An honest assessment !

Is there a place for an honest assessment of the season to date ? The current CCFC squad will not get us into the POs this season let alone automatic promo ! We need three or 4 marquee signings to enable us to compete at the upper end of the Championship . For those Hudson/Gerrard fans out there imo neither is good enough to command a Bluebirds shirt on a regular basis - from discussions , and I appreciate we will not all agree on this or any other viewpoint I write ,there seem to be others of the same voice but because we simply state that we think certain players are not good enough then we are portrayed as plastics , boo boys , negos etc etc - simply not true - we too want the best for CCFC this and every season . Will I be happy with mid-table consolidation thie term - no I wont . I expect us to challenge for promotion yet again this season . We lack depth & quality in crucial positions - playing Earnie , Kenny & Mason as our attacking options last night was a massive error - pumping high balls up time after time nothing short of suicide .With AG missing it seems we have no other holding midfielder - Gunnarsson is a reasonable player but if our season is gonna be shaped by performances like that if he's out we've got problems . We lack width & if KM & AT are our main options for providing it then MM needs to delve into the transfer market sharpish and rectify the matter - we had no width last season and for me , nothing has been done about it despite influx of players ! We also need a striker who can both wins his headers and hold the ball up - this will help bring the best out of KM,RE & JM . We also need a warhorse in the centre of the park - someone to break-up the play, bruise a few insteps & split the opposition between full=back and centre-half. We also lack pace right across the back four and in midfield - this will hurt us , time and time again Brighton outplayed us in this area , as did the Hammers . If it wasnt for CM-S getting caught offside 8 (ish) times last night we would've been outta the game well before we were ! Negative no , honest yes & Bloobird to the bone .

Oh God, you used the term marquee signing! Someone has been watching SKY Sports a bit too much!

I agree though. We are not strong enough. I reckon with this squad we could still push but just miss out on the playoffs. 4 more signings will really make a difference though and Malky knows it. There's a big difference between wanting what you need and getting what you need.

Dont forget this Brighton team won their league and have brought in one or two quality players. They are a very good passing unit and to be honest we were chasing shadows last night. They controlled the game for long periods and I for one think they'll be there or there abouts in May.

MM needs time and a few more options in all areas of the team. To be honest or central defenders are slow and opposition players know this, hence forwards playing on the shoulders of Hudson anf Gerrard resulting in what should have been and goal and later the clumsy challenge for the penalty which ended the game for us.

8 new players need time to gel and get to know each others strengths. Earnie and Miller are two of the same so that needs addressing along with a ball winner in midfield. Bullard could do a job if his wages are not too high. Whitts needs to be further up the field last night he looked to be playing in front of the back four but as I said earlier we just couldn't win the ball off them.

This team of ours works hard and to be fair to them they run their stones off last night so we have to be patient and wait for all the pieces of the jigsaw to be in place.