Few tough months coming up. Not just for us either. As I keep saying it is a long hard season. We are at the halfway stage now. Teams looking safe now will get into trouble. Teams that look in trouble will reach safety.
At least with these last two results I only look demented now
Its no coincidence that this upturn has occured with the captaincy shift in favour of Keogh who was MOM ,to stunning goal saving tackles in front of me second half ,and young Connor Thomas is growing into a really influential member of the team ,ability belies his age .
Keogh was bleedin immense, but the big turn-around factors for me are:
1) The emergence of Thomas into a dominant central midfielder. The buzz of confidence in this lads play the last few games must be infectious. He brings about 3 times more pace and energy to the role than Sammy did, and today was truly a 10/10 performance. Outstanding.
2) Gary Deegan adding bite, movement, positioning, anticipation, leadership and vision to the midfield. In particular, his one-touch passing has completely transformed our tempo.
3) Gary McSheffrey moving to striker. I was gagging for this to happen in preseason, but assumed after the Leicester game that he'd forgotten how to play there. Obviously not! Today was the most complete McSheffrey performance since his first spell at the club. Never mind the goal, the assist and his link play show that he adds the support to Lukas as a slightly deeper forward that no other forward at the club can supply. McSheffrey on this form is exactly the type of player that could get us out of trouble. Like a £2m signing. He is clearly absolutely loving being up front, and should stay in that position henceforth. Make the January transfer/loan priority an attacking midfielder to replace Bell in the hole.