By The Sword

Tuesday, 26 August 2003, 0:00
3 mins read

Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword

As hard as it may be too accept I think the Oxford result stands us in good stead for the rest of the season.

The side will not come up against many organised sides as they did against Oxford and if this result gives them a taste of reality after the euphoria of brushing aside weaker sides it can only be a good thing. IMHO there are now only 4 other sides capable of competing against us Hull, Scunthorpe, Northampton, Huddersfield and we will come across similar problems there as we did yesterday. Do we however decide to stop the Tora Tora Tora approach we have used so far this season or do we go for a more measured approach now?

Flynn will I think continue with his chosen policy of attacking and this can only be good for us as we have the fire power to blow most sides out of the water and so goals should be a plenty this season, however will this bring us automatic promotion( yes that word) ahead of more organised sides.

So far no one will complain about our summer signings and with the lack of defensive players in the UK in general I am sure that Flynn decided lets go for it and try and blitz our way through the division and accept the occassional heavy defeat( even if the result does not reflect the way we play)

Defensively we have fewer options than we would like and if we are too look closely at the defensive options it is clear to all that the unit as a whole is very young compared to most sides in the league and so it is imperative that Smudger gets fit and stays fit, I am afraid that if he cannot prove his fitness when he returns then as fond as we are of him we must thank him for his service but we must get someone else who we can guarantee can play most of the remaining games of the season. We need an old head there now and quickly On that front of course the debate moves on to Roger/Murphy and this is currently splitting all and sundry into either camp as long as this debate continues to be healthy and reasonable no harm will be done.

The main problem for me is the relationship of O’Leary and Murphy nearly caught out against Boston but very much caught out against Oxford, They need to be put in a locked room until they sort it out, if they cant then one or both of them need to step down and get things sorted on the training ground. O’Leary is seen as the senior defender and he has to step up and perform he must take the responsibilty on his shoulders if he is not prepared for that then he should not play Centre Half( if at all)

Midfield is an interesting area for us and one which will now face its toughest test of the season in the next few weeks with tough matches week on week and with 2 major components missing in Robbo and Lenny, its time for others to step forward. For me the key one here is Connolly he needs to get fit and quickly a few QPR fans i know liked him as a player but said he carried too many knocks last year we cannot afford to carry passengers at this stage of the season. Fit for saturday please we need an older head there as Mansfield will be a very tough game for us.

All in all as we have more attacking options available to us I fully expect Flynn to continue with the attacking approach and look forward to our 4-3-3 formation on Saturday with Trundle, Nugent and Tommo up front.

Someone somewhere is going to catch the mothers of a footballing hiding in the near future and we all want to be there when it does( I was lucky to be there for the 12-0 against Sliemma)

Enjoy the ride, accept the occassional defeat with good grace and a wry smile as we try to improve our defending but remember of the dross we have had to suffer in the last 10 years and just ask yourself one question " what type of football do i want to see us play" It sure as hell wont be 0-0 Bring on that Czech bottled viper nectar in the Potters on Saturday Attack, Attack, Attack Attack Attack

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Images courtesy of Getty Images, Athena Picture Agency and Swansea City Football Club.

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