There are now 8 games left, 24 points to play for. A series of superior performances would see us at 70 points total. Even under a delusion of optimism I can’t see us making the playoffs … despite some killer matches at the end of the season including Norwich … we have well handled the non-elite teams above us in the table since Duff was removed. This augers well for next season and I can clearly see something potent crystallizing out. Can we be one of next season’s elite.
The question is: what do we do with these remaining 8 matches. Do we play our strongest XI every match and see what happens. Or, do we start to blood our future - Cooper, Abdulai, Lissah, even Congreve - and see if they are really ready and how they fit into the puzzle.
Age, experience and here and now versus potential and our future. Allen is a critical component of the here and now. He has been masterful and freed up the likes of Grimes and others. What we lost when he went to ‘Pool cannot be offset by the money we received in return. However, we need to mature an Allen clone or a Plan B pretty darn quick. Fulton sub’d on for Allen does not continue the Plan A but automatically shifts Into a Plan B whether intended or not. Fulton is not the replacement. Is it Abdulai or Cooper or Parker or another player yet to bubble up from U21 or acquired. Abdulai is a powerful possible. Parker showed well before injury. Do we we play Abdulai now in preference to Fulton?
Naughton’s injury yesterday may mandate the starting of Key for the rest of the season. No sign of Ashby yet (but he’s not ours). I don’t want to waste Abdulai as a right back. He is a box-to-box player.