Another team that are having a fruit salad season - proper mixed bag of results although their surprise loss to Plymouth on Tuesday brought a 12 game unbeaten run to an end - a run that included a lot of draws so they are mid table.
Another conundrum for SS to solve. I think Duff sets them up to be a “hard to beat” team, usually 4231, rather than an attacking force although they are strong on the right with Jack Grimmer at the back and the dangerous Fred Onyedinma ahead of him.

 

54 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Obvs mate. I don’t have a view either way about ex players coming back - occasionally they fuck you over and folk bang on about some sort of curse - but just as often they don’t. 
 

Not bothered about anything other than winning this as most of our rivals seem to have easier games this weekend - if that’s possible in this league - and we could end up in 6th on Sunday with Barnsley poised to take that from us, so a win would be very welcome.

We could be 2nd on Sunday and all.

30 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

We could be 2nd on Sunday and all.

Exactly so let’s be positive shall we? 😁

2 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

we could end up in 6th on Sunday

 

2 hours ago, jmjhb said:

We could be 2nd on Sunday and all.

I'd say that we'll probably be both 2nd and 6th at some juncture over the coming weeks, it's that tight.

The key is staying in touch in that top 6 and hitting the winning line at the right time.

13 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

The defensive records and preference for possession of both teams suggests a challenge to score goals on Saturday- which could suggest a low score or no score game - but I get the feeling that this game will open up if either team grabs a lead. It’ll be tight but I reckon we’re good enough to win it if we play well.

Morley, Simons and possibly Forino will be back on their old stomping ground and will hopefully get a good reception.

Same as every single league game this season.  There's no such thing as a L1 game that we can play well in and lose (barring the ref gifting them a couple of late pens or whatever). 

And nobody knows which way it will go, how the likes of Gale, Simons and ACD will play in this particular away game, hopefully its nearer to Huddersfield than Northampton or Burton.

As with every away game, its in the lap of the gods, and referee.

4 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Same as every single league game this season.  There's no such thing as a L1 game that we can play well in and lose (barring the ref gifting them a couple of late pens or whatever). 

And nobody knows which way it will go, how the likes of Gale, Simons and ACD will play in this particular away game, hopefully its nearer to Huddersfield than Northampton or Burton.

As with every away game, its in the lap of the gods, and referee.

Yup. I’m as boring as fuck as I say this every week. Good performance please.

Nervous about this now . I win would be a huge statement as we arent playing that well and this feels like the first must win of the season . 

Win and the few teams above us start to shit themselves , lose and its a "they are only good at home" . 

Burtsow , Dalby & Forss are good players but pile all their goals together and its a 1 decent striker stats . We need to start raping teams pretty rapid .  Last time we got out of this division we got nearly 25 goals from defence . 

4 hours ago, Krimzon said:

Nervous about this now . I win would be a huge statement as we arent playing that well and this feels like the first must win of the season . 

Win and the few teams above us start to shit themselves , lose and its a "they are only good at home" . 

Burtsow , Dalby & Forss are good players but pile all their goals together and its a 1 decent striker stats . We need to start raping teams pretty rapid .  Last time we got out of this division we got nearly 25 goals from defence . 

Agree with most of this..We have picked up away from home and we need to carry on and grind points away from home.

We came into the season without any proven scorer Forss with a decentish record but Dalby and Burstow potential only.

We have goals and assists wide, but defence and midfield we have not much of a goal threat in us. If we are to be promoted it will be clean sheets that get us there.

Will take a draw today, but a win will have us in a good place going into a busy period.

6 hours ago, Krimzon said:

Nervous about this now . I win would be a huge statement as we arent playing that well and this feels like the first must win of the season . 

Win and the few teams above us start to shit themselves , lose and its a "they are only good at home" . 

Burtsow , Dalby & Forss are good players but pile all their goals together and its a 1 decent striker stats . We need to start raping teams pretty rapid .  Last time we got out of this division we got nearly 25 goals from defence . 

Agree with parts but can’t get on board with it being must win, not in the position we’re in and the run we’re on. If we were to draw and then follow it up with 2 more home wins then we’ll still be in a brilliant position in 3 games’ time.

A win would be a proper statement though and looking at the other games it would likely be a weekend where a win makes a big move unlike recent ones where wins just keep us up with other wins.

As for needing to [batter] teams - I’d take a scruffy 1-0 win with a goal off their centre backs arse right now. Keep the big statement wins for nice Spring days at the Toughsheet as we race towards the title.

My prediction

Head says 1-1, heart says 1-0 to us. Toal

I think the problem is that we never know what to expect from any game against top or bottom teams. We have no regular scorer and always seem liable to concede a soft goal at the back. We look at the squad and on paper it looks strong but is it really because we don’t play on paper. I understand the need to have young players to develop and sell on but oh for a couple of experienced heads like Wheats at the back and Super John up front both who we knew would score goals. There’s talk of Ryan Hardie in January who would certainly fit that mould so I’m hoping there’s some substance in it?

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by Whitesince63

12 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

I think the problem is that we never know what to expect from any game against top or bottom teams. We have no regular scorer and always seem liable to concede a soft goal at the back. We look at the squad and on paper it looks strong but is it really because we don’t play on paper. I understand the need to have young players to develop and sell on but oh for a couple of experienced heads like Wheats at the back and Super John up front both who we knew would score goals. There’s talk of Ryan Hardie in January who would certainly fit that mould so I’m hoping there’s some substance in it?

Plenty of experience at the back with Toal, Johnston and Christie. And in midfield with Sheehan and Erhahon.

The squad is just missing a more regular goalscorer imo, not experience. Dalby's chance today by all accounts and I hope we play more to his strengths and get the ball crossed in a lot. Be nice for the wingers to mix it up and give defences a torrid time not knowing if there's going to be a cross to a unit in the middle, a pull back to a number 10 or a cut infield for a shot.

I'm going for a 2-0 away win - Dalby and Toal.

3-1

ACD, Gale, Forss

Come On You Whites!!!

It’s going to be a battle against a clever manager with good players using a similar system. 4231

They have quick wide men in Bell and Onyedinma and Woodrow is a classy striker so we have to be wide awake at the back.

As they normally try to dominate possession the team that controls the midfield should have the advantage and unless one manager blinks and changes shape it will be all about quality in possession.
If we let them dominate the ball and they aren’t wasteful with it we’ll get pushed back to deal with their extra man.  If we dominate the ball and we aren’t wasteful with it they’ll be banking deep and looking to go long to their quick players.

Could go either way this, but I think it’s time for us to show our promotion credentials and prove we aren’t going to bottle it like last season.

3 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

It’s going to be a battle against a clever manager with good players using a similar system. 4231

They have quick wide men in Bell and Onyedinma and Woodrow is a classy striker so we have to be wide awake at the back.

As they normally try to dominate possession the team that controls the midfield should have the advantage and unless one manager blinks and changes shape it will be all about quality in possession.
If we let them dominate the ball and they aren’t wasteful with it we’ll get pushed back to deal with their extra man.  If we dominate the ball and we aren’t wasteful with it they’ll be banking deep and looking to go long to their quick players.

Could go either way this, but I think it’s time for us to show our promotion credentials and prove we aren’t going to bottle it like last season.

we never bottled it last season i told you this all through pre-season and into the start of this season.

We had players on the beach last spring who knew they were off in the summer and they were not interested.

Last season from August to May we had 8/10 players saying they were unfit to play.  Up until now we have one or two each week. Is that coincidence????

43 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

we never bottled it last season i told you this all through pre-season and into the start of this season.

We had players on the beach last spring who knew they were off in the summer and they were not interested.

Last season from August to May we had 8/10 players saying they were unfit to play.  Up until now we have one or two each week. Is that coincidence????

We didn't bottle it because we'd have to be up there in the first place, like Arsenal appearing to be good enough to win the league but not having the bottle to see it through.  We were never in the running last season.

Re players on the beach who knew they were off - Baxter and Santos maybe, who else? 

14 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

We didn't bottle it because we'd have to be up there in the first place, like Arsenal appearing to be good enough to win the league but not having the bottle to see it through.  We were never in the running last season.

Re players on the beach who knew they were off - Baxter and Santos maybe, who else? 

We were in the running for the play offs if not top two after beating Brum then Burton 

I don't think they bottled it though, more they gave up and weren't arsed and not particularly trying

12 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

We didn't bottle it because we'd have to be up there in the first place, like Arsenal appearing to be good enough to win the league but not having the bottle to see it through.  We were never in the running last season.

Re players on the beach who knew they were off - Baxter and Santos maybe, who else? 

Give Jones a pass he tried when he returned but was not very good......Not going to name them but all you have to do is see how many played in the last match in May against Stevenage and how Many of those Started this season against Stockport.

Schumacher had no chance last season

Collins was shocking in the second half of last season and seems to have got no better despite dropping down a league.

Like many before him the lad’s ultimately wasted his talent. 

1 hour ago, Zico said:

We were in the running for the play offs if not top two after beating Brum then Burton 

I don't think they bottled it though, more they gave up and weren't arsed and not particularly trying

Maybe my use of “bottling it” was the wrong term to use - although I’m struggling to find a better one to describe getting a paltry 8 points from the last 11 games and sliding out of playoff contention like a slo-mo car crash.

Isn’t giving up and not trying “bottling it” though?

Semantics I guess but whatever word you prefer it was shit.

20 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

 

Isn’t giving up and not trying “bottling it” though?

.

Not fer me, we were on the beach and not trying, not caring if they make the play offs or not, it's not like they felt the pressure and lost their nerve, like arsenal do when they try to win the title

22 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Maybe my use of “bottling it” was the wrong term to use - although I’m struggling to find a better one to describe getting a paltry 8 points from the last 11 games and sliding out of playoff contention like a slo-mo car crash.

Isn’t giving up and not trying “bottling it” though?

Semantics I guess but whatever word you prefer it was shit.

Aye, was rubbish. But nothing to do with this season, total overhaul since

Just now, jmjhb said:

No Randall, Morley or Cogley - they're all on the way out surely.

Neither Vic, McAtee or Taylor, but they're at various stages of recovering from knocks.

Strong team though, bit nervous about Conway and Tutu as both very attacking full backs. 

 

1 minute ago, jmjhb said:

Interesting. 

I saw Morley,  yesterday, being touted as a started instead of Sheehan or Dempsey & was unconvinced. I also like that Wycombe fans will be thinking 'wtf ?'.

If SS prefers TuTu then I can trust that. Dalby ... maybe Burstow needs a rest & a reset. Two proper wingers & TuTo too (see what I did there !?) it's a great chance for Dalby to shine.

4 minutes ago, Stig said:

No Randall, Morley or Cogley - they're all on the way out surely.

Neither Vic, McAtee or Taylor, but they're at various stages of recovering from knocks.

Strong team though, bit nervous about Conway and Tutu as both very attacking full backs. 

 

Hard to say, there will be a lot of rotation over the next few weeks and you can only pick 7 on the bench!

13 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

On paper… really like it.

Strongly in @Johnnyrotten’s way of thinking now though that it doesn’t necessarily translate to performance. Let’s just see what they’re like in the game!