Saturday 12th September 2020

[Agombar stool]

I think most of us will agree that 2020 has been an epic fail/annus horribilis!

However tomorrow sees the start of the new season and for many the joy of seeing their beloved teams for the first time in months. Yes it’s on Ifollow and yes there are no paying supporters, the lifeblood of these teams. But football is back. I have to be honest and say I didn’t massively miss it that much during lockdown, there were people dying, we were changing the way we lived, people lost their jobs, metal health issues increased, the world changed.

Of course that’s still the case but for 90 minutes tomorrow, each and everyone of us can forget these problems and do what we all love to do. Watch our football team in action. They might be overpaid and not really that great, but they are our team, our manager, our lifeblood.

There is a lot of petty bickering on this forum at times, some call it ‘banter’. There are rivalries, some bitter, some more friendly. But we wouldn’t change it for the world.

I want to wish every fan on here and their team the very best for this season - even Oxford United. Some say nothing is more important than football, of course that’s wrong but for 90 minutes tomorrow some people will get to feel more alive then they have for some time. Breathe it in folks.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

Couldn’t have put it better myself, well said

 

[PuB]

Good luck everyone (except Hull tomorrow for 90 minutes), but whatever happens enjoy it. We might just be heading out of summer but it’s been a long dark few months.

 

[Crewelad87]

CAFC vs CAFC A very rarely played fixture this one, and it’s been a long time since we last played. Only played each other 4 times with the last being over 20 years ago. No idea what to expect, and I don’t know great deal about Charlton other than there owner isn’t great, Bowyer seems a decent manager and Chuks Aneke was class when he played for us.

I’m expecting goals Crewe 2-2 Charlton (Mandron, Kirk, Bonne, Aneke)

no matter the result il just enjoy having my local team to support again, even if it is from my sofa.

 

[Indian Dan]

Couldn’t have put it better myself, well said

Except the bit about Oxford!

 

[Daz_3000]

Agreed. It’s been too long, hope we get up this season at the 3rd time of asking (sunderland fan here) but there are plenty of teams who will be battling for the top 6 it’ll make for an exciting season. Good luck everyone today (apart from Bristol Rovers).

 

[Luke Imp]

Home to Oxford, not expecting anything.

We're certainly not at their level in terms of quality and consistency of manager and squad so unless it clicks for us for the 90 minutes then I think we'll come out the wrong side of the result.

Missing Bridcutt, who's a massive miss. We don't really have a direct replacement for him and he's so good, not only on the ball, but filling gaps and protecting the CB's.

Great to have league football back, though. All the best everyone.

 

[eric read]

Except the bit about Oxford!

Yeah, that bit was wet.

I would never wish you lot a good season, it's just not the way it works. Looking forward to resuming hostilities, but have a feeling none of us will be there to see it in the flesh, so not sure that the hatred will transmit itself onto the pitch without the fans present?

Looking forward to seeing Swindon unravel and fuck things up, on the pitch and in the boardroom, while we push on and go one better than last season. I don't wish anyone ill health, but draw the line at wishing Swindon good luck, hope you have a miserable season.

Love Eric x

 

[Indian Dan]

Likewise - as you would expect.

On a personal note, hope you’ve kept well during this shit storm.

 

[GeneralLee]

Home to Oxford, not expecting anything.

We're certainly not at their level in terms of quality and consistency of manager and squad so unless it clicks for us for the 90 minutes then I think we'll come out the wrong side of the result.

Missing Bridcutt, who's a massive miss. We don't really have a direct replacement for him and he's so good, not only on the ball, but filling gaps and protecting the CB's.

Great to have league football back, though. All the best everyone.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss your chances. I mentioned on another thread that we desperately lack pace on either flank right now (which won't be rectified for another 2-4 weeks) however right now we are a bit depleted on the left hand side plus our right back slot is up for grabs (which are our primary two attacking outlets) we don't yet have anywhere near a consistent formula (though I'm sure you guys are the same!). I personally anticipate a non-event - It'll probably be low scoring draw...

 

[Agombar stool]

Likewise - as you would expect.

On a personal note, hope you’ve kept well during this shit storm.

You might need to play CB today?

 

[Rob_of_the_green]

Home to Blackpool today.

Following a summer where they seem to have invested quite heavily Blackpool fans in the buildup to the game have come across as super confident for this season, and not just 1 or 2 over-enthusiastic fans either most of their fanbase seems to genuinely believe that they’ll be challenging for autos and if not definitely playoffs.

Unfortunately our main goalscoring threat can’t play today (as he’s a Blackpool loan player), otherwise it’ll be interesting to put ourselves against a team that is expecting to be there or thereabouts to see how we fare


P.S. I very very much doubt this game will end goalless

 

[eric read]

Likewise - as you would expect.

On a personal note, hope you’ve kept well during this shit storm.

Yes, thanks, and hope you have too?

I can think of worse places to be during a pandemic than your current abode. We actually went to Kefalonia about this time last year, and loved it, what a beautiful island. We'll definitely be back once all of this COVID crap is over.

 

[Indian Dan]

Car crash of a team today. 3 kids making their debuts in league football, 3 x injured CBs, Doughty nowhere to be seen after a major huff yesterday and only5 subs - an unfit Pitman, a god awful, daddy pays my wages defender, another kid, a keeper and Hallam Hope.

Glad I backed Dale at 13/5

 

[PuB]

Car crash of a team today. 3 kids making their debuts in league football, 3 x injured CBs, Doughty nowhere to be seen after a major huff yesterday and only5 subs - an unfit Pitman, a god awful, daddy pays my wages defender, another kid, a keeper and Hallam Hope.

Glad I backed Dale at 13/5

You were saying...

 

[PuB]

You were saying...

Ahem...

 

[Agombar stool]

Rochdale are trying to play some total football Barcelona style and our press is killing them. They have to change it surely?

 

[Indian Dan]

Don’t read too much into this. Rochdale are major league pants. Truly terrible.

 

[Agombar stool]

Don’t read too much into this. Rochdale are major league pants. Truly terrible.

Oh don’t get me wrong I’m not putting the champagne on ice yet but early signs are good.

 

[EricSabin]

Game of two halves at Sixfields. Wimbledon better first half, we were better second. With a few key players out I’ll take a Desmond to get us off the mark.

 

[Crewelad87]

Lost vs Charlton 2-0. Two very sloppy goals given away in the first half. Other than that Charlton didn’t do much. They had great game management, they were a lot more Orkney like them I’d expect, a lot of time wasting and and winning cheap free kicks. But they saw the game out well. Mandron once again the main positive and he was very unlucky not to score hitting the cross bar.
All in all a very similar type of game to when we lost first game vs Plymouth last year. Abit to work on, but also some positives.

 

[Agombar stool]

Perfect day really. Stupid goal to concede to Rochdale last minute and they are going to struggle I reckon. Difficult to know what to take from that game. I thought our new CB and Rob Hunt were our MOTM. ID, what say you?

 

[Indian Dan]

Matt Smith looked a different player with a bit of confidence in him. Odimayo was a huge surprise - he’s looked an accident waiting to happen pre season.

All that with 5/6 players ‘missing’ and a very inexperienced team.

Biscuits!

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Game not of two halves, but two sections at Home Park. We dominated the first ten minutes and scored and could have had more. Blackpool dominated the remaining eighty minutes but did not score. Blackpool pressed us high and we never really figured out how to handle it.

MOM was twenty year old Michael Cooper in his first start in the EFL. Four fantastic saves. One to watch.

 

[Agombar stool]

Matt Smith looked a different player with a bit of confidence in him. Odimayo was a huge surprise - he’s looked an accident waiting to happen pre season.

All that with 5/6 players ‘missing’ and a very inexperienced team.

Biscuits!

Shame about Doughty though.

 

[Claret Forever]

2 - 2 with Wimbledon. Absolutely worst start possible, conceding within 20 seconds or so without a dissapointing mixup. Oddly enough the back 5 who I was confident were solid enough at the start of the season seemed the weak link, particularly Brentford loanee Racic, though there is time to gel. Positives would be the two non-league strikers who had little to no expectations for getting on the score sheet, especially Korboa who had a good game.

Rather cynically, we decided to elevate our youth striker Chukwuemeka above his compatriot Ethan Johnston and give him 10 minutes on the pitch - Daily Mail broke a story to suggest he'd rejected a first pro contract with us with Aston Villa and Norwich sniffing around, so I'd imagine his promotion over Johnston who had been playing pre-season may be with an eye on boosting the tribunal fee.

 

[dannyc5]

Never read too much into the 1st game, we lose them every year. However there were some very poor performers for us (Pickering and Finney especially). The worst performer though was Ifollow. Absolutely garbage coverage.

 

[EricSabin]

2 - 2 with Wimbledon. Absolutely worst start possible, conceding within 20 seconds or so without a dissapointing mixup. Oddly enough the back 5 who I was confident were solid enough at the start of the season seemed the weak link, particularly Brentford loanee Racic, though there is time to gel. Positives would be the two non-league strikers who had little to no expectations for getting on the score sheet, especially Korboa who had a good game.

Rather cynically, we decided to elevate our youth striker Chukwuemeka above his compatriot Ethan Johnston and give him 10 minutes on the pitch - Daily Mail broke a story to suggest he'd rejected a first pro contract with us with Aston Villa and Norwich sniffing around, so I'd imagine his promotion over Johnston who had been playing pre-season may be with an eye on boosting the tribunal fee.

Thought Korboa was excellent today, really impressive finish for the goal and lively all round. Leon Lobjoit he ain’t.

 

[Gassy]

Don’t read too much into this. Rochdale are major league pants. Truly terrible.

Textbook Rochdale, look crap for the first half of the season, to then become the best team in the division and escape at the end.

 

[Robie]

I can't wait until the season starts.