Since my last post the Daggers have won their first leagu game of the season and in the process put to bed an unwanted record of never beating Northampton Town. However a loss on the road to Carlisle United put an end to an unbeaten run that lasted 4 games in all competitions.
Although it was disappointing to lose at Brunton Park at the weekend we were up against a team in pretty good form in Carlisle. The Cumbrians had scored 13 goals before we played them on Saturday, granted they had conceded 14 and therein lies the reason we didn’t win. Unfortunately for us at one-nil up we had opportunities to score again and increase our chances of victory, but sadly we didn’t capitalise so ultimately they scored more goals then us and won the game.
I see this result as one of those that could have gone either way, just a blip and I am sure we will put another little run together starting with victory at home this week. As I have said before this period of games can really shape our season as we have a lot more winnable matches coming up from now until the end of October. If we do get on a run then the confidence will build and so will the momentum and hopefully it will see us climbing up the table sooner rather than later.
A lot has been made recently about Andre Boucaud and his performances, there has also even been criticism about him being our captain. For me Andre is the natural choice for captain as he is an International with over 20 caps for his country, he is the most technical player we have and without doubt the most composed. Sometimes football is about keeping possession and I think he does this job really well. The thing is at this level you don’t get a lot of time on the ball and Andre’s turns in midfield buy us a bit more time, he surely then can’t be blamed if there is nobody to pass to as in the time that he has bought us, nobody around him has bothered to move into a position to receive the ball. I suppose he could just larrup it up the pitch and give the ball straight back to the opposition and then get moaned at for not playing it simple. As a midfielder he will from time to time lose the ball, all midfielders for every team do, but I really don’t think he loses it as much as some people seem to think he does. As far as I am concerned he is the best midfielder we have and regardless of him being skipper or not he earns his place in the starting line up. However if I did think he was playing poorly I would expect him to be dropped as it doesn’t matter if you are the captain or not. I do think Boucaud plays better in a midfield three as he has more support around him but at the moment Wayne is playing two up top so the players around him need to offer themselves up in support a bit quicker so we can get the ball moving up the pitch.
I have no doubt that it will start to improve in midfield as the players get used to each others movements more and more as the season goes on.
I have been very impressed with Ashley Hemmings this season so far and I would say that he is our first choice winger at the moment, however the performances of Ashley Chambers have left me scratching my head. I can’t see how he can get in the starting 11 ahead of Jodi Jones based on his current form. I find Chambers’ positional sense baffling at times, it is as if he doesn’t know where he should be. I think he is better suited in a free role as a number ten but as we are not playing that way, surely; he should only be considered as back up for our team, considering the wing options we already have. Everytime I see Chambers in the starting line up I hope that this time he will prove me wrong and show everyone the undoubted talent he has, but unfortunately I am still waiting. He frustrates me more than Medi Elito used to. At least with Medi you know if he didn’t think too hard about what he was doing he would end up showing glimpses of brilliance. 
This Saturday sees us back at Vicky Road as bottom of the league Newport come to visit. Surely it will be a home victory, as it is games like this where we need to show what we are capable of and score a few goals in the process. I would keep the formation as it is this weekend as I reckon we will have more than enough for Terry Butcher’s team. Also against a team who are struggling you need to get crosses in and Christian Doidge on the end of them. It would be nice to see Boucaud have an excellent game and silence his critics for all of five minutes. I would like to see Jodi return to the side and I predict a wingers master-class from Ashley Hemmings. I would take a 1-0 right now but think we will win this one comfortably 3-0.
Up The Daggers!!
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