[Devongone]

Bobs Board, like me, seems universally convinced we need players. Unfortunately as Dancing points out you have to pay players and sometimes even pay for them. And it seems the price of having people in charge who care about the club's survival is that we are looking down the backs of sofas.

I'm sure the complaint that we lack pace holds water. We've lacked it for ages. I'm pretty sure Scott Boden is on the way down. Even his hair looks slightly unfit. I'm not convinced by criticism of Will Evans. He is capable of having a bad game and clearly he did. But his heart is in the right place and in creating a defensive unit that goes a long way.

Pembo is obviously already in danger of becoming a target and is accused of only looking at players he already knows. That might be true in the year of Covid, but it isn't his style. He was reputed to have personally driven 50,000 miles when looking for players in his spell at Kidderminster. As a player he was never accused of being under-active. But it is true we have no scouting network. As we have little budget it seems unlikely we are going to grow one either, so in view of the lack of money I'll list a few suggestions again with the realistic aim of trying to stave off relegation this season, so we can begin re-building next. Even if we are relegated the important thing is to survive in order to rebuild so:-

On another thread I gave you Kane Drummond, at 18 one for the future. On another thread I also came up with 20 year old Dami Olorunnisomo, because I love his name, but he's tearing up the opposition for Whyteleafe who are profiting from his speedy raids from right back. Whyteleafe also have an interesting if mercurial talent in Ryan Gondoh. He's about 6' tall and plays on the left either wing or fullback. He had a season at Colchester, ended up at Halifax on loan and is back at Whyteleafe and is early twenties and better than that level. We might also give Kaine Felix from Guiseley a try. He was a winger, seems to be converting to a striker, seems to be an every week player and he's still only 24. Oxford City seems to have an eye for finding a player, (like Tshimanga now topping scoring charts for Boreham Wood) and if we do want another defender 23 year-old Dan Matsuzaka, a Japanese U-19 international, could fit the bill, our division is only one step up for him. Lastly we seem permanently to lack guile, well I've mentioned before Lucas Rodrigues at Whitehawk in Brighton. He's a 22 year old Brazilian who did a degree at Brighton University. He's an attacking midfielder who scores a few goals and makes assists. Brazilians are born with guile.

So there we have it, budget scouting to keep Bobs Board happy.

[Dancingwilldoit]

3 pre season friendlies and the manager out with Covid, what does everyone expect? A win would have been a nice start but things didnt go our way. If Tyson had have been fit I dont think either Boden would have started, for me he has completely lost his way. Tyson and Rawson should be our starting 2 forwards. One thing I did notice is how our game plan changed when Boden was sent off. We seemed to play better with 10 men than 11. First game in and we lost. Not the end of the world. Just hope we dont develop into a 1 trick pony - long ball to Denton and prey.
Positives; not many, Yarney had a good game and I thought Maquire played well after over a year out. Oh and the picture quality on the stream was pretty good. In the words of our big bullshit leader - Move on.

[Devongone]

There seem to be complaints about the stream, that people couldn't access it, or lost but it. But as you say Dancing, there were others complimenting the quality.

The problem is that all our rivals have signed several players and refreshed their squads. When they beat us that will always become a stick to beat the manager.

We can only do what we are financially able to do. I'd like our newly transparent club to tell us exactly what that is. If we are going to survive getting beat and going down aren't disasters. They seemed to be disasters when our owner didn't give a fig for the club or its supporters, because we thought another relegation would be the end of the road. We do, however, need to be aware of the approach other financially-challenged clubs at our level take, like Wealdstone, in need of goal scoring potential following promotion, they went to Maldon and Tiptree, who were on the boil with goals last season and where they wouldn't need deep pockets.

In footballing terms I'm afraid I think a front two of Rawson and Tyson combining inexperience and antiquity might finally deliver a goal sometime in early December following a controversial handball decision. Last season it was the largely accidental acquisition of Fondop-Talom that added life to our attack. This time round, having discarded Fondop-Talom, we found we couldn't afford David Attenborough and plumped for Nathan Tyson from the same age-range. (With Tyson and Rawson up front the ball would just keep coming straight back at our defence. We'd concede shed-loads. They would never hold it up against National League defenders.)

[spireitematt]

I listened to the match on BBC Tees radio. There commentators didn't think much to us as a team. They called Denton a giraffe and that he was just a target man and wasn't much of a player. They tried to say the penalty wasn't a penalty even though the Hartlepool player handled it and tried to imply that we were cheats. Said that our keeper had 'too many pies over lockdown'. Probably one of the problems listening to BBC local radio is that the commentators will be biased.

It's only the first game of the season and as a club we haven't had much of a pre-season or many pre-season games, its going to take time to shake off the rustiness and get going. We should be aiming for mid-table and anything more is a bonus.

[Devongone]

Letheren wasn't that quick or athletic pre-pie.

But then I thought his dad only aspired to the heights of ordinary when he graced Saltergate.

Denton is a giraffe, but those who underestimate giraffes can get a kick. Boden has followed this pattern through his career - goals first season, modest second, ditched during or after, next time round. He might succeed elsewhere, but he definitely needs shampoo advice - in dry and lifeless he's the perfect model for before. Tyson is in his early seventies and that leaves young Rawson whose peak performances were complete failure at Matlock and a few goals for Sheffield FC. But Rawson could make something, which is more than can be said The Box Top, McKay (work it out). It does look weak and if you don't carry a punch you encourage your opponent to throw a few. Maybe Pembo can come up with a way to play that covers for our powder-puff attack, like flooding forward with attacking midfielders to support and feed off our giraffe. At the moment I'd back Smith to finish top scorer and he's a defensive midfielder.