I feel our midfield is our downfall still. Cox and O'connor are too much of the same to really play together in a pair effectively, certainly if we wish to get forward and supply the attack from the midfield. Norburn seems too lightweight to me to be able to play in a midfield two. From what I gather of the match this was quite apparent vs Bury when we started with O'connor and Norburn in the middle. I don't feel there's an combination of two midfielders in the squad that compliment each other well.
So we can look at a 3 man midfield to try and compensate for any inadequacies. However it obviously means we lose a forward. O'connor, Norburn and Harvey complimented each other brilliantly against Exeter. What O'connor lacked in passing, Norburn had, what Harvey lacked in defensive work O'connor could cover. I feel those 3 are our strongest midfield combination. Against Stevenage we lost Norburn and replaced him with Cox. It was the same issue of O'connor and Cox being too alike in style. No one was making up for the passing inadequacies in the midfield that Norburn was filling in for. So Harvey was coming deeper and deeper to find the ball, the forwards were left isolated and we didn't play particularly well. Unfortunately, because I'm a big fan of both Cox and O'connor I think we can only pick one or the other.
The back four currently decide themselves, as let's face it McHugh will remain at left back. And Reid is a cert to start up front. So we can either play narrow like Liverpool currently are for example and put another striker alongside Reid and a player behind the two strikers. Or we play wingers either side of Reid. I'd personally stick with Lewi on the right and Banton left vs Luton, but wouldn't mind seeing what Bray could bring to the table.
Ideally, should Bray really impress, I'd like to see Lewi move up top with Reuben, and Bray to play right and Banton left. But we'd need a new midfielder in who could play next to Cox or O'connor. An actual Hourihane replacement perhaps?
