‘We have no depth in defence’

I think most of us, given the form we were in before a cracker was pulled or a pig in blanket was eaten, would’ve shaken hands on a return of six points from our three festive games.

The first two encounters, both at home, provided two wins, firstly with competent display vs troubled Coventry followed by an excellent performance against Wimbledon, featuring that rarest of beasts, a Rovers clean sheet. This had our tails up and had us dreaming of another post-Christmas surge towards the business end of the League table.

Looking at opinions from Gasheads I know and others online, there are two distinct schools of thought regarding the disappointing 4-1 reverse at the Valley, home of Charlton Athletic, on Monday.

Some think that Clarke took too much of a risk in making six changes, resting the entire midfield and front line from the previous game. While it certainly seemed like we didn’t offer much in midfield, and Jermaine Easter and Rory Gaffney appeared to feed from scraps, it doesn’t explain the four goals conceded.

The second analysis of the performance is that it’s not the players who came into the starting six that were at fault, but those who stayed there – namely the defence and goalkeeper. Even a quick look at Charlton’s goals suggests that our marking, especially at set pieces, wasn’t up to much. It’s worth remembering that while the Addicks’ Josh Magennis is a League One player, he’s also an international who went to the Euros with Northern Ireland last summer. Give someone like him a bit of space and you will be punished.

The problem is that we’ve no depth in defence. Beyond the four who started at Charlton (Brown, Hartley, Lockyer, Leadbitter), there’s no senior left-back, only Mark McChrystal as central defensive cover (and, while I love him, he’s no longer the quickest), and James Clarke, who can fill either the central or right-hand role as a sort of stop gap, but I wouldn’t want him up against the better teams in the division. Jake Clarke-Salter will eventually return from injury but right now we’re exceptionally thin on the ground.

Luckily it’s January, and the transfer window has swung open (Incidentally, what a terrible turn of phrase that is – who opens windows in January? It’s freezing out).

The problematic goalkeeping vacancy may well be filled by trialist Gianluca Curci, a man with over 100 appearances in Italy’s top division under his belt. He’s not played much lately, being a backup at Bundesliga side Mainz, but on paper he looks like a ridiculously good capture.

I appreciate the manager’s commitment to not bringing in just anyone, and learning from the mistake of the summer, where the side was overloaded with loanees, but if we get to 1st February without at least two new defensive players, there’s a danger that the season will peter out. That said, after a last-day relegation, a Wembley play-off win on penalties, and a last-minute promotion, maybe we all need a nice relaxing springtime for once!

Northampton Town visit BS7 on Saturday. It doesn’t take a betting genius to work out that many of those rested for the Charlton trip will return, as giving the likes of Taylor, Lines and Ollie Clarke ye chance to have a break and reduce the risk of muscle fatigue was clearly Darrell’s plan. What would have taken many by surprise is that Hiram Boateng is likely to feature in the Cobblers’ central midfield alongside scruffy-haired lazy sort John-Joe O’Toole.

Perhaps he didn’t suit our style of play, or didn’t settle in Bristol, but his time with us was disappointing for both parties.

For a side that won League Two by an absolute country mile, it has to be said that Robert Page’s charges are underachieving. While we and play-off winners AFC Wimbledon are troubling the top ten and looking towards the play-offs, Town’s season hasn’t really got going. They’re in a very poor run at present, losing eight of their last ten league games, although they gave league leaders Sheffield United a stern test on New Year’s Eve before succumbing to a late sucker punch.

If our full-backs keep their wide men quiet, the points should be staying in Horfield. They’ve got at least four wingers who are good enough for anyone in the division. But, as most struggling teams tend to be, they’re as soft in the middle as a caramel Quality Street. So if the wide players are kept quiet, I predict a continuation of our impressive home record.