August matches

[Agombar stool]

Now the fixtures are out, what are your early thoughts?

Scunny away - we always seem to struggle there and Paul Hurst is a good manager at this level.
Carlisle home - You would like to think we would fancy our chances of getting off to a flier at home to the Cumbrians who I fancy to struggle this season.
Exeter away - strong side, I think they will be one of the sides battling for the play-offs along with us.
Northampton home - The cobblers look to have recruited well and I fancy them for play-offs. Tuesday night under the lights though is a good chance to put a stamp down early if we want to get promoted this season.
Cheltenham away - Written off already, no explanation required
Morecambe home - 'should' be 3 easy points. But we learned from the last 2 seasons when we lost to some terrible sides that we have to put these teams away.

 

[shoddycollins]

Crawley (H) - Think we could win this one. They have Ashley Nadesan and so we'll have to watch out, but can't see them pulling up any trees this year.

Swindon (A) - I presume they've improved from last year, though their plan to sign all our players and targets is yet to materialise it shows ambition. I imagine we'll lose this.

Mansfield (H) - Likely to be going for promotion again, they'll be favourites in a game against us so put it down as another defeat.

Cheltenham (A) - Draw, one of those Tuesday nights where we fight doggedly and probably take the lead only to let it slip.

Salford (H) - Draw, they might not have found their feet yet, expect lots of skill on show but a lack of grit and organisation from a team probably made up of players who were planning on Championship football until Gary Neville waved a blank chequebook under their noses.

Scunthorpe (A) - Not sure what to expect of Scunthorpe but they should have it in them to beat us, so defeat.

End the month on 5 points, which at this stage last season would have us in 20th place.

 

[Buxton Vale]

Colchester (A) a long trip to start and a tough game, but with Smozdics about to join P,boro might be in our favour. Happy with a draw here.

Northampton (H) they gave us 6 pts last season, but have strengthened early and will be a different challenge. I would want to start our home games with a win though.

Salford (A) biggest issue could be a limited amount of tickets for a large away support. Might be in our favour playing them early, and would expect a draw.

FGR (H) its about time we beat these, and with some of their best players departing this might be our opportunity.

Grimsby (A) our record isn't great here, but at least Wes Thomas wont be there to score another goal of the season. This might be our first defeat.

Cambridge (H) we will be facing one of our old players here who many Vale fans would have liked to have kept. Would expect a win.

11 points out of 6 games would be decent

 

[AmberRich]

Bradford City (a) - Big game to start off the season, not ideal as they're one of the favourites and we usually have a poor start. LOSE
Newport (h) - Always seem to cock up against these guys. LOSE
Colchester (a) - Not an easy game, and after the league performances against them last season I'm not confident. That said losing Kent and Szmodics will be big losses? So perhaps a chance. DRAW
Scunthorpe (h) - Not sure what to expect from this lot. But I think it's winnable. WIN.
Oldham (h) - Second home game in a row, hopefully carry some momentum from the previous game. WIN.
Port Vale (a) - three game unbeaten run ends in a crashing defeat against Port Vale. LOSE.

7 points from the first 6 games, wouldn't be awful for us. Given our starts to the previous seasons I'm probably being a bit optimistic.

 

[Blue Lion]

Exeter A - they were a big help in keeping us up last season so I wouldn't begrudge them getting the points this time round. Lose

Orient H - not sure what they'll be like so early in the season. Draw

Northampton A - aren't they quite good this season? Lose

Morecambe H - got 0-0 written all over it. Actually fuck it, we need the points. Win

Scunthorpe H - dunno what to expect from them. Draw

Stevenage A - meh, who cares. Lose

That's five points, hopefully enough to keep us out of the bottom two. Getting the first win early would be a weight off the shoulders.

 

[valefan16]

Colchester (A) Tough game we were awful both games against these last season, can we keep our 16 year unbeaten record on the opening day going? Toughest challenge to that in a while.

Northampton (H) Expect a tougher test than last season but crucial to win our first home game.

Salford (A) Tough again! Would love to beat them though!

FGR (H) Hoping for three points here with them losing a few players.

Grimsby (A) Had some bad luck against these with their keeper being on fire in two games and us being woeful in the other couple since coming down.

Cambridge (H) Hope to win this at home.

Impossible to predict, we've yet to do virtually all our business and other clubs will be in the same boat. Hope for a steady start though 8 Points would be ok.

 

[hellogregory]

What gives anyone confidence that we’ll win a game in August? Unless we sign about 8 quality players between now and August I just can’t see us beating any of those teams.

We have an average to poor manager who is being absolutely stitched up the so called football director being shit at his job. We hardly have any players and those we do have are hardly match winners apart from possibly hope who will probably be gone by then anyway.

I can see us getting 1 point maximum from August and I think it will lead to Pressley being sacked in September.

Happy fucking days. This is the worst shape we’ve been in going into a season probably since Roddy Collins was in charge, and that is saying something considering some of the shite we’ve watched since then.

 

[Crewelad87]

Plymouth H - Tough start, Vs one of the favourites to go straight back up. Gresty Rd was a fortress last season and we have a fairly settled team, whereas Plymouth start a new regime, so might take a few weeks to gell I'd take a point.

Oldham A - abit of a 50/50 game I'd guess could go either way, not expecting Oldham to pull up trees,so would expect something here.

Walsall H - another relegated team at home, probably the weaker of the 3 so most likely to be collecting 3 points be another decent away following though which is always good.

Crawley A - I'm never confident in us on longer Tuesday night trips, but Crawley are no giants so who knows

Newport A - will be interesting if they keep most of last season's team, as it will be a very tough game if they do. Atleast early in the season the pitch should play ok.

Bradford H - yet another relegated team at home. I quite fancy Bradford to be up there this season so expecting this be our toughest game, I'd be surprised if we got anything here, Donaldson will no doubt score, our ex players have very good records Vs us.

All in all a pretty tough start if we got 9-10 points I'd very happy. I wouldn't be shocked if came out of it with only 4 or 5 though.

 

[Si Robin]

03/08/2019 Leyton Orient (a) - Really difficult to say. What sort of shape will the O's be in, is the new man the right man, will our away form be as dreadful as the end of last season. Draw.

10/08/2019 Scunthorpe United (h) - Not heard much about how Scunny have got on this summer, we will be looking to continue our fantastic home form though (the best in the Football League since the turn of the year I believe). Win

17/08/2019 Morecambe (a) - We'll lose as Morecambe continue their usual brilliant start to the season. Lose

20/08/2019 Carlisle United (h) - We tend to nick these games against Carlisle. Win

24/08/2019 Swindon Town (h) - As Agombar has noted above, home win is a given here. Win.

31/08/2019 Crawley Town (a) - We tend to struggle at Crawley, it's the day after my birthday and we tend to lose around then as well. Lose.

I'll take 10 points from August.

 

[Moss Rose Silkmen]

Exeter [A] - Lose
Leyton Orient [H] - Lose
Northampton [A] - Lose
Morecambe [H] - Draw
Scunthorpe [H] - Lose
Stevenage [A] - Lose

As you can see, I'm optimistic about this season.

 

[JJ1532]

Plymouth H - Tough start, Vs one of the favourites to go straight back up. Gresty Rd was a fortress last season and we have a fairly settled team, whereas Plymouth start a new regime, so might take a few weeks to gell I'd take a point.

Oldham A - abit of a 50/50 game I'd guess could go either way, not expecting Oldham to pull up trees,so would expect something here.

Walsall H - another relegated team at home, probably the weaker of the 3 so most likely to be collecting 3 points be another decent away following though which is always good.

Crawley A - I'm never confident in us on longer Tuesday night trips, but Crawley are no giants so who knows

Newport A - will be interesting if they keep most of last season's team, as it will be a very tough game if they do. Atleast early in the season the pitch should play ok.

Bradford H - yet another relegated team at home. I quite fancy Bradford to be up there this season so expecting this be our toughest game, I'd be surprised if we got anything here, Donaldson will no doubt score, our ex players have very good records Vs us.

All in all a pretty tough start if we got 9-10 points I'd very happy. I wouldn't be shocked if came out of it with only 4 or 5 though.

Agree with this. Very tough opening month. If we could get 2 wins from these 5, I'd take it. 1 would be ok, as long as we haven't lost the other 4. A 1-2-2 or 1-3-1 record would do nicely, given we've got what on paper looks to be a kinder September. Long way to go before the season starts yet though.

 

[OhGodGlovePuppet]

Bradford City (a) - One of the league favourites away, comfortable Bradford win.

Newport (h) - Might as well just award County this by default. Can you at least lube us up a bit this time first?

Colchester (a) - Colchester will probably kill us 1-0 in a dreadful spectacle. No-one will enjoy their day.

Scunthorpe (h) - Probably a draw. After three losses, a home game where we aren't obviously going to get caned. People will talk about that famous game between us way back when, and that positivity will see us BATTLE to a stalemate.

Oldham (h) - Another draw.

Port Vale (a) - We'll improve on our last visit, but still lose comfortably.

2 points from a possible 18 to start isn't great, but hopefully we'll pick up a bit after that.

 

[darren gregory]

Exeter [A] - Lose
Leyton Orient [H] - Lose
Northampton [A] - Lose
Morecambe [H] - Draw
Scunthorpe [H] - Lose
Stevenage [A] - Lose

As you can see, I'm optimistic about this season.

Sol pinning this up on the Home dressing room wall as we speak.......Mr Motivator

 

[shoddycollins]

What gives anyone confidence that we’ll win a game in August? Unless we sign about 8 quality players between now and August I just can’t see us beating any of those teams.

Love how I predict us to win one game from our first six and finish the month in the bottom 5 and your issue is that I was too optimistic. We've missed you this last couple of months.

 

[hellogregory]

Love how I predict us to win one game from our first six and finish the month in the bottom 5 and your issue is that I was too optimistic. We've missed you this last couple of months.

I find it hard to be optimistic when we’re a few days away from the start of preseason and we’ve barely got enough players to play 5 aside.

Scougall signing since that post is a step in the right direction but with talk of Hope going as well as McCarron, the forward area is in an absolute dire mess. Then there’s the back where we’ve got no EFL experience.

I find it hard to imagine we’ll be able to sign any decent players with Holdsworth/EWM’s shitty 1 year deals only fuckwittery. The loan market is going to be our only hope, we’ll have to get some gems. But that’s a big fucking risk gambling our football league status at the feet of some loan kids.

 

[AdamStag]

So basically each team is going to have another shot load of players into their team, pre-season has yet started and we’re all making predictions, really?

 

[Indian Dan]

I predict a riot

 

[shoddycollins]

So basically each team is going to have another shot load of players into their team, pre-season has yet started and we’re all making predictions, really?

I fear our transfer activity from here on in will simply consist of filling in the gaps with journeymen.

 

[hellogregory]

I fear our transfer activity from here on in will simply consist of filling in the gaps with journeymen.

I don’t think that’s Pressley’s style. 1 or 2 maybe so we’re not a team of kids, but I think he wants a young team.

My view is we’ll get a journeyman centre back and then about 5 kids in on loan. Possibly 1 more permanent signing but nothing to put fear into the league. Then I think our season/survival will hinge on how good the loanees are. Let’s hope we get some Sowerby’s & O’Hare’s rather than Conor Simpson’s.

 

[shoddycollins]

I don’t think that’s Pressley’s style. 1 or 2 maybe so we’re not a team of kids, but I think he wants a young team.

My view is we’ll get a journeyman centre back and then about 5 kids in on loan. Possibly 1 more permanent signing but nothing to put fear into the league. Then I think our season/survival will hinge on how good the loanees are. Let’s hope we get some Sowerby’s & O’Hare’s rather than Conor Simpson’s.

I at least least feel like we're on steady ground with Jones and Etuhu in the middle. I think they will run the midfield in games against weaker sides. Both getting a bit injury prone though

 

[GTFCfish]

Well going off this thread that’s Macclesfield and Carlisle already down so the rest of us can just put our feet up for this season.

 

[Vanni]

Bradford City (a) - Loss
Newport (h) - Loss
Colchester (a) - Loss
Scunthorpe (h) - Draw
Oldham (h) - Draw
Port Vale (a) - Win

 

[shoddycollins]

Crawley (H) - Think we could win this one. They have Ashley Nadesan and so we'll have to watch out, but can't see them pulling up any trees this year.

Swindon (A) - I presume they've improved from last year, though their plan to sign all our players and targets is yet to materialise it shows ambition. I imagine we'll lose this.

Mansfield (H) - Likely to be going for promotion again, they'll be favourites in a game against us so put it down as another defeat.

Cheltenham (A) - Draw, one of those Tuesday nights where we fight doggedly and probably take the lead only to let it slip.

Salford (H) - Draw, they might not have found their feet yet, expect lots of skill on show but a lack of grit and organisation from a team probably made up of players who were planning on Championship football until Gary Neville waved a blank chequebook under their noses.

Scunthorpe (A) - Not sure what to expect of Scunthorpe but they should have it in them to beat us, so defeat.

End the month on 5 points, which at this stage last season would have us in 20th place.

Nailing this so far

and to think HG mocked me for being overly optimistic in having us down for a win in August. Showed him.

 

[SVH]

Well these predictions went well..

 

[shoddycollins]

Back on track having correctly predicted the draw to Salford.

A bit of a hiccup as I recklessly, heart ruling head, had us down to get a point at Cheltenham. How foolish I was, I won't be making that mistake again.

I'm now in two minds over whether I'd rather we lost to Scunthorpe as predicted, giving me 4/5 on predictions, or if we get a draw down there which would mean only 3/5 but correctly getting how many points we'd be on.

 

[Deepcut Cobbler]

I looked at this thread title and thought that someone had started a group thread for the matches by month...