THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 6:44 am 
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It is hard to know after pre-season but it seems all the fault lines of last season are still there. Some new personnel, but too many in the squad who have nothing to add.

Looks to me that we will concede more goals than we score - teams that do that finish mid table at best.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:09 am 
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My guess is that we'll be in L2 for 2-3 seasons. However, I'm looking forward to winning some games for a change and seeing some new players break through (Tripp/Anker)[/quote]

I think I would be quite relieved if we are still in L2 in three seasons time. :(


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:17 am 
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We might be average, but baring a few standout teams (Wrexham, Notts County, Stockport) league 2 is also decidedly average. I think we can mount a playoff charge but it’s not going to be pretty. We won’t score lots of goals, we won’t dominate the ball and I probably won’t enjoy the season.

I can’t believe I’m saying it but I wish we had Robbo back :o


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:27 am 
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Alby39 wrote:
I think we're bang average.

We look disjointed, tired, tactically unsure and lacking in quality in attacking areas.

I don't necessarily blame GA - I feel like if he was given a trial month he'd probably have not bothered. I'm obviously half joking, but I believe he's incredibly fucked off at how little we've managed to pull off in terms of recruitment and he'd be right. We, and he, are feeding off scraps on the field.

A thing I knocked MJ for, and whilst I understand whyche said it publicly I disagreed when he said we have a good squad and it needed little improvement. In January, we could've replaced nearly the entire squad and I'd have been happy. 6 months later that still applies. If I woke up in the morning and found out Smith, Robson, Holland, Burns, Devoy, Dennis and Dean all left I'd not be remotely arsed.
That is seven players. And all seven of those at the time of writing seem to be players that'll be in the squad and have offered little to nothing to convince me they're going to change our fortunes.
The early signs in the transfer window screamed to me of improvement. Whilst I don't think an overhaul is clever, as we saw last year, I do believe improvements are necessary on a squad lacking quality and confidence.

I don't know where we'll be in a month but we need bodies, and energetic characters to give us some bite. We haven't got that at all atm.

10th would be optimistic.


Agree 100% with Alby.
Interestingly five of the seven on his list (six if you include Grant) are mid-fielders and yet when I suggested a few weeks ago that we needed to have a clear out to avoid another season of being bullied/outfought in this area I was accused by someone of ruining their pre-season optimism.
GA’s body language in his last two interviews is poor and suggests to me that he too is pretty concerned about the way things are shaping up.
Pre-season form is a notoriously bad indicator of how things will pan out but I have to say it is not looking good just now.
Boy I hope I am wrong on this one.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:34 am 
Ormeau wrote:
We might be average, but baring a few standout teams (Wrexham, Notts County, Stockport) league 2 is also decidedly average. I think we can mount a playoff charge but it’s not going to be pretty. We won’t score lots of goals, we won’t dominate the ball and I probably won’t enjoy the season.

I can’t believe I’m saying it but I wish we had Robbo back :o


League 2 is the strongest it's been possibly ever - Wrexham, Notts County, Stockport, Gillingham, Mansfield, Bradford, Doncaster, Salford and Swindon will all be aiming for top 7 - and then you have teams like Harrogate and Barrow who surprised with high finishes last season. Out of the four teams that got relegated from L1 you expect at least one (other than us) to be in the mix too - probably Forest Green.

It's going to be tough, and we need to get a grip quickly - in terms of how we play and the players themselves, as well as bringing in new recruits.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:20 am 
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Their heads weren’t in it in the first half. That’s criminal IMO.

In the second half they put their minds to it and worked a lot harder too. We became more effective once Leko was replaced.

While I’m pleased with the second half, I’m appalled by the attitudes.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:31 am 
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Goalkeeper, defence and central midfield I am very happy with

Attacking options worse than last season and they were poor then

We have all known for at least two seasons now we are missing strength in depth up front and it has cost us both years (that's all of us except the management)

Unless we see at least 2 quality attacking players come in I am expecting a mid table finish at best

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 9:45 am 
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Dreadful pre season, lost all the PSFs bar a draw at Barnet.

It would appear the mental fragility from last season is still apparent, conceding late goals again is something that needs addressing ASAP, we can’t go into a new season collapsing in the last ten minutes.

Attacking options are weak and although on paper the defence looks ok, too often against Northampton they were pulled all over the place, lost their man and failed to recover.

My early optimism for this season has dwindled massively, we still look like a car crash waiting to happen and only 3 or 4 quality signings is going to stop everyone’s pessimism


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 10:54 am 
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Battling it out mid-table with AFC, I think.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 11:04 am 
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midfielder wrote:
Battling it out mid-table with AFC, I think.

LOWER mid-table.

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