When Tony Craig plays at the back he never shuts up and is always telling team mates about their positioning etc, but I agree with you on the general point, it is like some of the players expect their team mates to be telepathic, because they aren't very vocal are they!! 

@EpsomWanderer I agree the team has always seems a bit quiet to me, compared to other teams.  TC and now Storey are very vocal organisers and Mooro is not short of a word or two but otherwise there seems to be very little chat out there, even from old DW warriors. I can’t recall a peep from Macca for example.  That said, Marc more than makes up for it from the sidelines …

If you look at the game in a vacuum then you can say we played really well and fully deserved to win on the balance of play against an admittedly poor Aldershot side. The problem is that we have played that exact type of game several times already this season and a fair few times last season and it isn't just "bad luck" that we failed to win them. Aldershot didn't really look any different to the Dagenham side that came here a few weeks ago, the only difference being they have one EFL quality player up top in Josh Barrett (who now has 5 goals against us in the past 18 months btw...). We're clearly giving away some silly goals this season but the bigger problem is that we are just not taking our chances. It feels like if we don't score the first goal or don't score early then we rarely go on to win the game. We only have one win after conceding the first goal this season and zero wins in games where we failed to score in the first half.

I think having a smaller squad with our injury history and minefield of a pitch was a risky strategy to begin with but to go in to the season with just 2 strikers when we play a system that involves having 2 strikers on the pitch at all times is a huge mistake. I am a big fan of both Rutherford and Prior and we are lucky to have both of them as they are two of the best strikers in the league but you need more options off the bench in matches and to provide rotation/competition in the squad. Prior, at the age of 36, has played all but 15 mins in the league this season and started all 4 cup games which can't be ideal.

Although it doesn't feel it, we've actually been quite lucky with injuries this season as none of our strikers or wingers have missed any games yet (Muitt was suspended for the first game at Chippenham). I dread to think what would happen if one or two of those picks up even a short term injury considering our only attacking option off the bench this season is a 17 year old with no senior starts...

People mentioned about being "burned" by Murphy last season but let's not forget he scored 10 goals in all comps and the majority of his league goals were very important ones (St Albans home, Tonbridge home, Weymouth away) and crucially, were all off the bench as well. In fact, we only have 1 goal scored by a substitue in the league so far this season - Hebert at Chelmsford last weekend. By this point last season we already had 5 goals from off the bench.

Seems a bit concerning that there is no budget at all for any sort of signing at this stage of the season. By roughly this stage last season we had signed Jack Young, Morgan Williams, Josh Brooking, Theo Alexandrou and Will Randall. The year before, we had signed Dan Pybus, Alex Lankshear, Tom Blair and Charlie Carter. As others have said, it feels like we are one or two attacking additions away from being a seriously good side who could quite comfortably win this league.

We're in our toughest run of games of the season having already played promotion rivals Dagenham and Chelmsford in recent weeks and are about to start a run of 7 games in 21 days against other rivals Ebbsfleet, Torquay, Maidenhead and Farnborough, with Maidstone and Eastbourne to come by the end of November as well. If Charlie Carter is going to be out for a while then we could really struggle in this period without some reinforcements.

On the positive side of things, Annesley featured in both games for Gibraltar this week. He played 45 mins against New Caledonia and 88 mins against a Croatia side featuring the likes of Modric, Gvardiol and Perisic. In fact, Annesley was the highest rated outfileld player for Gibraltar by some distance. It also looks like Gallagher was doing some warm-up work on the pitch before the game on Saturday so you would imagine he might be back this weekend and it sounds like Pybus and McManus are probably only a couple of weeks away now. Was also good to see Josh Taylor back out there on Saturday who put in an excellent performance as well as Brennan Camp getting some minutes.

We find out our FA Trophy opponents in a couple of weeks so hopefully we can have a nice run in that to make up for missing out on the FA Cup first round 😊 

Very good forensic analysis there Tom 👍 .

@calvertskans Yes in some small way it's almost a good thing we didn't get a replay with the Shots as that could've really stretched us.

Re the striker issue - really tricky that one as I think we still retain players who are probably using more of our budget than others and until that changes I doubt there's much in the pot. That said, maybe a clever loan signing or two might be the answer?

@adeb Yeah I would have thought that some sort of EFL or even NL youngster on loan would be possible surely? I appreciate that the plan was probably to have McShane and Carter as back up strikers but neither of them are and both have had their injury issues in recent times. That goal by McShane on Saturday was his first competitive goal since December 2023 so I am not sure he can be relied upon regularly for goals at the moment.

I have a feeling we might start playing a back 4 soon (4-2-3-1) so that we only have to have one striker on the pitch and can rotate Alfie and Jason a little bit. Would be the perfect time to do so this weekend with Annesley back in the mix.

On the subject of captain, I would definitely look at making Storey captain in Carter's absence. He seems to be the one organising everyone on the pitch and is by far the most vocal.

@calvertskans That is the concern should one of Alfie or JP pick up an injury then it would mean changing up the tactic. Regardless I still think we should have gone into the season with 3 strikers, having that option off the bench or to rotate if the main two are missfiring.

@hemelwanderer My additional concern is that there is so much footage now of the team and the Alfie and JP9 pairing that everyone knows how to defend against it. 

Both have massively misfired this season. They’ve both missed an absolute hatful worth of chances and crosses. Chances per game is the highest in the league and we aren’t even in the play offs. 

It’s not just about form. It’s about the combination becoming predictable, one of them definitely becoming too comfortable and  needing a move to motivate him,  and the other one getting too old. 

All I am going to say is that Mark is loyal to a fault. You cannot keep on creating so many chances and be let down by the same lads up top. 

It’s also crazy to think that against Aldershot we started with McShane, Prior, and Rutherford. 

Prior joined in 2018. 

Alfie joined in 2020. 

McShane joined in 2016.

There is loyalty and then there is insanity and we have reached insanity. 

Everyone can see what the issue is here. If we fail to make changes then it’s clear the season has been written off, and we are prepared to play it out and are focusing on having a real go next season. 

Marc was only the other day alluding to the contracts we are stuck with that run until the end of the season. 

In previous seasons we have loaned players out who aren't central to our plans, to fund replacements but is that really necessary when we are creating hatfuls of chances but just can't put them away? 

Would a short sharp shock of going back to training evenings be a kick up some backsides? Is it all a bit too luxurious at the training base? 

I don't have the answers, but Marc can't give them any more than he is giving them.

Weston-super-Mare away would have awaited in the first round so no real loss. Would have been a tough draw and unlikely to be picked for TV.

Ironically, if Weston win that game against Aldershot then our home game against them on 6th December will likely be postponed.

Some great draws for Hemel and Ebbsfleet in there.

Posted by: @dorking-eagle

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Marc was only the other day alluding to the contracts we are stuck with that run until the end of the season. 

In previous seasons we have loaned players out who aren't central to our plans, to fund replacements but is that really necessary when we are creating hatfuls of chances but just can't put them away? 

Would a short sharp shock of going back to training evenings be a kick up some backsides? Is it all a bit too luxurious at the training base? 

I don't have the answers, but Marc can't give them any more than he is giving them.

I think in JP9 there is a massive weak link due to his age and predictability in forward areas. The lad needs to be moved on ASAP, sorry and thank you for the memories.  

Rutherford can be rescued and re-motivated to have that killer instinct but needs to be pushed and that would mean a replacement for JP9 and a 3rd striker to compete with him and the JP9 replacement. 

If you want to talk about brass tacks. Us getting out of this league this season, that is what needs to be done. No fluff, No BS. Hard decisions need to be made. A certain lad sent out on loan and another 2 brought in on loan by the sounds of the financial situation. 

I fear we have a great team as was proven vs Aldershot, and its getting shat down the toilet because we cannot deal with one basic weakness in the team. No guarantees either that next seasons NLS is weaker than this seasons, so we should not be looking to the next one either and writing this one off! 

I think Jason is quite a unique player and would be very hard to replace. He reads the game so well (often goes unnoticed) - and plays such an important part defensively too. He seems fit enought to me too so no issues there.

TBH I wouldn't be at all surprised if both he and Alfie start knocking them in much more regularly very soon (though they do both still score - it's just the missed chances) as these things tend to go in cycles and can relate to confidence, too.

Tommy Widdrington has resigned as Shots manager. Some Shots fans think he is in line for the vacant Hartlepool job as he is from up there.

@dorking-eagle seen a few Eastbourne fans online pining for him

I think he is a perfectly competent NL manager, should be in demand when he makes himself available again.