With less than three weeks until the January transfer window opens, Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy does not need any reminders about his team's chief problem.
At a time when Wolves boast one of the meanest defences in the Championship — only seven sides have conceded fewer goals — they are struggling at the other end of the field.
After an impressive early-season haul of match-winning moments, his preferred strike partnership of Jay Bothroyd and Jemal Johnson have bagged just two goals between them in three months.
And, at a time when any manager's patience would be wearing thin, McCarthy is running out of motivating ploys to get the best out of them.
But he can at least feel pleased with the response he got on Saturday when a perfectly fit Johnson was substituted at half time in Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Rob Kelly's Leicester City, to be replaced by Craig Davies.
"I took Jemal off," confirmed McCarthy. "He wasn't injured and the guy who replaced him impressed. Craig Davies ran about, got himself in between defenders and the ball and was a bit of a pest, holding the ball up, turning and getting in crosses."
Wolves have now dropped to 14th in the Championship table, the lowest they have been since McCarthy was hurried into office back in late-July with only half a squad and just 12 days to prepare for the new season. But that is only 11 points behind leaders Birmingham City.
More relevantly, Wolves are still only four points shy of a play-off place but their slide in the table is explained purely and simply by lack of goals. And at least McCarthy has one young man in Davies who looks hungry to get them.
The Welsh international — still without a goal since his arrival on a season-long loan from Verona — could now be in line to start at Loftus Road on Saturday against John Gregory's Queens Park Rangers. And, after winning their last away game at Southend ten days ago, he is confident that another good performance on the road can get his team back in touch.
"We don't want to be a mid-table team," said Davies. "We want to be pushing for promotion.
"Crystal Palace got promoted a couple of years ago and they'd been down in 18th. We have to look at that to spur us on.
"We aren't that many points off the play-offs. No-one wants to see us slide and so we are the ones who have to do something."
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