Impish
Vital Champions League
And the main defenders haven’t played many minutes, Jackson and Montsma a few I think but Poole, Roughan and Walsh no games at all?
Pre-season
- Thread starter Red Wimp
- Start date
And the main defenders haven’t played many minutes, Jackson and Montsma a few I think but Poole, Roughan and Walsh no games at all?
Davidimp
Vital Football Legend
Yeah Jackson got injured yet again on Saturday...
NottyImp
Vital Football Legend
FFS.
sedgleyimp
Vital Champions League
It's a reverse pre-season from last year. That went on for 6 months. I'm sure the Blackpool game only feels like a week ago this time around
Impish
Vital Champions League
I have seen both sides on here with how people are feeling two and a half weeks from the season starting. Some are quite optimistic and reckon things are going along fine, others are more than happy to jump on the negative band wagon at any opportunity.
For me though, I am very concerned with how the pre-season has gone, not so much the results (though they have been poor), but the lack of game time and the injuries to some very key players. I simply cannot see how we are going to be ready and all guns firing in such a short space of time even though it is a very long season. Its far better to hit the ground running than to be trying to recover from a slow start, as that’s exactly what I am expecting as things stand.
I hope Maguire, Fiorini and NLundulu will be decent signings, but we need at least 4/5 more players to try and recover from the quality ones we have lost IMO. They then need time to adapt and get up to speed fitness wise and this often takes weeks to all fit into place before we see the benefit of new acquisitions.
Even Gary from the SW blog sounds a little worried about the lack of signings and how things are presently.
For me though, I am very concerned with how the pre-season has gone, not so much the results (though they have been poor), but the lack of game time and the injuries to some very key players. I simply cannot see how we are going to be ready and all guns firing in such a short space of time even though it is a very long season. Its far better to hit the ground running than to be trying to recover from a slow start, as that’s exactly what I am expecting as things stand.
I hope Maguire, Fiorini and NLundulu will be decent signings, but we need at least 4/5 more players to try and recover from the quality ones we have lost IMO. They then need time to adapt and get up to speed fitness wise and this often takes weeks to all fit into place before we see the benefit of new acquisitions.
Even Gary from the SW blog sounds a little worried about the lack of signings and how things are presently.
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sedgleyimp
Vital Champions League
There's going to have to be an acceptance by us supporters that it might not be coming together as we like it for a couple of reasons. Injuries to key players. We only finished the last campaign four weeks before players were back in for training this time around. Not a lot of recovery time for any and those who played with injuries through the Play Offs clearly need more time.
The main thing though I think has been the medical issue facing MA. Clearly that has to be his focus. Let's not forget that it will have been a diagnosis he would have been living with for several weeks before it became public. When you consider that, the fact that he got this team to a Play Off final becomes even more astonishing. But the consequence of that is his plans for this pre-season have been pushed to the back of his mind. There could be no other way.
So we have to accept that this pre-season has been so disrupted. That will very possibly flow on into the season. Circumstances have made that unavoidable.
The main thing though I think has been the medical issue facing MA. Clearly that has to be his focus. Let's not forget that it will have been a diagnosis he would have been living with for several weeks before it became public. When you consider that, the fact that he got this team to a Play Off final becomes even more astonishing. But the consequence of that is his plans for this pre-season have been pushed to the back of his mind. There could be no other way.
So we have to accept that this pre-season has been so disrupted. That will very possibly flow on into the season. Circumstances have made that unavoidable.
Impish
Vital Champions League
Obviously we are all really concerned about MA and he must have priority over anything else happening pre-season wise.
I do think that things should be okay without MA though for however long he needs to take. The club has a decent back room staff looking at ongoing signings all of the time so hopefully that shouldn’t impact things too much.
I do think that things should be okay without MA though for however long he needs to take. The club has a decent back room staff looking at ongoing signings all of the time so hopefully that shouldn’t impact things too much.
John Bigbooté
Vital Reserves Team
We're hardly an outlier for signings, and we won't be the only team starting the season with more to do.
The Euros pushed out the top division signings, affecting the chain that many lower league transfers are dependent on.
There is also clearly a disparity between wage expectations and budgets. The advantage will shift to the clubs as the August 31 deadline nears, but until then we should be prepared to wait.
The Euros pushed out the top division signings, affecting the chain that many lower league transfers are dependent on.
There is also clearly a disparity between wage expectations and budgets. The advantage will shift to the clubs as the August 31 deadline nears, but until then we should be prepared to wait.
Scotimp
Vital Football Legend
Exactly right.
Merthyr Imp
Vital Football Hero
In the good old days Maurice Burton in the Echo would have his finger on the pulse of what was happening at the club and would provide any news that was worth knowing - and with the Echo being a six-days-a-week publication in those days there'd be no need to save any news up for once a week.
nlondonimp
Vital Champions League
This all makes perfect sense in general.
The specific issue for us, is that we run a small squad (around 22 depending on which poster’s views you agree with), and eight of those are currently injured/unavailable/not playing friendlies. If 4 of the injuries clear up we don’t need to blink, and are good to go… as long as 2 of them are centre backs and one is a right back
Red Wimp
Vital Football Legend
And of course he had to fill a column 6 days a week
German Imp
Vital Football Hero
I think this is the least ideal preparation I have ever witnessed as a supporter. Normally I take pre season fixtures with a pinch of salt but the salt seems to be missing along with some players and a news blackout.
Davidimp
Vital Football Legend
Sounds like emergency ward 10 at the EPC currently.
Merthyr Imp
Vital Football Hero
I'm not sure he had something in the paper about City every night of the week, although he did cover other sporting matters, including, I seem to remember, reporting on Boston Barracudas speedway team.
