Quote Originally Posted by optipez View Post
We were good enough to get to Wembley having given the top six a ten point head start.
Ardley takes some of the blame but collectively we've gone backwards and that midfield is and has been leggy all season.
Fully agree about the foreign pair, moving abroad and being locked down unable to make friends or see family must be miserable and can't help your game.
We've splattered all season very rarely looked like a promotion team and it's gone on right from pre season when York whooped us at home, all our weaknesses were on display then. Conceded soft goals, had no goal threat and got bossed in midfield. Another six or seven players in and the exact same problems were there today.
Last year we needed tweaking, this summer as need an overhaul.
I completely agree with all of this. Some people say you can't judge a team in pre-season or after the first game but that pre-season game against York and the loss away to Dover showed our weaknesses and they have blighted us all season and will no doubt continue to do so all the way to the end, and that's regardless of who the manager is and what they do or do not do.

The key to any successful side is the recruitment and we have to be honest and ask ourselves the question is this squad better than last seasons? My answer is no.

It would be extremely harsh to point blame towards Sam and Rodrigues and the club's recruitment of them in my view. They are a small part of the jigsaw and as you say have come to a new country in the middle of a pandemic left their family and friends behind and have not been able to do anything to help them settle here or mix with their teammates. It must have been tough. Season one for them was always going to be a case of them finding their feet regardless of the pandemic.

We have had misfortune of the injury to Cal Roberts, Wes Thomas leaving and Casper Sloth walking in and out. That is three key players out of the equation. Likewise we did not secure a proven goal scorer at this level to replace the goals and assists from Dennis.

Should we finish below 3rd and not get promoted then on the field we will have regressed yet again and finish in our lowest ever position in the pyramid which is sobering but we will finish where we deserve to. Apart from the first half against Barnet where we ripped them to pieces (look where they are in the league now) and Dagenham at home against ten men that is the only time we've looked like a team that could win a title. Those performances have since become the exception rather than the norm.

Regardless of what happens from now until the end of the season I believe that lessons will be learned from this season by the owners, our recruitment team and the head coach. They will all have a clear understanding of what is right and wrong with this squad such that the club is better equipped to do it's best to recruit players in the summer who will give us the best chance of challenging at the very top right from the start of next season.