[Devongone]

I know Pooch will be ever-hopeful, but I really fear we haven't enough to beat Stevenage.

They've no injuries. We have several.

We have another new keeper and a doubt at centre back. They have several choices of striker/s.

This is the last chance for a player to get sent off and earn a Boxing Day holiday. I think it'll happen.

So imagine how delighted I am going to be if Jack proves me wrong (again!).

[bluepooch]

I'm sure Jack will be drilling into them how important it is not to get sent off and miss the Christmas period.He was an expert on this subject .

[Dancingwilldoit]

What a start for our new keeper. His confidence is probably shot to pieces now. Welcome to Chesterfield.

[bluepooch]

Wow ! Now whatever anyone says about Jacks task it was well and truly underlined today.
To be honest I'm not comfy with excuses for todays result .THERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR LOSING 5-1 AT STEVENAGE !!.
I don't care whether we have depleted squad I never want to see that result under Jack again.I dont care If he blames Hird or Whoever ,he hasn't blamed them up to now so he must think they are ok which is worrying as Sam clearly isn't good enough and Evo struggles too !.They cannot play together .
We need to tighten up defensively ,we have let far too many goals in under Jacks tenure and I dont think he can improve on that with this set of players.I just hope he knows where to recruit and who to recruit otherwise we are in the shit !!

[Dancingwilldoit]

Blue, we have been in the shit all year, a couple of half decent results obviously hasn't changed things. The squad is what it is - unbalanced and slow, no pace anywhere. God knows if we can get rid of some of the deadwood and bring in some players to get us out of the mire. Crewe Boxing Day is now a must win.

[Devongone]

I hate being right. It only happens when I suspect something bad. I didn't think it would be five, but I did expect to lose easily. Our weaknesses were matched up against their strengths. I've spent months pointing out that against certain teams the combination of Hird and Evatt would be exposed without a proper defensive midfielder tackling just in front of them.

Unfortunately it also seems however good a player CO'G really might be the team only gets worse and more toothless for his inclusion. But injuries forced Jack's hand and demonstrated exactly how weak we are. It was pure rubbish of fans and our players alike to propose we were never a bottom of the league team. We were by quite a margin and when stretched we still are - that's all. In fact nothing has really changed, except we can all now see that the king is in the all together.

My opinion hasn't really changed. We have to get to the window vaguely in touch with the rest, and we have to recruit wisely and quickly and mould new recruits into the current not-quite-a-team. If DA doesn't provide a war chest then Jack probably has to sell Dennis and that will probably provide him with enough only to recruit from non-league sources and loans. Is that going to be good enough?

Above all we have to inject some pace and some power into the team AND sign a keeper. It looks as though Matt was right all along that we needed a Fourth keeper to start the season - he obviously read the danger signs about Tommy!

How a professional manager left us with a squad lacking so many obvious attributes baffles me, but at least 5-1 at Stevenage might add a spoonful of realism to those play-off hopes. We need to be 22nd. To do it we have to start scoring more and conceding fewer. It sounds so simple, but we really have given a good man in Jack Lester a very tough assignment ........ and our ownership issues are not going to help him.

[bluepooch]

At the moment it looks like there are probably 4 teams vying tor the bottom 2 spots and they will all be hoping to recruit well in the window ,I just hope jack and his team are good a recruiting because its a vital part of a managers job.Jack has done well on the whole with what he has inherited but our season depends on how much he can improve us in January.Poor defending isn't just down the the centre halves, the whole team contributes to some extent and I hope Jack can bring strong defensive minded players in,one or two centre halves and a strong tackling midfielder, because no matter how good a footballing side we are ,off the ball we struggle due to weak and ineffective defensive players.We also need a body for competition up front ,a couple of wide players as well.I'm thinking 5 or 6 in total.
We have had some poor transfer windows in the last few seasons which have contributed to our slide down the league ,we have to get it right this time .
PS Just watched the extended highlights and no exaggeration the game was so open it could easily have been 10-4 !

[Devongone]

You are right Pooch. Some Bob's Boarders seem to think only we will be recruiting, that there will be some kind of budget and that it isn't a difficult job. But Jack has never done this before and he's been involved with the Championship for a while ...... and he'll probably being recruiting much lower down the pyramid. It's hard. And a lot depends on Mr Allen, his marquee signing has done us no good, but he might want another - that could work but only if Jack wants him too.

Defensively Gallifuoco at Dover and Astles from Chester spring to my mind, whilst Dover have a proper defensive midfielder in Mitch Brundle who can also drive forward on occasion ......... but I can't see them being freebies. Similarly Kiddie have Sonupe and Ngwatala who could who add some guile to our midfield, but whilst they wouldn't be costly, they won't be free .... And it'll be the same tale all over, whatever position we go for, Wanadio would give us pace, Morgan-Ferrier goals, Afolayan big potential for the future, but they would all cost something and other clubs including our rivals will go for them too.

Forest Green have just grabbed Dayle Grubb from Weston Super Mare. Who from where might be the question. He's a 26 year-old PE teacher, giving up his job to try full-time. But every report I've seen of him playing for Weston rates him 8 out 10 or better. He scores every week ....... and he's an attacking midfielder not an out and out striker. Almost every week he's man of the match and Weston aren't halfway up their league. He dominates games. Can he step up and do the same, who knows? But it shows that our rivals aren't going to sit and stew at the bottom of the division, and if the Green's owner decides to inject cash he has real buying power.