The Lounge

[Wimbledon_rumours]

Again also while I’m logged in I may as well try plugging the WhatsApp group chat again incase people missed it the link is here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/BPVyraoQXTdALtm0f5PrG1

[Colum]

Having watched two of the friendlies to date (Brentford and Bristolll City) here’s my observations to date.

Guinness-Walker has caught the eye. What I particularly like is his first thought is to get forward, but he’s also eager to get back and defend. He could be a good find.

Adam Roscrow by contrast hasn’t done a lot. To be fair against Brentford he played up front with Appiah, so was never going to get any help there. Against Bristolll he had The Pig, but still disappeared for long periods. It was only late on with him playing in a more central role that he won a few headers, but for me I think he will be a late substitute at best.

The returning Favoli did well when he came on, looking very lively. Maybe he’ll be used more this season than last. The trouble is that to get the best out of him, you need an old fashioned No.9. Will we get one before the season starts, and will he keep fit? Time will tell and probably ultimately define our season.

At the back the likes of Nightingale, Thomas, and Kalambayi continue to look solid. The midfield looks good, if it struggled with superior opposition at times. The same old issues up front, so the arrival of Tom Elliott or Danny Kedwell would be a major boost.

Of the other youngsters, Reuben Collins and Jack Rudoni look very sharp. Also from what I’ve seen of Stabana and O’Neil is promising without being stand out.

All in all things look fairly positive. What’s interesting for me is the level (or lack of) compared to previous seasons. Gone is the talk of playoffs, and rightly IMHO, is talk of staying in League One when we move back to Plough Lane.

It was good to catch up with Liam at the Bristolll game, even if he did insult my choice of shirt 🙂 No doubt we’ll have plenty of opportunity to keep the banter going when he returns permanently to the U.K. next year.

Early days, but COYDs.

[liamwimbo]

Not long until the season starts. I think the goal again is survival. Defence looks solid, midfield OK without being outstanding, but reckon we might struggle up front.
As always, it will be interesting.
Currently in the UK so got 3 home games and possibly Ipswich away.
COYDs

[Wimbledon_rumours]

I don’t know how I feel going into this season. I’ve watched the Bristol friendly and feel that for this coming season I’m a little sceptical of trott , feel the defence is strong enough for us, I feel we need a centre midfielder to still come in personally I’d like a real nasty player who isn’t afraid to put a foot in but I’m most concerned with our strikers as appiah will play about 5 games, I don’t feel roscrow has the ability as of yet and pig and folivi both need to play off a target man. I have heard however that three more will most likely come in so hoping we get a target man as I feel that would make or break our season.

[onyadon]

A new season dawns – can Wally Downes/Glyn Hodges lay solid foundations from last season’s Great Escape? The opening home game against Rotherham United will be a good test. They have come down from the Championship, have some money, solid squad, good manager and freely tipped to finish among the play-offs. The concern I have (and probably others do too) is the lack of goals in recent seasons: just 42 last season, 47 the season before and 52 in 2016-17. We clearly have problems scoring goals at this level. We have only added non-league Adam Roscrow and retained Michael Folivi on loan to join Joe Pigott (and not forgetting the anonymous Kwesi Appiah!). So that will be a considerable point of interest in how Wally works on that this season.
As always I welcome your views throughout the season.

[Colum]

Yes I agree Rob. Scoring goals is still a problem. Take a look at the last three seasons:

Season GF GA GD P
2018/19 42 63 -21 50
2017/18 47 58 -11 53
2016/17 52 56 -4 57

It is clear from this that the more goals you score, the more points you’re likely to get. Hardly rocket science, so why have we consistently failed to land a quality striker?

Partly it is because they are in demand, it’s a sellers market, and our pockets are notoriously shallow. Partly it is due to bad buys by Ardley – Appiah anyone!

Folivi seems to be a good one from what I’ve seen in pre-season. He’s young and hungry. Pigott will get goals, but he’s not a target man. Both of these look likely to start games, but their strength is balls behind the defence to run on to, or balls to feet.

If we play long balls up front against Rotherham, we’ll get nothing. They’re a big strong team. Our strength though is our defence. It showed what it could do towards the end of last season, and even in pre-season it has done well against superior opposition. It will be a battle, but if we can hold firm until the last 30 minutes, we could squeeze a win by a single goal. We’re fit and hungry, and we do have players that can hurt any opposition on their day.

[Author]

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