31 August fixtures

[thewwfc]

who the hell chooses the TV games? If I remember rightly, each team is supposed to get on telly X number of times per season, so perhaps they just randomly work it around that, but even so...can't imagine either of those games being box office (even by the low standards of this division).

You'd think Posh v Wrexham would have been a way better choice given the Darren Ferguson factor, but probably Sky don't even think about it that much, they're literally just plugging gaps in their schedule.

Anyway.

Richard Keogh's Blackpool (as they're never called) next up for us.

Keogh had two short spells for us, once when he was on his way up as a player at the beginning of his career (on loan from Brizl City), and one when he was well into the "decline" period - he lasted half a season then we palmed him off to the relegation-bound FGR, so perhaps not that surprising he hung up his boots soon after.

Given that his spell didn't end the best with us (it can't be good for your ego to be shunted out after half a season) then maybe there's some extra spice there on Keogh's side, who knows, but he'll obviously want to win every game regardless of who it's against, to give himself the best chance of getting the job on a full time basis.

And Blackpool have had a frankly gash start to the season, with even less points than us on the board (1), so very much all to play for.

On our side we seem to have racked up a stupid amount of injuries already, with a good 6 or 7 established first-teamers out, but our strength in depth is OK, so no excuses.

Let's hope BFC's defence continues to be as shite as it has been, given they've shipped a deeply unimpressive average of 3 goals per game already.

 

[SVH]

We’ll concede at least two but could score four or five. Maybe another high score draw incoming.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

We’ll concede at least two but could score four or five. Maybe another high score draw incoming.

We can only dream of scoring 2 goals in one match. we offer absolutely no threat in the final 3rd

 

[denzel ecfc]

Just what you want when you're giving away cheap goals, a trip to Bolton where we lost 7-0 last season.

I'm going but only to see my mate.

 

[Pilot_Phonic]

Posh away for us. Hoping to see Poku leave before the window closes as I watched him absolutely destroy Slops last weekend. Looks a right handful. Again, i'd be delighted with a point after the draw away at Bolton. Not really sure on how Fergie plays but should have been our manager from all those years ago.

Hoping Mullin can come off the bench for a good 30 mins ready for the following set of fixtures against them 6 finger arseholes down the road

 

[dan_wrexhamafc]

Tough away game. 1st defeat incoming I think. Although I didn't expect anything at Bolton so who knows

 

[thewwfc]

Not really sure on how Fergie plays but should have been our manager from all those years ago.

Pingy ball-to-feet basically, lots of patient build-up but essentially trying to stretch the opposition and pull them out of position…and then pounce.

They have the players to do it as well, a lot of times it’s asking too much of lower league players in terms of passing accuracy but they generally have the quality to get away with it.

When it goes wrong it can go spectacularly wrong, getting in their faces and putting them off their game can bring a loss of confidence. But the high press brings its own risks since they *want* you to get pulled out of position.

Anyway. Good, but far from invincible - yet they will be up there for sure.

 

[dannylad01]

Sky must be kicking themselves that they picked our game against Peterborough as a TV pick and not this mouth watering clash of 24th v 23rd where one "0" must go at the Croud Meadow.

Already feels like a must win for Shrewsbury, just to get some confidence in what was always expected to be a tough season. Severely need defensive reinforcement before the window closes, but nothing likely to happen. Nsiala and Pierre must be the slowest defensive pairing at this level for some time.

Nothing from this game and there's a tricky run of fixtures on paper for the next 6 before a kinder run in October:

Wrexham (a)
Charlton (h)
Mansfield (a)
Rotherham (h)
Stockport (h)
Bolton (a)

Don't know what to expect, hopefully the Orient keeper is just as generous as he seems to have been at the start of the season

 

[AdamStag]

Given the injuries we’ve got stockport will batter us.

Stockport last season had a better side that us, we just won both games as cloughs a better manager than challinor.

Give the lack of pace and stockport’s early form, i’d expect them to win easily.

 

[Floreat Salopia]

Sky must be kicking themselves that they picked our game against Peterborough as a TV pick and not this mouth watering clash of 24th v 23rd where one "0" must go at the Croud Meadow.

Already feels like a must win for Shrewsbury, just to get some confidence in what was always expected to be a tough season. Severely need defensive reinforcement before the window closes, but nothing likely to happen. Nsiala and Pierre must be the slowest defensive pairing at this level for some time.

Nothing from this game and there's a tricky run of fixtures on paper for the next 6 before a kinder run in October:

Wrexham (a)
Charlton (h)
Mansfield (a)
Rotherham (h)
Stockport (h)
Bolton (a)

Don't know what to expect, hopefully the Orient keeper is just as generous as he seems to have been at the start of the season

Zero points from three games is poor but in fairness we’ve had a tough start fixture wise. Thought we were unlucky not to get anything against Huddersfield this weekend, definitely exceeded my expectations and most others as I thought we were certain to get pumped by three or four goals.

Agree with you about Toto and Pierre, both not good enough. Do feel for Hurst a bit though as neither were meant to be starters and we don’t have the budget to get much better, just hard luck both first choice CB’s (Josh & Morgan Feeney) are both out injured.

We’ve got this lad from Chelsea joining tomorrow who we’ve apparently beaten Norwich & Rangers for as he’s guaranteed a first team spot with us which is very promising. Sagoe Jr looks a player as does O’Rielly. Think we’re hanging a lot onto the loan players this year and they’re our only hope of staying up.

As for this game, well… it’s a must win. I know we’re still in August but like Danny says, we’ve not got a kind run of fixtures coming up and we really could do with getting off the mark before stepping into the Welsh version of Chernobyl that is Rectum after this fixture.

Seen the Orient keeper isn’t very well liked so hope he’s starting for them, if so I’ll go for a 2-1 Salop win.

 

[Master D]

Tough away game. 1st defeat incoming I think. Although I didn't expect anything at Bolton so who knows

Same here. It will be another tough away game out of the way already though.

 

[Master D]

Given the injuries we’ve got stockport will batter us.

Stockport last season had a better side that us, we just won both games as cloughs a better manager than challinor.

Give the lack of pace and stockport’s early form, i’d expect them to win easily.

Even if you beat them I think they'll be clear at the top for a while, haven't played anyone with a pulse yet and their upcoming fixtures are all very winnable too.

 

[Stocky]

Given the injuries we’ve got stockport will batter us.

Stockport last season had a better side that us, we just won both games as cloughs a better manager than challinor.

Give the lack of pace and stockport’s early form, i’d expect them to win easily.

We literally have 12 injured players. And we weren't far off that total when you beat us on New Years Day. Challinor has said we just need to get through next week and get to the International break and we should have 4 or 5 back. We haven't been able to make a bench up of senior players in any of our opening games.

Clough has no excuses. Just like he has none for bottling the title last season.

 

[Stocky]

Even if you beat them I think they'll be clear at the top for a while, haven't played anyone with a pulse yet and their upcoming fixtures are all very winnable too.

Wrexham fans spending their Bank Holiday monday checking our upcoming fixtures. I couldn't even tell you who we have after Mansfield as our game vs Reading has been canned due to them having Internationals.

This is why we think Wrexham fans are obsessed with us.

 

[EnglishRed]

Wrexham fans spending their Bank Holiday monday checking our upcoming fixtures. I couldn't even tell you who we have after Mansfield as our game vs Reading has been canned due to them having Internationals.

This is why we think Wrexham fans are obsessed with us.

Some are, most aren't. Like some County fans are obsessed with us, most aren't.

Tough game for us. Would be nice to carry on our good start. I pessimistically thought we'd be on four points after our first four games so anything we get at Posh is a bonus. Nice to get some of these tougher looking away trips out of the way early before teams have settled.

 

[Moomin]

Is it a good time to be playing Bolton? They don’t seem to be firing yet, but to get anything we need to be on it for the whole 90 mins.

At least this year we won’t be playing a CB up front against them and hopefully the players who featured in last season’s 7-0 mauling will want to put things right.

I’d be delighted with a point tbh, but think Bolton will edge us 2-1.

 

[EricSabin]

Burton (h). Burton winless so far but I think both teams will probably think it’s a good opportunity for 3 points. Our home form will likely be make or break for us again this year so important to win these types of games, which we did so well last year.

 

[AdamStag]

We literally have 12 injured players. And we weren't far off that total when you beat us on New Years Day. Challinor has said we just need to get through next week and get to the International break and we should have 4 or 5 back. We haven't been able to make a bench up of senior players in any of our opening games.

Clough has no excuses. Just like he has none for bottling the title last season.

Given the much larger budgets wrejxam and stockport had we were never supposed to win the title, to get promoted in itself was still a brilliant achievement - which is why he won manager of the season.

We’ve got no defensive options at all - believe me he’s an excuse, i’d be highly surprised if stockport didn’t win.

 

[Stocky]

Given the much larger budgets wrejxam and stockport had we were never supposed to win the title, to get promoted in itself was still a brilliant achievement - which is why he won manager of the season.

We’ve got no defensive options at all - believe me he’s an excuse, i’d be highly surprised if stockport didn’t win.

Sorry to burst the bubble pal but Clough won EFL manager of the year which was awarded 3 weeks before the end of the season and is voted for by sponsors. Challinor won the LMA award which was when the season had finished and was voted for by his fellow peers and past Hall of Fame managers.

 

[AdamStag]

Sorry to burst the bubble pal but Clough won EFL manager of the year which was awarded 3 weeks before the end of the season and is voted for by sponsors. Challinor won the LMA award which was when the season had finished and was voted for by his fellow peers and past Hall of Fame managers.

Fair enough good for him - in fairness wrexham should’ve always won that league given the huge resources so to finish above them was an exceptional achievement - they both won a manager of the season then.

Not bursting any bubble though, the only one i’m interested in is the league 1 bubble, we’d have to score 3 at least to win saturday

 

[Stocky]

Fair enough good for him - in fairness wrexham should’ve always won that league given the huge resources so to finish above them was an exceptional achievement - they both won a manager of the season then.

Not bursting any bubble though, the only one i’m interested in is the league 1 bubble, we’d have to score 3 at least to win saturday

You always beat us at Field Mill.

I'd be delighted to still be unbeaten at 5pm Saturday.

 

[Conker]

Stoxkport have a good starting eleven still I believe, Mansfield have about one and a half defenders left available at the minute although that may change. If Flint and Reed are potentially out too we haven’t got even a slim chance Saturday.

Conceded 8 goals already, Challinor will be expecting at least three goals on Saturday.

If Flint plays he will probably play on an injury (again) probably why he’s been poor so far. I’m hoping FBT is back so we don’t play Bowery at left back, Hewitt and Macca are fit enough to come on but not start yet unless that changes this week.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Given the much larger budgets wrejxam and stockport had we were never supposed to win the title, to get promoted in itself was still a brilliant achievement - which is why he won manager of the season.

We’ve got no defensive options at all - believe me he’s an excuse, i’d be highly surprised if stockport didn’t win.

Pretty sure you guys would have also had a decent budget. Flint, DKD, Nichols and Reed wont be on peanuts.

 

[Conker]

Pretty sure you guys would have also had a decent budget. Flint, DKD, Nichols and Reed wont be on peanuts.

Absolutely, but them two are on another planet financially. To be fair we had more time to build and assemble our squad under Clough than they did, but it’s easier to build a squad up if you’ve got 8 grand a week to pay someone.

I agree with Stocky though we should have won the title last season, we dipped in form at the time Stockport hit form, and considering their poor start and injuries it was a brilliant job by Challinor.

 

[Stocky]

Do we think Barnsley are going to have another nibble at Keillor-Dunn before the week is out? I notice they sold a player to West Brom so they may have a bit more money to move with.

Mansfield are right to be holding out for exactly what they want. He's a very good player and I bet Barnsley thought they could just come in and nab him for fuck all.

I'd rather him stay at Mansfield with a neutral football fans hat on. He's a pain in the arse for Saturday because he has a good record but we'd have to play Barnsley twice with him anyway. I'd like to see Mansfield do well this season believe it or not.

 

[Conker]

Barnsley seem either unwilling to match our valuation or they just cannot afford what we want. He will only go if it’s met, so I’m pretty comfortable about it, if he goes we’ve received a huge amount of money that I know JR will let Cloughie reinvest back in the squad.

We will be fine, we did a job on Barnsley away from home and was unplayable in the first 30, should have beaten Burton and scored about 8 goals in the process. Lincoln deserved to win on Saturday but we were very much architects of our own downfall with two calamitous goalkeeping errors from the usually reliable Pym.

Stockport will rightly be solid favourites Saturday and be purring at the chance to have a go at our makeshift defence, I do wonder if we have enough players Cloughie may go five at the back. Maybe with Bolton at RWB

 

[deanureeves]

I reckon we'll absolutely batter Exeter 0-0 with 70% possession, in all seriousness we'll probably paper over the cracks here then gift Hudds a 2-0 headstart before we even try to attack.

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

We’ll concede at least two but could score four or five. Maybe another high score draw incoming.

What a difference 20 minutes makes eh? Personally, I suspect a customary narrow defeat, but hey, happy to be surprised!

Wouldn't mind someone chinning Martin, getting away with it, and scoring the winner though....

 

[Luke Imp]

Not sure whether Stevenage have changed their style under Revell compared to Evans but I doubt it? They still look to have a half decent squad.

 

[AmberAndy]

Sounds like Martin won’t be playing so we will have wait for retribution ? Fancy us to nick this one. Our defence will tighten up as Monk works out the best formation, and we will score more goals with the amount of chances we are making. I think we will be a very different prospect to play against in another 2-3 games as the squad beds in. That said I’ve read nothing that tells me Rovers aren’t the same team that finished last year so poorly. 2-1 Cambridge win.