[Bunter]

A lot of our problems stem from a toothless attack, 19 goals in 20 league games since the 1st of Jan. If you can't attack with any real threat your always going to put yourself under pressure at the other end.

To begin with I don’t think we can call Mullers or Whalley for this, Mullers is a better player when he has got a busy little so and so running round him for flick ons and dinks through and Whalley isn't that. McGiven might have been, but I don't think we will ever know now, and Craney certainly never will be.

Roscoe, who was well on the way to providing the ying to Mullers yang was let go, at precisely the time Tin Monkey has highlighted things went pear shaped for us in the league. Not being a keen fan of coincidence I can’t help but think the two might be related…

Likewise Whalley has been given the thankless task of being something he isn’t naturally (a striker before anyone exasperatedly exclaims footballer).

If you can close your eyes you can see him picking up the ball on the left wing against Dagenham, beating his first man on acceleration alone, cutting inside the fullback, giving himself a couple of yards of space, looking up from the corner of the box, and unleashing a shot that arced through the cooling night sky and crept 6 inches inside the corner flag.

I for one would much prefer him to play out on the wing as I still think he has promise in that area, rather than as a finisher. It must pummel his confidence more each game, especially as the crowd is small enough to pick out what individuals are saying about you.

The big thing that will define next season and to a greater extent, whether JC can take things further or whether we go down the route of new manager or settling for league existence with JC (which is not a criticism, just a dose of realism), is sorting out our midfield and in particular a suitable partner for Ian Craney.

For the greater part of the season our central midfield has neither supported the attack in any meaningful way nor protected the defence particularly well (44 conceded in the league since Jan 1st and counting). Yes there is a lot of running, yes there is commitment, but there has been precious little in the way of guile or ability on the ball being displayed from the centre of midfield, nor has their been any noticeable shielding and tackling (unless you are fan of the flying lunge with remorseful look at the ref afterwards) when breaking up an attack.

We have played players out of position to accommodate personnel, Harris on the wing??? We have signed a stinker in Miles (irrespective of the niggling nasty football teams Paul Ince creates, I am eternally grateful he took that pile off our hands). We play Whalley out of position and Mannix wont show his true potential till next season.

And why is Craney pivotal to all this? Coleman has pinned his colours to Craney;- record signing, long term contract, he’s going to have to play him and if we are going to achieve the top half / playoff / promotion that the club has stated as its ambitions he is has to find a way of playing him so that he doesn’t go awol in matches.

Craney was at his best in the conference winning season when he was the attack minded midfielder and we had a sitter in there as his partner. Anthony Barry is a player we have never properly replaced and I don’t think Craney has ever been as consistently good for us since Barry left.

He did a lot of tackling, broke up the play, covered the back four, he could pass a bit and made sure, crucially, that he did very few stupid things. He was the perfect grafter (if that doesn’t do him a disservice) that allowed the artisan in Craney to flourish. I’m not surprised he has made it at a higher level with Yeovil.

Without a good defensive minded partner to allow Craney’s attacking talents to be brought to the fore the midfield will struggle, and Proccy and Harris just don’t offer this.

I don’t think they have the ability or consistency to their game at this level to do it reliably or against the top notch teams in our league. After all Proccy wasn’t really part of the conference winning season due to knee knack and who would you have dropped to accomodate him?

Yes we could do with Kempson back permanently, yes we need a forward to complement Mullers (some might argue we have them in McGiven and Brown), but it wont make much difference to us until we get a midfield that can defend and cover the back four and knows when to and how to support an attack

As we don’t have the money to splash on a grand signing can Coley unearth another gem like Barry? Will Mannix turn into this character? Possibly, but all I know for certain is that he is not there yet, but I wont pass judgement till next season

I cant wait to see who goes and who comes in over the close season, but what I’m hoping for is that Coley finds a player that will bring the best out of Ian Craney, if he does then the £209 I’ll be spending come pay day will be one hell of a bargain.