After another two points dropped at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night, and with Bristol City and Stoke City next in line for the Hornets, Watford FanCast PodJockey

Dan Shittu the centre back and Dan Shittu the centre forward, both are sights we have become accustomed to this season, so is it time for the final twelve games that the big man made the transition permanently to get us to the Premier League.  Is it a viable option, an answer to all our prayers, or just plain stupid?

Those of you Hornets fans who have had the pleasure of tuning into the latest Watford Football FanCast at Football FanCast.com will have heard my crazy suggestion that we should transform the Nigerian international into a striker for the run-in and here's why.  During the show these comments contained an element of sarcasm, tongue in cheek if you will, but after listening back to the show I seem to have bought into my own madness that this is one awesome creative solution.

This was further reiterated during Tuesday night's game at home to Norwich, a game we should really have won, but just lacked that cutting edge up front.  Another Dan Shittu goal from a cross, how many times have we seen that this season?  The big man's goals have been a vital in maintaining our league position, but after watching us play over the last few weeks, frustratingly our style of play has shown few signs of improvement as we seem unable to play anything other than direct, a style basked in all its ugliness particularly at Vicarage Road.

For me, we ran out of ideas on Tuesday evening and almost lapsed into a trance as I thought I could perhaps be watching a tennis match as the ball was tossed back and forth with no end product, the closest we came to a winner being a Dion Dublin Rene Higuita-style volley, ironic in the fact he himself moved from forward to defence. 

As much as we all have high hopes for Nathan Ellington, whether it's his poor free-kicks and lack of composure in front of goal or our long ball tactics, the partnership with Henderson is not clicking at the vital stage of the season, a time we need both strikers to be red hot.  Many have criticised the Duke's performances and ironic cheers were heard at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night as he was replaced by Collins John, something we have unfortunately heard far too much of over this campaign. 

I hope for his sake Dan Shittu spends most of the week on the treadmill and jumping on the spot during the week.  I say this because he is sent forward, and rightly so, for every badly delivered free kick, corner and throw in, before having to sprint back and being asked to defend. (On the subject of throw-ins, how good is it to have someone with Leigh Bromby's throwing ability?  The answer is fantastic, they're like Paul Mayo's throws except he can play football too, but how Bromby has been at the club for so many weeks and we still haven't worked out how to use this tool effectively is beyond me).

If Adam Johnson were to return on loan I believe his deliveries into the box along with Smith and McAnuff's service, Danny would probably end up leading scorer, as few defences (and attacks) can contain the big guy, and with accuracy the results can be potent.

Our defence this season is strong enough for him not to leave a gaping hole at the back too.  Mariappa has gone from strength to strength this season, Sadler has slotted in well and Demerit and Bromby read each others game very well, as they showed when Dan was away for the African Nations Cup.  I keep waiting for us to play good flowing football, but for me it's not happened and it isn't going to change before the end of the season - although I'd love to be wrong. 

For us to achieve promotion we are going to have to do it the ugly way; so let's settle for that and play to our strengths, and get Shittu winning headers; holding the ball up, scoring goals and generally bullying defenders.  I struggle to think of many goals we've scored that haven't come from headers or close range finishes this season, and those that have were from Messrs King and Johnson, both of whom have left the Vic.  

The last two times we have been promoted we finished strongly, and starting Tuesday night at Bristol is when we must stand up, be counted and start this run. Struggling against the Burnley's, Preston's and Norwich's of this league does not stand us in good stead for next season, but a good finish could change all that.

So I'll leave this thought with you, as one of our centre backs will finish as one of our leading scorers; a fantastic feat, but one which should not be overlooked.  We could do with two Dan Shittu's but instead let's use him to best effect and for me that could be up front; it's bold, it's looks rather silly, but so is the rest of this league!! 

I hope Collins John comes in to drive us back to the Premiership with his goals and I hope he can bury the ghost of Marlon King; failing that, evasive action maybe called for.

Keep the faith.

To listen to the latest Watford FanCast recorded before the clash with Norwich City in which Neil first suggested the above positional change for the Nigerian, click here.

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