C is for Cookie! That’s good enough for me!
Isn’t it amazing at how just one man can capture the spirit and optimism of so many who follow this football club? I think it’s fair to say that before Lee Cook’s return, there were doubts in the minds of many at how we would fair this season.
There were questions in my mind about our strength in depth, but the big worry for me was more to do with the balance. Was the balance of the squad right? Before Lee Cook arrived I would have said probably no.
Up until now I felt we were hard to judge. The squad was more than capable of challenging at the top end of the table, particualrly if we had a fit and in form Rowan Vine and Akos Buzsaky. Equally however, you could easily see it going wrong and us struggling in the middle of the table, or at worse, slightly lower.
The issue was really to do with the trend we’ve had over the years of playing players out of position. We have too many square pegs in round holes and the capture of Lee Cook solves so many of those issues because here we have a man who is an all out left-winger and one who loves playing there!
Let’s not forget that Hogan Ephraim is naturally a striker as is Vine. Cook’s arrival will also benefit different types of playing style. Dexter Blackstock will definitely score more goals as a result of Cook’s deliveries and the way Samuel Di Carmine plays, this should be good news for him too! One would expect Vine to just play up front now as well, which I personally think is great. He’s a much better striker (and indeed winger) when he plays up front and is allowed to roam.
Hogan could possibly now fill in on the right side too, where we’ve looked quite thin with just Gareth Ainsworth seemingly being available (with Martin Rowlands seemingly cementing his place in the centre of midfield, which has always been his preferred position). Suddenly we’re not relying on our kids anymore… I still think it’s slightly too early for Romone Rose and Matteo Alberti…
There are some who are unsure about Lee Cook’s fitness but I’m unconcerned. He featured several times for Charlton at the back end of last season and now he’s had a full pre-season under his belt. I expect him to be fine and while he may need a little fine tuning in terms of form, I’m not worried about anything else. In terms of his ability, he’s always been someone who is good on the ball and therefore, the problem isn’t necessarily if he can run or not, it’s whether we can find him in the right positions and I’m convinced that we will.
