The team is crying out for new blood to be added to the squad and has been for months now quite frankly.
Alan Knill deserved some time to get his feet under the table and assess things but that time has now passed due to the urgency of our predicament. The fact is, he has seen us in "live" action 3 times now and our deficiencies should be glaringly obvious. If he does need any further evidence then I'm sure he could pick up some back copies of match DVDs for the last 2 or 3 months and watch them if he really needs to!
By way of an example, John Sheridan down at Plymouth, brought in SEVEN new additions in his first FOUR weeks at the helm. In fairness, he added those to what was an already bloated and under-performing squad and at presumably considerable expense and that is pretty much where we are at now. Now some of those have worked, listen to Argyle fans and they would single out Branston and Banton, and some of them haven't and of course it's difficult to quantify what benefits in terms of points they may have brought to the team. But an easy one is Banton, who has scored three goals which have secured four points for his team. In a side that has struggled for goals all season that is quite possibly four points that they wouldn't have got without him.Similarly, Guy Branston has shorn up their defence and they are conceding precious few goals now, what value in terms of points that may have brought to the side is more difficult to quantify but a couple of clean sheets have certainly helped along the way and in seven starts they have only conceded more than 1 goal on just the one occasion, so well done to Branno (through gritted teeth!)
Looking at our squad, the stand out players ALL season, have been Poke, Saah, Downes, Mansell and Howe in my book ... albeit some, Howe in particular, aren't quite performing to the levels they were earlier in the season and others like Manse haven't hit the highs of last season. Based on current form, I also think both Leadbitter and Bodin have been bright sparks in our depressing run of form of late. So, it's the "other" positions we need to look at and the answers may not just lie in the existing squad, although it is a fair point to argue that some really haven't been given a fair crack of the whip.
In other words, I feel it is a bit more than the "fine tuning" that Alan Knill alluded to at he weekend. We need improvements to four key areas and that is Left Back/Left sided Centre half (Nico needs a rest and needs to be taken out of the firing line and the assumption must be that Cruise isn't good enough) I.e someone who can cover for Downes in the short term but maybe cover for Nico in the longer term, Central Midfield (sad to say as I like the guy, but Easton has been a huge disappointment this season and Lathrope just isn't delivering) a pacy right winger (despite having something like ten wingers at the club !) and a pacy, more direct striker ( I just don't see Benyon or Jarvis being the answer to what is needed now).
In all of this I hope Knill makes his own mind up, and quickly, on what he feels is needed rather than relying too heavily on what his back room staff are telling him as he has also alluded to. Loyalty is a great quality and without question it is probably one of Shaun Taylor's most endearing qualities and he has it in buckets (same for Kenny Veysey) but in certain situations it can be misplaced or even misguided and perhaps Shaun has been too loyal to the existing squad (after all his mate Lingy signed most of them) in his assessment of what he have got and what is needed in this situation.
I honestly think that FOUR quality additions could save us and I have some faith in Alan Knill finding them but let's face it, it won't be easy as we are hardly an attractive proposition just now. Any more than four would be excessive and wasteful and we are restricted anyway by the max number of loanees (five) allowed in any match day squad. We are fortunate in some ways that at the moment, unlike some clubs around us (such as Argyle) in that we only have two loanees (Elliot and Angus) on our books and so we have quite a bit of room to manoeuvre and surely the Board would support any such moves (to quote Simon Baker "we will do anything that is needed") at this critical stage to support the new man, as they are getting close to(if we haven't already) of having left it too late to act already,
Having said all that, personally I reckon we may see ONE, perhaps TWO at most in by Saturday. Not enough in my book and it may take another defeat on Saturday, or perhaps finally dropping into the bottom two before we add the two or three more new faces that are needed. It's just so frustrating that every week we delay, the matches and more importantly the points, are just slipping away. Action and decisive action at that, is what is needed now not in a few weeks time when the loan deadline finally closes and we are left with what we have got for the run in.
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