JOHN McGINLAY: Sharpness has gone, now let's get back to basics

We’ve maybe glossed over it, said we were playing well and that everything was hunky dory, but the truth is that too many of our big players just aren’t doing it for Owen Coyle at the moment.

We started well against Chelsea but the first goal killed us, and after that, it was as flat as a pancake.

It’s a collective issue, and I don't think you can lay the blame at two, three or four of the lads.

But the sharpness has disappeared and for me, it’s time to get back to basics.

Maybe it’s time to stop worrying about being easy on the eye. We need to start competing and roll our sleeves up.

You have to earn your right to be able to play nice football and right now, we look a bit too predictable.

I’ve said it before, but Martin Petrov needs to start stepping up, because these are the times that you need your experienced players to start pulling through for you.

I thought he’d cracked it early on against Chelsea when he put a few decent crosses in but then he faded into the background yet again and lost his impact.

I’m sure Owen is waiting for him to come good but you’ve got to ask the question now if it ever will. Sometimes it just isn’t meant to be.

Petrov wasn’t a gamble in the summer. In my eyes, he was the Bosman signing of the close season on paper, but then paper doesn’t win you football matches.

It’s no coincidence that as the wingers start to dip in form, the goals have dried up. Earlier in the season we were whipping crosses in and making teams turn towards their own goal. Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander were getting themselves on the end of it, and things were going well.

Now, we’re too direct. We’re too straight. Teams like Chelsea and Stoke are just sitting back and letting us pump another ball down the middle and just mopping it up.

We need to get some width into our game, and fast.

THERE’S part of me that feels sorry for Andy Gray – who I think has fallen victim of a little internal score settling at Sky TV.

I know Andy quite well and he’s a smashing bloke; funny and knowledgeable about the game, and there’s no doubt in my mind that there was no malice in what he was saying. It was just two blokes egging each other on.

It smacks of an inside job to me. Whether he had been there for too long and they were looking for a way to get rid of him, or the apology offered to lineswoman Sian Massey saved Richard Keys, I’m not sure, but you do wonder why the microphone was left on, and how it made it’s way into the public domain.

We all live our lives in the public spotlight now, in one way or another, and anything we say or do can be splashed up there on Twitter or YouTube in the blink of an eye. The media is quick to seize on anything and they don’t worry about leaving you hanging out to dry.

When you are speaking to someone in private, it isn’t anyone else’s business what you say.

If Andy had said those things live on air then, fair enough, he should have been nailed up for it, but when you’re just messing around with a colleague and having a bit of banter. Come on.

We’ve all been guilty of saying something daft in private and I’m sure if you asked Andy his views, he’d be of a similar mind to me – football is still a very hard place for a woman to make it, but you don't begrudge anyone doing so.

It’s very much a man’s arena and that’s why the women’s game has struggled to take off in some places.

I’m sure Andy would also have pointed out that the same assistant referee made an outstanding call on Liverpool’s goal, and should definitely be applauded for that. It was a matter of inches and there are plenty of other liners in the game that would have called that offside.

I don’t think Andy will be out of work for long, though, and I’d expect him to be on ESPN within a few weeks.

IF Owen Coyle loses out on Carlos Vela in the next few days, then I’d like to think he has got a few more irons in the fire.

We hear over in the US that Valencia are big favourites to get the Mexican striker, which is a shame because he could have become a better player at the Reebok, just like Jack Wilshere did.

But Owen isn’t daft, he knows we need two, maybe three new faces to freshen things up and add a bit more sharpness.

Shaun Wright-Phillips is an interesting one that keeps cropping up, even though Owen has said we can’t afford his wages, let alone his transfer fee. Whether City want to loan him is also an issue.

He’d be a great addition because he’s a cracking little player when he’s in a bit of form. He’d put bums on seats, and if you’re in a situation like we are – looking for where the next win is going to come from – he’s the kind of proven player you want around.

JUSSI Jaaskelainen might be coming under fire but it’s important you keep a level head.

A few of our experienced lads are struggling at the moment, and I’m sure Big Jussi will be the first to admit he could have done better with a couple of Chelsea’s goals. But he has kept us in God knows how many games down the years and sometimes you just need to ride it out.

I’m not sure the time is right to go with young Adam Bogdan, even though I’m sure he’ll get a chance against Wigan in the FA Cup, but with Ali Al-Habsi doing so well at Wigan, it does raise some interesting questions about next season.

IT’S a big regret of mine that I couldn’t be there this week.

I watched his funeral on the internet and was so pleased to see that people had really made the effort to turn out and give him the send-off he deserved.