Question National League this season: the odds and your favourites?

[united we stand]

my

Lost by one goal. Not lost 1-0. In our 15 defeats we conceded two or more in all but three of them.

Sorry I meant by one goal, my point still stands

 

[united we stand]

I not saying scoring wasn't problem or can't be improved. I would love to see another 15/20 scored this season. But it still doesn't make winning mentality.

I meant games lost by the odd goal not just 1-0. The first was at Dorking after being 1-0 up and comfortable until we gifted them a goal. Same thing on the last day of the season v Rochdale.
We lost home and away to Bromley and Barnet all by the odd goal. Fylde at home etc.

Out of that list we should have got something in every game. My point is we can't lose home and away to Barnet and Oldham this season if we want promotion.

Bromley scored 73 and got promotion. Flyde 74 and finished 18th. Teams who win games or at least draw games, win things. ......No matter how many posts there are about 20+ season strikers, it never has and never will be just about goals scored.

Ok, your first six words agree with me so I will stop there

 

[Chrisb]

Feel like Sutton have recruited well, and if a relegated team can be classed as dark horses, they’d be my tip.

One or two of their summer signings appeared on our whiteboard.

I have a mate who is a STH at Sutton and he was saying they have retained hardly any of last year's squad - he went to a friendly and only recognised about 3 players.

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

Shrimpers will end the season in 3rd place.

 

[Hadleigh-shrimper]

ATM top 7 if we get 3/4 more good additions won by Xmas

 

[stewart]

our season depends on the calibre of playmaker we can signplus another Striker or two Kabongo would be nice as would mcCallum ,my thoughts are playoffs trhen who knows .

 

[Piledriver]

The key is improving our tally against the other top sides , I think ( could be wrong ) we did much better last season than previous years .
But then also avoiding a prolonged period of poor form ,Jan/Feb last season and March the season before, obviously all credit to what was achieved under very difficult circumstances .
Can't see 1 or 2 teams running away with it this season so we could be in the pack vying for top spot.

 

[Kwright1988]

We are way short on squad size at present to be going up unfortunately.
Only 2 players in and 4/5 gone from last season desperately need a few more in to really have a decent crack at the title

 

[Jack_23]

Need at least 3/4 signings with 8 subs allowed to be named and be able to make 5 subs a game , depth is more important than last year . Either way I think we will be well up there with how good our current squad is

 

[BoyWonder2]

Need at least 3/4 signings with 8 subs allowed to be named and be able to make 5 subs a game , depth is more important than last year . Either way I think we will be well up there with how good our current squad is

7 subs.

Don’t forget, there were times we only had 1 sub last season and we did okay.

I can still see times this coming season when we don’t name a full bench. It’s such an unnecessary expense, especially away from home on those long journeys do the likes of Hartlepool and Gateshead.

It’s even more nonsense that you can bring on 5 subs, that’s laughable.

 

[Jack_23]

7 subs.

Don’t forget, there were times we only had 1 sub last season and we did okay.

I can still see times this coming season when we don’t name a full bench. It’s such an unnecessary expense, especially away from home on those long journeys do the likes of Hartlepool and Gateshead.

It’s even more nonsense that you can bring on 5 subs, that’s laughable.

Pretty sure atm as well in the national league you’ll be able to make them 5 subs in as many intervals as you want. Instead of the 3 in efl and premier league

 

[Flinty]

Great, that means we will see teams bringing them on in 86, 87, 88, 89 and 90th minutes if winning a tight game !

 

[Thundersley Blue]

The key is improving our tally against the other top sides , I think ( could be wrong ) we did much better last season than previous years .
But then also avoiding a prolonged period of poor form ,Jan/Feb last season and March the season before, obviously all credit to what was achieved under very difficult circumstances .
Can't see 1 or 2 teams running away with it this season so we could be in the pack vying for top spot.

There were many good reasons why we had a long period of poor results. Harry Cardwell's injury around Christmas time and beyond. Having to rely on a combination of Sandat, Kabongola and Vilhete for goals at that time. That coincided with playing Barnet twice and Bromley. Given reasonable squad depth this season, I would say any poor run of results will be short lived.

 

[Jmayhew32]

our season depends on the calibre of playmaker we can signplus another Striker or two Kabongo would be nice as would mcCallum ,my thoughts are playoffs trhen who knows .

We absolutely do not need another two strikers. If we can sign Tshimanga, we will have three proven goalscorers at this level, plus Waldron who I think will make the step up this year. We simply do not have the room to keep 5 top quality strikers happy in this squad.

Agree the playmaker though - I think Coker can play that role and he will keep getting better, but we need another dimension to the midfield - it was very static at times last season. We need a Leonard-esque player who make the driving runs, ping it from distance etc...

 

[Rob1920]

You'd think Barnet must be up there but they have brought in a lot of new players at once, doesn't always work. Assume a few must have left as well. Oldham seem to have steadied the ship so again they have to be contenders. The teams just relegated rarely bounce back nowadays, I know it does happen occasionaly (i.e. Grimsby after coming down with us) so I'm not so sure Forest Green & Sutton will be up there. Either way its nice to be going in to a season feeling positive and where there's no obvious outright favourite for once, just a group of maybe 6 or 7 clubs anyone of which could win the league. Plus there's always one or two surprises. Whatever happens you'd have to say anything less than the play-offs for us would be an underachievment.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

We absolutely do not need another two strikers. If we can sign Tshimanga, we will have three proven goalscorers at this level, plus Waldron who I think will make the step up this year. We simply do not have the room to keep 5 top quality strikers happy in this squad.

Agree the playmaker though - I think Coker can play that role and he will keep getting better, but we need another dimension to the midfield - it was very static at times last season. We need a Leonard-esque player who make the driving runs, ping it from distance etc...

We will absolutely use more than 4 forwards this season. It might not be until October or later in the season when we get a loanee in, it might be that we use Jack Wood in that role but it is absolutely a position where you utilise 5 or more players over the course of a season.

It’s a position where you need subs off the bench and those subs will get game time, be it fresh legs to help the pressing game, a different style forward to ask different questions or a change of formation to 3-4-3 if you’re chasing games.

Plus at the moment even if we manage to sign Tshimanga we don’t have a replacement for Cards who can win headers against centre-halves and help relieve pressure.

The only question is do you try and sign that player now and give them time to bed in or wait mid-season and gamble that you’ll get a better quality option then.

 

[IloveShrimp]

Gateshead with an outside chance via playoffs

 

[Holy Joe]

Gateshead with an outside chance via playoffs

Have they sorted out their stadium lease issues?

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

Have they sorted out their stadium lease issues?

Yes.

 

[nick12]

Not interested in anyone else, there is only one team and the future is wonderfully bright we are on our way back