The Lounge

[Singapore Don]

I have mixed feelings on the Forrester signing. Clearly he’s an exciting addition, with possibly a few goals in him. But I worry about his being a disruptive presence, given reports ofhis wilder, partying side. And his being a midfielder, albeit an attacking one, seems to overload us in that department. I make that nine midfielders now in the squad: Forrester, Abdou, Parrett, Francomb, Trotter, Soares, Egan, Hartigan, Kaja. But only three outright forwards, four if you include Barcham. I can’t help but feel we really should have got a giant centre forward target man to give us options up front. It’s clear our massed midfield ranks are going to have to be a crucial part of our attacking play and goal scoring – which no doubt Forrester is intended to provide. But Ardley faces a tough job keeping all those mdfirlders happy when most are going to be spending a lot of the season bench warming. I suspect one or two will be looking for more regular starting places elsewhere by January.

[Colum]

Ummm! So the final summer signing is yet another midfielder.

[Windlesham Don]

I share your concerns with our new (and final) signing of the window. No Plan B, and Plan A misfiring…

Saturday needs to be a big step up from the last home game (although Forrester is not match fit so will take no part). There needs to be energy, pace and belief, all of which were notable only for their absence against the Shrews.

Having watched the Fleetwood game in full, I thought we did pretty well overall. We were the more dangerous team in attack and could have scored if the footballing Gods had not been against us. At the other end, two pretty poor defensive lapses gifted the goals from Fleetwood’s only two shots on target in the 90 minutes.

The one serious concern from last week however, was the form of Barry Fuller. He was off the pace for the whole game and his confidence looks shot. If I were NA I would rest him for Saturday and move Francomb to RB – this would go some way to helping another issue that we currently have, namely that 3 out of our back 4 are completely uncomfortable on the ball. Not great for a team committed to playing a passing game!

Only Deji looks confident playing it out from the back, the others panic at the first sign of pressure and either shovel it back to Long or punt it forward – both have the inevitable consequence of losing possession. Give Baz a rest, get George in at full back and replace him in midfield with someone who can actually tackle – this may go a little way to improving our immediate prospects…

[Singapore Don]

It would be a big call for Neal to drop his captain- but then he is a manager who talks a lot about the need to be brave. Time for a very brave decision? Putting Francomb in at right back would allow us to use another midfield player, of whom- as I said – we now have plenty. Robinson is more of a concern to me. We really need Charles back asap.

PS how did you watch the whole Fleetwood game WD?? My iFollow subscription offers just extended highlights as longest offering. ??

[martindownunderdon]

Forrester on paper looks like a good signing,scores some goals from midfield which we have never had so thats a plus. Hopefully he is at a age now where going to night clubs may not look so apilling,just have a few beers with the players then home for a hot chocolate then bed.!!!! A lot of me was hoping Peter Crouch talk was real but its not often that you get players from the top flight now finish playing in lower divisions. One more thing how are people getting on with (i follow ) I’ve had it now for two games and the coverage is poor,now is this my computer or are you getting the same.

[Colum]

I can’t see Fuller being dropped, although I’d have some sympathy with it. I’m not sure putting Francomb there is the right choice either. I’d prefer to play young Sibbick instead, especially if we also replaced Robbo with a fit again Charles. I can’t hear too many fans wailing if both Robbo and Fuller are shown the door at the end of this season.

There’s a lot of parallels with last season’s start. We had a lot of tough early games, and Charles was missing until late September. When he came back, things improved dramatically. Let’s hope the same happens again.

As for iFollow, the less said the better. There are lots of complaints on the fans forums about it. as someone who works for a software company, the user experience is tragic. If I’d designed it, I wouldn’t be rushing to add it to my resume. Still if my £45 pays for a weeks wages for Cody (and he starts banging them in) I guess it is a price worth paying.

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