Grecians from Devon? At home to Exeter Sat,31st Aug ,3-0'clock

[TANGODANCER]

Still too early to judge form till we've played a few games. Current thirteenth place means little when a couple of wins can send us upstairs in a week, but it can also send us down if we get sloppy. Exeter are just below us and they won't be wanting to come 250 miles and lose, so we have to put the hammer down and go full bore. A continuation of last game would do nicely. What do we know of the current Grecian players except that none of them are Greeks? Over to you...

[Prufrock]

This is as close to a must win as you can get 4 games in! Not so much for the season as for the manager and the mood.

[BWFC_Insane]

We will win this comfortably. Exeter aren’t a team I’d worry about tbh.

Big test is week after.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

We will win this comfortably. Exeter aren’t a team I’d worry about tbh.

Big test is week after.

Week after's the international break - does Ian get fired if Lee Carsley's England underperform in Dublin?

[BWFC_Insane]

We will win this comfortably. Exeter aren’t a team I’d worry about tbh.

Big test is week after.

Week after's the international break - does Ian get fired if Lee Carsley's England underperform in Dublin?

International break already, dear me. Fortnight after….thats the game I think that will tell us a lot really. I suspect Huddersfield will be up there, maybe top 3/4 but those are the games you have to win.

[officer_dibble]

Aye, Huddersfield and Evatts nemesis Mike Duff!

Very cheap in LOV for this game - same as usual match day prices in cheap seats… so can’t be many on?

[Worthy4England]

I think we need to show we're settling in to new system. A scary, disjointed 1-0 would appease for some points on the board and as folks pointed out, we got a better result against Orient, so 8 or 9 would probably allay some nerves...(in reality a solid 2-0 would probably be fine too.)

[GhostoftheBok]

Aye, Huddersfield and Evatts nemesis Mike Duff!

Very cheap in LOV for this game - same as usual match day prices in cheap seats… so can’t be many on?

Family Day means they lower all prices, doesn't it?

[GhostoftheBok]

If we underestimate them we will not get a result.

They are one of the most creative sides in the division this season. Nobody has kept them out and they've been very unlucky to lose. If they had a proper #9 they'd be right up there at this point.

Good test for our defence and a game where, if we batter them, it actually does mean something.

I agree with Insane that we *can* cut this lot open, but we do have to watch the back door more than you'd expect from last season.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I think we need to show we're settling in to new system. A scary, disjointed 1-0 would appease for some points on the board and as folks pointed out, we got a better result against Orient, so 8 or 9 would probably allay some nerves...(in reality a solid 2-0 would probably be fine too.)

Agreed with this, and I'll expand a bit: there is almost no result (or indeed performance) this weekend that will heal the divisions by answering the fundamental question, "is Evatt the right man?"

Well, maybe there is - a heavy, humiliating home defeat to the team we beat 7-0 at ours just 10 long months ago. But as Worthy says, a narrow win wouldn't do much to soothe the worries – which after certain results within the M25 is arguably more important than the points total right now.

A dominant performance and narrow win would make many people think Evatt's side miss too many chances.

An emphatic win and many would shrug and say "Exeter."

All Evatt can do to win back the trust of those he's lost is to keep winning. It won't be quick.

And as I say, we've just started a run of 12 games - Shrewsbury (A, cup), Exeter (h), Barrow (a, cup), Huddersfield (h), Reading (h), Arsenal (a, cup), Crawley (A), Northampton (a), Shrewsbury (h), VIlla kids (h, cup), Stevenage (a), Burton (h) - which should (should...) help him rebuild that trust. To me they're all games a title-chasing side should expect to win except possibly Huddersfield and obviously Arsenal – although that in itself is a free hit at a possible great memory.

Of course, any of them could beat us. Ghost makes a fair case for Exeter, and there'll be others. But as I say - a title contender should be winning most of those games, and Evatt has less widespread goodwill than most.

[Worthy4England]

Yeah DSB, there are no teams you should treat as mugs. As the saying goes, never give a mug a chance. I think for some, as other have said, he can only prove he's the right man by getting us up and that isn't happening in September. There are many ways between now and then he can demonstrate why he isn't. The bonus is, if he doesn't get us up, pretty much all the "reasons" have likely been covered over the last two seasons.

I think some genuinely believed he should get us up in S2 of L1 and in part that's not helped by various proclamations on social. At that point I think "near miss" was generally (by many) accepted...then there's last season...

I reckon it will calm down a bit if we're in the top three mix, not far off the pace. Until then I doubt some are of the view that we've picked him for the season so we stick...

[Prufrock]

From Arsenal, that's 3 southern away trips where we'd expect to need to play a pretty full strength XI, in 6 days...

Arsenal weds night (they're playing Sunday so won't be Tuesday) then Crawley at 12.30 on Saturday. Not much of a turn around.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

From Arsenal, that's 3 southern away trips where we'd expect to need to play a pretty full strength XI, in 6 days...

Arsenal weds night (they're playing Sunday so won't be Tuesday) then Crawley at 12.30 on Saturday. Not much of a turn around.

All true. But we now have a very competitive squad and almost all members of it should be up to speed, in mind and body, by then.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Yeah DSB, there are no teams you should treat as mugs. As the saying goes, never give a mug a chance. I think for some, as other have said, he can only prove he's the right man by getting us up and that isn't happening in September. There are many ways between now and then he can demonstrate why he isn't. The bonus is, if he doesn't get us up, pretty much all the "reasons" have likely been covered over the last two seasons.

I think some genuinely believed he should get us up in S2 of L1 and in part that's not helped by various proclamations on social. At that point I think "near miss" was generally (by many) accepted...then there's last season...

I reckon it will calm down a bit if we're in the top three mix, not far off the pace. Until then I doubt some are of the view that we've picked him for the season so we stick...

All fair, I think. And for the record I'm not proposing we treat teams as mugs. But if we want to top 2ppg, we need to beat a lot of teams.

You can of course get 2ppg by winning all home games and drawing all away games, but under that system every time you drop two home points (as we did to Wrexham even before the Charlton loss) you have to win another away, and I'm guessing that's harder at St. Andrews than St. Evenage.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Evatt:

“We've got one or two niggles and issues at the moment. The injury room is quite busy but nothing really substantial, some might not make it (for Saturday) and some will. I'm not going to have loads of options, or as many as I would have had, because of the injuries."
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... ity-clash/

[Worthy4England]

Lovely reason, Ian.

[TANGODANCER]

Amidst all the transfer euphoria, let's get a win and three points at the Toughsheet tomorrow. Right now that has to take priority over all. Easy to get carried away amongst all this Arabian Nights stuff. COME ON YOU WHITES..

[DJBlu]

The game after the window shuts. Players can focus and get on with the task at hand.

Play like we did at Shrewsbury and we should get something out of the game.

COYWM!!!

[Worthy4England]

The game after the window shuts. Players can focus and get on with the task at hand.

Play like we did at Shrewsbury and we should get something out of the game.

COYWM!!!

Hmmmm. The window shutting will be way harder on us than any likely competitors, our remaining squad will know they're still part of the BWFC family, so getting them "up" for the game is going to be challenging, especially at home. Some will begin to think we're serious about keeping them which is much harder than a team having 8 new signings, but them having no clue whether they can find a place before Jan. We won't know what to expect.

Just thought I'd get in early.

3-0 Whites.

[The_Gun]

Baxter

Toal Santos Johnston

Desmond Matete Thomason Schon

McAtee Charles Collins

Is probably what I’d go for, but don’t think Evatt will. I’d also say there’s quite a strong argument for dropping Collins.