Baxter's looked a stonewall red card to me, completely idiotic. It's a shame because Adkins has shown an awful lot of faith in him and Baxter's been showing glimpses of why (Peterborough).
The thing is it's Jose that's creating the "Does the talent outweigh the baggage?" debate all by himself and all of it is so unnecessary. Messing about with drugs (x2 in his career), not taking his fitness seriously enough (this is debatable, but I've seen with my own eyes his weight and match fitness fluctuate wildly since he's been here, which would suggest he's not dieting or training, consistently or hard enough). And now he's adding these petulant red cards to his game. Roy Keane he is not. Baxter's role on a football field isn't "enforcer," it's playmaker. The type of red cards he gets aren't accumulated trying to further our cause (a professional foul), nor are they unlucky, or due to bad execution, they're just pure stupidity.
I've compared him a few times to Andy Reid who is another player blessed with talent, but not athleticism. The difference that I see is that Andy Reid seemed to work harder to find pockets of space during matches and could control the tempo from deep, or further up the field, he would often pick up the ball from outwide and penetrate defences with his passes in behind too. The reason that we always have the other Baxter debate, "Where is his best position?" is because he doesn't work hard enough, or isn't fit enough, as a midfielder to get around the park and influence matches from anywhere.
Andy Reid's deadball ability was second to none for a long time in the football league and he could single handedly decide matches with his incredible left foot (a match away at Millwall whilst on loan with us springs to mind, think we won it 4-2). Baxter has most of what Reid did (not all of it), but to get to that level of consistency requires hard training, dedication and a desire (especially during matches) that I just don't see in Baxter. Essentially what I think this means is that he is destined to remain a League 1 player with or without us next season and for seasons to come, unless, or until, he decides himself to make a change.
I wouldn't have sent Wallace off. Even if that had happened against us I wouldn't have been calling for it. It was the last minute of a cup match, no chance of a come back and goal difference meaning nothing. A 3 match suspension at stake (I think?) for an honest attempt at a challenge in the final minute of the game, when legs had tired. I'd have let it go at a yellow card and a bit of a "you're lucky on this one fella, another referee would have..." kind of word. But Wallace will learn and we move on.
