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Post by Terry on Sept 8, 2022 19:05:39 GMT
Tom Hadler ?
He did well enough last season, but this is the National League, a different level altogether.
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Post by pwoodstone on Sept 8, 2022 19:07:27 GMT
Wonder if Tom Hadler will get his chance on Saturday ? They’ll be no football Saturday. |
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Post by Andy on Sept 8, 2022 19:50:28 GMT
Says who ?
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Post by HartleyHare on Sept 8, 2022 21:05:33 GMT
The two FL games tomorrow (Friday) are both postponed....
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Post by daveu on Sept 8, 2022 21:35:35 GMT
Wonder if Tom Hadler will get his chance on Saturday ? They’ll be no football Saturday. That would just be ridiculous. Life has to go on. 24 hours of f**king Nick Witchel wailing and gnashing of teeth is more than any sane person should have to endure. |
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Post by jdl on Sept 8, 2022 21:42:50 GMT
From listening to the radio (all bloody day...), my impression is that the 'sacred' days will be tomorrow and whenever the funeral is. Other days, will - hopefully - continue as normal. After the fuss over Princess Di, nothing would surprise me though...
My kids are expecting at least half a day off for the funeral (first thing my youngest said when I told him the Queen had died!).
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Post by sword65 on Sept 8, 2022 22:26:53 GMT
Would be typical that the first game I can actually go to would be called off. As for re-inventing ourselves after 7 games when we are only 3 pts off the playoffs well that does seem a little extreme. As we all know the next 6 games will define our season, playoff contenders,mid tableists or cannon fodder. Let's see how the next month pans out before hitting the panic button. Let's face it the Titanic didn't sink in the harbour it at least got halfway across the sea before floundering.
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Post by jackster on Sept 9, 2022 6:32:24 GMT
Speaketh an armchair supporter.
It's alright for you to be so optimistic sword, your glass is clearly half full.
The lack of passion, effort, individual ability and defensive incompetence on display at Gateshead, has shattered my confidence.
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Post by steveh21 on Sept 9, 2022 7:38:26 GMT
Surprised we havent signed anyone this week. Its obvious we need a bit of beef on the pitch (no more EFL U23 children please).. a proper no nonsense midfielder or another Joe Ellul-esq defender to teach these speedy skillful NL strikers a lesson.
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Post by jdl on Sept 9, 2022 7:42:18 GMT
With key players out and in a much harder league, maybe this is just how it will be. Some games will be OK, but a lot will be disappointing drubbings or surprise wins/draws.
Not because there's anything dramatically wrong, but just because we're a small club finding our feet in a hard league.
Hopefully, we'll do OK over the next few difficult games and come out nothing worse than lower mid-table and that will settle the nerves. And, by then the likely relegation places will have started to look more obvious, so that will help too.
Then, with JBW coming back and, hopefully, Sol proving what he can do, we'll get some consistency back and settle in for the season. And then the icing on the cake, with the return of The Maestro and a late season flourish!
You can't watch games like Wrexham and Gateshead without feeling down, but points-wise we've had a pretty good start. We'll have a much better idea how good we are by mid-October. Until then, fingers crossed and learn how to ride out the thrashings.
It's a brave new world. But that's what we wanted. Anyone seriously want to drop back to the NS? (Rhetorical - Sword!)
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Post by Rob on Sept 9, 2022 7:57:07 GMT
I think the dusappointing thing is that we are weaker than last season.
JBW, Luque and Hadler are out. We needed to strengthen a notch or two but the newcomers havnt done amazingly well.
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Post by steveh21 on Sept 9, 2022 8:52:44 GMT
Many fans need to manage their own expectations. Most of us expected it to be this way.
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Post by fleetphil on Sept 9, 2022 9:07:20 GMT
A couple of your best players out injured sure does make a lot of difference. Your team must not start getting beaten every week as this becomes a habit. Supporters know where things are wrong, and it sounds to me like you need a strong midfielder. As for sport being stopped, try telling people who have spent their hard earned on an overnight stay, train tickets, and entrance money. I think the queen has been fantastic for this country, and I'm sure she wouldn't approve of the country coming to a stand still especially on a day where people look forward to a day off to watch sport or to do whatever.
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Post by jdl on Sept 9, 2022 9:12:59 GMT
Interestingly, the FWP prediction table has us finishing at 15th - on only 54 points, but 17 points away from relegation!
And Dorking go down in 23rd, with just 33 points! Also relegated are Altincham (35) and S****horpe (33), with poor old Halifax bottom on just 20 (1 win - away! - and 17 draws) Aldershot and Torquay just survive a squeaky bum season.
At the other end, Wrexham are Champions - no surprise, but the top 4 are all on over 100 points!
Very early days, of course, and I'd be surprised if this ends up reflecting the true end of season table, but FWP's track record is pretty good. The really odd thing is the spread of points - with the top 4 on twice the points of teams in the lower mid-table (us), and safety is just 36 points! That's way less than a point a game - which would almost certainly get you relegated in most seasons.
If there is anything in these predictions, it shows just how extreme the differences in clubs are in the NL this season. Promotion will be fought out between just the four 'big' clubs (Wrexham, Notts County, Solihul and Chesterfied), with three other clubs (BW, Wealdstone and Barnet) making up the numbers, but with no real chance of going up.
The rest of the league virtually operates as a seperate division, with 9 or 10 clubs fighting over mid-table finishes (including us) and 7 or 8 clubs desperately trying to avoid relegation - with Halifax pretty much doomed.
None of this will come as a surprise to most of us, with clubs like Wrexham, Notts County and Chesterfield in the league, but the extent of the difference between top and middle (and middle and bottom) is still more than I had expected. This is a VERY strange league.
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Post by sword65 on Sept 9, 2022 9:39:44 GMT
Speaketh an armchair supporter. It's alright for you to be so optimistic sword, your glass is clearly half full. The lack of passion, effort, individual ability and defensive incompetence on display at Gateshead, has shattered my confidence. Football has always had the ability to shatter a fans confidence which is why we love the game so much,up one week down the next. You can drink away your sorrows one week and within 7 days ride a wave of exhilaration at your teams brilliant return to form. As for armchair supporter you are being a little unkind but also a little truthful. I knew the minute we were promoted that my participation in spectating would suffer. I an not totally skint but my finances cannot cope with the extra expense of long away travel and my ongoing health problems means that trips over 3 hours long can become very uncomfortable indeed. Thus season I will be taking a bit of a break to recharge my batteries and finances to be back to being a season ticket holder next season. |
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