Saturday 26th August Fixtures

[EricSabin]

Cheltenham away. Both teams will be eyeing this up as a good chance for 3 points I think. Feels like our season has kickstarted after battering Lincoln last Tuesday and then nicking the derby win late on Saturday.

Think we’ve sold 600 to this point which is decent with the interminable rail strikes, I was going to go but I don’t want another re run of Wigan the other weekend train wise.

 

[valefan16]

You can't be that bad surely? You were the best team in League 2 last season and many predicted you to finish the highest out of the new promoted teams.

Not been a great start for you points wise, but 3 of the 4 teams you've played are aiming for the promotion fight. 3 out of 4 games away as well. From what it sounds like you've not had the best luck.

FGR...

 

[Si Robin]

Cheltenham away. Both teams will be eyeing this up as a good chance for 3 points I think. Feels like our season has kickstarted after battering Lincoln last Tuesday and then nicking the derby win late on Saturday.

Think we’ve sold 600 to this point which is decent with the interminable rail strikes, I was going to go but I don’t want another re run of Wigan the other weekend train wise.

This is in a nutshell really. We've had a tough start so a promoted team at home is where we really need to be picking something up.

If we get a goal, I think we'll win. It's a hell of an if on that point though at the moment.

 

[SVH]

Orient away on an August bank holiday weekend - lovely. Well, until the trains decided to strike (Tossers).

It's a really good opportunity for us to continue our race for promotion but it's always a tough trip to Orient and I expect we'll need to be dogged in the first 20 mins and then grow into the game and hit them on the break. Despite their tough start they will see this as a good opportunity to get 3 points on the board.

I think it will be a score draw 1-1.

 

[BogDaddyO]

You can't be that bad surely? You were the best team in League 2 last season and many predicted you to finish the highest out of the new promoted teams.

Not been a great start for you points wise, but 3 of the 4 teams you've played are aiming for the promotion fight. 3 out of 4 games away as well. From what it sounds like you've not had the best luck.

We have been unlucky - brutally hard opening fixtures, a never ending list of injuries and some dodgy refereeing haven't helped, and 1 point from 4 games is a pretty woeful return.

Can't really see how we stop the rot at the moment, would probably take a draw on Saturday but is that really good enough if we want to avoid the bottom 4 come the end of the season?

 

[coronakopite]

Oh your lads will be licking their lips, then. We fucking love fannying about with it. Dread to think how easy we’re going to make it for you, though much will depend upon how many of our multitudinous crocks we get back.

Only thing in our favour will be the huge pitch. Always plenty of space, no matter how disciplined a low block teams try to play with.

That will certainly test our fullbacks and the support they get from, Brisbane Road favourite, James Brophy and Kaikai/Kachunga.

That pitch is the third widest in the EFL, with only Portman Road and the New Meadow wider,

 

[AmberAndy]

That works both ways though,Kaikai, Brophy and Liam Bennett will love the extra space to work in, Dunk too if Andrew is rested for this one. The team who has the best organised full back/ wide player tracking back combination will win. I think we might just have that with the settled side we have been fortunate to have thus far. It’s going to be a banging atmosphere with our sold out end and the volume of Cambridge fans in the adjacent home block.

 

[bigfatron]

We have been unlucky - brutally hard opening fixtures, a never ending list of injuries and some dodgy refereeing haven't helped, and 1 point from 4 games is a pretty woeful return.

Can't really see how we stop the rot at the moment, would probably take a draw on Saturday but is that really good enough if we want to avoid the bottom 4 come the end of the season?

Sure, don't panic yet - you need those injured players back. It's very early days yet. Last season Burton were way behind well into the winter but finished very comfortably.

 

[AmberRich]

That works both ways though,Kaikai, Brophy and Liam Bennett will love the extra space to work in, Dunk too if Andrew is rested for this one. The team who has the best organised full back/ wide player tracking back combination will win. I think we might just have that with the settled side we have been fortunate to have thus far. It’s going to be a banging atmosphere with our sold out end and the volume of Cambridge fans in the adjacent home block.

Would prefer to have Dunk start on Saturday. Not righting him off, but feel like Andrew hasn't started that strongly especially compared with how Dunk finished off last season.

 

[Luke Imp]

Home to Blackpool.

Reading their forum, Critchley doesn't seem to be flavour of the month already with what they perceive to be boring football - they've not conceded yet but have only scored two.

As for us, the only doubt is probably Mandroiu who we thought had broken his toe prior to the weekend and the free week will mean Jackson will stay in the side and not have to be rested. A decision to make will be House or Walker starting up front.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Would prefer to have Dunk start on Saturday. Not righting him off, but feel like Andrew hasn't started that strongly especially compared with how Dunk finished off last season.

Andrew looked your weak link on Saturday we just didnt capitalise on it. everyone else looked sound though

 

[Pompeyblueboy]

That works both ways though,Kaikai, Brophy and Liam Bennett will love the extra space to work in, Dunk too if Andrew is rested for this one. The team who has the best organised full back/ wide player tracking back combination will win. I think we might just have that with the settled side we have been fortunate to have thus far. It’s going to be a banging atmosphere with our sold out end and the volume of Cambridge fans in the adjacent home block.

Fk me Cambridge are the massivest in L1 now

 

[E10rifle]

The team who has the best organised full back/ wide player tracking back combination will win.

Yeah, hence my overall pessimism. Neither first choice fullback was available at Blackpool and the primary backup came off injured. Fun.

 

[SVH]

Yeah, hence my overall pessimism. Neither first choice fullback was available at Blackpool and the primary backup came off injured. Fun.

Are you likely to get any of your injured players back for Saturday?

 

[codaplenty]

You always find out about managers and their players when they are in a bad run
The performance against Derby was an improvement ( of sorts ) but right now goals are rather than chicken teeth. We have strange results against the Shrews, last year they comfortably won at our place and we won even easier at theirs
This is a winnable game for Fleetwood,
sooner rather than later we will find 3 points so why not this weekend
A narrow 2-1 victory for the Cods

 

[hellogregory]

Best we can hope for is a 0-0 if Vale aren’t firing.

Whilst we don’t look out of our depth at this level and have competed in all 4 games so far, we still haven’t sorted out the glaring lack of quality or threat in our front line. And until we do, we won’t be winning any game of Skybet League One football.

 

[kieran_vale]

Best we can hope for is a 0-0 if Vale aren’t firing.

Whilst we don’t look out of our depth at this level and have competed in all 4 games so far, we still haven’t sorted out the glaring lack of quality or threat in our front line. And until we do, we won’t be winning any game of Skybet League One football.

Butterworth or Edmo are nailed on to score in this I’d imagine. Ex-players coming back and scoring against their old clubs and all that. If it goes how the results in your other games have gone it only takes one to drop in your favour and you have every chance of winning. Hopefully we go with Josh Thomas up front for this one, his pace has been a difference maker for us.

 

[valefan16]

Best we can hope for is a 0-0 if Vale aren’t firing.

Whilst we don’t look out of our depth at this level and have competed in all 4 games so far, we still haven’t sorted out the glaring lack of quality or threat in our front line. And until we do, we won’t be winning any game of Skybet League One football.

You certainly need League One players at this level, even if just 3-4, players we had that were good in League Two didn't all step up, notably Tom Conlon and to a lesser degree Connor Hall, oddly a couple who didn't set the world alight in L2 did step up better like Dan Jones!

Last Year we signed Ellis Harrison and only really had him Ojo that you'd consider decent League One ready players, considering Wilson was out much of it, for a period of time we rode the wave of Euphoria until Xmas then really struggled, lucky having done enough but this year we've had to ensure we've signed more set for League One outright such as Connor Grant, Iacovitti, Sang and Clarke.

Good luck in the Loan Market helps too, last year it was largely a disaster our use of that, Politic didn't have a position in our formation, Small and McArron terrible, Matty Taylor seemed to be running out of legs and Butterworth was probably the only one who made an impact of note.

This year at least the two loan signings we've made look a massive upgrade, Thomas as mentioned above looks full of pace and won us the game at the weekend and Arblaster is living up to the hype Sheff United fans had about him when we got him on loan, he is a level above L1 easily, which inevitably means we will lose him in January but can see why he broke into their team last season.

Seems to be a case of learning lessons to survive is crucial.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Best we can hope for is a 0-0 if Vale aren’t firing.

Whilst we don’t look out of our depth at this level and have competed in all 4 games so far, we still haven’t sorted out the glaring lack of quality or threat in our front line. And until we do, we won’t be winning any game of Skybet League One football.

Strikers always seem to be the hardest signing at league 1 level. Because you have one or two big clubs who inflate the wages to stupid levels, it's a struggle for anybody else to afford anyone half decent. You also get some of the lesser lights suddenly demanding big wages.

A lot of the strikers seem to be made up of punts from non league or loanees from Premier league/Championship.

We didn't score anywhere near enough last year and it really caught up with us. We outplayed quite a few teams but had a habit of conceding soft goals and not sticking it in the other end when on top. That 20 goal a season striker makes a big difference at this level.

I think your midfield is very good and you'll probably have a fair share of the play, but we saw last season with Lincoln and Charlton, that if you ain't got anything up top then we can nick it.

 

[E10rifle]

Are you likely to get any of your injured players back for Saturday?

Left back Jayden Sweeney could be back from concussion. Dan Happe will be back from suspension. Ethan Galbraith played 90 minutes against Blackpool so should be fine. Strikers Dan Agyei and Aaron Drinan are both out for months. No idea on other injury victims Sol Brynn, Darren Pratley, Max Sanders, George Moncur, Rob Hunt or Tom James.

 

[bigfatron]

I'm glad it's worked out with you for El Mizouni - he seemed like a good honest guy when he was with us on loan.
Idris is bound to have a worldy on Saturday since he's playing against us!

 

[BogDaddyO]

I'm glad it's worked out with you for El Mizouni - he seemed like a good honest guy when he was with us on loan.
Idris is bound to have a worldy on Saturday since he's playing against us!

Consistently our best player last year and looks to be the same again this year.
If we lose him I really would begin to worry for us...

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Strikers always seem to be the hardest signing at league 1 level. Because you have one or two big clubs who inflate the wages to stupid levels, it's a struggle for anybody else to afford anyone half decent. You also get some of the lesser lights suddenly demanding big wages.

A lot of the strikers seem to be made up of punts from non league or loanees from Premier league/Championship.

We didn't score anywhere near enough last year and it really caught up with us. We outplayed quite a few teams but had a habit of conceding soft goals and not sticking it in the other end when on top. That 20 goal a season striker makes a big difference at this level.

I think your midfield is very good and you'll probably have a fair share of the play, but we saw last season with Lincoln and Charlton, that if you ain't got anything up top then we can nick it.

Exeter seem to be good at taking players who haven't set the world on fire with other clubs and making them better players, such as Jevani Brown and Sam Nombe.
Not sure how much of it is luck or great scouting/coaching though

 

[valefan16]

Exeter seem to be good at taking players who haven't set the world on fire with other clubs and making them better players, such as Jevani Brown and Sam Nombe.
Not sure how much of it is luck or great scouting/coaching though

Peterborough seem to do the same all be it via Barnet or Dagenham

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Peterborough seem to do the same all be it via Barnet or Dagenham

They rely heavily on stats to produce a list of targets which does seem to work well, and also not afraid to lay down £500k for the likes of Jack Taylor having confidence they will make a profit.
Easier when you can afford to pay those sorts of fees in L1 though which makes what Exeter do even more impressive

 

[AmberRich]

I find Pish's recruitment to be a bit overrated really. Like you said compared to the likes of Exeter they are willing to use more resources.

They've made plenty of big sales for a club their size, but they've also had quite a fair amount of failures that get forgotten about. Allegedly spending over half a million on Luke James for example. Vassell is another.

 

[valefan16]

They rely heavily on stats to produce a list of targets which does seem to work well, and also not afraid to lay down £500k for the likes of Jack Taylor having confidence they will make a profit.
Easier when you can afford to pay those sorts of fees in L1 though which makes what Exeter do even more impressive

Oh without doubt, Exeter have had a great youth system as well and considering location they deserve massive credit, similar to Crewe all be it they've stagnated in terms of big youth player sales in recent years.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Sonny Cox rated as 50-50 for Saturday, if Nombe goes we will have no strikers. Though I have no idea what will happen on that front, latest thoughts are he will play on Saturday and sign for Barnsley on Monday..

 

[hellogregory]

Strikers always seem to be the hardest signing at league 1 level. Because you have one or two big clubs who inflate the wages to stupid levels, it's a struggle for anybody else to afford anyone half decent. You also get some of the lesser lights suddenly demanding big wages.

A lot of the strikers seem to be made up of punts from non league or loanees from Premier league/Championship.

We didn't score anywhere near enough last year and it really caught up with us. We outplayed quite a few teams but had a habit of conceding soft goals and not sticking it in the other end when on top. That 20 goal a season striker makes a big difference at this level.

I think your midfield is very good and you'll probably have a fair share of the play, but we saw last season with Lincoln and Charlton, that if you ain't got anything up top then we can nick it.

Yeah we’re massively struggling. We signed Maguire but he likely only came because no one else would touch him given his injuries over past few years and even he isn’t an out and our goal threat. Other than that it’s just kids on loan. We need a proper number 9, someone who has played a bit of EFL for a good few seasons. Our manager knows this but we don’t have two pennies to rub together. Harrogate quoted us 500k for Luke Armstrong which is completely beyond what we can go to.

I just hope Simpson can pull a rabbit out of a hat over the next week because boy do we need one. 1 goal from open play in 5 games this season says it all.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Yeah we’re massively struggling. We signed Maguire but he likely only came because no one else would touch him given his injuries over past few years and even he isn’t an out and our goal threat. Other than that it’s just kids on loan. We need a proper number 9, someone who has played a bit of EFL for a good few seasons. Our manager knows this but we don’t have two pennies to rub together. Harrogate quoted us 500k for Luke Armstrong which is completely beyond what we can go to.

I just hope Simpson can pull a rabbit out of a hat over the next week because boy do we need one. 1 goal from open play in 5 games this season says it all.

I think we would let Ryan Loft go if someone comes in for him. I see he has been on loan at Carlisle before