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Hendon away

Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:26 pm
by Shepperton Supporter
Lost 2-0. Not a happy return for Gary.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:35 am
by Tony
Whilst pre season is more than about results, and the side that played last night is clearly not our starting XI, the lack of goals in pre season must be a concern. Five games and four goals, three of those coming in the QPR game, and not one goal against lower league opposition.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:46 pm
by TW10
i am really not sure of the value in including so many academy players who are no where near conference south level..fair enough it is good experience but by now we should be playing our first team squad plus a maybe the occasional trialist especially against full strength isthmian sides.I have seen Kingstonian on a couple of occasions and this is what they are doing so the first team really hit the ground running when the season starts. They incidentally look impressive.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:26 pm
by Shepperton Supporter

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:38 pm
by Shepperton Supporter
I understand the comments from Tw10 . Gary is giving the young players a lot of exposure to first team football, whether in such numbers is a point of conjecture. Time will tell whether our approach or that of Ks is the better. Would expect the final teams in friendlies to be near full strength.
Agree with Tony about scoring, we seem light in this area, needs to be remedied as if not, then plans for the season ending in playoffs might be in jeopardy .

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:54 pm
by GRTourist
Bear in mind we lost two (maybe three, I can't remember) friendlies to COVID cancellations, so I think the amount of Academy players in use is probably more about gradually building the minutes for the first team, as opposed to necessarily giving the Academy boys the opportunities - though I'm sure there is an element of that as well.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:48 am
by Tony
Agree TW10, there are a number of trialists and Academy players who realistically are not going to feature during the season other than the odd minor cup game. Let’s see the final squad now playing out the final friendlies to see how they gel particularly now we have some injuries to contend with. Right back now seems a problem with no Cox or Ruddick so might we go to a back three? Would be interesting to see if we experiment with that in the final three friendlies.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:38 pm
by tones
Can't understand why Hampton always seem to be lightweight in the striker department at the beginning of a season. Surely the first priority of any successful team is get get a proven goalscorer on board.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:16 pm
by Tony
If only it was that easy. We are of course without Nathan Minhas who has been injured throughout pre season and so we have looked at a few trialists. I hear we might be close to signing one of them. The top and proven strikers come at a heavy price.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 6:07 pm
by tones
Goodness gracious me we already have players out injured and we haven't even started the season. What on earth do they get up to during the close season?

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:45 pm
by Lord Elpus
tones wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 6:07 pm Goodness gracious me we already have players out injured and we haven't even started the season. What on earth do they get up to during the close season?
Happens at all clubs. Pre-season is pretty strenuous, even at our level.

Re: Hendon away

Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:32 am
by tones
Some of these players don't even seem to have taken part in the pre-season activity!