Phil SumblerIt is less than five weeks since we beat Norwich at the Liberty with a performance that not only had us thinking that maybe we could gain promotion this season but with one that had us dreaming that maybe we could even go up with the Football League Championship trophy in our trophy cabinet at the Liberty.
Since that game though it is fair to say that we haven’t really performed in games with a series of performances that have not so much flattered to deceive but never really got off the ground for any sustained period of time.
The madness for me is that of the seven league games we have played since, we have gained 13 points which – obviously – is the reason we are still keeping pace with those at the top of the league.
At that point we had played 27 games, conceded just 15 goals, sat 3rd in the table but 2 points off the lead with a game in hand. Since that game we have conceded 10 goals in the 7 games, scored 9 (4 from the penalty spot) and watched Norwich open up a 10 point lead at the top of the table.
Norwich have won their 7 games since by an average margin of 2 goals per game, Watford have 18 points from their 7 games but the rest of the top 5 clubs are stuttering in their attempts to chase those teams.
It is difficult to know what has gone wrong. The team look tired which leads to an obvious question as to why we rotate players so infrequently. And when we do rotate them we seem to rotate them back straight away. As an example of this you would assume that Korey Smith and Ryan Manning would be much fresher than the rest of the squad given they have had less game time but they were both sacrificed on Tuesday evening.
The confidence of Jamal Lowe that was so evident before Christmas has long since departed but he seems almost immune to a spell out of the team which you cannot help but is badly needed at the moment. That leaves then the likes of Morgan Whittaker sitting on the bench and not even seeing much in the way of substitute action which starts to beg the question as to why we shelled out so much money for him in the January transfer window.
It is hard to complain too much when we still have promotion completely in our hands. We sit level on points with Watford with a game in hand but as we head into the last week before the international window you start to wonder what it will look like when we break after the small matter of the South Wales derby in just over a weeks time.
Both Watford and us have to play Cardiff who are a side in form, we travel to Bournemouth next week so games will test us over the next seven days and, with the recent levels of performance, it is easy to see why people are feeling far less confident then we were after Norwich were despatched at the Liberty.
We need a performance from the team. Not the occasional glimpse but a proper performance. I know there is an argument that talks about it being a results based business but if it were not for two last minute penalties in the last week then we would be 4th and having to rely on the results of others. These are the margins that we operate in at the moment but I firmly sit in a camp that we have got a decent enough return in the last seven games where we haven’t played well so imagine what we could achieve if we actually hit the form that we were showing through December and January.
We have three games between now and the international break and then we can recharge the batteries in a two week break before we come back for the nine game run that could see the result we all want. I am trying desperately not to look at the last two away trips of the season in Reading and Watford and focusing on what I believe will need to be 7 or 8 wins from the next 12 games. We have a squad that is capable of achieving that but it will need a big step up in form and performance from where we are now.
And that is the challenge that Steve Cooper and his squad will need to meet head on if we are to welcome the very best back to the Liberty Stadium next season.
