Is it ok to just throw down some seed in this area and water it daily? Do you think I'd get some more grass growing there or should I pull up some of the clover and then put some topsoil and seed? I think either way the clover may come back. It's not a BIG deal, but I like growing grass and just thought "Ah, what the heck maybe I can get the grass to take over?

Hi All, My lawn has developed a lot of weeds that look like this: [ATTACH]84816[/ATTACH] Anyone know what they are? They spring up all over the place, grow much faster than grass, and are very easy to pull out by hand. However, they just keep growing. Relatedly (maybe), I also have a lot of bare spots. I'm attaching two pictures, one is a bit distant, one is more close-up (the two following pictures are rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise; I can't figure out how to rotate them correctly, so I apologize): [ATTACH]84817[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]84818[/ATTACH] The "distant" picture also provides a view of the weeds. First question is: how do I get rid of these weeds? Also, I have been core-aerating and slit seeding by a professional company for the past few years, once a year in the fall (they also do 4x fertilizing, pre-emergent, etc. - the standard stuff, I guess). I also asked them about dethatching (which I had thought was the same as power raking), and they said that their slit seeder does a light dethatching. I guess second question is, does this make sense that a slit seeder does light dethatching? Should I have power raking done? (The ground does feel very hard to me, and there looks to be a build-up of brown stuff, almost like dead-grass - you can see it in the second and third pictures, above.) If so, when? Any ideas how to make the bare spots look better for next season? Do I need to top-dress (if that's the right term) to add more good soil to the ground? 1/2"? More, less, etc.? Do lawn companies do this? Any ideas would be great. Geography-wise, I'm in northern NJ. Thanks for any help!