You Can't Take Carlisle From the Boy

I'd love to be wrong about this but it seems to me the rest of the season will be about escape from relegation worries, consolidating our status in League One and - maybe - pulling off a late surge to keep the interest in sneaking a play-off place alive and/or priding ourselves on turning over a promotion contender, like Millwall, at the end of the season.

Despite the 'who else is going down with us at the end of the year?' posts on the messageboards I can't see us falling into the company of Crewe, Cheltenham, Hereford and the other strugglers. We shouldn't get too complacent. Some of those teams can't see themselves staying there either. I just don't think we're that bad consistently to be looking to League Two. More to the point, the mismatched heroes of Greg Abbott's new pass and move era seem to understand two things:

1 - Holding possession is the key to dominating games and gathering points.

2 - EVERYONE in the squad is playing for their future at the moment.

The irony - as I discussed it over a pint pre-Swindon - seems to be that if you could gauge the player keenest on a new Brunton Park contract, it would probably be one of those likeliest to leave. Like Kevin Gall. With so many out of contract next summer, so many more on loan and some of those in neither category being the most notable absentees from the first team list it is still all change and we are almost certain to lack the consistency for a meaningful surge to the very top end of the table. Like I say, I'd love to be wrong about that.

All of the above means the 18 month deal agreed with Greg Abbott is probably the thing most worthy of attention as we head into Christmas. It's a long enough deal to allow Greg to impose some shape and direction on proceedings and, probably, enough of a vote of confidence to give him some strength in the hiring and firing that has to come in the next nine months.

S'cuse the crude comparison but that is the length of a pregnancy and if Abbot is genuinely the manager he wants to be, and some of us hope he might be, then he has to give birth to a team capable of controlling a game against any League One opposition from the opening game of next season. Good or bad, until May he'll still be dealing with the squad he inherited and his results will have to be judged on that basis.

I might just be one amongst a few thousand die hards but I'd like to put my opinion in for what it's currently worth. The key area as I see it is up front. Despite the good seasons we have had and the promotions of 2005 and 2006 I would suggest that we've often struggled to maximise our talent at the very front. Last year the Garner, Graham combination was - arguably - the best we've seen for ages. But otherwise we've often seen strikers running thankless miles up front and stranded out of reach of a pass.

Karl Hawley might have netted well, but not that many of his goals were skilful and breathtaking moments. He also ran into plenty of opposing defenders and did the hard job of drawing defenders, allowing the midfield to get forward and bag a few. Similarly Derek Homes, likeable but - frankly - well employed at St Johnstone these days, and probably around the right level.

I can't see the defence being sorted to the widespread satisfaction of the Blue Army before next season. We've leaked embarrassingly at the left for too long and the understanding we need appears elusive. For the handful who were there to witness the witless way two of our back four set up Steve Sloma of Grays to bang in a goal that - thankfully - didn't count once the floodlights failed, it was obvious that any Carlisle backline capable of being unpicked by the second worst team in the Blue Square Premier wasn't really working at its best.

Tim Krul notwithstanding, I have a hunch we'll take a long time to remedy the leaks, which means our future this season depends on being able to score more than we concede. And that, more than anything, bothers me.

I'm struggling to see the sense of so many airborne balls heading in the direction of Cleveland Taylor, or Marc Bridge-Wilkinson. Bridgey appears willing to jump up against opposing defenders, but most of them start a few inches above him, and stay there. Cleveland is a hell of a lot more deadly with a ball to his feet, and a yard of grass ahead of him to round his man and drop a cross onto the target. We've seen flashes from Scott Dobie and - finally - Michael Bridges, suggesting we can play an effective 4-4-2.

Bridges took it to, and round, the Swindon defence in the 30 minutes he had on the pitch. But if we're going to get the goals to consolidate our hold on League One for another year we'll need consistency and strength up front. It can't have escaped your notice that Grant Holt and Jermaine Beckford are staying around the top of the scorers lists for leagues One and Two whilst others we could have snagged for longer, like Magno Viera and Glenn Murray, appear able to hit the target often enough. Like I said, we haven't always made the best of our forward talent in the recent past.

All I want for Christmas is Greg Abbott sorting out our problems in that direction. He inherited an injury list including Dobie and Bridges, so half his goal-getting line were out of action. My guess is, he's still wondering what the most effective combination might be. As someone who has paid good money to watch his forward line in action in most of his short period in charge, I'd respectfully suggest that Danny Graham stranded forward as the '1' in a 4-5-1, isn't the answer. Nor is Graham pulling wide simply to get possession.

Graham's work-rate to my mind is greater than his critics suggest. A lot of the uncredited running off the ball and sizing up the way the opposing defence works does eventually count as he finds the gaps later in the game and gets the possession to worry the opposition. But he's a hell of a lot better with company. And if we don't sort that in the next few weeks, it's time to wave the cheque-book and add the kind of class that'll ensure we fill the opposition net often enough to avoid relegation worries.

Doubtless there will be some ins and outs in January, so it's not as if we'd simply be making the squad needlessly big by signing a decent striker if we need one. Nobody is too good to avoid relegation, but we have the resources and support to stay safe. Do we have the will?

The Blue Army bit.

Thanks to those of you who've contributed. We're making progress, but only to about 25% of a great book. To those of you coming up to me at games, or during the pre-match pints before games, with suggestions of what you might contribute, please get that stuff down and to me. I'll be aiming to generate some more publicity, which always seems to bring in the e-mails, in the New Year. If you're wondering what the hell I'm on about have a look at the top of the books page of my site: http://www.neilnixon.com/books.htm

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