What positions do Swindon Town need to add to in January?

Swindon manager David Flitcroft has been working on January plans for a month already, but what should he be doing in the winter window?

Although 16 new faces arrived at Swindon in the summer, as Flitcroft re-built the team in his own image, the squad was still light on a few bodies going into the new season.

One more, Matt Preston, arrived post-closing of the window following the serious, long-term injury to Dion Conroy, but one of the aforementioned 16 have already been shown the door, as striker Harry Smith had his loan from Millwall terminated early.

Questions surround the future of Lawrence Vigouroux again though, but the real question is: should Vigouroux leave, do Swindon replace him or stick with Reice Charles-Cook and Will Henry?

Charles-Cook has played more than his fair share of games in his debut Swindon season and largely impressed, while Henry is one of the more talented goalkeepers of his age, as he is currently the third-choice goalkeeper for the England under-20 squad.

At right-back, Ben Purkiss has had a difficult start while Kyle Knoyle is finding his feet after his first two league starts came later than he would have liked, which is mainly due to an injury he sustained before the start of the season.

For the last two matches, Swindon have used a 3-4-1-2 formation that has seen Knoyle impress as the right-sided wing-back, but the (lack of) pace from Purkiss will be detrimental to him if Town persist with the new system that has seen them win back-to-back games.

Similarly, new bodies will be needed at centre-back if Swindon carry on playing three centre-backs with only three centre-backs available. Lee Power told the BBC pre-Luton that the Robins are in the market for a centre-back.

Left-back has been the most important position to Flitcroft in his first six months at the club, with first Chris Hussey, then Matty Taylor and now Ellis Iandolo being the main source of goals for Swindon with crosses into the box and set-piece prowess, which Swindon have heavily relied on.

Hussey is currently in recovery for the second long-term lay-off of the season though while another left-back, James Brophy, is on borrowed time.

In the heart of midfield, James Dunne and Amine Linganzi were both brought in over the pre-season but the pair have struggled to impose themselves in games and in the hearts of the Town faithful. They are also both defensively-minded too which has led to Swindon struggling to create sufficient chances from open play.

Timi Elsnik (on loan from Derby) has helped with this but, like Hussey, he is in the midst of a second long-term injury problem.

In the same interview to BBC Wiltshire where he said he wanted a centre-back, Power also said the club are after a centre midfielder, but did not say whether it is an attack-minded player.

Tom Smith is due to return from his loan at Bath City on January 6.

Swindon's wingers (Kellan Gordon, Johnny Goddard, Paul Mullin and Donal McDermott) have all had various degrees of success this season, but again it's a question of whether Swindon carry on with the 3-4-1-2 or revert back to the more tried and tested 4-2-3-1.

Goddard could easily be shifted into the number 10 role in the 3-4-1-2 while Mullin could be deployed up front. McDermott and Gordon will be more unorthodox moves but the former's contract expires at the end of the season and Gordon is on loan from Derby.

Keshi Anderson has been fantastic as the 10 in both the 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-1-2 but his loan from Crystal Palace expires on January 13. Swindon have the choice, or maybe more accurately the task, to keep him or replace. 

Following the early departure of Harry Smith, Swindon only have two senior strikers at the club, although Anderson and Mullin are other options there.

Luke Norris is Town's top scorer with 11 in all competitions as he looks a whole new player from last campaign while Kaiyne Woolery is improving quickly after finding fitness and form hard to come by in the early part of the season.

Swindon Town contract lengths*

Goalkeepers: Lawrence Vigouroux (2019), Reice Charles-Cook (2019), Will Henry (2018)

Defenders: Matt Preston (2018), Olly Lancashire (2019), Dion Conroy (2019), Matty Taylor (2018), James Brophy (2018), Ellis Iandolo (2018)

Midfielders: James Dunne (2019), Johnny Goddard (2019), Donal McDermott (2018)

Strikers: Luke Norris (2019), Kaiyne Woolery (2020), Paul Mullin (2019), Jordan Young (2019)

*Any player not mentioned above has not had their contract length disclosed by the club