The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Parsons, Harvey and mcnulty sign
http://www.afcdiamonds.com/pre-season-squad-update

The injury to McNulty cannot be too serious then. For me the best signing to date is Curtis....but he is now injured!

Apparently Curtis has a chipped bone and it was posted earlier he will be out for 6 weeks and that's a serious blow as I saw him as a 'like for like' replacement for Quigley. I suppose McNulty is a short term replacement.

As for Parsons I've seen him twice this season, against the Posh and yesterday and he looks stronger than last season and pretty fit, buzzs about looking for the ball, has good skill but in the next match he plays I would like to see him pass the ball more and bring his fellow strikers into play and I'm really not sure he will fit in with Jake Newman.

Yesterday convinced me why I don't like watching PSF matches and our selection looked as if the emphasis was on 'trialling' still more players rather than concentrating on our team interplay and formation for forthcoming competitive fixtures.

Trek wrote: Yesterday convinced me why I don't like watching PSF matches and our selection looked as if the emphasis was on 'trialling' still more players rather than concentrating on our team interplay and formation for forthcoming competitive fixtures.

Totally with you on that one.

Considering Robbie Parsons is only 18 I think he's a big talent. He just needs to cut out the petulance and concentrate on getting shots on target first and fullmost. Hopefully it'll just click at some point. You could draw comparisons with Lee Tomlin at the same age, albeit at a different level.

I've really liked the look of James Harvey also and i'm pleased we've signed him on.

With our current squad, how do you think we should line up against Newcastle Town? Can't wait for it personally.

Three of Diamonds wrote:

Trek wrote: Yesterday convinced me why I don't like watching PSF matches and our selection looked as if the emphasis was on 'trialling' still more players rather than concentrating on our team interplay and formation for forthcoming competitive fixtures.

Totally with you on that one.

It looks like it will be more of the same tonight - http://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/spo ... -1-7504802

Perhaps the best indication of how we might play in the forthcoming season, along with line-up and formation insights, will come on Saturday at Hednesford.

Having not seen any of the pre-season games I can't comment on how the team is taking shape. However just browsing the forum I get the impression there is no outstanding/excellent player(s) that have been brought in so far.

The general consensus is that the new recruits have either been pretty poor or fairly solid and "ok" but nothing to write home about.

I maybe completely wrong but I'm sure I'll find out at Newcastle away next weekend, lets hope the pubs are as well stocked in Staffordshire as they are in Northumberland.

As Dowlo said, general consensus seems to be ok/poor recruitment, with the exception of Curtis. What are people's expectations for this season? Last year I was adamant we would piss the league, and we should have done. However this season looks very different. Given we've lost players like Hoban and Lee, without suitably replacing them, and we are going into a harder league, fully expecting mid season mediocrity this season unless we add some firepower going forward.

Oundle Diamond #2 wrote:As Dowlo said, general consensus seems to be ok/poor recruitment, with the exception of Curtis. What are people's expectations for this season? Last year I was adamant we would piss the league, and we should have done. However this season looks very different. Given we've lost players like Hoban and Lee, without suitably replacing them, and we are going into a harder league, fully expecting mid season mediocrity this season unless we add some firepower going forward.

Still a couple of weeks to sort it. Don't forget Claudio was signed on the day before the season started last year, so it's a fluid situation right up until the actual kick off.

With the current squad I think we'd end up upper mid-table although that's obviously total guesswork. I think our forward line has improved in the sense we've got a couple of natural goalscorers which we didn't have last year, but the midfield is substantially weaker without Quigley, Hoban and Richards and we're still missing a right back so that's a problem area. I thought Bradshaw looked OK to be honest, hopefully he was just missing on Saturday and will feature tonight.