We need an attacking midfielder urgently. Clare gives us absolutely nothing. Morgan tried but he is so hit and miss. Actually, hit and miss and miss and miss. He teases as you can see the player he is 5% short of being, but that 5% is very important. Starting midfield had no goals in it. You can't expect to be successful with that.
The biggest positive I can take is that we aren't fluking a couple of good results before the end of August which might mask the shortcomings in the squad. I can remember us having a few very good starts in seasons and then hitting a wall later. Not this year and if we don't strengthen sufficiently nobody can plead ignorance. There are at least 2 starting XI places immediately up for grabs (plus Kirk at LW) and that is before you even consider the inadequacy of that bench.
I really don't like that Albie is becoming the scapegoat already. He's the only player not lumping it forward when he gets the ball. Always looks up and tries to get forward.
I don’t always agree the stick he gets but it’s prudent to note that not one League 1/2 side had a sniff of him when he was available on loan over the last couple of summers.
The Mid is a real problem - when push comes to shove you have 3 players who couldn’t get into top 8 L1 sides last year.
Horrible result but more worrying was the standard of each of our players against each of theirs. With 4 exceptions I'd swap with Oxford. Added to that, naive tactics and a lack of belief = long hard season and the prospect of another year floundering in the third division.
We are so far off right now it’s laughable. I’m sure we’ll make signings before the end of the window but we seem to completely lack ideas and I’m not sure how that changes with a few extras through the door. Hopefully that’s just me being dramatic after a disappointing performance
Not sure why my post above got a LOL, it’s a distinct possibility that our season will be one to forget if we don’t strengthen and develop a game plan that doesn’t solely rely on lumping it forward to Stockley when we go behind.
I really don't like that Albie is becoming the scapegoat already. He's the only player not lumping it forward when he gets the ball. Always looks up and tries to get forward.
I don’t think he should be a scapegoat either. But the harsh reality is that’s he isn’t good enough to play in the number 10 role.
3 games in, including the awful league cup game, and only really Stockley comes out with any kind of credit and he’s isolated much of the time. The two centre backs are usually solid but you can’t count on them to be fit to play on Tuesday night.
Midfield 3 is not working and none of them scream to me that they’re really good enough to be a top 6 midfield. Morgan is not the attacking midfielder we need. Clare was very quiet today and offered very little, and Dobson, well the jury is out for me.
DJ went awol today, if anyone finds him please direct him back to Sparrows Lane.
No one on the bench to come on and make any kind of difference. I’d replace the whole bench if we could.
The not good enough for top six list is growing.
This isn’t a knee jerk reaction, we simply haven’t replaced the quality that we have lost and don’t have the squad depth to cope with a few players out injured or unavailable.
Thankfully, Kirk can come in and offer us something different which we really need and is an exciting player, and we do have time to bring in a bit of actual quality.
Ultimately, I don’t believe there’s anywhere near enough goals in this team/squad and that’s a big worry.
A throughly depressing and dispiriting performance. It's not his fault, but having Stockley up front means that we abandon all attempt at playing football and simply hoof it up to him. If we continue to play like this it is going to be a long, boring season and I can't see us doing well.
Adkins has to take the blame for long ball football.
Despite the terrible performance, the worst thing today was Sandgaard's pre match interview. He stressed the need to build slowly and said we would only be getting a 'handful' more players and they would be loans at the end of the window. If he had then said 'we will settle for mid table' at least the strategy would make sense.
He actually said "at most a handful more"
Sounds like 3-5. Have re-set my expectations to 3-4 loanees on last day of the window.
I've said it before, but I don't see Morgan as a 10, but rather as one of the 2 "engine room" midfielders, as a deeper passing option, rather than as a goalscoring midfielder
You certainly can't say that Dobson and Clare have nailed down those 2 positions, leaving Morgan as the odd man out.
Would love to be a fly on the wall in the recruitment meetings.
Why have we entered a season with no LB, LW or AM?
Why have we entered a season with youth and over-the-hill players on the bench?
It's just so so poor. All the excuses they used last year are gone now.
Exactly, there are no excuses in this window, we had plenty of time to get this right. We’re being picky to get the right players in, fine that’s good, I don’t want us wasting money, but at least give us a chance to be competitive because right now it’s so poor and looks like we need so much more.
3 games in, including the awful league cup game, and only really Stockley comes out with any kind of credit and he’s isolated much of the time. The two centre backs are usually solid but you can’t count on them to be fit to play on Tuesday night.
Midfield 3 is not working and none of them scream to me that they’re really good enough to be a top 6 midfield. Morgan is not the attacking midfielder we need. Clare was very quiet today and offered very little, and Dobson, well the jury is out for me.
DJ went awol today, if anyone finds him please direct him back to Sparrows Lane.
No one on the bench to come on and make any kind of difference. I’d replace the whole bench if we could.
The not good enough for top six list is growing.
This isn’t a knee jerk reaction, we simply haven’t replaced the quality that we have lost and don’t have the squad depth to cope with a few players out injured or unavailable.
Thankfully, Kirk can come in and offer us something different which we really need and is an exciting player, and we do have time to bring in a bit of actual quality.
Ultimately, I don’t believe there’s anywhere near enough goals in this team/squad and that’s a big worry.
Comments
The Mid is a real problem - when push comes to shove you have 3 players who couldn’t get into top 8 L1 sides last year.
Added to that, naive tactics and a lack of belief = long hard season and the prospect of another year floundering in the third division.
Not honestly sure how much you can say Adkins could do differently given what he's been given to work with.
Midfield 3 is not working and none of them scream to me that they’re really good enough to be a top 6 midfield. Morgan is not the attacking midfielder we need. Clare was very quiet today and offered very little, and Dobson, well the jury is out for me.
DJ went awol today, if anyone finds him please direct him back to Sparrows Lane.
No one on the bench to come on and make any kind of difference. I’d replace the whole bench if we could.
The not good enough for top six list is growing.
Thankfully, Kirk can come in and offer us something different which we really need and is an exciting player, and we do have time to bring in a bit of actual quality.
Ultimately, I don’t believe there’s anywhere near enough goals in this team/squad and that’s a big worry.
We can probably write off MK Dons on Tuesday as it'll likely be more of the same but hopefully Kirk and Gilbey can come in for Wigan next week.
Look at Blackpool last season, 4 points from their first 7 games, 27 points from 21 games.......and finished the season 3rd.
Problem is I’m not convinced any of them are any good
Sounds like 3-5. Have re-set my expectations to 3-4 loanees on last day of the window.
You certainly can't say that Dobson and Clare have nailed down those 2 positions, leaving Morgan as the odd man out.