2015-16 | #4 | What have we learnt? - 3 Things

It's the 17th of August and Cheltenham Town are getting preparing for their fourth game of the Vanarama National League campaign, an away trip to the undefeated Chester FC. Likewise to the opponents the Robins also find themselves without a loss so far, after two draws and an impressive 3-0 win on the weekend against Southport.

Now while many fans would have expected us to have nine points from nine, it was a bit of a reality check to some that we only had two points going into the weekends tie. Although it didn't look good on paper, what we saw in the opening two games were promising, here's the three things I have taken out of the opening three games of the season:

1) Mistakes must be acted upon immediately
A first half display at Sincil Bank saw Jack Munns score his first senior goal in his first senior appearance, a bit of luck with how it fell back to him, but it was a well deserved goal from the ex-Spurs prospect, who has seen himself involved in all four goals scored so far. However three out of them four came at the weekend, with Gary Johnson and many of the fans voicing concern over the ability to find that killer instinct.

Without that ability to kill the game off, we were able to invite Lincoln back into the game, who had a good backing behind them with the supporting crowd, as well as the addition of Liam Hearn in the second half earning them the point. A goal from a set-piece again, was the only real stand-out concern around the camp, in that goals had been conceded from corners continuously in pre-season, and to see it occur on the first game of the season was disappointing. It was clear the fault needed to be addressed.

Fortunately it was acted upon straight away, and when Aldershot Town were welcomed to the World of Smile Stadium, there was absolutely no cause for concern, and it was flipped on it's head on Saturday when we turned goals conceded from corners into goals scored, a header from captain Downes, and Amari Morgan-Smith completed an instant reaction to one of the early downfalls of the season. A job well done, we seemed to have a curse of not being able to deal with corners under the Yates reign, something that never seemed to resolve itself under him, hopefully the early improvements under Johnson will continue long into the season.

From 'zero to hero' for Amari? - ctfc.com

2) Teams will come to park the bus
Tuesday night against Aldershot was a brilliant example of some of the competition we will come up against. The travelling team came away with a positive 0-0 draw, and a massively frustrating one for us, the wood-work hit three times and two goals ruled out for offside. Aldershot are a team who will be around mid-table, they've got a fairly competitive team who will be looking back on games like this as a good draw against a promotion favourite. A majority of the teams in this league will play against us and see us as one of the 'big uns' and look to play for the draw and work on the counter. Things could have been a lot different if Rhys Browne hadn't missed the target from six yards.

It's fair to say they had two giants at centre-back and although we were still managing to get through and miss chances, these are going to be some of the toughest players to get past and break through and at times, teams will have eight or nine players behind the ball. In the end it will be down to our ability to play decent football, on the floor and get behind the defence with quick movement orchestrated by the likes of Storer, and speed and trickery of Munnsy and Billy Waters (who has promised he's got a lot more to give. Again it's a case of taking the chances, and killing the game off, something which was seen on Saturday, against a very poor team, hopefully it continues though, consistency along with confidence will see us live up to the expectations of bouncing back.

3) It just needs to click! Hopefully Saturday was the start...
The team has shown its quality in pre-season, and the fans know what they can do, proving that quality for the full 90 minutes had been the concern going into Saturday, adapting that attacking philosophy throughout the game had been a struggle and frustration at not finding the goal seemed to end up slowing the tempo down.

Fortunately Saturday was a different story, goalless going into the second half Cheltenham should have been well into the lead with some inaccurate headed attempts. The tempo and intent continued to show, and in a game that saw around 13 corner kicks for the Robins, Aaron Downes took it in his stride to convert, and it showed how much it meant that chance after chance payed off. An assist shortly after for the skipper saw Morgan-Smith open his account for the season, a cool chip over the keeper, and a well taken header saw him bag a brace in a 3-0 win.

Overall it was a brilliant all round performance, Billy Waters again didn't shine, but everyone else seemed to pull together well and the click seemed to happen, once a goal came, the others shortly followed as the opposition was worked to the point of giving in. Again it's good to keep in mind the quality of the opposition, who weren't in the game at all, and for the majority it was men against boys, however it's games like this that can hopefully start a run up together. The defence is finally beginning to gain a strong understanding, the attacking movements from midfield to attack are fluent and not desperate, and once we take the game by the scruff of the net we look to be able to kill the game off, long may it continue!

2015-16 | #3 | Season Preview - Who will be the most influential players?

New season, new league, and new era for Cheltenham Town. Lincoln City host the Robins on the opening game of the season, and it's a season in which many fans hope will be a one season appearance in the National League as they hope to bounce back at the first attempt under new boss Gary Johnson.

The new look team are likely to arrive at the Sincil Bank in new purple colours and set to form eleven debutants against the Imps, who are likely to give a debut to last seasons loanee Matt Sparrow, I'm doubting he's going to come back to haunt us. 

With the new season, comes new expectations, which has been set very high from everyone in and around the club, with the goal being promotion at first attempt. Gary Johnson really implemented his ideas from the day which project promotion came about, and that was he wanted character as well as ability - obviously. Now with this statement he could of meant a number of things, positivity, desire, determination, work-rate to name a few, and he probably meant all of them characteristics mentioned. With the players he's brought in I think he's got this approach etched into all of the minds of his players as well as his philosophy, maybe not JJ Hooper (the less said the better). First and foremost he wants them to buy into the type of football he believes in, and that is his main goal. 

Now with creating a promotion winning team, you need your key players, the ones who will pick the team up when a match might not be going our way, and when the benchmark needs to be set a little higher if we're going to get that vital win, or that 2 points a game target. Below I have put my opinion on who I think will be the three most influential players in our promotion push.

Captain Fantastic?

It goes without saying as a captain you have to be the biggest character out there, and have one of the biggest influences on the game as you're the leader of the team. Aaron Downes may not have had the most glowing report out of the whole squad from pre-season, but he was touted to be given the captains arm band from the moment he signed, as well as being the first signing this season. An array of experience the Aussie knows what the league is about, and he knows what to expect, with his age he might not be the quickest out of the blocks, but he'll be there to get the Robins out of any trouble along with any of the defensive line, and he'll keep it in shape and organised. Along with keeping it organised, he'll be a massive helping hand for George Mclennan on the left hand side and other younger members of the squad, he would have no doubt pre-warned many of his team-mates what to expect in one of the toughest leagues to get out of. Is he Cheltenham's answer to the departure of the likes of Alan Bennett or Steve Elliott, fingers crossed.

The organiser

Vice-captain Kyle Storer is another with plenty experience of the National League, the ex Kidderminster midfielder has slotted comfortably to the holding role within the diamond set up, and has caught the eye of a fair few. Second in line to Downes with the vice-captain role he will no doubt have a big impact in organising the team, and knowing what to expect from the teams. The reason I have him down to be one of the most influential this season is because everything has appeared to have ran through him, he'll pick it up from the defence, or the midfield and look to start the next attack, see who's making the run, creating the space and where next a goal might come from. Most of all he'll hopefully keep that shape in the diamond, although he won't always be sat back he'll be the one deepest of the midfield, and most aware of what's around him, who is out of position, and where the next option is. With everything starting of through him the players know they can fall back and play it too him to retain possession and keep the ball moving letting everyone re-assert themselves, ready for the next attack.

"Promotion? Easy..." @ctfcofficial

Driving force

Definitely one of the most exciting players in pre-season, Harry Pell has instantly become a fan favourite amongst Cheltenham fans. His tall stature and ability to dribble at pace is a surprising combination to see, he really looks a threat when he's on the ball, and off it as he's always looking to win it back. Hopefully with his presence he's able to be a handful for opponents and won't be an easy target to take off the ball being  the main driving force from the midfield through to the attack. He will be able to get the ball into the most dangerous positions in quick time to play onto another player adding to have a dig, or maybe making his way through the opposition himself to smash into the top corners which he's shown he can do. If he can't do this then the fans still hold a lot of faith in the other players around him to finish, Billy Waters certainly has a spring in his step as the advanced play-maker, Amari Morgan-Smith hasn't been shy of the goal either. Along with this there is his strike partner Danny Wright an absolute work-horse up top who will definitely be using his body and strength to knock a few on and provide assists as well as goals. It's finally nice to see a big player actually work for the ball in the Cheltenham team. 

It's clear to see that Gary Johnson has got a real good mix in the team, and maybe he will be the most influential out of them all. But it's now down to the players to do the talking on the pitch as they've shown us what they can do. Automatic promotion will be tough, and is a huge task, although I think consistency will see them through the finish line, and as of yet they've only been able to show that attacking intent up to 75-80 minutes, they need to show if for 90 minutes across the whole 46 games in the season. Play-offs is the realistic goal, and we're certainly more than capable of challenging for that play-off spot at Wembley come the end of the season. 

Lets be having ya! Source - ctfc.com