Well here we go. The excitement builds for our first game. Can we build on 2 years of progress in this division and a good pre-season to state our claim for promotion.

First decision for Evatt will be whether to go with a number 10 behind 2 forwards - if he does CMG is the man.

But I think he’ll grow into the first 11 - he can make a difference next week coming from the bench. 

Just 3 positions up for grabs then for me. I think Morley will pip Thomason, Adebeyejo will go up top with Charles and Iredale wil go LCB (if fit, if not Forrester did very well today.

                      Baxter

       Jones.     Santos.   Iredale 

Dac.Cog.   Sheehan Morley.  Williams

                      Dempsey

            Charles.     Adebeyejo 

48 minutes ago, barrycowdrill said:

If someone has a better midfield 3 than that in this league I’d love to see it. I know we generally need cover in there but as long as they stay fit they’re untouchable. Dempsey all action, presses and wins the ball back so quickly. Sheehan is absolutely class. Might not be the standard type of CDM but not many others can keep and move the ball like he can. 
 

my only gripe and something that looks like it needs work on is the top 2 “partnership” there’s no link up play / holding up for each other at all. They both want to do exactly the same job but on opposite sides of the pitch. DC coming in short and trying to stumble his way through bodies is infuriating. Be interesting to see if (and he should be doing) if he sits on the shoulder more when CMD comes in. Just to give him space to work 

I still don't think we're getting the best out of Charles by making him play with his back to goal so much and 'join in' the play. There were 4 or 5 opportunities yesterday to play the ball forward quickly, through / beyond their back line, he was showing for the run and we declined, took a few more passes and chance was gone. 

Vic was a bit better at the hold up stuff (not much but a bit physically stronger) but he also still looks like he wants to run forward, break the line and stretch defenders. 

Both of them did the pressing and harrying really well, for sure, but neither are really suited to what Evatt seems to want them to do throughout a game. I've a bit of sympathy with them both for that and tend to cut them a bit of slack in games for it

I can see a time where Charles doesnt start.

5 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

I still don't think we're getting the best out of Charles by making him play with his back to goal so much and 'join in' the play. There were 4 or 5 opportunities yesterday to play the ball forward quickly, through / beyond their back line, he was showing for the run and we declined, took a few more passes and chance was gone. 

Vic was a bit better at the hold up stuff (not much but a bit physically stronger) but he also still looks like he wants to run forward, break the line and stretch defenders. 

Both of them did the pressing and harrying really well, for sure, but neither are really suited to what Evatt seems to want them to do throughout a game. I've a bit of sympathy with them both for that and tend to cut them a bit of slack in games for it

Agree with this. Both Charles and Vic are excellent at the harrying part and running onto balls. Where I think both are lacking is playing with their backs to goal, laying off for others.  The tempo the team play at plays a large part imo. A quick break and they're likely to get a suitable ball to run onto, a slower build up when the opposition defence are all back and they're forced to try and hold it up or lay it off to a midfield runner.

So chuffed to see Vic get off the mark on day 1 though. His 'free' header involved him outjumping and outmuscling 2 defenders.

10 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

I still don't think we're getting the best out of Charles by making him play with his back to goal so much and 'join in' the play. There were 4 or 5 opportunities yesterday to play the ball forward quickly, through / beyond their back line, he was showing for the run and we declined, took a few more passes and chance was gone. 

Vic was a bit better at the hold up stuff (not much but a bit physically stronger) but he also still looks like he wants to run forward, break the line and stretch defenders. 

Both of them did the pressing and harrying really well, for sure, but neither are really suited to what Evatt seems to want them to do throughout a game. I've a bit of sympathy with them both for that and tend to cut them a bit of slack in games for it

Agree with both summary’s on Charles. Also agree with Gonchs point about His long term future. 

9 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I can see a time where Charles doesnt start.

Yeh there’ll definitely be games where JDB/Dan are used with Victor

when CMG came on yesterday I anticipated it would’ve been for Vic so Charles could push further up and CMG play behind him. Interesting that it was Morley. Out of the midfield 3 I think he’s the most “at risk” of CMG’s arrival. 

Also a few occasions yesterday were Charles held up / won the ball in a bit of a deep lying role and ample opportunities for him to spread the play out wide and we were on the attack. But he just held on to it. Absolutely killed any momentum we had 

Not a gripe in anyway but I realised how completely lost I was with out a scoreboard timer. I must of looked over 6 times despite knowing it was off and had no idea what the time was throughout the second half despite @DazBob helpfully tell me we resumed play at 16:07

13 hours ago, superkev said:

I know there’s a thread on parking somewhere, but my lad parked today and said he could pay later online. He can’t work out what to do. Any help appreciated 

i parked on the Away car park 

thanks to Casino  for the Tip 

5 minutes ago, little whitt said:

i parked on the Away car park 

thanks to Casino  for the Tip 

You get priority getting away & still £7 or whatever it is? 

30 minutes ago, barrycowdrill said:

Yeh there’ll definitely be games where JDB/Dan are used with Victor

when CMG came on yesterday I anticipated it would’ve been for Vic so Charles could push further up and CMG play behind him. Interesting that it was Morley. Out of the midfield 3 I think he’s the most “at risk” of CMG’s arrival. 

I was thinking that re Morley yesterday, he did fine but being the wider right one of that three doesn't really suit him, can see it being a situation of him and Sheehan for the deeper lying central one of the three. Sheehan did that well yesterday. 

1 hour ago, ianofcleveleys said:

I still don't think we're getting the best out of Charles by making him play with his back to goal so much and 'join in' the play. There were 4 or 5 opportunities yesterday to play the ball forward quickly, through / beyond their back line, he was showing for the run and we declined, took a few more passes and chance was gone. 

Vic was a bit better at the hold up stuff (not much but a bit physically stronger) but he also still looks like he wants to run forward, break the line and stretch defenders. 

Both of them did the pressing and harrying really well, for sure, but neither are really suited to what Evatt seems to want them to do throughout a game. I've a bit of sympathy with them both for that and tend to cut them a bit of slack in games for it

Spot on - but I reckon this is the job Evatt asks them to do - press from the front, give their defence no time on the ball, try to force mistakes or at least put off their forward passes etc - and generally to put all their effort into the first hour of the game at which point he will think about subbing them. Whichever strikers we start with they all do this same job for an hour or so - which is why Bod and Jerome are unlikely to start and Dion, Victor and Dan - and maybe CMG - will rotate the starting spots to put a 60/70 minute shift in softening up the opposition.

Seems to be a tactic of wearing opposition defenders down (whilst ours tend to be fairly relaxed passing the ball around the back) so that if they need to make subs to change the game we'll bring on fresh strikers/attacking midfielders and the opposition may have to use their subs to bring on replacement defenders which maintains our territorial advantage.

Thought Victor did a great job of emulating Dion's workrate yesterday and chuffed for him getting that deserved goal.

I'm not too worried about having our starting  strikers focused on poaching/playing the traditional CF role for the first hour of the game as long as this tactic continues to work - we can bring on the more naturally gifted strikers like CJ and Bod with fresh legs at the end. Sure it would be nice if the starting strikers could hold it up better under pressure and had better touch but they are L1 strikers on a L1 budget so I think we've just about done as well as we can with what we have available - and it's working.

 

 

A breath of fresh air yesterday for me was, there wasn’t any time wasting. Lincoln put a few long throws in, but no towels allowed. Balls on cones and players not able to kick the ball away, seems to work. 
Last season there were plenty of teams time wasting time but it never got added on, yesterday, no time wasting and 14 mins added on. Happy days.

1 minute ago, Popeye doyle said:

A breath of fresh air yesterday for me was, there wasn’t any time wasting. Lincoln put a few long throws in, but no towels allowed. Balls on cones and players not able to kick the ball away, seems to work. 
Last season there were plenty of teams time wasting time but it never got added on, yesterday, no time wasting and 14 mins added on. Happy days.

Quite.

 

18 minutes ago, Popeye doyle said:

A breath of fresh air yesterday for me was, there wasn’t any time wasting. Lincoln put a few long throws in, but no towels allowed. Balls on cones and players not able to kick the ball away, seems to work. 
Last season there were plenty of teams time wasting time but it never got added on, yesterday, no time wasting and 14 mins added on. Happy days.

Agreed. Morally right and will certainly benefit us as the season moves on.

The unintended consequence/downside is games finishing comfortably after 5pm. The one thing I'd suggest to try to re-balance this slightly is to go back to 10 minute half times. This was the norm for many decades of football and it's only been the last 15 to 20 years or so where it has slipped to 15 minutes, sometimes longer.

12 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

 go back to 10 minute half times. This was the norm for many decades of football and it's only been the last 15 to 20 years or so where it has slipped to 15 minutes, sometimes longer.

It takes 5m for the players to get their wi-fi up & running. Give 'em a break.

47 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Quite.

 

Everything except the ball on cones/multiball which for me just doesn’t work in this country

Just seen the crowd 

Over 20k 

Does that mean there were 2.5-3k walk ups?

5 minutes ago, QFPants said:

Everything except the ball on cones/multiball which for me just doesn’t work in this country

Do they fall off ?

Is it a gravity thing ? Maybe being on an island means we're tilted a bit ? Or using cones with too small a tip ?

I'm not sure what the new rules are (couldn't be arsed reading the waffle) with regards to adding time on.

I'll be generous and say I could understand 2 minutes for our goal in the 1st half. Where on earth did the other 4 come from though?

1 hour ago, Popeye doyle said:

A breath of fresh air yesterday for me was, there wasn’t any time wasting. Lincoln put a few long throws in, but no towels allowed. Balls on cones and players not able to kick the ball away, seems to work. 
Last season there were plenty of teams time wasting time but it never got added on, yesterday, no time wasting and 14 mins added on. Happy days.

To be fair, that might also have been down to the fact we were 3-0 after an hour or so

5 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Do they fall off ?

Is it a gravity thing ? Maybe being on an island means we're tilted a bit ? Or using cones with too small a tip ?

Fans are too close to the pitch, or maybe too stupid to understand the concept 🙂

Either way ball goes into the stands, player grabs another ball from a cone to take a throw in, and 10 seconds later the original ball gets launched into the pitch from the crowd and play has to get stopped whilst it’s cleared off. Ends up wasting even more time. Also potentially open to abuse by fans hanging onto the ball until an opposition attack starts and then returning it onto the pitch to stop the play.

I just don’t think the benefits outweigh the negatives to be honest. 

 

18 minutes ago, Zico said:

Just seen the crowd 

Over 20k 

Does that mean there were 2.5-3k walk ups?

A higher crowd than 5 championship games 

Row behind me had about 10 empty seats which are season ticket holders so with holiday season I doubt it’s bang on

5 minutes ago, QFPants said:

Fans are too close to the pitch, or maybe too stupid to understand the concept 🙂

Either way ball goes into the stands, player grabs another ball from a cone to take a throw in, and 10 seconds later the original ball gets launched into the pitch from the crowd and play has to get stopped whilst it’s cleared off. Ends up wasting even more time. Also potentially open to abuse by fans hanging onto the ball until an opposition attack starts and then returning it onto the pitch to stop the play.

I just don’t think the benefits outweigh the negatives to be honest. 

 

When the ball comes back, the ref stops the game and adds the time on. Again.

Not sure the number of times your scenario actually happens is a problem, especially if restless fans eager to get away for a pint, kindly 'have a word' with someone for delaying their thirst slaking.

Plenty of changes in the stands yesterday. Folk that have been in my vicinity in nob head corner the last few years suddenly gone. New guy that came in in front of me smoking one of them sugary vapes on me face, awful, would rather have pure tobacco fired at me

Good game, solid. Did a job. Did we seem to focus a lot of our attacks through the middle more than normal, I'd we keep that up, some of the one touch, and the trap and turns that they tried to pull off yesterday will create some lovely goals this season. 

4 hours ago, Ani said:

Agree 100% we said similar about the second. 4 corners on the run as the first 3 were cleared we had the quality and composure the recycle the ball and eventually the pressure told. 
One criticism last year was that we had periods of sustained possession but periods of sustained pressure. Was great to see. 

Yes, agreed. The 2nd goal felt like it was coming and that’s not always been the case. The 2 headers were outstanding, very ironic that goals from corners were our 1st 2 goals of season, compared to waiting till Feb last season. And getting a goal from a striker early on is great too, compared to waiting till October last year (also v Lincoln).