Cheltenham

[gazan]

So..... the season opener. Are we all going???
What do we expect? Cheltenham were defensively strong last season and included the Alex in their conquests. One big problem for us last season was finishing so will we improve on that this season? It all depends on how the team are organised. We created a fair amount of chances last season despite not being particularly set up for it. With two (very) wide men and a CF who spent a lot of time tracking back to gain possession, the team should have relied heavily on advancing midfielders. However, we didn't score too many from that area. On the other hand we did have (I think) 16 or 17 different scorers so we spread it around a bit.
I believe the opening game will be very tight and not much will be open to us scoring. So my forecast for the first game of the season is 1-1.

[lukcour]

I am going to be an optimist and going for a win. Think that our attacking formation will be quicker and more incisive this season, plus a good amount of goals from a good number of sources.

Suspect that we will have defensive problems, especially from set pieces. Hopefully these can be offset by the strength of Ramsay, Murphy, Lundstram, and Adebisi containing the opposition. Expect the inclusion of Lundstram in the midfield to be a big improvement

[gazan]

Out of interest, Lukcour, what's your likely midfield for tomorrow?

[AstonAlex]

I think we will be a more confident side than started last season and the underwhelming performance against Charlton. Pre-season suggests a return to more goals… the trouble is that will be at both ends! I admit to preferring the form we had until spring of pretty solid defence and not as many chances created - though a greater percentage of them being taken would have helped! 3-1 to the Alex with the crowd behind us.

There’s likely to be a decent away following, even at £25 a go, so could be a good atmosphere.

[gazan]

Can't wit. This week seems to hve gone really slowly!!

[lukcour]

My midfield would be Murphy (Captain?), Lundstram, Ainley, with Dale and Kirk wide. Difficult to choose striker, slightly leaning towards Long.

Looking forward to seeing Ramsay, Adebisi, and Lundstram in competitive game. Also hope that this season we make better use of our subs.

[ShropshireAlex]

No announcement of skipper or squad numbers still - will we learn them only at the match?? (Maybe DA is going with multiple captains, as he mentioned he shared with Westy & Lee Bell in his first season with us, though most of us felt that was a mistake by Dario, and Steve Davis immediately switched to DA alone when he took over the next year.)

[Wartman]

Don’t know what to say about the game yesterday toothless, pathetic are a couple of words that spring to mind. I know Artells preparation was thrown into chaos at the last minute but his starting 11 choices yesterday were a little strange. Sass Davies must be better than Daniels surely ? Finney center midfield whilst McDonald is on the bench ? Long does not even get a kick ? Don’t want to be too harsh game 1 but Cheltenham are relegation fodder and on the performance from us so are we; surely we are better than that ?

[out0lunch]

Needed some class in midfield. Someone who can hit a 40 yard pass with accuracy. Also fb need to go further forward but I think that will come. I am not a big fan of Mandron but to be fair he made some good runs today along their defensive line asking for the ball but never getting it.
Ainley is not a left winger but where do you fit him in? He is a number 10 but we don't play that system

[AstonAlex]

I thought the defence was adequate, and would have rated higher but for DD’s calamitous back pass. Ramsay has class and I thought Rio was more than OK; we’ve been spoilt with Pixie and it wouldn’t be fair to compare the two this early in Rio’s career and I’d rate him as fine.

Up front I’d agree that Ainley was a square peg in a round hole, Dale started and finished the game well but was quiet in the middle. Mandron was the pick, did what he always does well and took the goal really well. He was left alone far too often for my (and I suspect his) liking, which brings me to the midfield. The word that spring to mind after the match was stodgy. Murph has never had much pace and Lundstram didn’t look blessed in that department either - Finney was largely anonymous. We looked better when MacDonald came on and Josh was pushed further forward but I too was surprised that Long wasn’t given time and Ports was - nothing against Ports of course but he didn’t find himself in his favourite 2 yards out tap in position! Only had 5 minutes mind.

All in all, disappointing but nothing to get too carried away about - it was better than the first match last season!