Space invaders

A few matches into the season its time to make a reflection of what has happened. The first conclusion I have made compared to last season is that we are much more solid defensively.
The second reflection is that we have huge problems to get the ball in the net. And that second reflection is something I will dig a bit deeper into and have my opinion on what is the problem.
First of all, we lack creativity in midfield. Danny Guthrie is massively missed based on his display in the opening match. Secondly, we push too many players wide when we are attacking. I’ve seen several times that we have four Walsall players in the space between the sideline and penalty box along with several opposition defenders. There is no space to get the ball into the box since our own or the oppositions players cover every inch.
In our first match against Northampton, we played with pace when we on the ball and got it out to Pring or Norman. Together with Danny Guthries passing play centrally, we had several attacking options.
Now Pring and Norman is still an attacking force, but somehow also Adebayo, Kinsella and Sinclair drift wide into the space between the sideline and penalty box. I would rather have either Sinclair or Kinsella to give support wide while one of them stay centrally and win second balls incase the defence clears. Adebayo should not be out wide at all. Adebayo, Lavery and Gordon are paid to score goals and should be centrally as much as possible, making themselves available for crosses and tap ins. If the strikers could make space for themselves in the box, I am pretty sure they will get balls delivered from midfield and from out wide. They must have a better movement without the ball to confuse the defenders and make them make mistakes in their markings.
We could become much more dangerous in the third half if we played the strikers more centrally. In my opinion, we should have Hardy as the creative outlet centrally and supporting the wing-backs when Guthrie is unavailable. Hardy and the wing-backs can create good enough chances for the strikers to finish off. But to get that working the strikers must be in a position to get the ball, they need to use their creativity to create space for themselves in front of the goal.

I’m pretty sure this is something Clarke and his coaching team are working on getting clicking. We need to get one of the strikers of the mark more consistently and try and close the gap to the top teams before the gap is too big to take in.