@philtered Nothings been said really, just suddenly gone.
Watched BOA last week and they showed Marc telling the squad in the team meeting “oh Rob Tuveys left, remember him”

I think Seb Tauta-Caballero has to start against Walton, especially if Frank Vincent’s injured. He’s looked very good whenever he’s come on.

@benwheeler05 Id expect Marc will probably play Page with Pinch hopefully back on the bench.

@gary-munnery Marc didn’t shake his hand after the game yesterday (unless I missed it) so I think something may have gone on.

@gary-munnery it’s a bit vague isn’t it. Particularly as he seemed to be very involved in future plans etc., However, things change I suppose.

Yesterday was a really interesting watch. The line‑up was always going to leave us exposed in midfield, and it did — but with the injuries we’ve got, I’m not sure Marc had many alternatives.

One thing that stood out again is how much we lack vocality on the pitch. The best Wanderers side I’ve seen was the post‑Covid season, when players constantly held each other to account. Maidstone were miles louder yesterday; even at 3–1 up, if someone wasn’t doing their job, a teammate let them know. Barrett seems to be the only one in our side who does that consistently.

The other question I’m wrestling with is whether we’re simply not very good at the dark arts — or whether I just don’t notice it as a fan. Maidstone absolutely schooled us in that department. They were niggly, awkward, and relentless. I don’t want us to become that sort of team, but we either need to match it or learn to handle it. Some of their set‑piece antics were unbelievable. At one point Camp was practically thrown into the post, and you could see how much it p@ssed him off. I’m not blaming him, but it did underline why he probably wasn’t in the captaincy conversation after Charlie left.

Final point: what is the actual purpose of linesmen at this level? They seem to only judge offsides and throw‑ins. The ref also gave a bizarre handball against George when he was clean through — the only foul was nearly having his head kicked off.

Maybe I watched a different game, but I was surprised Marc didn’t mention the officials or the niggle in his post‑match comments. I get that he doesn’t want to look like a sore loser, but for me it was a huge part of the match.

The formation was strange, I thought Annesly might have played in the defensive midfield position ahead of Josh, with Sayers at the left centre back.

I wasn’t at the game so can’t comment on performance but on team selection - two very attacking selections in last two games. Once it worked, once not. Perhaps down to better opposition or players not pressing accurately enough.  But with only 3 at the back it must be risky to not play a genuine holding midfielder who can break up counter attacks.  But with that sorted soon hopefully, team should look much more balanced. 

Really tired of Marc taking a pop at the fans every time things don't go his way. The new signings so far have been nothing short of shocking for the most part, talking about Sayers, Wood and Barrett (so far who seems like he can't keep up with the game). The fans have a right to be annoyed after Marc is the one who has bigged us up non stop and we are putting in such weak performances with terrible management choices.

As for the "oh we have injuries by the way" line, you don't say! We knew that going into the season and have not corrected for it with short term deals, or the short team deal we did make doesn't even play!

Terrible news about Vincent if true. Let's hope it is a similar case to Pearson at the back end of last season and it isn't actually broken. I was only saying a few days ago that he has featured in every match since he joined the club!

Regarding the post match, not seen the comments about Jordan/Deano but obviously any personal comments are not on and rightly called out by Marc. However, everything else he said in that post match is just pure deflection and spin, which I understand is partly his job but he shouldn't be attacking fans for valid criticisms.

There is no comment that annoys me more from football managers or fans than "we have no God given right to win matches" - it means absolutely nothing and is just a cop out reaction/answer to a loss. There isn't a football fan in the country who thinks their club has some sort of divine, fated reason to win a football match so saying that comment is just redundant and offers no insight to the reasons behind a defeat. Obviously every fan accepts their club will lose matches, and you can obviously have a bad day at the office every once in a while, but paying fans are well within their right to criticse a poor performance, or in this case, a string of poor performances. 

We haven't won a regular league match at Meadowbank since March (only winning 1 game of any kind at home in that time) and that is obviously a concern ahead of a long season where we will have to play another 17+ matches there...

Anyway, on to Walton where we can hopefully turn the tide against a really struggling side. However, playing sides on losing streaks often worries me more than playing sides on a winning run. We also don't look like we can play on plastic pitches at the moment and won't have the opportunity to play on grass again until Torquay next month.

Easily second best in the game. even if the Bunch of Amateurs in goal camera shows it didn't go over the line for Maidstone for one of their goals, we deserved to lose.

Stunning that the post match interview was clearly edited (there is a huge join!) and didn't go out until after 8pm but they still chose to include the criticism of fans.

Marc puts everything into the club and wants nothing but success but you can't have a go at fans for moaning when he himself described what he saw as abysmal!

As for the injuries, it's the same old amateur hour, every season it's going be different but Pybus and Francome don't have the physical stamina to play 90 minutes twice a week so shouldn't be here. 

Hate to say it, but I do agree with those above. Marc hates losing (he says that all the time) and the fans obviously do too. But expectations have been set pretty high this year by the club themselves, with promotion very much the aim in the pre-season social media content etc. So when those expectations aren’t being met, I think it’s perfectly fair for paying supporters to express some criticism. That doesn’t mean we’re suddenly turning against the team, and it’s disappointing if that’s what was being insinuated.

It’s a massive double standard if the club can publicly set promotion as the expectation, Marc can very openly call out bad performances and results, and yet supporters are somehow expected not to express any frustration.

Here's my take, for what it's worth;

Marc has said for a while now that we are very much a team, and to a degree a club, in transition - moving from the Wanderers of old to DWFC v2, as he puts it. This was inevitable, and may well have come about quicker than anyone expected, but it's certainly needed.

As with any major change (and comparisons to the likes of Dagenham are, imho, wide of the mark), there will be upheaval, and above all else - it will take some time. Not weeks, or even months, but longer. 

We are a unique club, and what comes with that is a particular style of play, and a particular way of doing things too, with loyalty, longevity and fan engagement hugely valued. Bringing in new players, changes in backroom management, all will, especially for us, take a while to bed in.

The one thing we can be totally sure of, and this is why criticism probably stings more for Marc and co, is that everyone, and I mean everyone is doing there utmost towards the goal of long term success. This is not the case for the vast majority of other clubs, who can be rightly called out for poor ownership decisions, management, comms, fan relations and so on.

I have absolutely no doubt we will get to where we want to be - but it will take time, and this season may well be one of transition.

And yes, I know Marc has talked up our chances, he always does and is right to do so, but this has definately been somewhat tempered of late as this realisation dawns.

Onwards and upwards and up the Wanderers...

My two pen'worth is that I do believe we have the players on the books to finish top 3, and with a fair wind actually win the league.

The injuries do HAVE to stop though.

I don't buy that we are trying for anything other than promotion. Yes, there is the ground (lease) acquisition and Jon Bines vision for more f&b provision (2 sides of the ground have nothing if you don't count the pizza van next to The Bank), but Frank and Debra as well as the James Sixsmith investment aren't here for further years of fixtures against Slough and Hemel.

The only place the club can grow is in the NL, every extra year in this league means more of our most talented players go elsewhere.

The club must have spent a small fortune on loan players at the end of last season, to still not have enough in the building come the play-offs.

Far too early to be getting down on our chances. We've seen it so many times where our fortunes rapidly improve as we discover what works and what doesn't. It will click, even if it takes another month or two. So many people at the club are working so hard to make it work.

I agree with @MattyWanderer that criticism and different points of view are part of the game. Marc has been doing this gig for over 25 years so should be used to it - I don't think its necessary or helpful for him to react to fans' frustrations in public.  As has been said, he is prone to being overly publicly critical of players (and fans have said this!), so he can't really complain when others do the same. And I agree with @TomCalvert and others: no-one thinks we have a god given right to win. We just get frustrated when there is enough talent in the squad to do so. But we support the club, come what may. 

Of course the aim should be promotion this year, but longer term, the key is to get the club on a very stable and strong financial footing, to enable us to really compete a league or two above. See Bromley. So while in the short term the injuries and some odd selections are frustrating and worth raising for sure, the progress off the field this year may be more significant.