[Slick_Footwork]

I am guessing this is not going to be very popular, but all things considered we are holding our own. Of course we are not attacking the way we would want the team to, but show me any team in the league that you could take out their three starting centre backs, leaving only one first choice centre-back in the entire squad which could? (I don't rank Holgate as 1st choice anymore). Players are not playing their normal game as they have to be keeping that extra eye behind them and that is the basis of many the mistakes and opportunities we are seeing. Do you think that player would have got passed Bartley for their non goal last night or Mowat would have made that mistake against Luton, if one of the normal defenders had been behind him? OK we still need to be scoring and some of these issues crept in before they were all out, but would they have lasted so long?

I think you make fair and balanced point that Corberan has been unlucky with injury to the defenders.

And we do have to acknowledge that we would also be more threatening from set plays up the other end if Bartley and Ajayi were playing.

The fact Heggem and Holgate have come in and probably been our best players against Luton and Burney, highlight the good work Corberan and Andrew Nestor did on building a strong squad in the summer. It's actually mind boggling that we picked up Heggem for probably less money than we got for Connor Townsend, what a find he was. He's quickly becoming my favourite player at the club. receiving the baton from Okay Yokuslu.

But the problem for me currently is in the midfield area. Which is strange because personnel wise, we're very similar to last year.

If we look at our last home game of the season last year, at home to Southampton in the playoffs, we started with...

Fellows, Yokuslu, Diangana, Mowatt, Johnston.

We came out of the blocks firing and were unfortunate not to score, despite playing against a side much better than anyone in the division this year.

I appreciate we have lost Yokuslu, which was a massive loss. But in Racic, we have a ready made replacement with big league experience.

Yet he never picks that midfield anymore. If you look at what he picked when we lost at home to Boro, for example...

Wallace, Racic, Swift, Mowatt, Grant.

It's like chalk and cheese.

And you never really can predict who Corberan will pick these days as he changes every time we fail to win. He even dropped Mowatt after a win for the Sheffield Wednesday game, favouring Diakite. What a screw up that was.

I think Grant's "return to form" has been a big problem for us, because Corberan seems scared to drop him for consecutive games. The problem is, I just don't see a midfield featuring Karlan Grant ever playing any decent football. Yes, the lad works hard and will chip in with 6-7 goals per season as he's got a good shot on him. But for me, he detracts from the overall quality of the team. He doesn't have a trick to beat a full back, isn't direct to push you up the pitch, doesn't get his head up to see a pass and doesn't have a creative bone in his body. Even when he assists, like he did against Luton, he just puts the ball anywhere and doesn't look up. Maja had to perform miracles to score that with the pass behind him, but on paper Grant has provided end product.

And don't even get me started on John Swift.

I think Corberan should just pick last seasons team. Persist with Mikey and Fellows, even if they have a bad game. Use Grant as back up for Maja. And give Racic and Mowatt a run of games together to form a partnership.

Really feel sorry for Maja because he's looked the part. Excellent control, looks after the ball, nice link up play. There's just nobody for him to link up with in our current midfield set up. Swift is meant to be a number 10 but is closer to the centre halves than the centre forward.

But absolutely is not all doom and gloom. We've coped with the injuries at the back well. We've been tough to beat. We just need to sort out our football going forward or I fear we will slip into the mid table.