Not as good as last year!

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

In the cold light of day and at the end of another season, where it is hoped that you will do better year on year, the measures show a backwards step compared to last year.

 

Less points in the leauge - 76 this season, 77 last season.

Poorer goals for/against in leauge - 91/66=ratio 1.38 this, 87/54=ratio 1.61 last.

Earlier out of play offs - semis this, final last.

Less cup game wins (all cups) - 4 this, 6 last.

FA cup - out to ERITH 1st qualifier this - out to Tooting 3rd qualifier last.

 

The three things that sum up the lack of progress was firstly the inability to beat Erith in the FA cup, which as a supporter it was embarassing to watch such a weak performance from a Slough side, secondly the lack of management control over the players consistent moaning at refs and the regularity of picking up stupid cards for dissent - no player control, and third the inability to play both halves of a game to the same standard - there were too many games where the two halves had no resemblance to one another - was this down to the players or the way in which the management set up and motivated the team?

 

Overall there has been no progress on the field and I feel that we now have a weaker squad then last season - Steve Bateman now needs to have a hard and serious look at how he is managing the team and ask the question of himself if he has the skills to actually take the next step up, or has he reached his limits?

[GarySTFC]

Staines, I will bring Steve over to you on Friday night so you can put this to him face to face.

[Mark44]

NO ground, have to pay rent, less player budget, yet a team who can win and compete

 

Playoffs achieved two years in a row.

 

Steve has done a fantastic job!

[Tom]

I actually think overall this seasons squad was better than last years in terms of overall quality, but the individual quality in match winners wasn't there. The league in itself was also completely different - Arlesey aside I don't think this seasons league was as strong as last year, certainly the consistency of the top 5 sides wasn't there as it was the year before.

 

We lost a lot of quality from last season who went to play on at higher levels, that isn't easy to replace. Bateman and Anderson did remarkably well to put a squad together with a large number of changes and still finish in the play-offs. I have no doubt that if we had been able to build on last seasons squad then we could have challenged for the title, and that's what the management need to try and do this summer - build on this seasons squad with quality rather than have to suffer another summer of rebuilding.

 

I firmly believe Steve can deliver another great season next term.

[Martin]

Bateman has done a magnificent job. He has built two play off challenging sides in just over two years starting from let's face it a very poor base. I have absolute faith that he is the man to get us promoted. Last night was disappointing but always going to be tough. Looking forward to the close season and the start of next and another promotion push. COYR

[A Rebel and a Saint]

I think you will find SR that the whole league was more difficult this year than last, considering that all the top teams got less points than last season, and there were more teams in the playoff hunt for longer than last year.

Bateman has done a fantastic job with what he has had this season and deserves the chance to take us on to next season, and I would imagine most Slough fans would agree on that. We have a good squad of players to build on for next season.

2 consecutive seasons in the playoffs and the club moving forward after the difficult years. Let's just look forward to the new season and trying again, with a new stadium hopefully at the end of it!

COYR!

[readingrebel]

I think you will find SR that the whole league was more difficult this year than last, considering that all the top teams got less points than last season, and there were more teams in the playoff hunt for longer than last year.

Bateman has done a fantastic job with what he has had this season and deserves the chance to take us on to next season, and I would imagine most Slough fans would agree on that. We have a good squad of players to build on for next season.

2 consecutive seasons in the playoffs and the club moving forward after the difficult years. Let's just look forward to the new season and trying again, with a new stadium hopefully at the end of it!

COYR!

 

 

Have to agree.

 

There was no Bury or Chesham but I think the overall strength in depth of the league was stronger with the likes of Daventry, Arlesey, Rugby, Biggleswade, Leighton and Aylesbury all coming into the equation.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

In the cold light of day and at the end of another season, where it is hoped that you will do better year on year, the measures show a backwards step compared to last year.

 

Less points in the leauge - 76 this season, 77 last season.

Poorer goals for/against in leauge - 91/66=ratio 1.38 this, 87/54=ratio 1.61 last.

Earlier out of play offs - semis this, final last.

Less cup game wins (all cups) - 4 this, 6 last.

FA cup - out to ERITH 1st qualifier this - out to Tooting 3rd qualifier last.

 

The three things that sum up the lack of progress was firstly the inability to beat Erith in the FA cup, which as a supporter it was embarassing to watch such a weak performance from a Slough side, secondly the lack of management control over the players consistent moaning at refs and the regularity of picking up stupid cards for dissent - no player control, and third the inability to play both halves of a game to the same standard - there were too many games where the two halves had no resemblance to one another - was this down to the players or the way in which the management set up and motivated the team?

 

Overall there has been no progress on the field and I feel that we now have a weaker squad then last season - Steve Bateman now needs to have a hard and serious look at how he is managing the team and ask the question of himself if he has the skills to actually take the next step up, or has he reached his limits?

 

I disagree

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

Well it looks like the close season will now allow a nice long break to refresh ourselves, allow the rose tinted glasses to kick in and consider the options for next year.

 

If my comments upset some will I apoligise, but I will always say it how I see it.

[Bernie Gogan]

In the cold light of day and at the end of another season, where it is hoped that you will do better year on year, the measures show a backwards step compared to last year.

 

Less points in the leauge - 76 this season, 77 last season.

Poorer goals for/against in leauge - 91/66=ratio 1.38 this, 87/54=ratio 1.61 last.

Earlier out of play offs - semis this, final last.

Less cup game wins (all cups) - 4 this, 6 last.

FA cup - out to ERITH 1st qualifier this - out to Tooting 3rd qualifier last.

 

The three things that sum up the lack of progress was firstly the inability to beat Erith in the FA cup, which as a supporter it was embarassing to watch such a weak performance from a Slough side, secondly the lack of management control over the players consistent moaning at refs and the regularity of picking up stupid cards for dissent - no player control, and third the inability to play both halves of a game to the same standard - there were too many games where the two halves had no resemblance to one another - was this down to the players or the way in which the management set up and motivated the team?

 

Overall there has been no progress on the field and I feel that we now have a weaker squad then last season - Steve Bateman now needs to have a hard and serious look at how he is managing the team and ask the question of himself if he has the skills to actually take the next step up, or has he reached his limits?

 

Lack of progress? Always looking at the negatives SR. One thing for the management to look into I will agree is discipline. We went badly off the rails after the penalty, which didn't help with getting us back into the game.

 

New ground and still challenging in this league is something 3-4 years ago we'd have taken. The manager has already said that a change in tactics to get out of this league may have to happen. At times we've played excellent football but not got the results it deserves, I'm sure Arlesey wouldn't have let that 1-0 lead slip for instance, similarly Bury the season before. Strong defensive qualities appear to be the way forward, so look out for a change.

 

Maybe we need to change where we play in order to get a better surface, at least for next season?

[Chris]

I agree and disagree with some bits. First of all for me we should not have lost 14 games in that league. I don't think it was as strong this year as it was last with no Chesham, Bury, Sutton Coldfield etc.

 

As for the squad. It's a far better squad than last year in my opinion, but not sure our best first x1 were better than last seasons best first x1's team. We lost a lot of quality in the summer Adam Martin, Nathan Bowden-Haase, Elliot Buchannan, Mo Sharif and Paul Edgeworth who were key players to us and matchwinners in their own right. Ideally we needed to add the quality we brought in (the likes of Swift, Burnell, Coyne and Woozley) and we would have had an awesome side capable of challenging. As it's been already mentioned Hitchin lost Harry Hunt and that was about it, and replaced him with John Frendo. We missed a goalscorer early on in the season until Burnell was signed. We desperately need him to stay imo.

 

I'd love to see us keep the majority of the squad we have this season and add a few others. We need stability if we want to challenge. The past five years it seems to be us starting with a new team every season and that does not help. There's been talk of the likes of NBH coming back down south and Graeme Edwards coming back into football and they would be great additions. Hope the rumours about Sweens are wrong as for me he's easily the best defensive full-back in the division. Hope he has one more go at trying to help us get promoted before we (hopefully) move to the new ground.

 

As for the management - they need to stay all the way. Promotion before we get a new stadium? Yes thank you please!!!

Edited April 29, 2011 by Chris

[brighton_rebel]

Can't agree Clive. Yes the team needs improving, teams always do, but we have the feel of a club on the up. It's really hard to get out of these leagues - just ask Dave Anderson when they got stuck in the Ryman Premier.

[Nathan]

Personally, I agree with Tom when he says that on a player-by-player basis, there is more quality in this year's team than last year's, even though last season we had players who were clearly much too good for this level (namely Nathan Bowden-Haase, Elliott Buchanan and Graeme Edwards until his injury). As a team unit however, I feel were were stronger last year than this.

 

Where I feel we went badly wrong this season was the balance of the team when it came to defence and to attack. There was clearly too little pace at the back, and this was exposed several times during the season including on Thursday night. I also feel that Bateman has always been a bit too loyal to players whom (without naming names, but there are a couple) I feel haven't really added anything to the team.

 

As for the attack, Danny Burnell, Sean Sonner and Ben Abbey are all individually very good players, but much too similar. For alot of the season, I felt we were crying out for some physical prescence up front to disrupt team's defences and yet none materialised. Now, there may well be a valid reason for this - I know the club doesn't own a bottomless pit of money, but I feel that Bateman did make a big mistake in having 3 very similar forwards rather than maybe 2 plus one physically big player, or 2 big players plus one little player (or whatever!).

 

Another point I feel is worth mentioning was that on Thursday night, as with much of the season, things didn't look like changing when they weren't going well for us. At Hitchin, there was no big "all or nothing" gamble, but we simply carried on playing the way we were.

 

And now for something I can't quite put my finger on: for much of Bateman's time as manager, we have been almost unbeatable away from home, yet totally fallible at home. This was the case until January this year, when all of a sudden we started grinding out results at home (the last time we dropped points at home was January 25th - a 3-3 draw with Woodford), but then promptly start losing away games!

 

I think that if we sort out the problems with the team balance, and instill some sort of consistent fight and determination to the team (which has been lacking at times, despite our final league position), then I firmly beleive that next season we will be well-placed for a title challange.

 

P.S. Staines-Upon-Thames Rebel:

 

I think you are wrong to declare this seasons point's tally and FA Cup run (having compared them to last season's) as a step backwards. You are quite right to point this out, but I think it is wrong to declare it as a step backwards. It certainly wasn't any steps forwards (which is what I think we were all hoping for), but I don't think it was a step backwards (statistics wise that is - the only way that ultimatley counts at the end of the day! ), although I do consider no obvious progress to be a dissappointment. I do however, agree that a poorer goals for/against ratio is most definitely a step backwards.

 

I also agree that Bateman really needs to put his foot down regarding dissent. No player in the history of football has ever changed a referee's mind simply by moaning at him after the decision has been taken!