Scotty who?

Are we missing our club Captain? It's impossible to say. For years supporters have said that Scot Davies was one of the best keepers we've ever had. This is appearing more and more like empty hype.

Joe Murphy, until his injury was performing really well and Ross Doohan has stepped up to the plate since Joe got crocked. Both offer better distribution and have managed to keep a number of clean sheets. Neither has assumed the club Captaincy, which in the case of Doohan is understandable. Instead Peter Clarke has been given the armband and has done a reasonable job. The only concern is that Clarke sometimes gets in the face of referees too much. 

Make no mistake, Davies is a good shot stopper and seems to enjoy what is technically called 'game management'. More often than not he manages to get away with clutching the ball too his chest just long enough to ignore the opposition fans, but not so long that he gets cautioned for it. The frustration though is his distribution, which is often slow and rarely allows for a decent counter-attack. Now, it may be that our manager, and successive managers, have told Scotty to keep hold of the ball until everyone is forward. After all, players only do what the boss tells them to. We don't seem to like the idea of a counter attack. Look at how we set ourselves up at corners, we never leave a player forward and always have all 10 outfield players in or around our 18 yard box. It could be that Scotty's slowish distribution is a symptom of a more cautious approach across the team. 

When Davies is fully fit I reckon Mellon is going to face an interesting decision. Who is his number 1 choice to put the keepers jersey on? For me, subject to Murphy being fit, I would go with Joe between the sticks and Doohan on the bench. I would also let either Clarke keep the armband or give it to Spearing. I can't think of a successful team where leadership has come from the fella between the sticks. 

Then again, is our relatively poor start down to poor leadership on the pitch? Are we, in fact, missing Scotty far more than we realise? He must offer something as Captain otherwise successive managers wouldn't have given him the arm band. Time will tell.