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I reckon you’d have to go back 30 odd years for the last time we put out a squad on a match day which featured no player to have either played with or have been managed by Hilly (could be a random game under Stockdale which is the exception). A brilliant listen and would always welcome him back in some capacity.
Special mention to EEL today. Thought he was excellent in keeping Akinde quiet and bailed out his defensive team mates, particuarly in the opening stages of the game. If we can keep the spine of our team fit, we've got a good chance of being succesful this season.
I was really impressed by Wealdstone. They were very attacking and aggressive- pretty much trying to overload our third at any possible opportunity. I’d have them as dark horses for the play-offs. Credit to the team for getting the win. Without doing too much of a disservice to our coaching team, I thought moments of real quality from our key players (Rodney and Mani) was the difference today.
I think it is. The difference being that Jim in fairness has clearly recruited over several transfer windows for this system. Our 2 central midfielders are much more mobile and also has players like Barlow/ Pritchard who can support in the middle of the pitch if outnumbered.
Didn't watch the game but a good result against a team I assume will climb the table over the next few months. The highlights packages from both teams don't really show any credible Sutton chances- so well done to the team on seeing out the game so effectively.
There have been some really good posts on here, and I'd like to think I’ve been as supportive and patient with McNulty as most during his time at the club. That said, yesterday’s defeat ranks right up there with Southend and Spennymoor in terms of frustration.
Let’s be honest—McNulty has done a solid job. When he took over, the club was in an absolute mess for various reasons, and he's steadied the ship and guided us to a more competitive place. But for me, the jury is still out on whether he can take that final step.
We all know this squad is good enough for the play-offs—anything less would be a complete and utter failure. But can we be champions? On the playing side, that question still remains unanswered for me.
I’ve never seen a team make 11 changes in a league game before, and to do that while sitting top of the league is baffling. Sure, we might still have lost had we played a stronger side—but at least then we could’ve taken something from the performance and used these final days of the transfer window to strengthen accordingly. As it stands, I don’t think we’ve learned anything useful from that game.
Take Hogan, for example—he clearly struggles to distribute the ball as well as other defenders. Why not give players like Gordon, Gilmour, East, or Beckwith a chance to support him in building attacks? There’s no reason he couldn’t have rested five players yesterday and another five on Monday—it would’ve kept things fresher without completely sacrificing shape, rhythm, or leadership on the pitch.
Yesterday could’ve further pushed the idea to the rest of the league that we’re serious contenders. That opportunity was wasted.
McNulty is sometimes too much of a 'textbook manager', in my opinion. He doesn’t always factor in the less tangible aspects of a game. I can’t help but see similarities at times between Jim and how Southgate was for England—organised, level-headed, and clearly capable of stabilising things, but perhaps lacking the instinct or boldness needed to get over the line when it really matters.
Remember Dagenham away last season? The team was set up for Waller to release Kairo with a long ball over their high line, exploiting their slower centre-back. But Waller’s first three kicks were all 10 yards off target, and the plan was never adjusted. Similarly, the changes against Southend might have made sense in theory, but they never looked like working in practice.
I genuinely can’t think of a way he could’ve turned the mood in the fanbase so negative, so quickly. Unfortunately, I think it will take at least a few weeks—and some convincing performances—to turn that around.
So poor and frustrating. The best feel good factor we've had in years deflated through naivety from McNulty. One of the biggest criticisms I've given to McNulty in the past is he is too much of a textbook coach at times. Yes, theoretically speaking, rotating the team could have seemed a viable option against Brackley but did he take into account the boost it would give to Brackley? The deflating of momentum on Wednesday's game? Jim said performance levels will never be at their best first week of the season as player's haven't got up to speed with the league so why go through that process twice with two sets of 11 players? As others have said, if rotation was that important then change 6 today and 5 on Monday.
Stating the obvious, but it's bloody hard to win a league, especially this one and Jim has unneccessarily put himself and the team under pressure. For me this result will go down with the Spennymoor and Southend ones as an ugly blotch on McNulty's record.
Won't go into individual thoughts on players as I want want to detract from this being solely on McNulty.
Confident on this one, but as alluded to on the podcast, it's another challenge for this squad. Think it'll be the first time a team really parks the bus against us and with a team I suspect which will be closer to the Burnley game than our league games, it's as much of a test of depth as anything.
A good move from the club. East has been integral with a few other key figures in turning the culture of the dressing room around for the club and deserves the new deal. He's got more pressure for his place than in previous years, but that can only be a good thing- his performance on Tuesday shows that on his day he's one of the best at this level.
Too early to put too much weight into any predictions but I wouldn’t be surprised if Pritchard becomes our best signing of the summer. Seems a very intelligent footballer, not afraid to put himself about and incredibly versatile.
Regarding the point on Burnley's kick off, here's a video for the footballing nerds which explains it a bit further:
I must say listening to Jason Taylor's interview it is refreshing that he focusses almost solely on clean sheets,goals and results. Seems the perfect addition to the coaching staff. I wouldn't fancy getting on the wrong side of him either!
I always assumed that Burger had been signed as a long term replacement for Gilmour with his ability to turn and carry the ball. Reckon through injuries he probably ended up featuring more than McNulty would've liked last season and although he showed a lot of potential, for me he seemed to go through phases within a game of giving the ball away or not making the right decision- something which tbf is to be expected at his age. Himself and Edwards are two young players who have had their pathways blocked by the new signings and I can see a loan to another National League side for both. Is our squad at 26 now? It will be difficult keeping that many happy.
Being treated pretty much as televised bounce games. Only caught a few minutes but Griffiths played and commentators confirmed he had signed a contract, not sure on the length though. Good to see the injured trio of McBride, Burger and Gomez-Mancini all feature. Amantchi looks a good signing for squad depth.
A very good signing but for a considerable amount if Twitter is to be believed. FGR, Carlisle and York have all spent a fortune this summer. At least one of them is going to be very unhappy by July.
One thing I'd add about the Southend substitution/switch was as an exile tuning in on DAZN it was really interesting/ worrying to seeing Beckwith's reaction to the change. Hogan was practically having to point and position him to exactly where he was supposed to be playing as LWB- which seemed an indicator to me that it hadn't really been covered much in training. I'd be very surprised if we ever see Beckwith playing that role again.
It was a good question and really interesting response for various reasons. As DDB states we had announced Baah signing a Professional deal. Also surprised me to hear Delves say we’d do the same again- pretty sure all tribunals (regardless of fee received) give us 15%(?) of their next sale, which I could’ve been a decent amount.
Can’t help but feel a bit underwhelmed on this one. Presumed Whatmuff was going to be our number 2 and regardless of age, think the gk position now sticks out as the weakest area of our squad. Think it’s obvious we’ve missed out on a few targets but would rather us have been a bit more patient (even if it had meant starting the season with just Whatmuff). Agree with what 442 said about Coleman, O’Donnell etc on not needing an experienced keeper but on paper would say these 2 keepers have less experience on their CVs than any keeper we’ve signed under McNulty. To put it bluntly I think it was probably the area which needed improving most based on last season, and is the only area in the squad where I don’t think we’ve improved!
A large squad of genuine quality and it'll be important for Jim to manage the game time and personalities amongst everyone. Last season, on the playing side I thought we suffered through:
Not being able to break down 'low blocks'- As said before I wouldn't fancy sitting back and defending my penalty box against Mani for 90 minutes! When fit, Mancini should offer genuine quality even if only from the bench.
Injuries to key players at different stages- The squad above shows that not only do we have genuine competition for every position, but stylistically every player seems pretty much a like-for-like replacement. Bird getting injured last season was a great example of us finding a tweak to the system that worked, but then having to try revert back as Kairo wasn't capable of doing what Bird could do.
A lack of mental strength-I think this is probably the hardest to fix in the squad, but we've signed Pritchard, Manni, Levi who have all been promoted from this league and scored in the big games. Petit coming in as a specialist DM should also help tighten us up in the big games/moments
Goalkeeping issues- Obviously we've still only got Whatmuff at the moment but woudn't be surprised if we had been in for Winterbottom and McNicholas amongst others. Given Brad Kelly was never fully trusted in goals, it always meant that a new keeper would take 4-5 games getting up to speed with how we played which was impacted even more by the amount of injuries we recieved there. Expect us to sign a number 1 keeper, but also for Whatmuff to step in for 2/3 games if needed to.
Credit to the board for backing Jim and credit to Jim for addressing the areas for development from last season. It should be an exciting year.
That and playing alongside Bird suited his style of play much more than Kairo. Without checking the stats I can’t imagine there was too many games over the previous 2 seasons where both Rodney and Kairo found the scoresheet in the same game.
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