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Opinion: Competition Is Good For Grounds

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Image for Opinion: Competition Is Good For Grounds

Jonathan Grounds has been under fire recently with criticism from fans that he looks a bit tired considering how many games he has played. Maybe he is a bit burnt out from the constant game time or maybe he is just being found out now other clubs are exploiting this side. I don’t know but what I can see is that he looks to be slowly improving after Wiggins was introduced.

Rhoys Wiggins is a full back that was signed on the last day of the transfer window and therefore hasn’t been fit to play a part in any match so far but he will be fully fit in no time according to recent reports. Rhoys was signed on loan from Bournemouth after making over 100 appearances for Charlton but he is yet to play for the cherries. Having spoken to Charlton fans, they rated him very highly and were disappointed to see him leave.

At first, I was pleased with the signing as I thought he could replace Grounds for a short while in order to help him recuperate and find the form that he hit just 2 seasons ago when he was one of our better players. However, despite still being pleased with the signing, I was wrong about the impact that he would have. To me, Wiggins has actually given Grounds some competition which he looks to have accepted. For a good season he has been first choice left back and has 96 appearances for the club in just 2 years. He was also first choice at Oldham and this was never threatened so he has never had to really compete to start.

Now, he has a youngster breathing on his neck ready to take that away from him and for the first time in a long time, I noticed that Jonathan had really stepped up his game on Saturday against a tough Fulham side. I have been very critical in the past of Grounds ability to attack. For me, the game has moved on so that the full back is more of a wing back and so they often double up in the attacking third for overlaps. This was lacking with Grounds especially when Gray was on the pitch. He didn’t defend whilst Jon didn’t attack.

But against Fulham he was supporting Maghoma all of the time which allowed him to cut inside and draw the defender out wide. He also penetrated the back four a few times as Tesche found the pass through to him. Even his crossing was much improved, setting up several opportunities with a simple cut back. I was impressed with this sudden improvement. Now I know it is only one game and I am not getting carried away but I hope that Wiggins’ arrival has really helped him to push on this season and be more intense.

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