Dragon Talk Podcast

A Dragon Talk podcast is now up at http://www.wrexhamfan.co.uk/ featuring an interview with Patrick Suffo and a preview of the Kettering game.

You Win Nothing With Kids

I suppose there's no point in speculating on the quality of new signings when we haven't seen them play for ages, but since when did that stop anybody?

Gareth Taylor was certainly an effective player a few years ago. One might argue that he was an effective player last season as he started a third of Doncaster's games in the Championship. One might also argue the opposite as he only scored one goal in them.

I've always had a prediliction for fielding a big bloke up front, as insurance against an inability to pass the ball around, and it might be that Taylor will be a bit too canny for Conference defences. On the other hand, he's thirty-six, and Saunders' penchant for signing aging strikers has hardly been a roaring success thus far, Suffo and Jansen failing for different reasons to help our promotion push.

Frankly, I never feel too comfortable when we sign a guy who ticks the same box as me when asked his age on an application form!

Taking A Chance on Jansen

Matt Jansen's arrival at The Racecourse is certainly a fascinating one! The question is whether he is the Matt Jansen he was seven years ago.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the story of the dreadful motorcycle accident which threatened not only his career but his life back in 2002. The question is whether he'll be able to rediscover the form he enjoyed in his youth by dropping down to the fifth tier, or whether the scars he bears from his trauma mean he'll never be able to reach those heights again.

Because make no bones about it, Jansen was one hell of a young prospect. Sven-Goran Eriksson fancied him enough to see him as a potential international, and if things had not gone so sadly awry he would never have dreamed of rolling up at Wrexham at this point in his career.

The question is, will Saunders find he still has the ability to create and destroy? Unfortunately a few of the players he has brought in have failed to bring their undoubted technical abilities to bear on the pitch. Patrick Suffo admits that he hasn't got more than sixty minutes in him, and had an extremely unhappy thirty at Eastbourne. Christian Gyan's hopes look have been terminally damaged by his disasterous showing at right back against Ebbsfleet, a performance brought into stark relief by the subsequent improvement of form by Aurelien Collin, leading me to the obvious conclusion that his shaky play in that game was substantially down to the flaky full back outside him. Jamie McCluskey, much younger but once more a player who, if he'd been able to avoid injury problems, wouldn't have touched The Conference with a bargepole, has also yet to be able to show us fully what he can bring to the table despite a couple of sparky cameo performances as a late sub.

So will Jansen be able to buck the trend and impose his undoubted talent on the pitch? For the sake of our faltering play-off hopes, I hope so, although I can't help holding my breath in the hope that there's something else in the pipeline as well. Saunders said after the Forest Green game that he saw Jansen as less of a gamble than an untried young striker, and he seemed to have a specific player in mind. I must beg to differ; Saunders' record in the transfer market is markedly better when he's bringing in raw talent on loan from the upper echelons of the game than when he trades in the bargain basement for talented but damaged goods. Bearing that in mind, a highly-rated but green kid from The Premiership might well be more of a banker when thrown in against Conference defences.

Williams Loss Leaves Gaping Hole

On Saturday morning I was chatting to a few friends about how desperately we needed to bring in a striker as we were rather short on options. Little did we know how dire the situation would become just a few hours later!
The loss of Marc Williams is an immense blow. For me, he's the runaway candidate for player of the season at this point, but quite apart from that, we are indeed horribly threadbare when it comes to attacking options.
With Michael Proctor clearly not rated by Dean Saunders, Shaun Whalley shipped out on loan for the same reason and Patrick Suffo having at best an hour in him, the Wrexham manager's options are rather limited.
The problem is that, as I understand it, Saunders has been as aware of the problem for as long as we have been; of course he has! He's been aggressively pursuing new strikers, but has yet to find one who is willing to come to us and is of a high enough standard to actually improve the squad. If that's the case, the chances of him finding the right man in a matter of days seems rather slim!
So what of the other options available to him? A change of system's obviously a possibility, but would that be wise when a youthful side seems pretty much in the groove of playing 4-4-2, and Jeff Louis-a striker who it appears requires careful guidance-is used to having a partner? I've heard talk of Silvio Spann being tried out on training behind a solo striker, which is perhaps the one position on the pitch you'd feel comfortable playing him as you'd be able to tell him to forget his defensive reponsibilities to an extent, although I'd have thought that would work best with a striker making darting runs in front of him for him to hit. Like Marc Williams.
The other possibility, of course, is the forgotten man of The Racecourse, Steve Abbott. He appears to be most comfortable in the hole and was brought in to boost our goals total from midfield, but has faded from view. I wonder if Saunders will give serious thought to throwing him into the void?
Otherwise, we could always fall back on this guy!!!!

Northwich Podcast

The Northwich podcast is now up at www.wrexhamfan.co.uk featuring Terry Darracott and Patrick Suffo, plus an interesting interjection from Jeff Louis!