I have been following the discussions with interest and unfortunately, have not been able to see the team play so far this season - but whilst I can share some of the fans concerns about the poor start to the season (and the inevitable fear of being dragged into a season long struggle against relegation), I don't think too many panic buttons should be pressed just yet.
The 1-0 win against Wycombe was a very welcome start (and remember, we only drew there last season) and a home defeat to Darlington (as last season) and away at Lincoln (also as last season) should not have come as too much of a surprise to anyone. Darlington are riding high, and Lincoln have been in the play-offs for the last five seasons. Yesterday's defeat at home to Peterborough should also not have been too surprising given the nature of the budget which the opposition has (compared to Stanley's comparitively meagre resources) and Posh are still the bookies favourites to take the title, despite their none too impressive start to the season. I accept that we are bottom of the table with only one goal scored and have failed to score in our last four matches, so there are clearly problems, but as has been pointed out on another thread, one win or even a few points will see us climb steadily up the table.
For me, the time to worry is not after 4 league matches, though I accept totally the need to discuss the reasons why Stanley are in this situation, and I cannot pretend to be any type of grandstand manager, as I know little about football. What I do know is that positions at this stage of the season don't mean a great deal - remember Macclesfield last season, or the way Sunderland started in the Championship, which we all know they ended up winning ? I'm not suggesting for one moment that Stanley will take the title - I don't think for one moment we will - but I do believe, based on past experience, that Coley will get us out of this situation and to a position of safety,
However, what does concern me most is when we hand an advantage to our opponents through poor discipline on the field, with the inevitable sendings off and suspensions, causing problems with the team having to be reshuffled, and being unable to play a balanced side. Last season, I think we topped League Two in terms of red cards issued to us, and with 2 sent off on Saturday,it doesn't augur well for this season. In our Conference winning season, we had players sent off in 4 matches in a row, I seem to remember - when oh when is this going to change ? To me, it is a classic case of us shooting ourselves in the foot time after time, with our fingers firmly on the self-destruct button.
Personally, I think Coley did very well to keep us up last season, following the departure of Roberts and Craney, and then the incredible run with injuries, and I see no reason why that should not happen again this time around. Stanley do not have a bad side and were last season's joint second highest scorers in the division (albeit with the worst defence !
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The failure to score has baffled me, and several friends from Walsall told me that they could not understand why Stanley were so far down the table last season, based on the matches they had seen them play.
Whilst there will always be pessimists within the ranks, I think we should get behind Coley and the team and give them our fullest support. I can't get to home matches (I live 250 miles away) but anytime Stanley are down south, I'll be there to roar them on (had to miss the Wycombe game because we were on holiday, but will be at Dagenham).
ON STANLEY ON !!!!
