My assessment after eight games

First of all the club deserves credit for identifying Michael Duff and he in turn deserves credit for having the guts , drive and ambition to take it on .

He's the best thing at the club by a million miles and I sincerely hope he's in it for the long haul , we'll see of course .

Having seen all 8 games plus one League Cup tie and one EFL Trophy game albeit from my armchair I believe 6th place isn't beyond this group by any means , I'd struggle to make a case much above that but there's defiantly 70 plus points in this group .

There's improvement to be made for that to happen I'll give you that but none the less it's achievable .

There's defiantly work to be done defensively and I'd like to see Jordan Williams on the right side of a defensive three with Edwards taking the RWB spot , Andersen and Cundy making up the trio .

The midfield is up there with the best at this level in my opinion and definitely our strength , Kane slotted in last night perfectly , there's a shape and energy about them that I like and they compliment one another very well .

I get the worry over our strikers and none of whom are going to be prolific , in fact you'd be struggling to see 25 goals between the four of em all season , it is what it is .

I'd be tempted to give Josh Martin his opportunity in place of Aitchison personally and see if there's an improvement in the final product .

With the lack of real top quality league one goalscorers it's imperative the at least one of the midfield lads steps up and hits the 12 to 15 mark that gives us the opportunity to grab 6th spot .

My thinking is geared towards giving Benson the licence to operate where he wants just behind the lone striker , he's scored a few already this season , are we missing a trick here ?

My team to take us to 6th .

--------------- Collins --------

---- Williams -- Andersen ---- Cundy --

----Edwards --------------- Cadden / Kitching

--------Thomas ---- Kane ----- Connell ---

--------------------- Benson -------------------

---------------------- Martin --------------------

Subs

Walton
Phillips
McCarthy
Cole
Norwood
Cadden / Kitching
Atchison

My concern is that we’re only 2 injuries or suspensions away from having a powder puff attacking line up. That gap has needed filling since before the season started. We all knew it but the club didn’t recruit.

I hope we’re lucky with the injuries and suspensions.

Regarding Josh Martin ,and this is my first impression of him on last night's performance , he didn't have much drive about him , apart from one well struck shot "on target" he looked a little lazy , for want of a better expression ? , he stood off and allowed the Vale player to cross for the equaliser , hopefully he learns or is taught to improve as a team player and not an individual , I wouldn't put him before Jack Aitchinson, I'll put it that way , I thought Kane was excellent until subbed , midfield looks quite strong , I'm well impressed by Luke Thomas and pleased for the lad , Kitchin and a few others were good last night , as you say ,and we all know where our problem lies , it's up front, a top 6 finish may not be beyond us ? Realistically top 10 at best with the squad we have scraped together ,

We've got most of the tough away games out of the way which also came in to my thinking regarding 6th as an achievable target .

However teams such as Port Vale need putting to the sword if we are to do it , on another night we probably would have done .

The lesser lights at this level are where the points are to go over 70 points with the bigger threats visiting Oakwell which should also be to our advantage .

Get those clean sheets stacking up and even with non too many goals in us we are creating enough chances to at least take one or two .

We shore that defense up and it most defiantly is achievable in my opinion .

I take the point there's a few ducks to line up .

Good summing up. Id be tying Jordan up a new deal. I think 6 th to 10th… last season we would have lost thT ga e yesterday, with a last minute goal with out head’s down

I've only seen us play once this season which was last night. From what I saw- Midfield looks particularly strong. Defence a bit shaky, attack average. We need the likes of Thomas and Benson to score a fair few from midfield. Having watched Devante Cole, I have to say that I was impressed by his attitude and workrate. There's a good chance he will score a dozen goals plus this season imo. Clean sheets are the key as has already been said.

The manager is a quality blowk imo. I'd love him to be here long term. Let him build these lads up. He clearly has their respect. Positive signs for me. Whether we can sneak a play off spot remains to be seen. I sincerely hope we can. Onwards and upwards.

Id say we're going inconsistently from a few games to the next few games, and while it is frustrating, it is also understandable.
But Im keeping my fingers crossed that we really might be onto something this season. And while it might not even be a Play off place, I think under Duff & co we've got some good stuff to look forward to.
Top 10 maybe, which is something to definitely build on next time, especially after the awful state that the loathsome Conway & co left us in not so long ago!.

Trouble is we are skint! Connell, Thomas and Aitchson are improving rapidly, the more they get to know each other the better we will become and If Cole does start banging in a few, all of them will be sold in January………Back to square one.

Will they eck any team at top of league aren't gonna spend big on players who ain't ever gonna be champ players bench not included

Too many recent changes at the club and a lack of my personal knowledge of the true strength/ weakness of the Third Division make it a bit too early for me to make a judgement.

As results show (W3 D2 L3) we are inconsistent, with a combination of a lot of young players plus new ones settling in and the Head Coach still looking for his best team.
One game it's a sh1t show like Wycombe, the next game it's a star show like Wednesday. Which Barnsley will turn up against Cambridge ?

Like others I worry about the quality up front, most promoted teams contain at least one 20+ goals a season striker, and an injury to one or more in defence which has shaky spells. The January transfer window could see Andersen going.

We have played some of the better teams away--Plymouth, Derby, Ipswich and Wednesday (W1 D1 L2) but also some of the weaker teams at home- Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers, Wycombe, Port Vale (W2 D1 L1). No real pattern has yet emerged. I have little idea how we will fare at Cambridge and at home to Charlton.

Duff is clearly an improvement on Schopp and Asbaghi and we are playing in the Third Division so this season should be better than last.