Views from the Sieve

So it's Wealdstone at home to start things off in exactly a month's time.

Southend away on Bank Holiday Monday at the end of August...

Home again for Boxing Day, away on new year's and for the last game of the season against Solihull.

https://daggers.co.uk/news/-O1RTZVr6qpmzjgIOncn

You look at that fixture list and think
Halifax Away 18th Jan - postponed

Looking at the list I think the first three months will be tough

Agreed that is a very tough start to the season. We got pre-season very wrong last year, we really cannot afford to let that happen again. Looks like Appiah-Forson is on trial with Exeter so that dream is dead for us, need to find a another replacement for him very soon in my opinion.

NBDag wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2024 6:15 am Agreed that is a very tough start to the season. We got pre-season very wrong last year, we really cannot afford to let that happen again. Looks like Appiah-Forson is on trial with Exeter so that dream is dead for us, need to find a another replacement for him very soon in my opinion.

They just signed Jay Bird.

NBDag wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2024 6:15 am Agreed that is a very tough start to the season. We got pre-season very wrong last year, we really cannot afford to let that happen again. Looks like Appiah-Forson is on trial with Exeter so that dream is dead for us, need to find a another replacement for him very soon in my opinion.

N’Guessan is the replacement , KAF was never a reality despite us offering him a deal we gave him a deadline to sign he hasn’t hence Christian signing.

I think we need a few more players in if we’re to compete near the top 7, as it’s stands we’re woefully short given the injury records of 3 that have signed. I hope I’m proved wrong on these players staying fit but it’s very unlikely that they do, id go as far to say we looki no better squad wise than last season. Of course some further signings could happen but I’m not hearing that.

Agree we are short. If I hear Strevs comments from the forum correctly, it sounds like we're done in terms of the first team squad which is worrying.

The first XI is probably not any stronger than end of last season. We've lost Page/Johnson, Tav, KAF, Inih and replaced them with fit-again Vincent, Kalambayi, N'Guessan and Umerah/Cox. You could even argue it's weaker - Inih goals record is tough to match, Keenan was one of our best players, and Vincent isn't a natural left back defensively.

Squad wise we have better attacking options which is very welcome after the long periods of struggle last season. But defensively and in midfield we look threadbare. One or two injuries is all it would take to derail us.

Diggerthedog wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2024 7:40 am

NBDag wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2024 6:15 am Agreed that is a very tough start to the season. We got pre-season very wrong last year, we really cannot afford to let that happen again. Looks like Appiah-Forson is on trial with Exeter so that dream is dead for us, need to find a another replacement for him very soon in my opinion.

N’Guessan is the replacement , KAF was never a reality despite us offering him a deal we gave him a deadline to sign he hasn’t hence Christian signing.

I think we need a few more players in if we’re to compete near the top 7, as it’s stands we’re woefully short given the injury records of 3 that have signed. I hope I’m proved wrong on these players staying fit but it’s very unlikely that they do, id go as far to say we looki no better squad wise than last season. Of course some further signings could happen but I’m not hearing that.

Yeah I know N’Guessan is there to play that role, and call me greedy if you will, but I still want another with a bit more pedigree. Definitely need to sign some more too as the injury potential is there. A few trialists on Monday so surely there is still work to be done.

The trialists are to form the ‘next Gen’ players were taking on.

I know it's easy to say from the outside during pre season but I hope we would see an Umerah or similar staying a game or two up front to get some flow to our attack... let in 5 earlier in the week then dominate today and finish 0-0... not filling a fan with confidence for the other games.

As others have said, you can cope with a small squad and a regular starting XI, but we rarely sign players in recent years with a stellar injury record. Hard to get record so far

I think we pretty much controlled the game against Dulwich without creating too many chances and the ones we did we should have done much better with including a complete air shot from about 6 yards out.