Match Thread v York

I was pleasantly surprised by Artell’s honesty in that interview. I realise pre season games have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But there was just something about that performance today that raised a few concerned eyebrows and judging by that interview Artell can be included in that list. I get the impression HE knows exactly how he wants the team to play, but seems to struggle to communicate that to the players, as seemed to be the case earlier in his tenure.

Agree with the concerns- especially the comments around ‘some team members being asked to play in a certain way and not complying or being competent at this point’…

I went to see the York game to get some confidence on the coming season- sadly I’ve had a dose of reality. And I wasn’t expecting PSG or Man City, but I expected better

Still, a few week left to get things sorted

Quoted from Yoda

The team is a mess we knew Rose was having surgery and could miss the start of the season then sign no replacement and 5 defenders all of whom look shocking.
The lad from Reading looks like he has never played football.
We look a poor side York dominated us from minute 1 should of scored 5 that’s a bottom end conference team.

Will you give it a rest, honestly, I've ever known anybody talk such negative bollox on a consistent level.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I'm no expert on what successful pre-season preparation looks like, but it started just over 3 weeks ago, and there are 3 points at stake in exactly 3 weeks time, but we haven't done any defensive work or set plays yet. That seems a bit odd to me, but what do I know?

I don't pay much attention to pre season results but his comments did make my ears sharp object up I have to say. In one of the other games he said something similar too. If we haven't done those things yet, and we can't do what we have been working on very well judging by people's reaction to yesterday,  then that sets some alarm bells going.

I am assuming these players have been signed/retained because they can adapt to his methods and style of play so we should be showing a bit more.

The injuries are a concern but nothing seems to change there.

Quoted from heppy88

I get the impression HE knows exactly how he wants the team to play, but seems to struggle to communicate that to the players, as seemed to be the case earlier in his tenure.

The players know what he wants to do, they're just not good enough. Same as last season. You're not going to sign a bunch of players that can dominate a game playing possession football in L2 without a Wrexham sized budget. Only the best players at this level can do that, and we can't afford them.

Quoted from pen penfras

The players know what he wants to do, they're just not good enough. Same as last season. You're not going to sign a bunch of players that can dominate a game playing possession football in L2 without a Wrexham sized budget. Only the best players at this level can do that, and we can't afford them.

And there's the uncomfortable truth. At least those of us who sit in the Main Stand will now get a full, unadulterated view of how good or bad we are this season.

Yoda is just a troll posting inflammatory balderdash to get a response. Just ignore him/it. Don't feed the trolls.

I thought Artell's post-match comments sounded reasonable, but everyone who went says the performance was nowhere near where we need to be. York have a more stable squad, I'd have thought, whereas we've had a really big turnover of players. You'd have hoped that after a few weeks training, they'd have worked up more of an understanding of what they should be doing and the style of play. Perhaps it was just an off day? I'd imagine we've still got a few targets, one or two of whom we expect to sign, but the later they arrive, the less time there is to get them integrated into the team. If you can't hit the ground running for the start of the season, you risk falling behind wherever your target might be - automatic promotion, play-off spots, or even just survival.

Quoted from pen penfras

The players know what he wants to do, they're just not good enough. Same as last season. You're not going to sign a bunch of players that can dominate a game playing possession football in L2 without a Wrexham sized budget. Only the best players at this level can do that, and we can't afford them.

Yep. The concern for me is that we still seem to be lacking pace and physicality through the spine of our team. Green and Thompson are pretty slow, Khouri is young and Ainley and McEachran are good on the ball but quite lightweight. None of our three centre backs can be described as quick. One thing that struck me about Mansfield, Wrexham and Stockport was the size of them but also their mobility. We don't have a budget to sign the best players in the league but if we also can't match them physically then we're going to struggle. There's going to have to be a blend of some passing ideally but also the basic necessities to compete and at the minute I'm not sure our recruitment has improved us in that regard, certainly not through the spine.

The strange thing is that when these defensive  signings were all coming in, there was a specific mention for most of them that they were reasonably quick. What's happened there, then?

On another note, I've been watching Mcjannet quite closely, seeing as though he's one of the signatures we went quite aggressively, and tbh, to say I'm underwhelmed is an understatement, looks a liability on the ball, has very little pace, not sure what the data says about him, but so far, so not impressed