Wellens - post match interview Chesterfield

Hasn’t done for yonks plus ages!! That was a cackfest out there today..

He's right it was poor and has been throughout November. Since we've had injuries. It's not just the injury to the player, it affects how we play. We play together as a team in a very intricate way. Rightly or wrongly that's our style and that's what we've recruited around. Now we need players to be able to implement it and our better ones have been able to while others have fallen by the wayside.

You can tell we've been nurturing players through, Agyei shouldn't even be anywhere near playing yet. Ruel sounds like he's been injured for a while.

Injury free we're mid-table, with injuries we just don't have the depth. Same when we went up from the National League to League Two. We had enough to cope initially but struggled. It took us two seasons to stabilise.

I said at the start of the season we'd do well to stay up and I stand by that. I'm hoping for a 16th place finish and we're sort of there now.

The frustration from Richie and some players is because others clearly aren't good enough and not making the grade. That's either because they're young and not experienced enough (but could develop) or just not up to it (and I'm sure we all know what players we're talking about) and will get moved on in due course.

We don't have a bottomless pit of money. We need to move players on to get players in. I can think of two defenders, two midfielders and a striker I'd like to see move on and replaced with an experienced League One midfielder and Striker. That I can imagine is easier said than done though.

Unfortunately we do get some idiots on here demanding this that and the other . They don’t seem to realise that our hands are tied at least until summer when we can move players on .  I do however wish RW had an alternative plan than just passing the ball around !

Thankfully I didn’t see it, but some of the comments, including from RW, suggest you are right.  Not too far from my feelings vs Lincoln.  Of course RW is simply being negative.  Or realistic?  

But I’m not surprised to be honest.  The signs have been there for some time.  A lack of confidence?  Motivation?  Desire?  Who knows.  What is clear is that with half a season to go and our winless run in the league, the team needs to get a grip or years of investment and planning goes in the bin.

Will issues be addressed in January.  Tough on Travis, Teague and other investors.  Dig deep or run the very real risk of relegation.  

And yet again criticism of set plays!  

Don't forget that RW has said 3 windows to get us in a position to challenge. He's had 1 window so he knows there is work to do, it will take time, we will get there I'm convinced of that and RW is key to it all happening, he is in my mind the most important person at the club, more so than ML even.

It takes time.

Difficult to see how the club can work the oracle in the January window without incurring significant additional expense and that seems to be off the table listening to Travis & Teague. Little doubt that injuries have badly disrupted our plans but equally some of the team’s performances over the last month or so have been poor by any measure. RW is certainly not getting the best out of what he has available to him at present and that is quite concerning.

It is extremely rare for a player to be signed in the January window who makes a fundamental difference. The Jan window is for adding a little depth and tweaking- occasionally signing a good prospect.

It does so long as relegation doesn’t disrupt the windows.  And of course the mantra for previous windows was bringing in league 1 ready players so we should have had a head start. 

Based on that a moderate season was always acceptable in my opinion.  RW too is on a massive learning curve in league 1 and that has to be accepted.  

I understand the loss of key players can impact on results but what we are seeing is a lack of drive and energy.  Passion.  Evident all too often in recent weeks.  And a playing style that has never created chances, even in league 2.  Don’t get me started on set plays.  That style combined with the loss of Graham and Agyie and we just look so ineffective in attack.  I don’t like watching it so must wonder how the players feel doing it.

Still time and we are reasonably placed.  Thankfully some other teams doing worse than us.  

And before you ask, my offering is to not panic, wait until we can actually do something in January, try to offload some players if we can, and then leave it up to Richie, Martin and the Board to see who we can bring in.

In the meantime we sit tight and try to ride it out.

Personally I feel that with this squad as it is, if fit, will see us finish in the bottom half of the table. Probably in 16th. I'd take that as a first season back in League One.

Maybe an addition in January and then more wholesale changes in the summer and we'll start to become a more established League One team.