looking solid, Chris Powell belieing his 37 years, and that is encouraging with Sorondo, El Karkouri and Spector nearing availibility.

Finally, I'm amused to see that in under two weeks I have gone from being a moron (a foolish or stupid person,IQ 50-70) to being an imbecile (a person of very low intelligence,IQ 25 to 50). Quite an achievement. Perhaps, if I try really hard, next week I'll be Chairman of a nondescript football club that has to rent it's ground. Then again, could anyone really be that much of an ignoramus.