Coventry City's winger Michael McIndoe is raring to go following his month long absence because of injury.
McIndoe's absence coincided with the sudden slump in form which has seen the team slip from eighth to 17th place in the Championship. Now he is back in contention for a starting place in Coventry's home game on Saturday against Preston.
McIndoe's enthusiasm for the game and his frustration of having to sit and watch while he recovered from his hip injury is evident by the way he passionately speaks about the team and the game.
“It has been massively frustrating for me over the last few weeks and I am just delighted to be back on the training ground. I know it has only been a month but to me that’s a long time and I don’t want the season to end to be honest." said the 30 year old McIndoe
“I am champing at the bit and there are players playing for contracts, playing for themselves and most importantly, playing for the shirt. I don’t care if it is the first three games or the last three, you have to put your all into it."
“I am just disappointed because I have sat and watched the last five or six games when we haven’t picked up points and I feel that I could have helped the lads a little bit if I had been fit.”
“I have had to watch my old team creep above us which is annoying and we have slipped away from the play-off spots. The lads did well to get us in that position with ten games to go but I think it is blatantly obvious that the squad needs a bit of strengthening.
“The manager said when I signed that he needed two, three or four windows to stamp his authority on the side and I think it has shown lately because our strength in depth is a little bit lacking.
“We spoke on the bus coming back from Sheffield and if you look down the core of the team there have been a lot of changes this year while a lot of the teams in the top six they have kept their centre-halves, central midfielders and centre forwards all the same.
"I have played with six left-backs this year and played in seven different positions myself and a lot of the players have had fill-in because of the numbers and the problem we have had this year is that when we have gone five or six unbeaten we have followed it up with five or six without a win and that has been our downfall."
McIndoe has impressed the fans with his commitment and work all over the pitch, but he is fully aware that he has not been scoring. He has scored just one goal in his 34 games and that is bothering him.
“I have been disappointed with my ratio this year which has been poor and the worst it has been for 12 years, but I am hungry. I know I have got to score more goals next season, but first and foremost we have got three big games left and I want to finish in the top half.”
When the winger was questioned about the depth of the squad and whether he would welcome competition for his spot on the left wing , he said, “Massively. It has never been a problem for me and I have been at clubs before where there have been five or six left wingers and you have to be able to compete and to push each other, and maybe we have been a little bit lacking in that this year.”
“We are still looking over our shoulder a little bit to make sure we are mathematically safe but we want to be knocking on the Premiership door more often and I think the bottom line has been that we have lacked a little bit of quality and a little bit of strength in depth.”
At 30 McIndoe is one of the older players in Chris Coleman's squad, but the player does not think his age has slowed him or affected him in any way, he said, “I am not looking beyond playing yet. I will play until I am 40, easy! I am one of the fittest kids I have met and the Pro-Zone stats will tell you that so I am not remotely interested in hanging up my boots."
“I have not been in that Premier League yet and until I do I will not rest easy, I promise you that.”