Progress

[wellbeaten-the-owl]

4 hours ago, Holmowl said:

Excellent summary.

 

Interesting that you missed out the central CB and a partner for Gregory in your praise for the team. Sadly after 48 matches neither us nor Moore knew our best second striker nor have we had a settled central CB. That’s 2/3 of your spine rotating.

 

 

We recruited incredibly well in circumstances but the fact we couldn't spend money on fees hampered recruitment in key area's, we still need full backs, and need a striker or two.

[Mr. Tom]

Very much agree with the OP.

 

There will always be big frustrations to look back on this season - we could and should have nicked autos, but for a handful of downright bizarre results away from home - however, for the first 60% (at least!) of the season there was always an identifiable reason for why we struggled in a particular fixture.

 

Once our squad settled and the traditional Wednesday injury carousel slowed to jogging pace, we actually had just over a third of a season on absolutely rocking form - best we’ve seen in a long time, and not just against classic ‘div 3’ sides, but including a good handful of teams who you wouldn’t necessarily pick out as obvious bottom three fodder were they in the Championship.

 

It’s been a good season by any standard, really - let’s not forget that points total, which would have been considered an outstanding achievement on its own any other year. But when you look at where we were as both a club and a dressing room last July, it’s actually been quite remarkable where we’ve got to. Our preseason was effectively - what, ten days or so with a playable starting XI?

 

Keep the majority of this squad together, lose a couple of ‘key’ players maybe but replace with younger recruits who have more to prove, and I see us being a proper force for autos next season, rather than having to fight tooth and nail through another nervy up-and-down campaign where we continually clung on by our fingernails until the last couple of games.

 

We’ll done DM and team, pity we didn’t show ourselves at our best in the playoffs but it’s been a right scrap to get here and we just looked a bit spent IMO. Get a full preseason in and hit the ground running, I think we’ll still be cooking on gas my the time the final placings are decided (and ideally before the season actually ends).

 

Onward and upward, we’re not about to get stuck down here for an era, like certain others have in recent memory. (I’m also reasonably confident we might enjoy the added ‘chef kiss’ of passing our recently promoted neighbouring stalkers on their traditional slump back down this time next year!)

 

UTO, looking forward to a campaign befitting a great old club and a relatively quick return to the class above.

[Deepcar_lights]

1 hour ago, Buckwheat said:

Think Derby, Barnsley, Pompey, Charlton, maybe Sunderland etc will be thinking the same.

 

I love buckwheat.

 

Great gluten-free choice.

 

Nothing to worry about next season.

[talon]

Moore definitely deserves another shot at this. I think he’s earned that much.

BUT………he’s not going to have the ‘luxury’ of another average/slow start to next season. 
Top 4 by November, or he’ll be toast.

[Holmowl]

1 hour ago, wellbeaten-the-owl said:

We recruited incredibly well in circumstances but the fact we couldn't spend money on fees hampered recruitment in key area's, we still need full backs, and need a striker or two.

We did. More hits than misses, and a few of the misses (Gibson and Dennis) were due to injuries rather than ability.

 

I hope he doesn’t buy full-backs. He’s found a system that suits us. If he goes searching for new systems in August we’ll be back to square one.

 

We absolutely 100% need a left-footed CB. And we need a 40 game partner for Gregory.

[Mister Soul]

5 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

 

The fans who are most confused and most angry about not getting promoted are the ones who have been running up to people all season screaming 'If we don't get promoted automatically with this squad then we have failed massively'
 

100%

[WendyOK]

We’ve turned that corner. The last 3 years have been awful. We are now on the way up. Slowly but we will get there. Give Moore some money let him get in who he needs and keep Chansiri in the background and we will be fine 

[Django]

I try to think of the positives between November and May but then the deficiencies are still there. Anyone who saw the Lincoln, Shrewsbury, Oxford and Gillingham games in-particular will know that this setup isn’t the real deal at this level 

 

 

[SiJ]

15 minutes ago, talon said:

Moore definitely deserves another shot at this. I think he’s earned that much.

BUT………he’s not going to have the ‘luxury’ of another average/slow start to next season. 
Top 4 by November, or he’ll be toast.

I think this is fair. 

 

We've got to be at it. 

 

I do believe we've made progress this season, but we can't afford to keep throwing away cheap points on a semi-regular basis. 

 

Unfortunately, these two play off matches were pretty indicative of why we have come up short this season - poor defensive errors and late goals. 

[Buckwheat]

2 hours ago, TheOwlsofDodworth said:

 

I love buckwheat.

 

Great gluten-free choice.

 

Nothing to worry about next season.

Hope so, thought we'd do it this season. Depends who stays and goes, and what we can bring in.

[wellbeaten-the-owl]

23 hours ago, Holmowl said:

We did. More hits than misses, and a few of the misses (Gibson and Dennis) were due to injuries rather than ability.

 

I hope he doesn’t buy full-backs. He’s found a system that suits us. If he goes searching for new systems in August we’ll be back to square one.

 

We absolutely 100% need a left-footed CB. And we need a 40 game partner for Gregory.

Hunt and Johnson are great  first choice but need cover and NML doesn't fit for me as poor defensively.

 

Agree with other points would like a pacy partner for Gregory and as cover for Gregory a target man (to help when we Have to chase games and go more direct)