Time To Take Stock And Move On

The pain of missing out on Wembley will frustrate us for some time yet but with the summer just around the corner, it is time to take stock and move on.

In truth, I do not think we were quite ready for the Premier League anyway although this was no fault of the players who gave it their very best shot until the last kick of the season.

When you look at the quality of the Bournemouth and Watford sides we were a long way off that standard it pains me to say.

I am sure in the months ahead manager Mick McCarthy will be looking to strengthen in a number of areas and there is no better place to start than in the goalkeeping department in my view.

In fairness, neither Bartosz Bialkowski or Dean Gerken have let us down exactly over the course of the season but I think we need a keeper who is beyond the average and excels behind the sticks.

Both keepers are a bit accident prone and I think we need to be looking at a goal keeper with a bit more all round agility and has improved distribution skills. How many times have we witnessed this season the ball being kicked out and ending up in the stands!

This is a basic goal keeping skill and they either have to be trained in the art of it, or we have to look to someone who can get our attacks going without the need to dawdle with the ball in their hands so much. Bailkowski releases the ball quicker than Gerken but they are both relatively slow in this respect.

Shane Given is someone who is still worth considering if he moves on from Aston Villa in the close season. I have always had a high regard for him and has he nears the end of his career a step down to the Championship is something he might consider? He is also Irish so surely Mick McCarthy would be very interested!

Our midfield improved a lot during the course of the season and even waded in with the odd goal.

How could we forget that screamer from Cole Skuse which threatened to break the net as it was hit with such ferocity!

That said, our midfield do not score enough and this has been the case ever since Mick McCarthy took over. We really do need a prolific goalscorer to ease the pressure on our attack when our strikers are misfiring. Once again this term our defence out-scored our midfield and this is serious cause for concern.

I genuinely hope however that Paul Anderson gets a new contract and I hope too that the Hunt brothers and Luke Varney are still around when the news season finally kicks off again.

Our attack probably only needs a bit of fine tuning and if we can get a fit David McGoldrick accompanying Freddie Sears and Daryl Murphy up front, then we can be assured of goal a plenty!

Frank Weston – Ed – Vital Ipswich