Looking very good. Woolford and rose look different players, welsh looks assured. Hessenthaler has really caught my eye. Very very impressed with him

Finally we have a decent midfield been along time apart from Disley of course

Such a shame whitehouse was injured, I was delighted with his signing.

Have to say whitehouse getting injured really drunk me off but the others look decent , I’m confident about our prospects this season

Quoted from toontown

Such a shame whitehouse was injured, I was delighted with his signing.

Was there today on the touch line encouraging the team, he has his opp on August 23rd, would have fitted well into this team

Genuine question, when was the last time you had real confidence in our midfield? Slade mk1 with Bolland, Kalala, Toner and Woodhouse wasn’t too shabby but prior to that you’regoing back to 98 surely?

Early days but bodes well.

I always had real confidence in Mackreth, Dis, Brown and Arnold for the 2nd half of that season.

Quoted from Poojah

Genuine question, when was the last time you had real confidence in our midfield? Slade mk1 with Bolland, Kalala, Toner and Woodhouse wasn’t too shabby but prior to that you’regoing back to 98 surely?

Early days but bodes well.

Kalala and Toner weren't particularly interested in their defensive duties so I would probably go back to 1998. Rose and Hessenthaler in particular seem to have the energy to get up and down whilst Welsh sits deep to give them the freedom to attack. Special mention also to Woolford who was superb today.

Clifton sees central midfield as his best position and then we have Whitehouse to come in at some point too so we appear to have strength in depth there.

Let's just wait for a few months into the real season before getting too excited.

Too many false dawns although the early signs are good

Quoted from Cloudy

Let's just wait for a few months into the real season before getting too excited.

Too many false dawns although the early signs are good

That's not how it works here. You base your excitement and opinion on the team on the last game we played. After losing the first friendly of pre season it was all doom and gloom on here lol. If we had lost the last two instead of won I'd bet the confidence would be very low. It will be if we lose to FGR too.

I still think we lack a creative influence in the middle. There's lots of energy and I don't think many will boss our midfield. I'm expecting that we'll win the majority of second balls this season, which we've rarely done in recent memory.

I hope having Cook/Vernam dropping off the front man will negate the lack of a creative midfielder. It would be a fair argument to say that a truly creative midfielder could be a luxury, one Jolley doesn't want to take a risk on.


Despite the above, I'm fairly happy with what we've got. Last season we had such a lethargic midfield that rolled over and had its belly rubbed all the time (Summerfield aside). I really can't see that happening this season.

This season we have an effective team rather than a group of individual so called specialists ie, proven goal scorer or creative midfielder, so far so good should any emerge/sign it will be a bonus

It's a bit of a shame that Whitehouse has another 4 weeks to wait for his ACL repair. I really hope he can rehabilitate in 6 months rather than 9, as we might just get something from him in the final month or two of the season. Really, you just want him to recover fully - it's such a serious injury. The timeframe is secondary. I tend to think that we need to sign a similar player to replace him , but that's easier said than done. Poor lad.

I agree that our midfield looks solid. I think Welsh will prove to be masterstroke .

Welsh will probably provide what we hoped McAllister would do before his injury problems kept him out for his time with us. We've been needing somebody who will make tackles and win second balls to bring others into play with a clever pass. To many times we've had a weak central midfield that isn't willing to tackle and be that link between defence and moving the ball to attacking players.