Now the pre season is over...

[PEAR CIDER]

I know there are many topics on going however. Last night at the 200 member thingy demps said we will be play cautiously away from home at would be happy with the point. On the surface, yes we'd all be happy with the point but that screams to me that CJ and khan will not be in the starting line up for newport. Unless CJ is playing as a wing back, he won't start and khan wont start ahead of macca if he was looking to nulify the game.

I suppose the point of this thread is confirming who will miss out away from home to adopt a defensive style

[Kernow]

Macca should be on the bench his final ball today was pathetic.

[BH_Stag]

Is anybody else slightly disappointed to hear this is the mindset whenever we play away from home? People often say that a point away from home is good which as mentioned on the face of it is not bad but surely with the squad we have we should be thinking more positively and taking the game to teams at times away from home? Just my opinion and know it’s all circumstantial but still. I know there’s a balance to be had though and that we can’t just go all out attack all the time of course

[JimmyMac]

Good post!!

[cassellswasmagic]

The good sides go away and take the game by the scruff of the neck. If you have most of the possession you generally do well. Going away and being cautious is too negative unless we misunderstand what JD means by it. I’d like to think we will go away and attack teams personally.

[adamstag]

I guess it’s a difficult one but I’d rather us attack away.

The draws we got last season were good but unfortunately it’s one of the things that cost us

[Spiritater]

i think if we win all home games and draw all away we'll go up

[ST4GS]

i think if we win all home games and all away we'll go up

Probably as champions but if not certainly in the top three.

[Chrisuknottm]

Is anybody else slightly disappointed to hear this is the mindset whenever we play away from home? People often say that a point away from home is good which as mentioned on the face of it is not bad but surely with the squad we have we should be thinking more positively and taking the game to teams at times away from home? Just my opinion and know it’s all circumstantial but still. I know there’s a balance to be had though and that we can’t just go all out attack all the time of course

Great post. Totally agree

[georgefostersbeard]

Is anybody else slightly disappointed to hear this is the mindset whenever we play away from home? People often say that a point away from home is good which as mentioned on the face of it is not bad but surely with the squad we have we should be thinking more positively and taking the game to teams at times away from home? Just my opinion and know it’s all circumstantial but still. I know there’s a balance to be had though and that we can’t just go all out attack all the time of course

I read into CL's post that John Dempster was talking about the Newport game and would be happy with coming home from a tricky starting match with a point. I hope that is what he meant!

[yorkshire stag]

Ummmmmm if the above is true & it applies to all away games then this is the first time since his appointment i question the manager, hopefully he just meant against the Taffs

[Jamie]

Been a decent pre season. I'm fairly optimistic now. We've got a good squad with useful backups or replacements.

We seem a bit negative on the ball at times. Going back to Preston or Sweeny too much and they have been sloppy with attempts at balls forward. A few defensive mistakes too.

I think this year we'll be full of goals but not as tight as last year.

[EdwinstoweStag]

This is arguably our best squad since our return to league football. The principal players neeed to gel and we will be more than a match for any L2 side.

To win this league, we simply need to retain our defensive record from last season AND score an average of 2 goals a game.

Simple.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

JD is probably just referring to keeping things tight at the back and then playing on the counter attack. It can be lethal away from home when done properly.

I'd like to see us go for it a bit more in the last 15/20 minutes away from home when we are drawing. Turning a draw into a win with a late goal is the kind of thing that you need to do fairly regularly to win promotion. I was disappointed last season when we seemed to sit back and accept the draw at Crawley (even though Tyler Walker hit the post late on). Crawley were there for the taking as Lincoln demonstrated a few weeks later.

You can also argue that DF went gung ho a bit too soon at Oldham away when we were throwing players forward straight from the 2nd half kick off. We conceded a poor second goal and were then always chasing the game. We should have kept it tight at the back, kept the score at 0-1 and then gone for it in the last 20 minutes.

[stagmanrob]

We need to go at Newport and implement our game on them.

You rarely get the opportunity to play them at Rodney Parade when the pitch actually has grass on it, and not get drawn into the type of scrap that they excel at and enjoy.
A point would be good, but very few if any will get three points there, especially when the pitch has had a good few egg chasing games on it later into the season. We should be looking to seize the opportunity, then hopefully we get out of this league and not have to endure their shocking pitch for a long while again.

[Chrisuknottm]

With the squad we have why are we being potentially defensive minded? Like others on this thread I believe we should make others fear playing us because of our strengths not us sitting back because of theirs. We dropped too many points both under SE and DF through a negative mindset in the final stages of games. I hope JD wasn't talking about a philosophy.

[Sneag]

Doesn't every team in the country adopt a slightly more cautious approach to games away from home?

This feels like folk looking for faults in Dempster's approach before ball is kicked in anger.

[one f in mansfield]

The win at home draw away approach was first used back in the days when it was 2points for a win and 1 for a draw . Not so sure it’s the best approach now .Be successful and achieve 3 draws from 3 games is now the same as 1in 3 success if you are more ambitious and play to win .Ambitious sides will surely be looking to pick up more than 3 points from 9 .

[Fitzy499]

Here’s a thought, why don’t we saint until Saturday and then see how we play before making comment on how we are going to play. Maybe he is just being sensible before his very first league game as a manager but come the day of the races the tactics may be different. So let’s just wait and see as the first few games will determine how we are going to play the rest of the season

[Berryhillstagno1]

What disappointed me last season were the results away at Carlisle, Newport, N County, Port Vale and MK, enough said. A point here at each game and we are promoted. I like this idea give JD a chance. Carlisle was painful as given a lesson in how not to defend first half when attacks broke down.

[georgefostersbeard]

Here’s a thought, why don’t we saint until Saturday and then see how we play before making comment on how we are going to play. Maybe he is just being sensible before his very first league game as a manager but come the day of the races the tactics may be different. So let’s just wait and see as the first few games will determine how we are going to play the rest of the season

Agree entirely, could you imagine the rumpus on here if we went for it gyng ho at Newport and lost two nil?
We have a rookie manager and as such we almost have to mentally write off the first two games as ones in which he learns the reality of league management.

[SINA STAG]

Imo Dempster as to look at every away game individually if your going to a team bottom of the league which is shipping goals for fun go n attack them get the home fans on their backs.

Teams top of the league are there for a reason play more of a chess game even better to pinch a goal n shut up shop.

A point away at a team top of the league is a good point a point against a team bottom of the league is an opportunity missed...

[PEAR CIDER]

Is anybody else slightly disappointed to hear this is the mindset whenever we play away from home? People often say that a point away from home is good which as mentioned on the face of it is not bad but surely with the squad we have we should be thinking more positively and taking the game to teams at times away from home? Just my opinion and know it’s all circumstantial but still. I know there’s a balance to be had though and that we can’t just go all out attack all the time of course

I read into CL's post that John Dempster was talking about the Newport game and would be happy with coming home from a tricky starting match with a point. I hope that is what he meant!

He was talking in general. I imagine he'll back his comments up on monday. Im not bothered by it, my post was more in reference to the team selection

[PEAR CIDER]

Here’s a thought, why don’t we saint until Saturday and then see how we play before making comment on how we are going to play. Maybe he is just being sensible before his very first league game as a manager but come the day of the races the tactics may be different. So let’s just wait and see as the first few games will determine how we are going to play the rest of the season

Just relaying his words, which got me thinking he may not start our valuable assests

[Jimstag]

We shouldn’t read too much into it before the first game, you wonder how much of it’s for us or for opposing managers? That said win at home and draw away is not the worst outlook, you’d take that from Newport at least.