'Game-changer'?

Okay, so it's 24 hours before the big game and Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio will be psyching up his players by attempting to degrade the players we have in our side. Understandable, all managers do it.

However, one of the points he raises got me thinking. He explains he doesn't feel we have a 'game-changer' within our side which could be part of the reason we've not won as many games as we should have so far this season. I'd usually dismiss what the opposing management say in regards to our team, as it's all psychological work that they hope will have a negative effect on us, but I think PDC may have a good point here.

You think of potential players that can change a game within our side and the first people you think of are Mustapha Carayol and Joe Anyinsah. Both have shown real quality at times throughout season and it seems that recently they've been performing week in, week out which is a major plus for us. They both possess skill, pace and trickery that leaves opposition defenders wishing they were on the bench, but can they be considered real game-changers?

It seems to me that both players have to be "up for it" in order to play at their best. When they aren't, they don't seem to have anywhere near the same effect. In my mind a game-changer is somebody who you know has real talent and that even if they are having a poor game, you can rely on them to produce something special week after week. When you're in need of a goal they can produce a moment of magic and go and score, even if they've not had an impact during the rest of the 90 minutes, or when they whip in a cross or play an inch-perfect through-ball for somebody else to go and score from. Can Muzzy and Joe Anyinsah do that?

Given more games I believe they could, but at the moment I don't think they can. Rickie Lambert was a game-changer. He'd score goals no matter how ineffective he was (and that wasn't often to be fair) and that was a major threat in our favour, as the opposition had to be 100% focussed at all times to even have a prayer of keeping a clean sheet against us. Lambo is obviously long gone but I don't think has ever been properly replaced. Yes, Will Hoskins last year scored when he was playing poorly, but it never really changed the game and it wasn't done regularly enough to constitute being named a game-changer. I think that although PDC is saying this to psyche his team up, he has a genuine explanation as to why we are 18th in League Two. I think I agree with him.

Hopefully though the side have turned a corner now. We've smashed AFC Totton 6-1 and that should give us real belief heading back in to the league, so fingers crossed we can secure a crucial 3 points and propel ourselves back up the table. Who better to do that against than our friends from Swindon?!