Didn't make the game last night so can't comment on that.
A lot has been said about the squad we have and the fact that nearly all of them are on contract leaving little room for manoeuvre
On the positive side I was well pleased we got Osborne and Chambers back (although the former is a much better centre half than right back) Vidal definitely has something about him and Porter and Lokko look like good additions on what I have seen so far even though both were brought in very last minute. In summary we have four young players who spent some of their early years with professional clubs and are capable of improvement along with possibly the stand out player in the Ryman Premier League last season.
On the negative side after the 97 goalkeepers we had last season we now have two. One on loan from Millwall who has made at least three glaring errors this season and was (rightly) dropped last Saturday. In comes his replacement who made a few mistakes pre season and another one on Saturday. He spent most of last season at Biggleswade United in the Southern Premier League and apparently some time with Whyteleafe who are Ryman One South. One inspired display against Wrexham does not make him a Conference National standard keeper I'm afraid.
In midfield we have our newly appointed club "captain" who started the season so poorly that he was dropped after a handful of games. He spent last season at Conference South Sutton United where he scored 3 goals in 30 games. I know a few regular Sutton fans and let's just say they were not exactly crestfallen at his departure...
Leading the line last night was a "striker" who started last season with us, moved on to Hayes & Yeading where he was mainly a sub and finished the season with Ryman Premier Billericay Town. His replacement last night spent some time previously playing in the Finnish second division (which I imagine is probably one step up from Danson Park on a Sunday morning) and then last season was at Ryman Premier Hampton & Richmond and then Conference South Maidenhead United. Of course we do have one forward who has been injured all season. He was at Conference South Chelmsford City in 2013-14 and scored 6 goals in 36 games (positively prolific by our current standards!) A mate of mine is a Chelmsford regular and was astonished he signed for a higher level club when they expected him to turn up somewhere in the Ryman Premier?! Having signed for us last season he made 18 league appearances (plus 12 as a sub) and scored the princely sum of 2 league goals. So in summary the club captain and three quarters of the strikers currently on our books who were all playing at a lower level previously and probably wouldn't get a game in the vast majority of Conference South sides.
Let me stress that the players can only do what they are capable of and if they are out of their depth then it is not their fault. However I do expect these players, regardless of their respective abilities, to put a shift in at the very least when they put a Welling shirt on and I can't say they always have in the games that I have seen.
Overall it is not exactly a recipe for a good season if we concede soft goals and can't score any goals either is it...?!
Wingnut I agree with your general point about the lack of quality from our strikers. However, even if we did have a quality finisher I'm not convinced they would score goals as our midfielders are simply not creating chances. The decision to employ Harris and Porter down the wrong wings is madness. Jefford and Harris terrorised the Woking right back in the first half of that game, putting in 3 or 4 beautiful crosses (although we lacked a striker to finish them) but that is the only time this season when we have done so.
Additionally I'm not convinced that Vidal is an effective attacking midfielder. I would rather we played two central strikers in a 4-4-2
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Wingnut I agree with your general point about the lack of quality from our strikers. However, even if we did have a quality finisher I'm not convinced they would score goals as our midfielders are simply not creating chances. The decision to employ Harris and Porter down the wrong wings is madness. Jefford and Harris terrorised the Woking right back in the first half of that game, putting in 3 or 4 beautiful crosses (although we lacked a striker to finish them) but that is the only time this season when we have done so.
Additionally I'm not convinced that Vidal is an effective attacking midfielder. I would rather we played two central strikers in a 4-4-2
So you agree we don't have any decent strikers yet want to play two of them?
Wingnut I agree with your general point about the lack of quality from our strikers. However, even if we did have a quality finisher I'm not convinced they would score goals as our midfielders are simply not creating chances. The decision to employ Harris and Porter down the wrong wings is madness. Jefford and Harris terrorised the Woking right back in the first half of that game, putting in 3 or 4 beautiful crosses (although we lacked a striker to finish them) but that is the only time this season when we have done so.
Additionally I'm not convinced that Vidal is an effective attacking midfielder. I would rather we played two central strikers in a 4-4-2
So you agree we don't have any decent strikers yet want to play two of them?
Yes please, with a left sided player on the left and a right sided player on the right.
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh When the Wingssssss
