Jansen's Logic Rather Flawed

So let's get this straight: Matt Jansen's looking for a place where he can piece together his confidence without too much stress, so he plumps for a side which is operating at a part-time level. So far so logical.

But Leigh Genesis is a club which has looked a dead cert to be closed down for the last year after a massively over-ambitious rebranding exercise inevitably crashed and burned, a big-talking new owner having taken them down a crazy road and then suddenly got cold feet when he had the shock of his life and realised that Leigh is not a big city capable of sustaining a major sporting operation.

Good luck Matt. I hope my fears are exaggerated. I enjoyed our LDV tie at Leigh RMI-it was an enjoyable introduction to the welcome we'd receive in non-league. I've been watching their problems with interest because their loyal hard core of fans deserve a lot better, and there was a horrible inevitability to how it would end up. I just can't follow why Jansen saw this as a safe haven from which he could rebuild his confidence.

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!

He's Still Got It!

Matt Jansen on Soccer AM

Matt Jansen talks about his accident and, obliquely, the future on Soccer AM last Saturday.

Does the Mirror Reflect Jansen's State of Mind?

The Mirror threw Wrexham's fans into some confusion on their way to Histon with the revelation that Matt Jansen appeared to have retired!

Terry Darracott certainly didn't confirm the matter that he's hung up his boots after the match, saying he'd be out for about three weeks, so was he playing the question with a straight bat or is there nothing to it?

Perhaps the article's misleading us, The opening paragraph seems to make claims that the actual comments of Jansen don't back up. So was it a case of a journalist making a mountain out of a molehill, or were things said off the record which he wasn't able to quote but was able to imply? Or is it simply a case of a national journalist seeing playing for Wrexham as tantamount to retirement?

I spoke to a few people who have the inside line at The Racecourse this afternoon, and the story surprised all of them. That, plus the impression the article gives me, suggests to me that Jansen will be with us until the end of the season, but will probably retire then. Which is hardly a million miles from what seemed a likely outcome when he arrived is it?

Confidence is the Key

Where will our next win come from? Since that night at Burton when our automatic promotion fell off the rails we haven't won and have dropped valuable points against sides who we would have put to the sword earlier in Dean Saunders reign. So why? What has changed? In paper we now have a stronger side with the introduction of Andrew Crofts, Matt Jansen and John Curtis all experienced and proven at higher levels yet as we all know football isn't played on paper it is played on a pitch. Is it a mental thing? Burton haven't won since they celebrated winning the championship after winning against us. Is it for Wrexham the mental blow of not being able to catch Burton that has sent our form spiralling? The only thing that is certain is Dean needs to get the players heads right for the run in as we cannot afford to drop too many more points. That 10 letter word C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E will make the difference. Come on Dean get the lads buzzing again!

Woking Podcast

The Woking podcast is now up at http://www.wrexhamfan.co.uk/ featuring Dean Saunders, Andrew Crofts, Matt Jansen and Anthony Williams.

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.