I would agree that something has not been right with Baxter since he was injured early on in the season but he did score important goals prior to that - Peterborough, Crawley, Preston - take his goals away and our points haul from those games would have been 2 instead of 7. Since then he has struggled for form/confidence though I thought he was particularly good against Spurs in the second leg after Doyle was taken off. Similarly Scougall has not looked the same player since the pre-season injury (I know he has his fans but for me he has been as big a disappointment as Baxter has since October, though in truth the whole team went through the doldrums around that time except for cup matches).To be honest some bench time for both would probably have been beneficial, but I find it hard to see much in the way of creativity in the middle of the park without Baxter.
Done has had a flying start and long may it continue, but in reality we are relying heavily on Jamie Murphy offensively (10 goals, 8 assists in all matches) . If he gets crocked I fear we could be in trouble. Midfield just isn't creating much despite the proliferation of midfielders we have - Baxter 8 goals,3 assists, Reed 0 goals,3 assists, Doyle 1 goal,1 assist, Scougall 1 goal,0 assists, Wallace J 0 goals,0 assists, Coutts 0 goals,1 assist, Wallace K 0 goals,0 assists. Davies has also been out for a good long while but he does possess a decent free kick. We are also giving away a lot of free kicks (Doyle tops the rankings by a country mile with 50 - part of his job ? maybe) but these can prove especially dangerous given our defensive weakness at set pieces.
I agree that consistency is important, but so is ability - ie one could be consistently mundane, unimaginative and uncreative which is not good for our team. Baxter can be very good, can score and can pass creatively, something which we do seem to lack - Louis Reed may well be the answer for the future but he had a mare against Notts County and its a lot to put on young shoulders. As a fan I like to see us a) win and b) play decent stuff. Hopefully the three match ban will galvanise something and Baxter will come back from the ban suitably chastened and better for it. I think the clock is ticking for him, but as for playing when not fit - that would be an indictment of the Manager and backroom boys as well as Baxter.