TALKING POINTS

Chris Wade – @tufcchris

Chris discusses the key points ahead of Saturday’s away game

ATTACKING SYNERGY

The first half last week was excellent. Let’s be honest. After three months of no football, what an amazing first half. A wonderful finish and a stunning long range strike in the first ten minutes are what dreams are made of. That start gave us the foundation to claim the three points at the first time of asking. The structure and patterns of attacking were really promising, and we lacked that in the second half and Enfield got on top. But with Worthington on the ball, Dennis dropping back into the pockets, and the width of Jordan Young and Dylan Morgan, the signs are positive. Getting that going away from home is the next challenge of the new season.

AWAY FORM FOCUS

In a season where you miss out on promotion by two goals, you can focus on a lot of areas. Points missed here, leads thrown away. But the three month time frame with no away win was key to the end of the story. But as we know, this squad feels different now. There is experience in midfield, and we have players who can control the pace of games and we will need to do that to impose ourselves at the weekend in out first away trip. The final third of last season put both the away form and results on artificial to bed, but that needs to start again on Saturday in Kent.

MASTERFUL MATT

Whilst there were signs in pre-season, the first league evidence of Matt Worthington was what we all hoped that it would be. Regularly taking the ball off James Hamon to start attacks, the ability to split the two centre backs and drive through the centre to start attacks was a new aspect to our attacks. He went short into pockets, long to the wide men and short to the full backs. He showed that he can control to pace of matches and dictate how we play. Along with Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, the midfield is going to be key to how we play.

MIXING IT UP

With the squad assembled in the summer, I am hopeful that we can play in several different ways. The verve to our attacking play is important away from home as well as at home, and taking control of away games will need developing this season. We can be physical and direct, play short passes and change the pace of attacks, and go wide and deliver crosses. The mobility of Louis Dennis was key to our attacking flow, and it’s exciting to see how that translates away from home.

THE OPPOSITION

On paper, Maidstone have lost a lot of their squad that so nearly gained promotion last season. But they have a manager that is now very experienced at this level in George Elokobi and won’t be a pushover for anybody, especially at home. They are usually physical and direct, and managing that away from home is key in this league. As I said on Gull’s Eye View last week, the first six matches represent an excellent opportunity to get some points on the board. Let’s try and make it 6 points out of 6 on Saturday.