Pre-season lack of goals !!

[Rovin Reporter]

I would have thought those players wanting to impress particularly up front, would have have filled there size 10s  with the opposition we had the last 3 games , but what do i know \"it's about performance \" says O'Kelly  .. well i beg to differ,  after last seasons drought i think Mr Sharp ,Vine and  ALL the rest should have been making a statement to help sell our poor season tickets and not just prancing around looking lean and fit and earn what they get paid to do , and score goals. I have watched 2 pre-seaon matches and it was like they did not matter a jot , why charge the punters to watch a practise match when we should be watching exhibition football against teams with such poor quality players .If you are wanting to see what a trialist can do surely hitting the bag of the net part of the end result ,never mind the movement off the ball  . I get fed up with looking for answers  from performances against this type of opposition, i know we need to get up st speed a bit at a time , in which case let the fans in on the deal and we may not expect too much in advance. .  We conceded  far to easily last season , so our deffence was my first thought , so to only conciede 1 in the 3 is a step in the right direction , but come on 4 goals against Armthorpe Barrow and Mansfield ... whats that about !!

[Dr Fundlekrotch]

I'm confused.  You clearly state that our attack is not up to the job and accuse Sharp, Vine et al of not being interested in doing their job.  But on the other points, are you saying that the defence is inadequate or that the club picked the wrong friendlies?

[Kenny_Senior]

Who will really remember a pointless game at Barrow or a tepid affair at Mansfield come the middle of the winter when we're half way through a league campaign.

I agree our defence is shit, but it's the league games that are important. Not silly pre-season friendlies that are utterly meaningless. Besides, didn't we once score 9 against Rosso Main in a friendly and then only manage 9 league goals up until Christmas?

[DonnyOsmond]

Who will really remember a pointless game at Barrow or a tepid affair at Mansfield come the middle of the winter when we're half way through a league campaign.

I agree our defence is shit, but it's the league games that are important. Not silly pre-season friendlies that are utterly meaningless. Besides, didn't we once score 9 against Rosso Main in a friendly and then only manage 9 league goals up until Christmas?

Agreed. These are just about gelling as a team, fitness and for SOD to have a look at new methods and stuff. Results don't matter. I'd much rather we had a poor pre-season and a good season then a good pre-season and ending up being relegated.

[stockyboy]

It's all about getting the players to gel together, get fit and strong. You don't expect them to be banging goals in if the players aren't used to each other or fully fit.

[Rovin Reporter]

Who will really remember a pointless game at Barrow or a tepid affair at Mansfield come the middle of the winter when we're half way through a league campaign.

I agree our defence is shit, but it's the league games that are important. Not silly pre-season friendlies that are utterly meaningless. Besides, didn't we once score 9 against Rosso Main in a friendly and then only manage 9 league goals up until Christmas?

Agreed. These are just about gelling as a team, fitness and for SOD to have a look at new methods and stuff. Results don't matter. I'd much rather we had a poor pre-season and a good season then a good pre-season and ending up being relegated.

I would like to know BEFORE the season started that these players get used to scoring NOT hitting the row z with ease.

[MachoMadness]

Haven't we been playing with a boatload of trialists? FFS I read a tweet from John Oster where he couldn't even remember some of their names. They're not gelling properly yet (how could they?) and these early friendlies against the smaller clubs are to put some trialists in the team to see who can handle a competitive environment.

Billy isn't going to forget how to score just because he couldn't find the net in half an hour against Pisswiddle Village FC.

[jonnydog]

In which case we someone should make sure the pen is full of ink so we can sign as a matter of urgency, then it will give the team a couple of run outs as a unit.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I don't think you need evidence that Rowan Vine can score goals. You need evidence of what he can do when he's not scoring goals, whether his body is up to the rigours of the Championship, whether he can add value to the team with hold up and link play.

On the brief snippett I saw of him at Barrow, he can certainly hold the ball up and slip a pass through. No doubt SOD will have assessed his mental attitude as with McDonald and Rachid..the latter being more important with being in a strange country, not being able to speak the language..it could be a very lonely place and homesickness could creep in.

let's not forget, no player has played more than 45 mins yet, so we're bound to get fitter and slicker and the goals will come.

[Jonathan]

Can't understand why anyone would complain about a friendly being a poor spectacle, you can easliy make the choice to simply not go, especially with them all being away from home meaning we get nothing from ticket sales!

Personally I'm not bothering with any of them, I can't stand non-competitive football, it's nothing like the same as the real thing.

[Lewis Guys Dentist]

Oh well no big deal, surely?