Season so far

Has gone as well as i expected.

We had an average team last season, that once PPG taken into account etc, we finished 15th out of 24th, which is about right for the team we had.

We was 21st when Holloway come in.
He made a difference with majority of the same team than Jolley - So we've improved on that basis

Then Corona hit, and made any plans Ollie had, change very quickly.

i don't feel our team has changed much, in where i would expect us to finish.

Fitness side:
we've made 8 permanent signings.
4 from non-league, where they haven't had full time training etc, so fitness will be lower than the standard we are use to
Mohsni hasn't been playing so again, fitness lower than should be.
Scanell wasn't playing at Blackpool...
Williams was on his way back from an injury i believe

Quality of players:
Mohsni hasn't played, so can't compare him to Harry Davis who we lost
He wanted to keep Vernam & Clarke but they didn't want to stay - Are Williams and Scanell any better?
Released Hess - Early signs to me, are that Rose is a better player
Released Cardwell & Rose, Who i didn't rate - got Gibson who is raw, but looks to have potential, Ira Jackson and Sisay, who haven't played

We've got loads of loans, and so far Preston looks solid, Windsor has potential, and we are missing Edwards already.
The rest haven't stood out to be making a difference

We currently sit in 16th with a game in hand on most, so similar to last season.

Holloway is trying to get the team playing, which at this level, is going to take longer to get in place, than the standard Holloway is use to.

The last thing we should be doing is moaning about our players passing it around the defence and midfield.

I'm not saying Holloway is doing great, but he's also not doing poor like many people are stating.

I think Edwards coming back will make a real difference, and I think he's back training now.

His end product is nowhere near good enough, but he occupies 2 or 3 defenders which creates space for other players. It's no coincidence to me that Preston looks worse without him in front of him. If somebody like Bennett, Williams or Scannell get a bit of space, they have the quality to unlock defences.

Before the season started, everybody seemed to have the expectation that we'd be a mid table side this season, and that's what we look like.

Quoted from pen penfras

I think Edwards coming back will make a real difference, and I think he's back training now.

His end product is nowhere near good enough, but he occupies 2 or 3 defenders which creates space for other players. It's no coincidence to me that Preston looks worse without him in front of him. If somebody like Bennett, Williams or Scannell get a bit of space, they have the quality to unlock defences.

Before the season started, everybody seemed to have the expectation that we'd be a mid table side this season, and that's what we look like.

When you are a mid table side you go through spells where the play offs look like a real possibility and spells where you start to worry about being dragged into a relegation fight.

We should have a lot more time on the grass this week though. No pre-match meeting for Ollie to do 4 times over. Hopefully he does something Saturday as we play like strangers at times and need to make the most of our free weekend.

I get the COVID but, losing Chas, Clarke, Hess etc and the wage stuff can’t help talent attraction but quite honestly I’m still feeling like I’m waiting for this season to start as on the pitch it still looks a bit pre season.

The continual bashing of the young players IH has brought in from a number of the usual suspects on here shows a lack of realistic thinking . The non league signings will take a lot longer than a handful of games to get to grips with the professional game while the lads signed from the cosy world of U23 football will take a while getting their heads and bodies around physical L2 football . Not all of these 2 groups will be a success but I’m pleased that as a club we’re looking for these type of players . I’ve seen enough in games so far that once they’ve settled in , our more experienced players are back, we’ll be ok and come through this season with a group of players we can add to and have a go next season. I’m really not bothered with promotion this season as it’s just a write off this year .

From a purely selfish perspective I am happy for town to win more than they lose this season and hopefully finish in the top half. Whilst always wanting the team to win part of me would resent missing out if we were up near the top of the league pushing for promotion as when this does happen ( optimistic outlook) I want this done in front of our fans and particularly my son so he can experience that euphoria we’ve been fortunate to enjoy albeit too infrequently and too long ago.

Good analysis Jarmo.

It’s a fair assessment but we’re always another transfer window away from success, or so it seems.

I think the openness about our approach to contracts during Covid, whilst praised by some, has clearly had a negative impact. I don’t believe for a minute some of the players brought in from lower down the pyramid would’ve arrived here in a more traditional season. I also think Holloway realises perhaps, that some of them aren’t good enough. We’ve barely seen some of them, they have to be fit now, if they’re not, they never will be.

I think plenty of us knew we’d be mid table/bottom third for many a reason. I wasn’t convinced by Holloway personally but as with any manager you have to give them a chance. In reality though I don’t think it will matter who our manager is, Covid or no Covid, ambition has to start at the top or any organisation and the club as a whole seems happy to just plod.

Prior to Covid, existing seemed enough. Which is fine, but in the end it tends to end and something negative will happen. You don’t have to break the bank to be competitive.

I actually thought that, assuming Covid hadn’t become such an issue, that Holloway would eventually part ways due to that lack of ambition but I guess we’ll never really know.

There are naturally some positives and some players have looked sharp and whilst we’ve made mistakes, I don’t have an issue with playing it about or playing out from the back; the mistakes we’ve made aren’t the fault of the style, more the players just not doing something many of us would recognise as a basic element to their job.

We can blame Macca for their second at the weekend or we can look at a midfielder who’s job is to play with the ball seemingly panic at the sight of the spherical object and make a mistake. That’s like a doctor being scared of a patient, a fish filliter scared of knives and so on.

Will we improve? Who knows? It’s clear that a fair fee in and out of the club seem happy for this season just to fizzle out and for nothing to really happen, which is fine, but surely if that’s the viewpoint, even wasting ones time to watch us is verging on pointless as clearly the result, in a results based business has become irrelevant.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

The continual bashing of the young players IH has brought in from a number of the usual suspects on here shows a lack of realistic thinking . The non league signings will take a lot longer than a handful of games to get to grips with the professional game while the lads signed from the cosy world of U23 football will take a while getting their heads and bodies around physical L2 football . Not all of these 2 groups will be a success but I’m pleased that as a club we’re looking for these type of players . I’ve seen enough in games so far that once they’ve settled in , our more experienced players are back, we’ll be ok and come through this season with a group of players we can add to and have a go next season. I’m really not bothered with promotion this season as it’s just a write off this year .

We should be aiming for promotion every season. Being happy with mediocrity all the time is one of the reasons we are so poor. We need a winning mentality from top to bottom.

Quoted from realist

We should be aiming for promotion every season. Being happy with mediocrity all the time is one of the reasons we are so poor. We need a winning mentality from top to bottom.

I mean, having a positive turnover for the year during a pandemic is a lot better than getting promoted to go bust a few months later...

Sometimes you have to be happy to have a club at the end of the season...