Having a proper pre-season

Yorkshire Blue · May 16, 2022

Our form until November last 3 seasons

Season

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

F

A

Pts

Ave PPG

2021-22

12

2

8

7

20

8

0.7

2020-21

10

0

2

8

5

22

2

0.2

2019-20

15

1

2

12

16

43

5

0.3

After 1st Nov

2021-22

32

14

8

10

38

41

50

1.56

2020-21

36

10

13

24

33

43

1.19

2019-20

20

3

5

12

23

41

14

0.7

Three shocking starts and three consecutive seasons where we have averaged more than twice as many points per game from November as we did before November.

There are many reasons why we’ve been poor (**waves at Ron**) but even in really poor sides it has been noticeable that we’ve started so slowly. A big part of that IMO has been the inadequacy of the pre-season programmes. For three consecutive summers we’ve appeared undercooked. Players not getting enough minutes under the belt. Players being kept on furlough until the last possible moment. Players not looking fit enough (recruitment an issue here as well as we haven’t been recruiting enough athletes). Players not getting the right type of minutes as the manager more interested in getting a result against some Premier League team’s youth team in a non contact game than preparing the players for non-league tussles.

Last year we had
Great Wakering
W*** H** youth
Harlow (fielded more of an u23 side)
Dartford (fielded more of an u23 side)
Brentford (their youth team?)
Ebbsfleet (fielded more of an u23 side)
Norwich (their youth team?)

Year before our fixtures were
Great Wakering
Hullbridge
Charlton
Canvey (fielded more of an u23 side)
Millwall
Concord

I hope we’ve learnt from the mistakes of the past as our starts have killed us the last 3 seasons. We just can’t afford to go in so undercooked again.

EnglandShrimper · May 16, 2022

The friendly choices recently have been at best diabolical giving us no chance to test ourselves.

Please Kev and co give us some decent games to test ourselves.

Murkey_Mouse · May 16, 2022

Needs at least 6 games for first x1, plus 6 for our B side Mixed with under 18 side, to give them all an test and get their fitness high and they will be peak match fitness before we start our first games.

Thundersley Blue · May 16, 2022

Pre season will be organised and I can't think for one minute that the players won't be ready from minute one of the new season. The management team will do what they think is right.

Massimo Giovanni · May 16, 2022

It isn't rocket science, having a soft few weeks jogging about isn't prep for a marathon anymore than kicking a ball for 2 hours a day and jogging on the beach, and a few low key knock about friendlies is for a professional football club.

Yorkshire Blue · May 16, 2022

EnglandShrimper said:
The friendly choices recently have been at best diabolical giving us no chance to test ourselves.

Please Kev and co give us some decent games to test ourselves.

Dartford and Ebbsfleet would have been really good tests. They finished 3rd and 4th in NL South this season.

But for some unfathomable reason we played the u23s instead of the firsts :Unsure:

I’d suggest the likes of Concord, Braintree, Chelmsford, Canvey, Aveley and Bowers would all be a suitable standard. Add in say Great Wakering and Hullbridge as the first two which are for fitness only and Gillingham and Milllwall as some league opposition at home.

Kettering should be a decent test. They finished two points out of the play-offs.

Ideally we play lower opposition as there are likely to be a lot of games where we dominate possession and have to break down opponents who’d take a draw. Add in them having a bit more motivation and it’s a far better test than having W*** H** or Norwich’s academy sides run rings around us.