London Crawleying. An away Clash with Crawley Town, Sat 28th of Sept. 12-30.

[TANGODANCER]

Note the 12-30 kick-of as we try to get our heads out of the sand . Tonight never happened or the dressing room will be full of rolling heads. I wish I could pretend it didn't hurt, but I can't because it did. Onwards and upwards...

[Worthy4England]

Oh. Thanks for the 12:30 reminder.

[officer_dibble]

As it’s his ex club… when is Lolos due back?

[HMX]

Crawley’s manager left for MK Dons yesterday… https://www.crawleytownfc.com/news/2024 ... r-mk-dons/

[Gooner Girl]

It’s a nice little ground, watched Arsenal women play there quite a few times over the years. Plenty of parking on the streets around it if needed. I don’t recommend Crawley itself as a shining beacon for the wonders of Sussex though, if you’re making a weekend of it may I suggest the South Downs or the coast instead!

[HMX]

It’s a nice little ground, watched Arsenal women play there quite a few times over the years. Plenty of parking on the streets around it if needed. I don’t recommend Crawley itself as a shining beacon for the wonders of Sussex though, if you’re making a weekend of it may I suggest the South Downs or the coast instead!

Amen.

I'll be driving up from Brighton with a friend for this one. Anyone else going?

[Gooner Girl]

It’s a nice little ground, watched Arsenal women play there quite a few times over the years. Plenty of parking on the streets around it if needed. I don’t recommend Crawley itself as a shining beacon for the wonders of Sussex though, if you’re making a weekend of it may I suggest the South Downs or the coast instead!

Amen.

I'll be driving up from Brighton with a friend for this one. Anyone else going?

Got tickets to watch Arsenal on Saturday else I’d have persuaded BP for a weekend in the south.

[DJBlu]

Note the 12-30 kick-of as we try to get our heads out of the sand . Tonight never happened or the dressing room will be full of rolling heads. I wish I could pretend it didn't hurt, but I can't because it did. Onwards and upwards...

I'm working nights Friday into Saturday but should be up to open the door for the couch. If not then send the cavalry!

[GhostoftheBok]

Not at this one due to work commitments, which is a shame as I fancied it.

Was planning to do the ol' Friday night bomb down to London on quiet roads.

We need to see the same commitment from the off that we have showed early in the last two games. A desire to get at them and see what they're about.

Lost their manager and it's a relegation 6 pointer at the minute. Better win it, I suppose.

[Worthy4England]

Hopefully, Sonic got a new kettle for his birthday!

[TANGODANCER]

Almost time to rebuild the foundations and start going upwards. Let's start with Crawley and throw the new hymn book away in favour of the no-nonsense older version. You can't win games without scoring goals and we won't do that playing pat-a-cake in our eighteen yard area, or better, our half. The oldest system in the book is 1,2,3,5. We could do worse than apply it.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

So, was it worth resting players, as just about everybody said? We'll see.

Forino out for now and a while, and with Gethin Jones apparently having fallen down the back of the couch, it's ToalSantosJohnston. The back up is young Sam Inwood. Unless, say, we went back four.... (Narrator: They didn't.)

It's safe to assume Sheehan will go again despite playing 90 minutes at Arsenal; with Northampton looming, he could well be subbed quite early at Crawley. With neither Arfield nor Dempsey really showing this season that they deserve a start, Thomason and Matete will almost certainly come back in (and, in turn, probably be subbed to save some in the tank for Tuesday).

Out left, Randell played 90 minutes - last time he did that he disappeared for a month; hopefully that won't happen again but I'd expect Schön to start this one, and perhaps those two to start rotating. No such luxury on the right, where Duracell bunny JDC will doubtless follow his 90-minute Arsenal outing with another Saturday lunchtime leg-stretcher; Luke Matheson was on the nine-man bench in midweek but the only time he's made a league matchday squad this season was against Exeter, and if Williams is fit enough to be on the bench he theoretically covers RWB as well as LWB.

Up top, rotation suggests Dion and Vic come back in, but I'm less sure that's a shoo-in than the midfielders. Collins' goal stated his claim and afterwards Evatt hinted it might be horses for courses up top: “That was the game for Saturday, the type I thought it was going to be suited Dion and Victor, and the result and scoreline spoke volumes. Aaron and John are huge for us and they are different to the threat that Dion and Victor give us. They were the biggest positives for me. I thought the front two looked sharp and lively, they created and caused a few problems. I was pleased with those guys."

Which two would you pick up front at Crawley?

[The_Gun]

Baxter

Toal Santos Johnston

Sheehan

JDC Matete Thomason Schon

Vic Dion



Collins unlucky to miss out, but if either/both of the starters aren’t firing then he probably gets on the pitch early in the second half.

We’re going to win this one, aren’t we?

[officer_dibble]

I’d like to see Charles/Collins again soon. But Victor deserves his shot.

[dave the minion]

Baxter

Toal Santos Johnston

Sheehan

JDC Matete Thomason Schon

Vic Dion



Collins unlucky to miss out, but if either/both of the starters aren’t firing then he probably gets on the pitch early in the second half.

We’re going to win this one, aren’t we?

It'll be reet. We'll shit 'em

[TANGODANCER]

Vic is more than just a point man and a big problem is keeping all our front end happy via minutes and starts. Ideally all four, Dion, Vic, McAtee and Collins need game time, and rotation looks to be the only real answer, but its all very Que Sera yet into this season. If Vic could just nail a couple of goals it would probably do wonders for his confidence. First job though is for the side in general to tighten up and regain some belief. It has to be said our problems are as much due to careless defending as lack of goals. A win against Crawley is looking more important than just another game. Time also for the boss to state his case and step up show some authority. No more Mr Nice Guy I.E.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I think Vic has makes a big difference, but of course Dion scored a hat-trick, so...

You could, without much hyperbole, make the claim that our form has dropped significantly since the Dion/Vic axis was split in January - first by Aaron Collins' arrival, then by injury to both. Of course correlation ≠ causation - we lost at Orient with Dion/Vic starting up top, although clearly unsuccessfully as both were hoiked on 58 minutes.

But then in the very first game we started the AC/DC combo, Dion got crocked; Vic stepped up but within a month he broke too. Vic never started again last season, and Dion didn't look himself - he only scored one non-penalty goal after mid-January. And then this season we had the brief but ineffective switch from 3142 to 3421 - while Dion missed much of pre-season and Vic has had his 'viral' injury problems too.

So in short, I don't think we really know which 'front two' works best as a general theory. And when you throw in McAtee too, perhaps it really is horses for courses. I do know it's nice to have options, but it's also easy to wonder if you've made the right choices. Managers say it's a nice headache to have but it'll be another potential source of earache for Evatt if the fans think he's made the wrong pick. As ever, the easiest answer is to score quick and score plenty.

[Worthy4England]

It feels a bit like we've bought some pretty decent lego, but no one has yet supplied the picture.

Collins didn't start until mid Feb. Misfiring at one end and leaking them at the other, is often not a great balance! And therein, for me, lies the problem. We need to sort out both ends. Whilst I'm not unhappy with the win last weekend, we still conceded 2. If the maths is average 1 per game for and 2 per game against, there's much work to be done, all over the park. I'm pretty sure our GPG increased from Collins' first start in Mid-Feb.

Conceding 2, automatically makes it tough and we've managed to concede 2 on 4 out of 6 occasions so far. Whilst I thought we were solid v Wrexham, I thought we were very lucky to get away with just the 1 at Orient. So I want to see defense sorted too, please.

Whilst I think we're too good to go down and last week's performance helped in terms of seeing us pull tha' tripe out for 25 minutes, the longer poor form continues (and it isn't just this season), the more concerning it becomes. There's plenty of history of teams too big to get relegated - who got relegated. Crawley have same points as us, one better GD, if I'm in their dugout, I'm going to be saying "Bolton are there for the taking" - just in a "back yourselves" sense, rather than a pre-emptive victory lap.

[boltonboris]

What the feck's he playing at playing Forino in a meaningless cup match..........

[TANGODANCER]

What the feck's he playing at playing Forino in a meaningless cup match..........

I understand the logic, it's a bit like choosing which game he's likeliest to break down in, but more relevant, why buy a prone injury player at all? One of our main faults is an inability to park the bus; something almost any League One side can do as they demonstrate weekly, and we ain't going to find a midfield magician like J.J.Okocha, going for buttons, are we? Let's stop being too big for our boots and settle for a win at any which way. There really is no other way, be you real Madrid or Market Tavern Rovers.



p.s, DON'T FORGET THE KICK-OFF IS 12-30..!