OPPOSITION Q&A

James Franklin discusses his team Exeter City

FOLLOWING THE GRECIANS

I have been supporting City since the 90/91 season. I’ve been a season ticket holder for 15+ years and when younger was a ball boy for the club.

PRE-SEASON SO FAR

Pre-season has been a mixed bag, we started off with a 2-1 defeat to Tiverton followed by wins at WSM (0-5), Taunton (1-2) and a home win against Truro (3-0) at our training ground. We drew 1-1 with Yeovil at Huish Park last weekend and got a 2-2 draw against Bristol City on Tuesday. We started off with experimental sides playing the first group of games and the last couple have resembled a possible starting 11 for the season. Torquay is our last PSF so I expect to see a strong starting line up and bench.

EXPECTATIONS FOR 22-23

Stability, I feel we have a side who can flourish in the league and so possibly a mid-table finish would be the target. We still need to add some players to the squad however the manager is looking at quality over quantity. One position that we need to fill is a GK although we have Harry Lee who has come up through the academy and the back up of Scott Brown (from Cambridge Utd) who is the keepers coach and last season was also registered as a player.

KEY PLAYERS

We have kept the majority of the squad from last season together so upfront we have Sam Nombe, an all round good striker who is always chasing down the loose balls. A fans favourite when it comes to his interaction with the crowd after the matches, he had a couple of injury scares last season so if kept fit will be a real asset. In the middle we have Archie Collins who has come up through the academy, can control the midfield and last season popped up with a couple of great goals too. He is one who could play at a higher level and so this season it will be good to see how he does. In defence I would say Sam Stubbs (Son of Alan Stubbs). He joined us when injured and so took a long time to actually feature in the first team, but the patience of the club paid off as he is a strong defender and has the higher level experience to help out the younger players around him.

TACTICS

Usually 3 at the back where we have a lot of dynamic wing backs, especially Josh Key (another youth product who can play at a higher level). We tend to work our way up through the pitch and control the game with our possession, however can on occasions change it up with some long balls up to Nombe.