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A season spent constantly reinventing a side is not about to end easily for Phil Parkinson and his staff as they seek to inspire one final push from Wanderers.
Combing over the wreckage of a 1-0 home defeat to relegation-rivals Birmingham City, fans have been quick to throw their theory on what was missing at the Macron Stadium.
From the continued and rather unexplained absence of David Wheater at the heart of defence, and the fact Mark Little and Antonee Robinson have also been jettisoned, to the doomed late substitution of Karl Henry for Jan Kirchhoff and the increasingly-isolated Adam Le Fondre, the criticism Parkinson expected in his post-match comments arrived by the bucket-load.
And yet in the cold light of day Wanderers’ Championship fate is still in their own hands, if they can find a swift enough response.
Parkinson is no stranger to this sort of situation. In fact this exact scenario has been played out three times since December. A pair of defeats, then a positive reaction.
Dire displays against Nottingham Forest and Burton Albion were followed by a win against Cardiff City, negative performances against Brentford and Ipswich by a win against Bristol City, defeats at QPR and Cardiff by a vital result at home to Sunderland.
Wanderers’ staff have invariably come up with a way of stopping a disappointment becoming a full-blown crisis, at least since the club’s puzzlingly poor start to the campaign. And so with a few days to ponder his next move at the iPro Stadium, Parkinson is confident his side will regroup.
“Yes that result is a setback and we can’t hide away from it but I have said to the lads we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, or hide away from the criticism we get,” said Parkinson after the final whistle on Tuesday night.
“We need to come in with a spring in our step ready to go again. And we will.
“The game was tight, nothing was given away, there wasn’t much quality because of the tension out there. When you get a goal ahead it gives you a huge lift, and it did for the Birmingham players. We tried to do the right things but it’s tough because the crowd are getting frustrated, and we understand that, but no-one hid away from the ball, they kept going. We just needed players to produce key moments to get us back into the game.”
Since beating Cardiff City at the Macron in December Wanderers have failed to score more than one goal against any side – win, lose or draw – which suggests finding those “key moments” is not a new problem.
Since Gary Madine’s departure Parkinson struck upon a new system using Darren Pratley further forward, which was also good news for Derik Osede, who was brought in from cold storage to partner Karl Henry in front of the back four.
Adam Le Fondre has chipped away to score a few important goals and Wanderers gained just enough consistency to assemble a decent gap to the bottom three.
Yet with Pratley struggling to shake-off a shin injury and Henry still stunted by a hamstring problem – both picked up during the international break – two of the main components of the rejigged system have now been compromised.
Though talented on the ball, Jan Kirchhoff is struggling to show he is yet ready for regular football, picking up another unfortunate hamstring pull against Birmingham.
With Pratley and Henry starting this season Wanderers have won seven and drawn seven of 20 games, yet without the experienced pair their record is a woeful two wins and five draws from the same number. Getting both fit again could be the key to Parkinson putting enough points on the board to secure safety – yet with both likely to miss the weekend’s trip to Derby, a short-term solution must be sought.
Reintroducing wing-backs Little and Antonee Robinson could inject a little more dynamism into the side, which was lacking against Leeds and Birmingham.
Since being sent off at QPR it has been a frustrating couple of months for former Bristol City man Little, while Robinson has not featured since going out on international duty with the US.
But whether the iPro Stadium is the right venue to attempt an attack-minded move is up for debate.
The lack of an 'out ball' for the Wanderers back line has also been evident in the last two games, as the nerves have started to kick in.
Aaron Wilbraham remains the only target man in town - and though his inclusion may be seen as somewhat of a Hail Mary pass in the circumstances, it could potentially give a bit of support for the ever-willing Le Fondre.
Source
Combing over the wreckage of a 1-0 home defeat to relegation-rivals Birmingham City, fans have been quick to throw their theory on what was missing at the Macron Stadium.
From the continued and rather unexplained absence of David Wheater at the heart of defence, and the fact Mark Little and Antonee Robinson have also been jettisoned, to the doomed late substitution of Karl Henry for Jan Kirchhoff and the increasingly-isolated Adam Le Fondre, the criticism Parkinson expected in his post-match comments arrived by the bucket-load.
And yet in the cold light of day Wanderers’ Championship fate is still in their own hands, if they can find a swift enough response.
Parkinson is no stranger to this sort of situation. In fact this exact scenario has been played out three times since December. A pair of defeats, then a positive reaction.
Dire displays against Nottingham Forest and Burton Albion were followed by a win against Cardiff City, negative performances against Brentford and Ipswich by a win against Bristol City, defeats at QPR and Cardiff by a vital result at home to Sunderland.
Wanderers’ staff have invariably come up with a way of stopping a disappointment becoming a full-blown crisis, at least since the club’s puzzlingly poor start to the campaign. And so with a few days to ponder his next move at the iPro Stadium, Parkinson is confident his side will regroup.
“Yes that result is a setback and we can’t hide away from it but I have said to the lads we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, or hide away from the criticism we get,” said Parkinson after the final whistle on Tuesday night.
“We need to come in with a spring in our step ready to go again. And we will.
“The game was tight, nothing was given away, there wasn’t much quality because of the tension out there. When you get a goal ahead it gives you a huge lift, and it did for the Birmingham players. We tried to do the right things but it’s tough because the crowd are getting frustrated, and we understand that, but no-one hid away from the ball, they kept going. We just needed players to produce key moments to get us back into the game.”
Since beating Cardiff City at the Macron in December Wanderers have failed to score more than one goal against any side – win, lose or draw – which suggests finding those “key moments” is not a new problem.
Since Gary Madine’s departure Parkinson struck upon a new system using Darren Pratley further forward, which was also good news for Derik Osede, who was brought in from cold storage to partner Karl Henry in front of the back four.
Adam Le Fondre has chipped away to score a few important goals and Wanderers gained just enough consistency to assemble a decent gap to the bottom three.
Yet with Pratley struggling to shake-off a shin injury and Henry still stunted by a hamstring problem – both picked up during the international break – two of the main components of the rejigged system have now been compromised.
Though talented on the ball, Jan Kirchhoff is struggling to show he is yet ready for regular football, picking up another unfortunate hamstring pull against Birmingham.
With Pratley and Henry starting this season Wanderers have won seven and drawn seven of 20 games, yet without the experienced pair their record is a woeful two wins and five draws from the same number. Getting both fit again could be the key to Parkinson putting enough points on the board to secure safety – yet with both likely to miss the weekend’s trip to Derby, a short-term solution must be sought.
Reintroducing wing-backs Little and Antonee Robinson could inject a little more dynamism into the side, which was lacking against Leeds and Birmingham.
Since being sent off at QPR it has been a frustrating couple of months for former Bristol City man Little, while Robinson has not featured since going out on international duty with the US.
But whether the iPro Stadium is the right venue to attempt an attack-minded move is up for debate.
The lack of an 'out ball' for the Wanderers back line has also been evident in the last two games, as the nerves have started to kick in.
Aaron Wilbraham remains the only target man in town - and though his inclusion may be seen as somewhat of a Hail Mary pass in the circumstances, it could potentially give a bit of support for the ever-willing Le Fondre.
Source