desperado wrote: 22 Aug 2023, 10:26
Far enough that we play in the second of four qualifying rounds of the FA Cup on September 16th, and two weeks after that if we win.
We could do without this with our currently thin squad.. I d be tempted to play Johnson and Downes as centre backs with Osborne and Edwards in midfield.
brucie wrote: 20 Aug 2023, 13:25
Well Johsnon said that we would need 4 of these loans
But what happens if none of those loanees can do the job. We're in a part-time league now and I don't think potential lending clubs will want their best young starlets wasting a year of their development in that environment. Most likely we will be offered players that the lending club think will be surplus to requirements.
I think if we are to get at least 4 points from the next 6 but ideally we need 6, then the fans will be back on Gary’s side I’m a bit in the middle right now.
gullsgullsgulls wrote: 22 Aug 2023, 09:30
Four games in and our aspiration/ expectation of winning the league with varying degrees of comfort has been replaced with a realisation that we can just about compete with part timers (assuming we don’t lose any more to injury/suspension).
How far we have fallen.
Not the point I was making. Our front 4 or 5 (Jarvis, Ash, Stobbs, Collins + maybe WJD when he gets going) should be miles better than anything in the division. It's in central midfield and defence where we're light. It's possible that it could be ok, and that Marshall/Tomlinson end up being a really decent partnership, but we still need reinforcements there since we only have one other dedicated centre-half at the club, and he's even younger than Tomlinson. (would expect him to go on loan if we bring in another CB)
happytorq wrote: 22 Aug 2023, 14:40
Not the point I was making. Our front 4 or 5 (Jarvis, Ash, Stobbs, Collins + maybe WJD when he gets going) should be miles better than anything in the division. It's in central midfield and defence where we're light. It's possible that it could be ok, and that Marshall/Tomlinson end up being a really decent partnership, but we still need reinforcements there since we only have one other dedicated centre-half at the club, and he's even younger than Tomlinson. (would expect him to go on loan if we bring in another CB)
I agree. I too hope that the squad is enough and with a couple of decent additions we should have enough for an automatic promotion.
Guess I just wouldn’t have thought before the season started that we would be in a position where there was any question of it.
Throwing away a 2-0 lead at (self-described strugglers) Dover, 3-0 drubbing by Worthing at Plainmoor, needing a 90+ minute winner to overcome the mighty Chippenham at home and a somewhat unconvincing 1-0 win over part-time St Albans (whose fans were telling me at the game are not expecting much this season).
After the sh*te served up last season and the expectations of being in a lower division, it is just a bit disappointing to say the least.
Having supported for nearly 50 years it's hard to think that we were last in the EFL at the end of the 2013/14 season - 10 years ago. Whilst Im not happy to be in the NLS that is a fair reflection of our standard over the the last decade (with a couple of exceptions). It seems to me that some supports have delusions of grandeur with HMS P*** The League comments. It's going to be a long season with lots of ups and downs. Hopefully we are promoted but it isn't a given and we should be behind the team and management 100%.
