10th August Fixtures

[YEO YEO YEO]

Well, it’s better than last season.
But we are still wide open at the back which is a concern.
Lots of players out injured, so not overly concerned yet. I think we will be ok.
Lincoln looked very open but decent.
Would have been happy with a draw but hey ho.

You're in for an entertaining season of that's the way you'll play. You attacked with pace and numbers. I think you'll be absolutely OK as well.

 

[thewwfc]

Bakinson in midfield for us had one of the worst debuts I’ve seen in quite some time, seemed like his passes were almost laser-guided…to find a red shirt.

Maybe he thought he was still on loan at Charlton, I dunno, but he was rightly hooked shortly after H/T.

It’s unacceptable to form your opinion of a player off the back of 55 minutes of football (or however long it was) but if that’s representative of the player then I may have to change my pick for Scapegoat of the Season. Basic passing is surely bread and butter for a midfielder…no?!

 

[AmberAndy]

Interesting there was only one draw in the first round of games. That’s a trend I think will continue, with a mini league of 3 sub divisions forming where only when sub divisions play one another that a draw will be likely. The top will be untouchable, the bottom very poor, and the middle only taking significant points from those below. Nice to pose theories after 90 minutes of football.

 

[thewwfc]

The top will be untouchable, the bottom very poor, and the middle only taking significant points from those below.

Everyone else can fuck off if they think they’ve got a hope in hell of the mid-table trophy this season - this time it’s ours.

I know that’s some swagger, but I think last season’s 10th spot was a great foundation, and it looks like a tougher league this time, so if we lose a few more than last season then we’ll be perfectly poised to host the only silverware that counts.

 

[Casey]

Knew Crawley would win totoday.

Glad you did.

Sobered up a bit. I still think we need a centre forward but we went all of last season without one so maybe I'm wrong. Heburn-Murphy (RAH) scored a good goal and generally caused problems but anything hit long towards the top came straight back at us and when you are under pressure you need an out ball.

Our debutant nearly all did well. Flint was named man of the match by the sponsors, RAH scored, Quitirna scored, Anderson (and Bragg when he replaced him) were neat and tidy in midfield. Wollacott had a big mistake. They happen and it didn't cost us the game but being caught in possession is really bad news for a keeper.

Stockport, how did Addai do?

Casey

 

[Tom_CUFC]

7 out of 11 from last season's team that nearly got us relegated started and we looked absolutely garbage. What a surprise.

Our pre-season was a shambles, we have the same recruitment issues going into the season we had last year, we have half a dozen players who wouldn't have looked out of place in our worst non-league teams, and a manager who has shown very little in the 5 months he's been here that he has much idea what he's doing.

Huge game next weekend already.

 

[AmberAndy]

7 out of 11 from last season's team that nearly got us relegated started and we looked absolutely garbage. What a surprise.

Our pre-season was a shambles, we have the same recruitment issues going into the season we had last year, we have half a dozen players who wouldn't have looked out of place in our worst non-league teams, and a manager who has shown very little in the 5 months he's been here that he has much idea what he's doing.

Huge game next weekend already.

Bit harsh on Monk as he can’t replace the whole squad in one go, but I get where you’re coming from. Had hoped SOMETHING would have changed but yesterday did feel like a rinse and repeat performance from many of last years ones. We need a bit of patience with the rest of the recruiting, but absolutely can’t get cut adrift early as there’s no coming back from it this year if we do, so yes next Saturday is already important against one of our bogey clubs in Crawley. Need to get the home crowd engaged in the game and make it count.

 

[Stocky]

I thought Cambridge gave us a very gentle, shallow end welcome to League One to be honest. No disrespect to them. I didn't think we were great to be honest but we were a threat throughout. Great finish from Louie Barry for the first.

Addai looked solid Casey couple of smart saves, one misplaced pass from passing out nearly got us in bother. I like the look of him, nice and calm and a good presence about him. Busier days for him to come.

 

[IzzyFook]

Yesterday vs Wycombe was our 5,000th League Fixture.

Also it was young defender Max Cleworth's 100th first team appearance, he only turned 22 on Fri...gonna be some player is Max.

 

[MarioBalotelli]

Poor game, but if anything deserved as Northampton were time wasting from minute one.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Poor game, but if anything deserved as Northampton were time wasting from minute one.

New season, same old whinging Brady

 

[denzel ecfc]

Steve Evans refusing to shake hands..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1822549665977381197

 

[ForzaCounty]

Stockport, how did Addai do?

Had very little to do, aside from one curling effort from a tight angle that most keepers should get TBF.

As for Cambridge, they were a solid enough side and controlled the game at times without creating proper threats. If they're one of the poorer sides in this division then there is a very big step up in quality compared to L2.

 

[CTFC - Devils]

I thought Cambridge gave us a very gentle, shallow end welcome to League One to be honest. No disrespect to them. I didn't think we were great to be honest but we were a threat throughout. Great finish from Louie Barry for the first.

Addai looked solid Casey couple of smart saves, one misplaced pass from passing out nearly got us in bother. I like the look of him, nice and calm and a good presence about him. Busier days for him to come.

We missed him massively yesterday. Of everyone that went over the summer, his absence was the most notable.
Hope he does well for you guys, you’ll have plenty of heart in mouth moments I’m sure.

 

[Stocky]

Had very little to do, aside from one curling effort from a tight angle that most keepers should get TBF.

As for Cambridge, they were a solid enough side and controlled the game at times without creating proper threats. If they're one of the poorer sides in this division then there is a very big step up in quality compared to L2.

I thought they were poor to be honest. I didn't see this control at all, whenever we got the ball to our front three they looked petrified. And they couldn't deal with some really basic knocks up to Wootton for people to run off.

We were nowhere near at where we can be either.

 

[dannylad01]

Most lame sentence on this thread.

For balance I didn't think the ref at Stevenage v Shrewsbury was any worse than the usual League 1 ref. The pen may have been a bit soft but my initial reaction was a penalty when I first saw it.

We wouldn't have scored had we still been there now. It just reinforced my belief that we're in for a long hard season.

 

[Alain]

The first game of 46 matches and as last season we started with a win against one of the fancied teams for getting near the top, last season Bradford, this Blackpool - to be honest we played better this time and fortunately Blackpool were toothless up front and could have scored a couple before we took control scoring our goals - it could have been four or five - with two disallowed and one stopped on the line - but it’s a good start - Yes we gifted Blackpool their goal but the way we play it is always likely to happen as we saw last season on a few occasions. Cambridge United away next - we’ll get more of an insight of how we are going to cope with our first away game- but encouraging signs to start are there and again Scott Lindsey will be working his magic with another group of players.

This result against Blackpool has sent their forum into meltdown- especially losing to little old Crawley - absolute favourites for relegation.

 

[DaveBirm1875]

Blues 1-1 Reading.

First of all full credit to Reading, a team you could tell had worked together for a while, well drilled under Selles, worked very hard and fully deserved their point. Kelvin E the striker looked a handful and Knibbs impressed too.

For us we looked nervous at times, edgy in front of a large expectant crowd, mis placed passes, blues being harried and pushed back on many occasions. We created very little and we got away with it and were lucky not to lose the game, purely on the basis that with even 74% possession we never really looked like troubling the scorers.

We will improve, but make no mistake we have to, I would expect Reading to be pushing for top 10 regardless of their off field issues, they are a good side with a top gaffer at this level.

Bit of a wake up call to what we will come up against this season, we will likely get the best version of all the teams we play and we must do better to work out the conundrum. Still, we are on our way off the mark. Charlton and Wycombe away this week.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

I thought they were poor to be honest. I didn't see this control at all, whenever we got the ball to our front three they looked petrified. And they couldn't deal with some really basic knocks up to Wootton for people to run off.

We were nowhere near at where we can be either.

Yeah I agree.

Let’s remember we’re coming off the back of a shambles of a pre-season (everything but recruitment) where there has be no chance for the new squad to gel coming into the opener with 10 players out injured and quite a few that did play severely undercooked.

Despite that we could have scored 5 or 6 yesterday.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Evans charged with misconduct after our game.
Anyone surprised by this?

 

[Conker]

looking forward to him trying to hide his titanic body mass in the boardroom at Field Mill again this season. It’s all too much for him at Mansfield

 

[Trapdoor]

Poor game, but if anything deserved as Northampton were time wasting from minute one.

They will be time wasting until may 2025, standard practice for them.

 

[Luke Imp]

It should have come to a point a long time ago with Evans where something was done about it because he gets charged, what, 6 or 7 times a season? At what point do the FA/EFL stop fining him and giving him touchline/stadium bans and giving him a proper punishment? I'm not sure how far they can go with it.

 

[SVH]

7 out of 11 from last season's team that nearly got us relegated started and we looked absolutely garbage. What a surprise.

Our pre-season was a shambles, we have the same recruitment issues going into the season we had last year, we have half a dozen players who wouldn't have looked out of place in our worst non-league teams, and a manager who has shown very little in the 5 months he's been here that he has much idea what he's doing.

Huge game next weekend already.

Interested to know if this view has softened after Tuesday night? (if you went of course).

 

[Tom_CUFC]

Interested to know if this view has softened after Tuesday night? (if you went of course).

On Monk yes, I said as much in the Carabao Cup thread, we were outstanding, best I've seen us for years. Obviously we need to keep it going rather than revert to what we looked like on Saturday and for all but 2 games of his reign last season, but at least it showed something was getting through.

Crap pre-season, lack of recruitment in key areas and too many poor players re-signed is definitely still a problem though.