I don't think so. Fox seems to be a nice footballer but I'm unsure as to what he gives us. Perkins is having a stinker at the moment, but I think we are wide open in the middle of the park with them both there. When you add in the Paddy McCourt problem, as he never tracks back or puts a tackle in, we are ******* wide open in midfield. On top of all this when we attack, we never get any men in the box; when does Perkins get in the box when we put a cross in? We miss some dynamism, someone who can be box to box in the middle of the park, I know they don't grow on trees but Fox is deffo not the answer in that position for me. We need to hound like a pack of dogs, we need to get up to help the forwards, at the moment we aren't doing either, which is pretty ****, but means we will be in serious bother this season.
Jim O'Brien single handedly provided that dynamism on his own and it would be a disgrace if he isn't in the team next week.
McCourt did put in a few tackles, one particularly strong one in the second half that looked a little two footed. He also tackled a Wednesday player that led to our goal. That said, I agree he doesn't like to track back. He seems to do everything at half pace so often doesn't get near them. I wouldn't say Perkins is having a stinker either. I agree that Fox probably isn't an ideal partner for him though. We need someone in the ilk of Yaya Toure to play alongside him who'll win the headers and has the pace and skill to get forward and support the strikers. It would help our midfield two if our defence would push up as it's simply impossible for them to cover the area of pitch left between the defence and attack. Pedersen plays on the last man and O'Grady drifts to the left, neither drop into the hole to link up the play. Combine this with the little cover for our full backs and it's just asking too much of our central midfield two at the moment. Hopefully O'Brien in place of Mellis should allow for Perkins to push up and support the front two without having to worry about protecting both Kennedy and Wiseman and deal with what's often an opposition central midfield 3.
Stinker was probably a little strong but I used to compare Perkins attributes to that of a wasp. He now seems to have lost that annoyance factor for our opponents and I'm not sure whether its down to who he is playing with or if he has gone off the boil. We deffo need someone in there though that can be box to box, an athlete with an eye for goal. Its sadly lacking at the moment and before JOB came on there was never going to be a chance of a goal from our midfield.
