Sorry, I'm a bit lost!

I'm not sure I'm watching the same games as some people, and I know there are probably just trolls hoping that someone bits, well sorry here I am!

I've not seen us be poor this season and as for one guy on FB fans page Marc out - are they nuts! 

We are dominating games great possession football, in the middle of an injury crisis. As @adeb said Marc was spot on in the post match! A little bit more composure in the final third and a striker with confidence we will be fine (play-offs or better) and to be honest its only a matter of time before we batter someone! 

So after 8 games disappointing yes, poor no way!

Posted by: @epsomwanderer

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Sorry, I'm a bit lost!

I'm not sure I'm watching the same games as some people, and I know there are probably just trolls hoping that someone bits, well sorry here I am!

I've not seen us be poor this season and as for one guy on FB fans page Marc out - are they nuts! 

We are dominating games great possession football, in the middle of an injury crisis. As @adeb said Marc was spot on in the post match! A little bit more composure in the final third and a striker with confidence we will be fine (play-offs or better) and to be honest its only a matter of time before we batter someone! 

So after 8 games disappointing yes, poor no way!

Yesterday was poor. Playing at home to a very poor side who just sat in behind the ball, and didn't even try to launch counters until the second half. Shelling out for a squad of 24 players. But ending up with a team where only 9 players are actually fit. He still started the match with 2 injured players. Why were the academy lads on the bench yet again and not given a start? 

When Browning came on he was way better than anyone else on the pitch other than Briggs. Why did he not start? 

It feels like Mark is having his pants pulled down a bit here by players who are pretending to be fit when they aren't, and by coaches who are not up to the job. It should be clear by looking at this boys run, that they are not fit. I am sure the opposition coaches are picking up on this, hence why Weymouth only start to attack Dorking in the second half as they knew by then Dorking would be creaking at the seams with the injured players. 

Dorking has this very unprofessional vets football feel at the minute, but the players are being paid vast amounts of money. If Mark is happy with that so be it, its his club. People are rightly frustrated because with the budget, Dorking is way under performing, and pissing away our best chance of getting back into the NLP. 

We covered a lot of it between us on the post Aveley discussion to be honest.

Too many injuries. I think some players are rushed back (Murphy looked like he was going to come on at 2-0 down at Aveley in the 2nd half when we were massively dominating, yet he's still not actually ready), JNW did come on in that game and lasted circa 40 mins

Francombe has developed diabetes but its just assumed he can manage it fine and play and train as often as required, it's a complex condition that requires expert management

The injury crisis has been for 3+ seasons now. The previous physio team has gone but it has continued regardless. Louis the strength and conditioning trainer has also now left.

The pitch causes some injuries but some are collision ones you can't legislate for. Some are just age sadly, eg Barry's groin.

The age of the players is down to the loyalty of Marc, many players were awful last season, not only against NL teams, but also against Horsham (Step 3) and Macclesfield (Step 4). The core of the squad are long time Wanderers players from the Bostik league promotion in 2018/19 and because we always finished high in the NLS the 3 times previously we were in it, he thought the same lads would be strong in this division this season. Sadly a few just can't keep up with the relentless rate of games we had so far. 7 pre season friendlies put a load on some of them too.

We are trying to move forward and giving opportunities to some B team lads (step 6). In hindsight we could have kept developing Rabbetts (often at Bognor - step 3) for example.

I think we will turn things round this season and do think we will climb the table. The squad probably needs a few moving out but that is hard when they are well paid and older, but injury prone. I have lots of faith in the likes of Kuhl. JNW and Camp but we will have to be patient.

It will get better and when it does it will be a joy.

Keep the faith, and if anyone can't support during the bad times then go elsewhere for a bit and no doubt see you again when we are doing better.

As for the guy on the Facebook DW fans page, he has a habit of appearing when we aren't doing well, 99% of our fans just ignore the comments to be honest. They are usually made on a Saturday night after a bad defeat / poor run of form and it's mostly just 🍺 talking. Don't take just 1 person too seriously.

@epsomwanderer 

Yeah I saw that comment about Marc out. Same guy said that last season when we lost at home to Fylde. 
We’ve been playing ok in the matches I’ve seen, just need to get the ball in the net. 
Unfortunately Alfie is just not in games and JP is obviously struggling. Rhys is going to be 1 in, 3 out all season it seems but it’s well known he’s injury prone. 
Hoping this player Marc mentioned post match is someone who can improve that area of the pitch 

It has been an absolute joy supporting the team from the Ryman league up to the National League prem and beating the likes of Stockport, Notts County, Chesterfield, York. Seeing them in front of a crowd of over 10k at Wrexham. Personally getting to visit grounds like Halifax and Rochdale I never thought I would.

The pleasure of seeing the Prior and Rutherford combo play together and bang goals in for fun - most weeks either one or both of them would score. I haven't seen that level of prolific-ness since I saw Wright and Bright every week as a teenager supporting Palace

In short what an incredible journey, the promotions, the places, the wins, the scalps, it's a joy supporting this club. We get nice things too, good crowds now not 300 or less at Westhumble. We get nice merch, treated well with cheap coach travel etc. Have a lovely ground, which will likely get even better in time.

Some people don't know they are born!

It must hugely grate for the likes of James and Marc to hear impatient/stupid comments, read idiotic negativity. They literally played against the likes of Croydon Postal, Capel, Newdigate,  Sedlescombe in the West Sussex League. Little Common etc, I can go on.

There were people like David Terry, Tony Sawyers arguing with him (it's been deleted now thank goodness) who played in the blue and black shirts for years and hundreds of appearances at Brockham and Westhumble and won multiple promotions, and they can't reason with the 'logic' displayed. If you want good times, then Marc will deliver because he IS relentless and WILL get it right, but he doesn't have a magic wand. I have seen us lose 6-0 away several times, but overall he learns from it (after we lost 6-0 at Havant we ended up signing half the oppo team!)

Yes some games are rubbish, some are disappointing. But look with overall perspective and if we have to repeat some of the journey, then we are all in for a treat. It's a brilliant ride.

Great post David.
In my very short time watching the games live and following the club, I fully get the history,where they’ve come from and what they’ve achieved. Really is a fairytale.
I suppose it’s a mark of what they’ve achieved that you then get all this criticism after a bad spell and loss from some “fans” who are expecting us to roll everyone over all the time. Football doesn’t work like that .

Even though the results since I’ve started going haven’t been great,it’s only strengthened my desire to attend and cheer the lads on,and I’m sure it won’t be long before the results are good consistently.

My thoughts exactly, David and Gary - great posts.

One of the many things that make DWFC such a special club is the reaction of fans to bad results/hard times. Hardly, if ever, have I heard booing or negative noises (at the game) when we've been defeated - even the 0-5 vs Wrexham and the 1-5 v Oldham. 

I love that. 

Yep, agree with all that David. Some great times for sure, and we all have to back the club in the rough times, as I agree Marc will work it out in the end. 

On the match yesterday, it was a familiar story. Lots of possession and crosses but no end product.  Will be interesting to see the stats but I didn't see their keeper making a save until the 90th minute. Two efforts on target is not good enough. Whist TC and Niall did have very good chances and Briggs in particular hit some great balls over, I still think we need an alternative approach at times.  If it ain't working, you can either change the personnel or the system; and we don't have the option of changing personnel it seems. Apart from Murphy, when fit, who doesn't suit the constant crosses approach. He is looking for balls through the channels which just aren't there at the moment. So defences can just sit back, wait for the crosses and defend them with big centre halves and a fair bit of holding and blocking. 

I don't know why Brooking didn't start - he is obviously a class above and we are lucky to have him. He can play anywhere on the pitch he is needed for me. 

On the plus side, I have only see Boreham Wood as being a markedly better football side so far, so when we do get it right there is no reason not to go on a run of winning games. But yes, let's see if the youngsters have got it in them to step up and let's give oppositions something different to think about sometimes. 

@adeb No you hear next to nothing at the games-most of it is social media from questionable accounts.

Nothing really for me to add on the game that hasn't already been said - dominated possession, lots of crosses, no end product, concede a few silly goals. The usual recent issues really.

I will say there were some questionable player choices in that game, even with the injury situation. Both Muitt and Bowerman starting when they were both injury doubts is odd considering Briggs was fit and fresh from only playing 45 mins v Aveley. I can see why Prior started but I would have rotated him with Rawlins after 50-60 mins. Not sure why we'd risk Josh Taylor from the start if he was a doubt when McManus was fit and on the bench as well.

Josh Brooking (along with Briggs) the real highlight of the game; really hope we can tie him down for the season. Good to see McShane running on the pitch before the game as well.

Stats are almost identical to Aveley:

Possession: Dorking 77% - 23% Weymouth (more than the Aveley game!)

xG: Dorking 1.33 - 0.81 Weymouth

Shots: Dorking 18 -8 Weymouth

Passes: Dorking 578 - 179 Weymouth

Touches in Penalty Area: Dorking 38 - 8 Weymouth

Crosses: 51 (31% accurate) - 4 (0% accurate) Weymouth (!)

Top Performer: George Francomb [8.3]

Can't say i'm a big fan of the "look how far we've come, look at all our past success, we have no right to be in this league" rhetoric this week. We have earned our place in this league just like everyone else and the calibre of squad and budget would suggest we should be a team near the top end of the league. We can't keep going on about how small of a club we are every week.

We just need to take the losses, work hard and make good decisions with players, etc moving forward. Everyone is still going to support the club regardless of whether or not we lose a few a games - Marc posting on Twitter talking about our past successes just needlessly creates a bit of a target and looks a bit desperate in my eyes. Just focus on what needs to be done moving forward and hopefully we can celebrate some success at the end of the season.

On a side note - the whole place felt really flat yesterday. Players and coaches (lots of coaches missing yesterday it seemed like?) looked very flat in the warm-up and it was probably the quiestest crowd we've had in ages.

At least we have a full week of training for a change this week!

Attendance was 1552 by the way

Some stats I have been sent:

In possession

1st for % of possessions reaching final third

1st for Final third entry success %

1st for Progressive pass success %

1st for possession

1st for 1v1 dribble success %

Out of possession

1st for xG conceded

1st for Oppo chance quailty (xG per shot)

3rd for Intensity

@dorking-eagle Haha, I literally just did a stats thread. Interesting to see comparisons to other sides as I can't get that from sofascore for NLS but pretty much what we expected.

The Surrey Senior Cup game, home to Lingfield now has a date set according to the club website, Tues 29 Oct.

Interestingly, in the latest BoA episode this week (Torquay away), Marc talked several times about bringing in players in loan and not reapeating what happened last season...