Gloversblog (Page 25)

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Five Conclusions, Gloversblog

Former Yeovil Town FC media officer, Alex O’Loughlin, was summarising for BBC Somerset at Eastleigh yesterday evening. Here are his conclusions from the 1-1 draw in Hampshire.

We don’t look like scoring. There’s a general consensus surrounding football that as long as you’re creating chances, results will eventually come and concern can fall by the wayside. I, however, remain concerned. The goal last night came from a glaring error from Eastleigh goalkeeper Joe McDonnell (although credit must go to Malachi Linton for being alert and Sam Pearson for a subsequent smart finish), but the keeper didn’t even have an opportunity to atone for his mistake. Unless the drizzly haze at the Silverlake Stadium played tricks on my eyes, I can’t recall another meaningful attempt on goal. That’s a worry, especially when Linton, Pearson, Charlie Wakefield, Lawson D’Ath and Alex Fisher were all on the pitch at some point.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The curious case of Charlie Wakefield. Having been crowned ‘the best on earth’ following a scintillating first season at Huish Park, it’s just not happening for Chaz at the moment. Understandably subdued when deployed as a wing-back, he didn’t get into the game in an attacking sense at all at Eastleigh – no sight of the lung-busting runs or weaving his way to the byline before picking out someone in the middle. Credit, though, must be awarded for a tenacious defensive display. Charlie continually tracked back to double up with Morgan Williams and his effort can’t be questioned. I just hope we can find a system and tactics that gets the best out of him. ‘A silky winger, is just what we need’.

Alfie Pond who? I’m aware this has all been a bit doom and gloom, so to chirp us up a little, I think we can look forward to watching more of Owen Bevan this season. After Alfie Pond’s unexpected departure on deadline day it seemed as if the back four was to be left weakened, but if last night is anything to go by, Bevan has firmly grasped one of the centre back spots. Brave, commanding in the air, quick on the turn and with a bit of s***housery that we all enjoy watching, the Bournemouth loanee stood out on a disappointing night. Without trying to over-hype the young lad, it was Steven Caulker-esque how he slotted straight in and looked a cut above the rest.

A point on the road is never to be sniffed at, but it’s only a good point if we win on Saturday. Despite the odds being stacked heavily in Chesterfield’s favour at the weekend, the lads need to produce a performance that ends in victory – the Wrexham display (although a draw) should give us some form of hope. In an ideal world, the Spireites are dispatched and we have four points from a possible six – happy days. The alternatives are either two points or, worse still, one point from a possible six and, quite possibly, a drop into the relegation zone. Gulp.

Marcus Stewart celebrates his 87th minute goal in the League One play-off semi-final at Nottingham Forest in May 2007. Picture courtesy of Len Copland – www.lencoplandphotography.blogspot.com.

Some things are bigger than football, and seeing Marcus Stewart in the dugout was a heart-warming moment. The outpouring of support from all corners of the footballing world following the announcement of his diagnosis with Motor Neurone Disease highlights just how well-respected Marcus is, both as a footballer who was capable of mesmerising brilliance, and, more importantly, as a wonderful human being. It was great to see the passion that Marcus adds on the touchline and as a Glovers family, we’ll be behind him every step of the way.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Five Conclusions, Gloversblog

Yeovil fell to a dismal 1-0 loss at the hands of York City at Huish Park yesterday. Here’s how Ian saw it from the press box.

We didn’t compete in the midfield battle. For a lot of the match it felt like we were playing with seven at the back and three up front. The gap between the midfield was so large that it was no wonder we resorted to playing it long from back to front and exposing our deficiencies. York City’s centre midfield were finding pockets of space (much like Dagenham’s did last weekend) and kept possession effectively. I can’t recall Sam Perry or Lawson D’Ath grabbing the game or getting us a decent few minutes of possession once. We missed Matt Worthington in their for sure, but our focus on recruiting attack-minded players and centre-backs has left us short in centre midfield.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

I think it’s time to try something different tactically. The 3-5-2 worked well against Wrexham and was effective in holding firm against Dagenham but we really didn’t look comfortable with it at all yesterday. Alex Fisher isn’t the kind of striker who’s going to hold up the ball and bring others into it. Charlie Wakefield isn’t a wingback and, although I like Josh Staunton at centre back, yesterday wasn’t his greatest performance. I would have liked to have seen him brought forward into a deep midfield role yesterday to help us compete in those areas and switch to a back four. We tried to build up from the back, but it just didn’t happen. If we conceded the ball cheaply once, we did it a thousand times. Max Hunt and Ben Richards-Everton struggled to get us moving forward but they weren’t helped by their teammates offering to get the ball from them and had to resort to lumping it down the channels forcing our strikers to feed off scraps.

We looked tired. That was one of the managers observations yesterday adding that he’d review what they did in the week following the Bank Holiday double header, suggesting the preparation hadn’t been right for yesterday. We didn’t keep the ball, we weren’t offering to get take it from each other, we felt overrun on numerous occasions and we didn’t play like a team. Maybe we missed the legs of Matt Worthington in midfield, but it felt like most weren’t at the races at all yesterday. That fatigue led to poor decision making, a lack of willing runners and no execution of the manager’s plan. We can’t criticise these players for not looking fit, because we know they are, but yesterday something was off. 

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Credit has to go to York City, they played like a team that’s been at this level for a while. The Minstermen looked comfortable on the ball and didn’t give us a look-in in the second half. Lenell John-Lewis gave a complete strikers performance, winning aerial duels, getting into dangerous spaces in the box and causing our three centre backs problems all afternoon. John-Lewis was thwarted from the spot by Grant Smith, but he deserved his deflected winner. The pressed our defence and goalkeeper when the time was right and were really well organised. But for a couple of saves from their keeper, they rarely felt stretched by our attacking play.

We said last week had to be the low point of the season, and now THIS has to be the low point of the season. Boos rang out at Huish Park yesterday following the final whistle, whether you agree with that or not, the performance was straight out of the Darren Way-era so you could understand the frustration in the stands. It has to be an off-day. Although there’s more certainty off-the-pitch this season than last, the clouds from the climax of last season are still there and it feels like they’re gathering quickly again. People won’t forget about the talk of plans for new investment and concrete frameworks from April and here we are five months later with one additional director. If there are repeats of yesterday, the pressure will be on the owner again.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Five Conclusions, Gloversblog

A goalless draw away at a table-topping Wealdstone could be a positive result on the face of it, especially after picking up a win at home just 48 hours earlier.

But, whether it was from manager Chris Hargreaves or his players, the mood in the Yeovil Town camp at the end of Bank Holiday Monday was one of frustration,

We forced Dave to Rule 2 (Gloverscast Rule 2: Always sleep on it before judging a result) it, and here are his conclusions….

We have to credit our opponents. I’ll get to us in a minute, I promise, but I have to start by giving credit to Wealdstone. There was a mood of celebration around Grosvenor Vale at kick-off with the Stones top of the league, so going a man down after just nine minutes would not have featured in their plans, I’m sure. That said, they looked organised in those first nine minutes and in the 81 that followed, they had a plan and they stuck to it. And, no, this conclusion was not in the original five – but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been!

The answer can’t always be Lawson. From the ninth minute, the opportunity was there for us to play a bit of HargBall (yes, I now accept that as its name), play it quickly, switch wings and frankly just have a go at our ten man opponents. Instead, we seemed to methodically passing it across midfield, the game was crying out for someone to grab the ball and do something. It’s too easy to say “well, if Lawson D’Ath had been there“, that simply cannot be the answer to everything – and, no, Sam Pearson can’t be the answer to everything either! There were players out there who can do more and should have done more. Even when Charlie Wakefield came on at half-time there didn’t seem to be an urgency for him to get at the Wealdstone defence enough.

I feel for Fish at getting hooked. I’ve been critical of Alex Fisher’s impact on the times I’ve seen him this season, but I felt he was impacting it more than many of his team-mates at Wealdstone. There was a look of disbelief on his face when he saw his number came up to be replaced by Jake Scrimshaw in the 72nd minute which suggests he felt he had more to give and. I know hindsight vision is 20:20, but letting him take the penalty would have been something more he could have given. As for Malachi Linton, it was not his day. After 68 anonymous minutes, it was brave of him to step up to take the penalty. It’s important he recalls the same mentality he did after missing a chance against Wrexham and the scoring a worldie. Channel that frustration, Mal, there’s a good player there.

We can’t be too nice about all this. I listened to Chris Hargreaves’ post-match interview (twice, in fact) and I hope I am reading between the lines here. “What I’ve said in the changing rooms will remain the changing rooms” and there had been “a few words” exchanged between players. I’m pleased to hear that. There’s always a lot of talk about ‘commitment’ and ‘giving everything’ which is well-placed and well-deserved, but if we’re going to improve on last season (which is surely the minimum) then we can’t be too nice about performances like this. With the best part of 650 appearances to his name, I’m sure the manager knows what needs to be said.

We’ve still got September. I’ve checked the Green Day lyrics and we don’t need to wake up until September ends.  It is still half-a-dozen games in to the season and we’ve still not lost more than we have lost, but they don’t get any easier. York City at home and then Woking and Eastleigh away (both of whom have started the season well) and then the small matter of Chesterfield and Boreham Wood at Huish Park. Not easy games to get the show on the road, but that’s what we’re going to have to do.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Five Conclusions, Latest Yeovil Town News

The first win is on the board for Chris Hargreaves. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t convincing, but who cares?! They all count. Here are Ian’s conclusions from yesterday’s 1-0 win.

We showed that we’ve got defensive resilience. Chris Hargreaves made some changes bringing in Alfie Pond and Ben Richards-Everton and it worked. The second half was an exercise in attack versus defence and marshalled by the impressive Josh Staunton, the Glovers kept free-flowing Dagenham at bay. They defended resolutely against a barrage of of corners. It was talked about in the build up to the game about the importance of seeing matches out and the players delivered for the manager, keeping a clean sheet and getting that all important first three points!

Image courtesy of Mike Kunz

 

It was a captain’s performance from Josh Staunton. With Alfie Pond making his debut, and Ben Richards-Everton returning from injury after three matches out, all eyes were on Josh Staunton to be the rock at the back. His performance was probably the best of the season so far. He saw the danger that Josh Walker was causing in the first half and took it upon himself to make sure Walker wasn’t allowed to do it in the second half. When the Glovers had to defend successive corners, Staunton was in the thick of things, putting his body on the line ensuring that Dagenham didn’t get an equaliser.

We’ve got a player in Alfie Pond. There’s a long way to go in Alfie Pond’s career, and as an 18-year-old he will have bad games at some point, but yesterday he looked the part. He had an early duel against one of the League’s best strikers in Paul McCallum which set the tone for his day. He was calm in possession of the ball, won his battles in the air and looked more than ready for the rigours of the National League. Having kept a clean sheet with Max Hunt dropped and Morgan Williams at wingback, there is plenty of competition for places at Huish Park at the moment.

Alfie Pond. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.


We seemed to show a lack of urgency at times. I’m not sure if it was our defensive focus, but we certainly sacrificed some of the Harg-Ball in favour of being secure. Before we took the lead through Jamie Reckord, there were groans at the lack of urgency and unwillingness to play forward, but our patience paid off and we got what turned out to be the winner. But in the second half, when we were really under pressure, I felt like we never got going and when we did have the ball we took our time to move it forward. It paid off in the end and we got the win but it would have been a little more comfortable…wouldn’t it?

It’s time to push on. We’ve got the first win in the bank now, on Friday we secured two new signings and we’re at a stage where we’ve got genuine depth and competition in each position. We travel to Wealdstone tomorrow and welcome York to Huish Park this coming Saturday and if we’re going to be a side that flirts with the playoffs, we should be getting six-points from those two games. We’ll have to deal with the absences of Charlie Wakefield, Sam Pearson and possibly Lawson D’Ath, but as we showed today we’ve got options. Hopefully we can get on a bit of run, build some confidence and some convincing victories on the way.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Five Conclusions, Gloversblog

Urgh.

Another near miss, three points snatched away from the Yeovil Town right at the death as Altrincham pegged the Glovers back twice to grab a 2-2 draw.

Our man Ben was in the Press box for BBC Somerset at Moss Lane and here are his conclusions from a frustrating afternoon in the North West.

Altrincham Away ? Ben Barrett

Oh, what might have been.

It wasn’t quite as free flowing as the game against Barnet but HargreavesBall was still the order of the day for the Yeovil Town.

The switch to a 4-4-2 from the off had me thinking we might change our style, but that wasn’t the case, we kept it simple, on the floor and tried to still use our threats from wide angles to creat chances.

Chiori Johnson added a bit more bite to the midfield, the former Torquay man isn’t afraid to put a tackle in, whilst Lawson D’Ath added a calmness to the centre of the park. With Altrincham dominating possession in a way Barnet did not on them previous Tuesday night, he helped utilise what we did see of the ball.

This is our style of play, win, lose or draw, home or away.

Lawson D’Ath. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking of D’Ath. Jeez, we’ve got a classy footballer on our hands.

It’s nothing we haven’t said 100 times before, but a fit and firing Lawson D’Ath is too good for the National League. He can do it all, run with the ball, spray passes, tackle, block, get forward, defend the whole nine yards.

The point here is, how do you now manage a player who is just so influential? His first 89 minutes of the season, with two games in three days at the back end of the week on the horizon and a history of injuries that says you cannot push him too far.

It’s just as important to know when to (when we can afford to) leave him out as it is, to know when to play him.

Charlie Wakefield. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Something was up with Charlie Wakefield.

I spent the majority of the second half trying to figure out what wasn’t quite clicking with Charlie Wakefield.

He looked… a bit sad… like he needed a hug, he got one from Lawson D’Ath at one point.

A couple of times the ball slipped under his foot and out of play, a couple of crosses and shots weren’t at his usual standard and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.

With the team now Tom Knowles-less it does feel like a lot more eyes are looking at Wakefield to be the star man (pun fully intended) and as he adapts to a new style and new role when playing wing back, the general consensus is that he’s doing just fine.

I hope he’s okay and just had one of those days, we’ve all been there.

Max Hunt vs Bournemouth

It’s time for us to talk about attacking set pieces.

I feel that it’s not been a huge strength of ours over the last couple seasons and for me, it stood out against Altrincham.

Only Notts County have had more possession this season than Alty, which means when you get the ball and the chance to get it in the box, you cannot waste it.

Sadly, we did on a few occasions, and on the times we did get a ball into the right areas, I wasn’t ever totally convinced much would come of it.

Both Josh Staunton and Max Hunt did connect with a header each from a dead ball situation, but both lacked the direction and/or power and it might be an area we have to look at improving.

There will be plenty of times this season where we give up the lion’s share of possession and I’d like us to look more dominant.

I guess we have to end with the new cult hero don’t we?

Gime Toure made a wonderful little cameo from the bench, got his goal of course, but added so much more.

He was trying to impose a little bit of game management (something we lacked after the clock ticked past 90 mins), he was trying to be clever, to buy a free kick, to slow the game down whilst also not being afraid to get on the ball and play – he and Jamie Reckord worked really well together a couple times on the left.

We’re nowhere near seeing the fittest version of Toure and that might be a while off, and the one thing we’ve been told is that there’s inconsistencies to his performances, but he looks bang up for it at the moment and he will provide an alternative to the Fish ‘n’ Mal combo which has started brightly.

All in all, it was so close, but so far from that elusive first win of the season.

Urgh.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Five Conclusions, Gloversblog

Football can be cruel mistress.

Laurie Walker had a night to remember at Huish Park as the Barnet ‘keeper single handedly kept his side in the game long enough to allow for a couple of late suckerpunches as Barnet took a 2-1 win from Huish Park.

Here’s Ben’s five conclusions, he’s slept on it and it hasn’t really helped.

If that game was played out on Football Manager or FIFA 23, you’d rage quit, without saving your progress, throw the controller at the wall and promise you’d never play the game again ever… until next week.

I cannot truly explain just how dominant Yeovil were for 98% of the game across 98% of the pitch.

Some of the football we played, particularly in and around the midfield was genuinely brilliant. Quick, one-touch, confident football  the likes of which we haven’t seen in quite a while.

But… and you knew this was coming.

None of that matters if you don’t put the ball in the onion bag.

I’m not going to have a go at the three chances which led to genuinely brilliant saves from the Barnet ‘keeper, that can happen.

But there were occasions where we’d worked a position but couldn’t convert, Linton fired a shot down the keeper’s throat, Pearson produced a tame effort in the second half when bearing down on the keeper and Fisher did amazingly well to bring a ball down from a free kick only to fire it straight into the waiting arms of the flourescent keeper.

Fine margins, but as the manager spoke about, its time to start being more ruthless… the neanderthalic football fan in me thinks that in some cases that means… just leather the bloody thing.

Sam Pearson

Sam Pearson is the real deal and needs to stay with us beyond his month.

I think the midfield three of Worthington, Perry and Pearson properly excites me.

Perry was right in this game when I felt he went missing in the game against Scunthorpe, Worthy is a new man, he’s the senior man with a licence to get forward – is this the Worthington Dale Gorman was holding back?

But Pearson has all the attributes to go far in the EFL.

Strong, fearless, attacking, needs to add more nous and experience will help some of his decision making but everything he does is exciting, he battled through an injury and some… agricultural opposition to put on. a very good show.

Now, I’ve mentioned him once, but the it was the Ghost of Christmas Past in Dale Gorman who will be the talking point for many.

Yes, he should have been sent off, yes he could of – and arguably tried to – hurt someone, but I wanted to make a wider point.

The contrast of style of play Gorman and Worthington have shows we are very much in a new era of YTFC.

We are no longer the masters of the dark arts, we are no longer trying to worry more about how we rile up the opposition, or trying to slow and break up the game. That’s moved on… quite literally to Barnet.

We’re a football team now.

I’m not saying either is right or wrong, they can both be equally as effective and both as entertaining to watch.

But this is HargreavesBall starting to take shape. The Poop-house has closed for business at Huish Park.

Now, I’d like to break Rule 1 of the Gloverscast (Rule 1. All refs are rubbish at this level, live with it, don’t moan about it).

But I’m not allowed to tell you it might have been the single most petulant, awful, inconsistent, making the game about himself, loves the sound of his own whistle and gives out more cards than your Grandma at Christmas performance from the worst referee I’ve seen at a Yeovil game in some time…. so I won’t tell you any of that. ?

Instead my final conclusion is this…

Getting the first win is gaining importance quickly.

Not because if we don’t win on Saturday we’re suddenly in a relegation battle, because we’re not – I haven’t even invoked the Green Day clause yet (I’ll judge our position when September ends).

But more because the noise will grow, the same negative voices are already starting to make silly comments, and the best way to shut that up is to win a game, even if we don’t play all that well.

I’m genuinely excited by the football this team is trying to play, when we are heavy in possession 3-5-2 is a real asset of ours and I truly believe we have a squad and team to get behind, but then again, I would, wouldn’t I?

See you at Altrincham

? Photos Courtesy of Mike Kunz unless otherwise stated.

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Five Conclusions, Latest Yeovil Town News

The first match under Chris Hargreaves at Huish Park ended with a 1-1 draw with the National League favourites Wrexham. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions (although it could have been more) from a scorching afternoon of football.

Let’s not write off the 3-5-2 just yet. I wondered if we’d see a back four against Wrexham after the terrible first half against Scunthorpe. What do I know though? It was significantly more effective against Wrexham and we we’re on the front-foot with it too. Charlie Wakefield and Jamie Reckord were wingers more often than they were at full-back. Matt Worthington and Sam Perry got early touches on the ball and we used them in the midfield far better than last week. But for the sloppy opener, it felt like things started to click yesterday.

Josh Staunton was imperious in the second half. In the first 45 minutes, Wrexham got a lot of joy. It felt like Ollie Palmer and Paul Mullin were given a bit too much license to dictate. After the half time break, there were a couple of moments where Palmer dropped deep to pick up the ball and Staunton was on top of him immediately to prevent it. He won duels with Mullin in the second half and showed why he’s pivotal in that back three. Based on yesterday, I’d have Staunton at the heart of the defence moving forward.

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Because Matt Worthington stepped up and took charge in midfield. It feels like we say every season is a big season for Worthy, but yesterday was one of the best games I can remember him having in green and white. In a trio of Perry and Sam Pearson, Worthington is the experience. He’s always had experience around him, whether it was Charlie Lee, Jimmy Smith, Staunton or Gorman, Worthington has always been the ‘young’ one. But, yesterday he showed what he can be about. He never stopped running, he never stopped challenging for headers that he was never going to win, he put himself about and (just about) managed to stay out of trouble. Towards the end of the game, he went shoulder to shoulder with Paul Mullin and came out on top with the ball and got a move going nicely, which typified his performance.

Gime Toure could be a fans’ favourite. His first touches of the ball saw him wriggle through three Wrexham players and earn a free kick. His second touches of the ball saw

Gime Toure fires a ball in. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

him drive at the right back and flash a wicked ball across the face of goal that was screaming to be tapped in. He showed moments of skill and a real intention to drive forward. He’s a different type of attacker to anyone else we’ve got at the club and hopefully he’ll build off of that cameo and produce even more.

Malachi Linton can be the star of this team. His first game in front of the Huish Park faithful will be one to remember. A goal as good as any you’ll see at Huish Park, smashed home with frustration after missing a guilt-edged chance moments earlier says a lot about the character of Malachi. Like his teammates, he never stopped chasing, he fought for the team and that effort led to the chance that Howard saved. Last weekend he showed enough to make me optimistic and yesterday I thought the same. He’s off the mark now, let’s see where he goes!

By:
On:
In: Gloversblog, Five Conclusions, Latest Yeovil Town News

Well, we are off and running for the 2022/23 season and the outcome of the opening game wasn’t what any of us were hoping for.

Ben was there for BBC Somerset and has rattled his brain for some thoughts.

Having watched the game against Scunthorpe from the press box at Glanford Park I feel like I could have 10 conclusions and narrowing them down to five key ones isn’t going to be easy.

However, we will have a go.

Firstly. 3-5-2… simply didn’t work.

It’s a thoroughly boring subject to most people if you want to get deep into the nuances of tactics and their pros and cons, at its best, with plenty of the ball and a rock solid spine, 3-5-2 is lovely.

Wing backs flying forward, crosses galore and plenty of extra bodies in wide areas.

At its worst… well, it looked like that first 50-odd minutes.

Two huge holes of space where full backs would normally be gave Liam Feeney and others all the time in the world to create and attack.

It made players like Morgan Williams move out of position and kept Charlie Wakefield far too defensive.

It might be better at home when we have more possession, but it cannot be the go-to set up with that personnel.

However, credit where its due, the change to bring on Pearson and the switch to 442 sparked us into life.

This is something of a double header conclusion actually because I am really excited to see what Pearson brings to this side during his time with us.

Fearless, exciting, quick, direct, strong and powerful. More of that please, he has to start against Wrexham.

The ‘jekyll and hyde’ performance showed just how important the senior players will be.

Staunton probably didn’t have his best game in a midfield that was getting overrun with ease, especially in the first half.

But Smith made big saves, Reckord was outstanding on the left and Fisher was desperately trying to make something happen and grab a moment by the scruff of the neck.

There were shaky moments for Hunt and Richards-Everton, but with time I think they can be a formidable partnership in both boxes.

It was only when I looked at the team sheet and saw a very youthful bench did it really hit home how much we need some significant and senior players in the door

The match was crying out for Lawson D’Ath, how amazing would it have been to bring a senior front man on instead of a young lad who has goals at Warrington Town on his CV and not a lot more. I’m excited by the young lads; Grivosti, Perry, Pearson, Craske, Hulbert etc etc, but we cannot be asking them to save us or win us games.

I’ve got to end on a positive note haven’t I?

What I saw in the first half was a shell shocked, undercooked, rabbit-in-the-headlight side who didn’t know if they were coming or going. But, the last 20 minutes showed me enough that there’s something to build on, to learn from, to be excited about, to get behind.

We did look dangerous and if Alex Fisher’s studs were longer or their keeper doesn’t pull off a couple of good late saves, we would be talking about a point or maybe even three. It’s a big week coming up for a lot of people at Huish Park, that’s for sure.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Gloversblog

We here at the Gloverscast have done the leg work for you and scoured the internet (well, Instagram) for some of the previews and predictions for the upcoming season and here’s what we found.

Four Four Two Magazine
Yeovil Town Prediction – 11th

Ok, solid start, slightly above midtable which seems reasonable.
The magazine’s season preview pull out suggests a “low-key” start to the summer recruitment offers little inspiration towards a more positive outcome.

 

 

Racing Post – Big Season Preview Pull Out
Yeovil Town Prediction – Urm… Not mentioned

We assume this means ‘somewhere in midtable’ as we clearly aren’t in the reckoning for promotion or relegation.

They do suggest, Wrexham will win the league, Torquay will get promoted with them, Dagenham and Woking both also making the top seven.

@NL.HUB on Instagram
Yeovil Town Prediction – 12th

The first of our prediction table has the Glovers finishing slap bang in the middle of the division with Chesterfield (and that man Quigley) winning the league.

Notts County are the side that have going up via the play-offs with Scunthorpe set for the double drop.

 

 

 

 

 

@NLBible1 on Instagram
Yeovil Town Prediction – 19th

Time for anothe 1-24 now and this time, we’re not happy. 19th!? Nineteenth!?

Not sure many will be happy with a relegation scrap that ends that close… but again, Wrexham aren’t winning the league here either.

It’s the end of the road for Dorking, Aldershot, Maidstone and Gateshead.

 

 

 

 

Edward Walker – Podcast Host D3D4Football
Yeovil Town Prediction – 14th

Yet again Wrexham aren’t winning the league, but again, unfortunatley it’s the bottom half of the table for the Glovers…
Another preview where Scunthorpe sit dangerously close to the drop zone.

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Williams (@tomhwilliams23 / @notts_stats on twitter)
Yeovil Town Prediction – 23rd

Ok, now we are getting silly – the full preview can be read HERE

The overall thoughts of the author read “I believe they have one of the weakest squads in the divison” Behave.

I didn’t read the rest of the preview.

 

 

 

There’s probably more out there, so feel free to point them in our direction.

But, as you can see, no-one has a clue what the season will look like at Huish Park, Play-offs, Mid table, and apparently, second-from-bottom are all possibilities…

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Gloversblog
Somerset Premier Cup Winners 2022 ? SomersetFA

We here at the Gloverscast always like to get the views of opposition fans and so we’ve been sliding in the DMs of fellow National League fans for their opinions. We asked them all the same five questions;
Who will win the National League this season?
Who will go up through the play-offs?
Who will finish bottom?
Where will your side finish?
Where will Yeovil finish?

… and here’s what they had to say.

Dagenham & Redbridge – @9Men

Dagenham

Who will win the National League this season?
I would expect Notts County, Solihull and Wrexham to be battling it out. Wrexham are obviously big favourites with the bookies and will not stop spending, but will they have enough heart to go all the way? Solihull for me.
Who will go up through the play-offs?
Probably Notts County.
Who will finish bottom?
There’s plenty of sides in trouble this year, and the gulf between the bottom few and the top few looks as big as ever. I think several of the promoted sides will struggle. Eastleigh could end up bottom – they had a terrible second half of the season and I can’t see much changing.

Where will Dagenham finish?
I think we can improve on last season and squeak into seventh. Relative to the other contenders, I don’t think we’ve done enough to go beyond that.
Where will Yeovil finish?
Sorry to say, I don’t like the look of the summer business done by the Glovers. I’d expect you to remain relatively solid at the back but struggle for goals again. Maybe 14th?

Maidstone United – @JPonComms

Who will win the National League this season?
I think Wrexham will win the league because anything else is going to strongly be considered failure. With the money and expectation around Wrexham it’ll be a tough case to argue otherwise. With signings such as Elliot Lee who has dropped a number of divisions, you can see Wrexham have assembled debatably their strongest team yet especially going forward. However chesterfield will be a close second for me considering the strengthening they’ve done throughout the squad by bringing in players such as Armando Dobra from Ipswich who is by all accounts a fantastic signing.

Who will go up through the play-offs?
Building from the last question, I think Chesterfield will be the team to go up should they not win the title directly. Big squad, big budget, great manager in Paul Cook and topped off with some good signings at the moment. It really boils down to luck, mentality and consistency when considering the playoffs, so it’s anybody’s guess as we saw Chesterfield bail out of the playoffs when it mattered last season.

Who will finish bottom?
Maidenhead United – having lost their number one forward Josh Kelly to Solihull, with nobody coming in to replace him as of writing. It will be tough to score goals considering he scored almost 1/3 of their goals past season. I am a fan of the signing of Eweka as someone with potential but for me the other incomings have not been up to a necessary standard. They could however see someone like Koby Arthur perform very well and create opportunities, but with the loss of a finisher in Kelly that could prove difficult.

Where will Maidstone United finish?
16th – I think Maidstone do have a chance of finishing in vastly different areas of the table this coming season. Generally fans are very much undecided on our prospects with many thinking we will struggle to survive and others backing us for a playoff push. For me, smack bang in the middle of these opinions is where we will finish. The club has lofty ambitions, but as the new boys on the block we have to try and secure survival before regrouping next season and aiming higher. With Joan Luque injured and many of our new signings and wider squad unknown quantities in the national league we may take a little while to get going. However, I think we will become more consistent as the season continues and push up to 16th for a comfortable avoidance of a relegation fight by the end of the season.

Where will Yeovil finish?
17th – A Club who for me should be aiming much higher than their recent finishes. The new boss has come in and will have to implement his style within the squad. As for outgoings, Dale Gorman was someone who I thought could offer something to Yeovil this season despite being somewhat underwhelming last year, he has some quality for sure but has since departed. Furthermore the loss of Wilkinson to Woking could prove to be an area of concern, 32 games played last season and his experience going with him will obviously spell some sort of shuffle around at the back. At the end of the day, to move to the upper mid table and playoff spots squad depth is going to be key. As it stands the Yeovil squad isn’t quite big enough and another few additions throughout the squad will benefit them over the next couple weeks. At the moment, 17th for me.

Torquay United – @TORQUAYTALK (Danny Burnell)

Who will win the National League this season?
Anyone other than Wrexham would be a surprise. Must have been embarrassing for them not getting promoted last season.
Who will go up through the play-offs?
Can see a few being in the running. Chesterfield and Notts should be up there. Woking have made some very good signings. The usual suspects like us and Yeovil should be in and around it. I’ll opt for Southend.
Who will finish bottom?
Gateshead. No reason why. It’s miles away.

Where will Torquay finish?
Seventh.
Where will Yeovil finish?
Eighth – pipped to the last play-off place. See answer above.

Woking – @1887Cardinals (Jacob Greenwood)

Who will win the National League this season?
It’s hard to see past Wrexham. However, being such strong favourites can bring its own challenges. Playing Wrexham will be everyone’s cup final this season, whether they like to admit it or not, and that can make it difficult. That said, with limitless amounts of money and an already star-studded squad, my pick would have to be Wrexham.

Who will go up through the play-offs?
Southend started very poorly last year but once they stabilised they looked a decent side. I don’t think they’ll have enough to win the league but I can see them getting in the play-offs. They might be an outsider but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go under the radar and then win promotion.

Who will finish bottom?
I think all the promoted sides will have enough momentum to avoid last place. A lot of the sides that finished in the bottom half last season have improved their squads but someone will have to finish last. I fear for Barnet. Although their fans seem to think they are doing good business in the transfer window, I think they were poor last season and a lot of their signings hint at a relegation fight rather than a play-off one.

Where will Woking finish?
This season is a fresh start for Woking with only a few players being kept on from last season. At the time of writing I don’t think we’ve replaced the goals scored by Kretzschmar, Effiong and Campbell, and it is for that reason I think we will struggle to meet expectations. I predict we’ll finish 10th.

Where will Yeovil finish?
I can see a similar outcome to last season, maybe a couple of places lower. So I will say 13th.

Wrexham – @RobRyanRed

Who will win the National League this season?
Got to say Wrexham, haven’t we? Another summer which has brought investment and Phil Parkinson has upgraded on those he let go in a bid to provide the squad depth that was missing at the back end of last season. A full season of Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer promises to bring goals, goals, goals (we hope, anyway). Trying to be optimistic here…

Who will go up through the play-offs?
Let’s go with Solihull Moors. They were mightily unlucky to miss out last season and in keeping Joe Sbarra and Andy Dallas, plus making some very clever signings such as Josh Kelly from Maidenhead, they will be a force to be reckoned with again in 2022-23. Few teams go to Solihull and get much out of them and we expect that to continue. Likely to be run close by Chesterfield in the PO race

Who will finish bottom?
Bottom is always a prediction that can bite us – and it was easy last season going with Dover. We’ll go with Maidstone United. Hakan Hayrettin’s side are going to come up against sides – like us – that have huge budgets for this level and we cannot see them going into many match days as favourites to pick up the points. This is almost certain to bite us on the backside when they come to the Racecourse.

Where will Wrexham finish?
Like other fans answering these 1 and 4 might tally. We’ve been in this league for so long now it seems a tad ridiculous to keep predicting we’ll win it but there’s nothing like blind optimism in pre-season. With the level of investment and the continuity in this squad, surely to god this is it?

Where will Yeovil finish?
Yeovil could finish anywhere from the play-offs to 18th and we wouldn’t be shocked. Jamie Reckord is an interesting pick-up for you. Solid but unspectacular. Looking at Chesterfield, Notts County, Solihull, Wrexham and others like Dagenham, think a play-off position May be a stretch. We’ll go 10th.

Altrincham – @Golfroadgoals

1.National League Winners

I think this year will be FC Halifax Town, the transfer business they’ve done this summer has been amazing.

2.Playoff winners

For me has to be Chesterfield, they have a great attacking line and just seem to me as likely candidates for playoff winners or potentially Bromley for me due to their FA trophy triumph last season.

3. Who will finish bottom?

Maidenhead, for me they’ve struggled in the last couple of seasons and just seem likely to finish bottom or Gateshead maybe due to loosing some key players this summer.

4.Where will Altrincham finish?

With the signings we have made so far especially the return of Jordan Hulme and James Jones I think we will finish anywhere between 12th and 9th, bringing in a number of attacking and defensive signings this summer due to some high profile departures but anywhere mid table for me this season it’s anyone’s season!

5. Where will Yeovil finish?

In my opinion Yeovil will finish 6th to 8th, towards the bottom end of the playoffs. I reckon this season Yeovil will do very well after perhaps not living up to expectations in previous seasons.

FC Halifax Town – @LewisRWalsh

Josh Staunton & Matt Warburton
Pic Mike Kunz

1.Who wins the national league?
I think right now it’s hard to look past Wrexham as this year’s champions to be honest. Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer proved that they’re easily the best strike partnership in this league from January onwards last season (and so they should be with the money that Wrexham have spent to get both of them) – and now that they’ve added Elliot Lee into the mix, it’s going to take something special to stop them this season.

2.Who goes up via the playoffs?
There’s definitely a lot of teams that you could make solid cases for in terms of who will go up via the playoffs, but for me Notts County will be the ones to do it. Macauley Langstaff and Cedwyn Scott proved to be absolutely lethal up top together for Gateshead last season, so to bring them in together is certainly a shrewd bit of business. There’ll be questions asked of whether they can handle the step up in quality, but I back them to do it – and that bit of firepower will get them up via the playoffs in my opinion.

3.Who finishes bottom?

This is a bit of hard one to predict as I don’t particularly feel that there’s one side that stands out as clear favourites to finish bottom – it could well be the strongest the league has been in years in terms of the quality at both ends of the table. If I were to guess though, then I’d say Gateshead, purely because I don’t know how they’ll manage without the goals of Macauley Langstaff and Cedwyn Scott.

4.Where will Halifax finish?

This pre-season has seen us undergo our biggest rebuild job yet, as on top of losing key players such as Billy Waters, Kieran Green, Niall Maher, Tyrell Warren and Tom Bradbury, we’ve also lost our manager, Pete Wild to Barrow. Further key losses could follow, as centre back Jesse Debrah is heavily linked with a move to Huddersfield, whilst there is also a level of interest in Kian Spence. Our new manager, Chris Millington (who was previously Wild’s assistant) has done a decent job of replacing our outgoing players so far, bringing in the likes of Festus Arthur, Jordan Keane and Mani Dieseruvwe, but I have a feeling that this might just be one rebuild too far – there’s only so many times that you can sign an entirely new squad and have it pay off. With that in mind, I don’t think we’ll be troubling the playoffs as we have been doing in the last couple of seasons, so I’ll put us down as finishing 11th.

5.Where will Yeovil finish?

From the outside looking in, I think the aim of this season needs to be stability for Yeovil. Ownership problems are never easy to navigate and until those can be resolved, the club needs to be as stable as possible in order to make the process of ironing out those issues as smooth as possible, whether that be the current owner coming to his senses and running a club as it should be run or whether a potential buyer is found. The signings so far appear to be solid, if unspectacular, which is probably what’s needed during that stabilising process. With that being the case, I would say Yeovil will finish 14th this season.

Chesterfield – @Tom_Atkins107

Warm up at Chesterfield ? Ben Barrett

1) Who wins the League? Chesterfield of course
2) Who wins the play-offs? probably Solihull, they’re not going anywhere from last year and have recruited impressively
3) Who finishes bottom? Dorking. Think it may be too much of a step up
4) Where will Chesterfield finish? you already asked me this
5) Where will Yeovil finish? 15th. I think you guys need a new era, something to pick the club back off the recent slump. I’m not sure you’ve had that just yet but hopefully it happens sooner rather than later

 

Notts County – Gerrit Forward (Paul Smith)

Who wins the National League?
Wrexham. It’s an obvious choice but there’s a reason for that. It’s all set up for them to run away with it, given the resources available to them and the signings they’ve made. It would be a huge failure even to finish second and, with a passionate backing from their many season ticket holders, I think they’ll have far too much this year and will have learned some lessons from last season’s failure.

Who goes up via the playoffs?
I think the usual suspects of the other well-backed and supported teams, such as Chesterfield, Notts County and Southend, will be in and amongst it again. But I think one of the so-called smaller clubs will pull it off as they will feel the pressure less in the cauldron that is playoff football. My candidates are Woking, Solihull Moors and Bromley but I’ll stick my neck out for a the latter to sneak into seventh and make it through, against the odds. They are horrible to play against – especially at home – and have lots of firepower.

Who finishes bottom?
I think the likes of Eastleigh and Aldershot should be nervously looking over their shoulder and will be wondering how the promoted clubs take to the higher level. But, it’s probable at least one of them will struggle with the transition so I’ll go with Dorking Wanderers.

Where will Notts County finish?
I’m confident of the playoffs – again. And much will depend on how high we can place in terms of our chances of overall success. Probably only a home semi-final gives us a sniff, given our away record over the time we’ve been at this level. Our chances of getting second or third are largely dictated by two things – how we replace Cal Roberts, and keeping Ruben Rodrigues being one. And the highly thought of new talent from National League North, including Macaulay Langstaff and Cedwyn Scott, carrying on where they left off at that level being the second thing. If both of those come off for us we could be in business.

Where will Yeovil finish?
I’ll be honest, I thought it was a worry for Glovers fans to see their manager leave for Woking. Having seen Woking’s business this summer though, it was clearly a financial move from him and he is being backed more you’d think with the Cards in terms of bringing players in. Given the money being spent by plenty of teams again, though, it’s hard to picture Yeovil among the frontrunners. Chris Hargreaves is an interesting appointment and I think, given his background, Yeovil will be reliant on unearthing some gems and younger talent to make a push for the playoffs. I think you’ll have enough for the top half.

Solihull Moors – Bandwagon Fanzine – @BandwagonZine

1) who wins the National League
Are we allowed to say Wrexham? There are a lot of strong sides crammed in the bottleneck again, but let’s say Wrexham just because the Wrexham circus is getting boring now and it would be better to inflict in on League 2.

2) who goes up via the play offs?
Again, a lot of strong candidates. We have made some shrewd transfer business and added to our existing quality, so if we can show the same consistency as through 2022 so far, who knows? There will be a few BELTs (Yeovil don’t as a BELT as you seem to accept you are now rubbish again) challenging in amongst it. Expect Chesterfield and Notts to be strong again.

3) who finishes bottom?
Gateshead have had a shocker of a summer considering they won the National League North at a canter. Not sure why people seem to fancy Maidstone to avoid the drop so much too.

4) Where will Solihull finish?
Playoffs.

5) Where will Yeovil finish?
Ask the magic 8 ball; it’s probably been paying more attention to your summer transfer business and preparations…