Sutton United 2nd August

[Sparky]

I don’t want to be a misery but I’m going to be a misery. I was thinking back to the first performances from last year. It’s like night and day. Last year we had players moving, supporting each other constantly, combining to create spaces, looking for little overloads.

This team reminds me of how it ended at the back end of last season. Players not really supporting each other, just passing from side to side, then the long ball down the channel for someone to run on to it, except we’ve nobody fast or strong enough to do that. I suppose at least we’ll have a few Harry goals to make us smile.

Fasten your seatbelts everybody, I fear we might be flying into some turbulence.

[Tony]

Have to agree, that was worrying given we will come up against a few sides like Sutton in our division. We had no one in midfield to hold on to the ball or create a move, barely put together any passes and didn’t get out of our half for 90% of the game. We really need more experienced and athletic players if we are going to survive. We really should be able to give Sutton a better game than that. Send reinforcements quick.

[geedub]

Great to see our expensive pre-season addition has the ability to show some goals, can react quickly to changing circumstances and get results. Yes, obviously I mean the scoreboard...

Even took a worrying knock at one stage, but thankfully showed no ill effects. Might well have a busy season ahead - with the away goal segment...

[BevereeMaster]

we have no real defenders bar Massey, they are all ball playing defenders - if you can even call them that- also with Atkinson gone we don’t really have a ball winning midfielder either.

Think we have put too much faith in Ince being fit to even have a remote chance of staying up. Need to dip into the loan market and get some workhorses in the midfield. Someone like a Dan Sweeney, Wadah Ahmidi, Christian Jolley etc.

Pretty awful squad building.

[Lord Elpus]

Given the near total media blackout we can only speculate as to why things are as they are on the playing front. I guess that with the late takeover by the new owner last season we just weren't in a position to make any early offers to new players at all, let alone those (then) existing ones who we might have wanted to stay.
I don't think we look anywhere near experienced, solid or inventive enough in any area at all. It's not about the fact that we lost badly to a side in a higher division, it's been the same for the last month. It's a very tough opening set of games too, so the pressure is going to be on very quickly indeed.

[Lord Elpus]

Great to see our expensive pre-season addition has the ability to show some goals, can react quickly to changing circumstances and get results. Yes, obviously I mean the scoreboard...

Even took a worrying knock at one stage, but thankfully showed no ill effects. Might well have a busy season ahead - with the away goal segment...

I might actually sponsor it...bet it's the only thing still around next season.

[DanielNotley]

If you was a betting person who do you think will be the first manager to be sacked in NLS?

Yes I like Julian but I can't understand how he's still here?

[Lord Elpus]

If you was a betting person who do you think will be the first manager to be sacked in NLS?

Yes I like Julian but I can't understand how he's still here?

He's still here because he had to work under near impossible circumstances last season and still managed to keep us up, which was his target. You don't get sacked if you meet your target.
This season it's slightly different...I don't know what his brief is this year but I would imagine it's not much different given the financial strength of so many of the clubs we are now attempting to compete with. There's simply no point trying to compete with many clubs in this league now, because we just won't be able to. That's the reality.
A big difference now however is that last season we had some genuinely decent players (Gray, Roberts, Revan, Taylor, whichever of the two keepers we had on loan, etc) but this season (so far anyway) we simply don't have anything like that.
Clearly 6 out of our first 7 or so games are going to be almost impossible tasks and we could well be bottom of the table at that stage. The pressure will then truly be on us to win every game against the "lesser" opposition, of which I guess you might include Tonbridge, Slough, Chippenham, Enfield, Hornchurch etc. At the moment however, and based on pre-season, there's no evidence that we're going to do any better against these sides.
So...it's a problem. However, I can't really see any other manager being able to do much better, given our circumstances. Change for changes sake isn't necessarily a good thing, but it will depend on the owner's patience, and willingness to pay off any contract that Jools presumably has.

[Tony]

Yes could be an early dilemma for the board if we get off to a bad start. We have been told that we have a much better budget than last year yet hard to see where that has been spent unless on the likes of Ince and Grego-Cox. Yet we didn’t want Gray because of his injury record last season.

[Lord Elpus]

Yes could be an early dilemma for the board if we get off to a bad start. We have been told that we have a much better budget than last year yet hard to see where that has been spent unless on the likes of Ince and Grego-Cox. Yet we didn’t want Gray because of his injury record last season.

If that about Gray is genuinely true then it's completely baffling and is a major warning sign.

[TW10]

Hard to say if Alan has recruited badly without knowing the budget. Is it really higher than last year? Obviously we recruited well last year. Massey would have helped massively last season. Apart from him i don't see any of the new players getting in last seasons side and we only just stayed up and were in free fall. Let's hope Ince and Grego Cox are not contracted. On pre season form we look certain to get relegated.

[EastTerracer]

No-one has stood out in preseason indeed, to me at least, it's been difficult to figure out how we are trying to play.

Personnel can change fairly quickly though so maybe in a couple of months we will be looking at quite a different side.