The placebo of pre-season football arrives invitingly to reel you in from the drought of summer. While pleasurable to watch your team again, the yearning for something more, something real, very quickly supersedes. The cravings it seems to satisfy only grow stronger, yet the wait is so nearly over... For, next time we step onto a pitch will be the authentic occasion that everything has been building towards. These friendlies have served to prepare us well through very valuable tests against a variety of sides - ranging from West Ham to Romford with most being a decent barometer of our credentials - in which we've looked largely impressive although this time of year can of course be deceptive. Case in point, us beating Crystal Palace five days before a 2015/16 season whereby we tumbled unceremoniously out of League Two's backdoor without winning a single home game until March. However, patterns of play are a window into events on the training pitch and trends can foreshadow what to expect. Certainly both are worth paying attention to more than the superficial result on the surface, and probably the most important has been our deployment of a 5-3-2 formation throughout as it indicates with near certainty that Strevens will be configuring us that way going forwards. This would rightfully concern the fanbase given his predecessor's flawed attempts at playing that way, which forced square pegs in round holes, however this time is likely to be with more balance in the side. Logically, that comes first and foremost by using players suited to the position. Lewis Page and Josh Hare, our likely starters on either side, possess great positional sense plus a strong engine which can carry them across the flanks, while Ryan Hill and Sam Ling could easily fulfil the role too. It will be an enormous difference to forcing natural wingers like Myles Weston, Mauro Vilhete, etc, there in lopsided fashion - these players fit the system better rather than being shoehorned into it. Pertaining to personnel, there was major worry about our midfield after the entire department Strevens initially inherited was torn apart: Dean Rance leaving virtually straight away, Matt Robinson's long association coming to an end, Mo Sagaf begrudgingly moving on and Omar Mussa (though still under contract) exiled from the club without any realistic chance of representing it again. Therefore, an enormous rebuild was required there this summer and it's testament to the recruitment that we might actually have a better, more cohesive unit on paper at least. Jake Hessenthaler, Conor Lawless, Frank Vincent and Josh Rees are our new options, comprising a nice blend of robustness, technical craft, passing range and attacking awareness. Playing against quality operators in that field like Tomáš Souček, Darren Pratley and George Moncur of late has been a decent measure, with our lads holding their own. Lawless is a potential young gem among experience, who can absolutely reach the skill and physical stature required despite looking somewhat lightweight. A few Gillingham players found out that's certainly not the case when he flew into crunching tackles. I'm confident we'll have nobody shirking or shying away from those with Hessenthaler in there. Fondly regarded by former clubs including the most recent one Crawley, the general consensus is that he could still play League Two. Frank Vincent, too, is highly thought of by Notts County where you don't spent two years (albeit loaned out for a bit) unless a very talented footballer. Rees is a bit different having slightly regressed by all accounts, with his game time declining at Boreham Wood, but he brings a goal threat there which we haven't had for a while. Another problem we've attempted to address is a defence that was horrifically porous in shipping over seventy goals. Lewis Page and Tom Eastman are Football League calibre additions there without doubt, which changes things monumentally. The latter is the mould of centre half we have long been crying out for, Colchester's record four time 'Player of the Year' moving across Essex (location in reality the only reason we got him) with the potential to transform us having spent his entire career at a higher level, which definitely shows. Likewise Page, although he is much less of a safer bet given recurring injuries have plagued him for ages, but it's a risk worth taking based off the ability showcased during the friendlies. Quite simply a cut above, the left-sided technician reads the game seamlessly through superb positioning, can drive purposefully down the line and deliver perfect crosses - all with the technique of a footballer far beyond this level so *if*, and a big if, we can keep him fit then there is major cause for excitement. The backline also has the continual safety net of knowing that the excellent Elliot Justham, now deservedly our captain on top, is behind it. While the ex West Ham and Charlton player's class was expected, that of Sydney Ibie or more specifically its stark progression took many by surprise. He seems to have undergone a year plus of evolution in the summer so any thoughts that he might go on loan like Blair did, or even just be an impact sub at times, have been replaced with the overriding one that he deserves to start. A throwback to the unpolished diamonds we used to unearth deep among the non-league wilderness, the Dutchman could cause big problems via his unique combination of pacy trickery allied with a target man frame. Here are three variations of how we might start off, all under the assumption we will line up with a back five of Page, Ling, Eastman, Phipps and Hare, while Hessenthaler and Vincent play in midfield, behind our main attacking force Effiong. The first selection has Ibie supporting him, Rees as an advanced number ten but may he displaced by Lawless who could sit further back besides Hessenthaler. Alternatively, all four midfielders could play in separate banks of two, namely Rees and Vincent ahead of the deeper duo, then Effiong alone up front. It almost feels disrespectful not incorporating Weston somehow so of course he may have a place. Notwithstanding the big hopes around him, likewise for our loan capture Charley Kendall, it is slightly concerning that our only guaranteed marksman is Inih Effiong. Even if he manages to replicate his career-high 23 goals, it won't match the cumulative impact of Walker, McCallum and Morias whom we had this time last year. There is therefore an element of ambiguity about our overall attack whereas it used to be a sure-fire inclusion within the most prolific. Perhaps our new trio will be lethal in their own way, but there are certainly cautious question marks, so we can only hope that the ingredients come together like they have the capacity to. Therein lies the truth of not just our strikeforce but the entire side - it's an unknown quantity. Quite how we will do is subject to contrasting opinion. In a drastic alteration from previous seasons where we were widely tipped for the play-offs to no avail, the external viewpoint this time around seems to be that we will likely be anywhere between mid-table and just above the relegation zone following our biggest summer turnover of players in years. Understandable looking solely at the players we've lost, but it fails to acknowledge that we've still got the best keeper in the league (or at least on the podium), have recruited a more balanced midfield with more varied attributes and significantly bettered our defence. The attack is irrefutably weaker, but a reduction in goals at both ends will still serve us much better. We'll lose games, maybe quite a few, but never while passively rolling over in the disgraceful manner we saw last season. This will be a gritty, earthier Dagenham that do not make it easy for anyone. I'd have us in that bracket between 10th and 14th simply because we are further back in our evolution than competitors who have made further strides through their recruitment, so we might have to settle for making the gap narrower without bridging it quite yet. Then again, the lack of concrete expectation may enable us to surprise under the radar - exactly how Strevens' Eastleigh did. First and foremost, before thinking long-term, is reverting to our lapsed identity of workmanlike grafters who can defy expectation. Do that, then everything else can steadily take shape from those stable foundations. Now, let the games begin...
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WRITERArchives
May 2024
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