In my last post before the festive break after the very welcome victory over Bradford, I suggested that with the games coming thick and fast over the holiday period “a good run could really push us up a very congested table, whereas negative results could see us dropping down.”

Sadly for Orient fans it was to turn out to be nothing short of a disastrous festive period in which we lost all three of the matches that took place and are now languishing in 20^th place in the table, just a single point above the dreaded dropzone. Although the comments on social media were (hopefully!) meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, maybe it was a good thing that the Stevenage game was called off as at least it couldn’t get any worse!

All through this season it feels like we have been waiting for the newly assembled squad to really show us what it is capable of. While there have been flickers of how good it might become, we simply haven’t been able to follow up a good performance and result with another one. Instead we seem to have been constantly looking to get going again after yet another disappointing defeat. 

Undoubtedly injuries, especially long term ones to key personnel, have played their part but at the same time it really does feel that a significant proportion of the players have underwhelmed, and not just those who have only just joined the club.

The sheer turnover of players over the summer was always, understandably, going to be a huge challenge, but there are very few signs of many of the players even getting close to the level required by a club with top half of the table, or even loftier, aspirations.  This was something a frustrated Richie Wellens alluded to after the disaster at Kenilworth Road, stating: “We just can’t play the way that I want to play at the moment, because we’ve probably got 7, 8 [players] each week that buy in, or can do, [to the way we want to play] but it breaks down [with] one or two.”

This was a theme that the gaffer returned to after the defeat at home to a very average Wimbledon, suggesting: “With this group of players that are fit and available, we’re bang in trouble.” All of which begs the question of why these players were judged to be suitable replacements for those who departed for a team looking to build on last season’s success?

While I am not sure it was completely evident at the time, it now seems that our entire approach to recruitment over the summer was flawed to say the very least, if not downright disastrous.

Our inability to find and sign an experienced and proven goalkeeper on a permanent basis for three summers in a row is bordering on the farcical. Josh Keeley’s unexpected emergence masked the Zach Hemming early season debacle last year, but this term we have brought in two more inexperienced goalkeepers both of whom have demonstrated that they understandably have an error in them. Now that Simkin has returned to parent club Stoke City, are we now going to go and find the keeper that every Orient fan knows we need? Although would it be that much of a surprise if we persevered with Killian Cahill and another unproven loanee?

In previous seasons under Richie Wellens our defence has been one of our main strengths, this time around however it is a cause of major concern. The thinking of going into the season without a reliable left back seems at best naïve, but it has proven to be a major issue that desperately needs addressing. We were never going to find someone as good as Jack Currie, but the Tayo Adaramola experiment didn’t work, and he is another who has been recalled by his parent club. Whilst Tom James has been badly shown up on more than one occasion so far this season.

Once we decided to let Brandon Cooper leave were we really relying on being able to get through the season with four central defenders, most of whom have had fitness issues throughout their time with us? Losing REG for the season was obviously unfortunate but long term injuries happen in football, and it has meant that we have been relying on Dan Happe, a seemingly past his best Omar Beckles, and a yet to truly convince Jack Simpson throughout the first half of the season. Is it any wonder that our defensive organisation seems to have gone completely out of the window, and it is all too simple for teams to score against us?

In midfield while we are well stocked in terms of the number of players, it seems very muddled as to how we should set up and the style of play we are intending to use to get the best out of our attacking players. Again, losing Idris El MIzouni to a long term injury may have been unexpected, but have any of the others really shown they merit a starting position in the heart of midfield? I would suggest the jury remains well and truly out on that!

Our attacking play and the sheer number of goals we have scored has been both impressive and very welcome. Aaron Connolly and Dom Ballard have unquestionably been our best two signings of the season, but with the former injured and the latter required to plough a lone furrow so often as the central striker, my worry is whether our scoring rate can be sustained for the second half of the campaign.

So often in football the January transfer window is seen as the cure to all first half of the season woes but is that ever truly the case? While Adaramola and Joe White have joined Simkin in returning to their parent clubs, and if rumours are to be believed other contracted players may also be on their way out to create room within the squad/ budget; are we truly going to be able find the players that we all know we desperately need? Usually the players that are available are unwanted by their clubs or recalled loanees who haven’t featured sufficiently to merit continuing the arrangement.

A case in point is our first signing of the window, centre back Will Forrester from Bolton. Forrester boasts 72 League 1 appearances across 3 seasons with Port Vale and the Trotters but hasn’t actually featured in the league this campaign. He also has quite an injury record including a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Bolton team between last April and October, and my personal favourite – breaking a toe and dislocating another after falling down the stairs at home ahead of the season opener at Brisbane Road in August 2024. What was that about him fitting right in at Orient? I have nothing at all against Forrester, and he may well turn out to be a very valuable addition, but the point is we are having to take a gamble, when perhaps we could have added a centre back in the summer and avoided this situation altogether. 

Whatever else we do in terms of transfer business, we desperately need to find a way to start to put things right on the pitch. It won’t be easy of course as next up tomorrow afternoon is top of the table Cardiff City at Brisbane Road. In many ways this one is less about performance and more to do with the attitude of the players. If things haven’t improved over the last week or so then we could be in for a long and depressing afternoon. Then again, this is Leyton Orient, and wouldn’t it just be typical of us to go and win it?

Up the O’s!