Injuries, noise & scalps - Wrexham's season so far

Wrexham's performances in the draws with Cardiff City and Watford early on were encouraging.They made light work of dispatching strugglers Preston North End and have earned highly-impressive wins against top sides including Millwall, Southampton and Middlesbrough.Defensively, Wrexham's expected goals (xG) faced of 18.17 is the fourth-best in the division.They have also made just one error leading to a goal, the joint-best return alongside four other teams in the Championship.Up front, Kieffer Moore - who scored 13 times for the Red Dragons in all competitions last season - has netted five goals so far this term, in addition to claiming two assists.The Wales international's return comes from an xG figure of just 3.23, meaning he has outperformed his xG by 1.77. He has also won 68 aerial duels, with only four players in the league managing more.Others such as Jacques Ekomie, Issa Kabore, Ben Whiteman, Joe Worrall and Callum O'Hare have shown real glimpses of settling in after joining on permanent deals in the summer.Amid the increasing noise surrounding the club's struggles earlier on, Parkinson yet again demonstrated an impressive ability to remain grounded and get his side back on track.In terms of the league standings, Wrexham sit six points adrift of the Championship play-off places and eight clear of the relegation zone.So there is plenty of reason for the Wrexham faithful to remain optimistic.When it comes to the numbers, only five teams have a lower xG total than Wrexham's figure of 16.80, while only three sides have managed fewer than their 50 shots on target.Wrexham's four through balls made is - alongside Lincoln City - the joint-lowest in the division.Home defeats by Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion were particularly underwhelming, while the 6-0 thrashing at West Ham United represented a real low point.Following the 2-0 loss to Blackburn Rovers in October, former Wales international Nathan Blake suggested Wrexham were losing their "fear factor" and that they were in danger of becoming "ordinary".The Red Dragons then produced a lacklustre display as they were beaten 1-0 by Sheffield United.It promoted a strong response from Parkinson who said he and his players would not shy away from any criticism.After the draw with Wolves, midfielder Lewis O'Brien said of the post-Blades debrief: "I think we had to look at ourselves, deep down. It was a tough couple of days."On the back of the 1-1 draw with Wolves, which came three days after an impressive 2-0 win over Boro, Parkinson declared his side had needed a reboot following the defeat by the Blades."We've had a bit of a reset this week in terms of what the performances need to look like for our supporters and everybody at the club," said the manager."We know we've got the capabilities to win games, but like everybody, you can easily have a capability to lose a game and you've got to be right at it. "There's no 80% scenario in this division, everybody's got to be at it, focused and ready, and we really were ready in these two games. We can take a lot of credit from that."Injuries certainly have not helped the club's cause, while there have been several off-the-field issues too.The Red Dragons have been fined twice fielding ineligible players.Chief executive officer Michael Williamson departed last week, with Shaun Harvey taking over as acting CEO.It has clearly impacted the club's efforts in the opening third of the season."You always have things going on in football clubs, it's never smooth running anywhere," Parkinson said after the Wolves draw."But I think this has been particularly disjointed, for various reasons."