Altona Match Thread

[Moroccan Sunset]

Thought I'd create a seperate thread for the game so that we/I didn't clog up the other one.

Lots of new faces. Krasniqi is definitely out there. There's a lad with dreads too - not sure if it's Thompson.

 

[lwrs79]

How has Kresh survived the cull

 

[AveryDave]

Krasniqi named on the team sheet, so guess he's back. Four trialists start, four on the bench. No Tumkaya or Scott.

 

[Moroccan Sunset]

I'm pretty sure Scott is here. No sign of Tumkaya - perhaps he's been signed by Dover...

 

[Moroccan Sunset]

Tumkaya on holiday apparently.

 

[Al Crane]

I recognised the 15 at the back with the curly blond hair. Just can’t remember where from!

 

[Sir Nikolai]

Chambers, Gyebi and Binnom- Williams looked strong second half as did the pairing of Allen and ricketts in centre mid. Ming, Shokunbi and Jeffrey good in first half. 17, 1 and 20 trialists deserve another look

 

[lwrs79]

Chambers, Gyebi and Binnom- Williams looked strong second half as did the pairing of Allen and ricketts in centre mid. Ming, Shokunbi and Jeffrey good in first half. 17, 1 and 20 trialists deserve another look

How were the keepers?

 

[Moroccan Sunset]

I bloody love pre-season.

I thought the really encouraging thing was that none of the trialists looked like total duds to me. I think they're all worth another look against Bromley on Tues and against whoever-it-is-we're-playing next Saturday.

I thought the chap with no number on his back in the second half was interesting - he overhit a couple of passes, but he took up some decent positions in between their defence and midfield and his movement was generally positive.

Altona are a decent side and looked sharper than us going forward. I'm reliably informed that this is their 4th pre season game, so perhaps they're just a bit ahead of our preparations.

Generally, I think we did alright. I've come away thinking pretty much the same as I did before the game: that we're a couple of strikers short. We played 433 in both halves and I got the impression that that was largely because Mills and Clifton are the only recognised strikers in the team at the moment, so we couldn't go to something like a 532, which I think, given the number of centre halves we have, is the shape we're aiming for.

We looked stronger in the second half when we wheeled out Ricketts, Allen, Gyebi, Chmabers, and JBW. Braham-Barrett has really muscled out since I last saw him, and the first half keeper looked better than the second half keeper, IMO.

Looking forward to Tuesday.

 

[Moroccan Sunset]

How has Kresh survived the cull

Yeh must admit, I'm really scratching my head about this one. I struggle to see what he adds, apart from fouls, bookings, and red cards. It's not even like he's a Kargbo-type figure that just gets a bit overexcited and makes the occasional reckless tackle.

HH clearly sees something in KK, and he's won titles with Grays and Maidstone, and I haven't, so I bow to his better judgement, but I'm not convinced we couldn't get better. If Krasniqi does stay - and I think he probably will - he's certainly got a lot of people to win over.

(Although tbf, at least KK's come back to give it a go, unlike many of last season's squad that disappeared without even giving the club or HH the courtesy of a phone call.)

 

[Pink Panther]

Only 3 members of last season's squad on show, plus 11 of the 13 confirmed new recruits, and 8 triallists. There are sure to be further triallists over the next 5 weeks, so I'd say at least half of today's triallists will inevitably be culled before the first league match.

It was a typical first pre-season game for the Hamlet. Not a lot of goalmouth action at either end and I don't recall any of the four goalkeepers on show making a save of note. Altona's first goal came from a beautifully weighted pass into our box with the outside of the foot, eluding our centre backs and falling perfectly for centre forward Julius Zaher to tuck away. We equalised from a corner when the immense physical presence of Jerry Gyebi forced a block from the keeper and Michael Chambers pounced to hook the rebound into the net from close range. Ravan Constable could probably have done better on the deciding goal, spilling a low shot from the edge of the box that squirted across the goalmouth for a simple tap in from Zaher.

I'm not getting carried away by our prospects. This is a total rebuild and I think we'll do well to achieve a top 5 finish, with several clubs who were thereabouts in the same division last season apparently throwing more money at it this time. I think promotion will probably be a 2 year project unless we get lucky in the play-offs, which just makes the tiny margin of our demise all the more maddening. The stupid mistake to gift Dover their equaliser at Champion Hill, the slapstick defending to give away the deciding goal at Weymouth, the stoppage time goal from an overhit cross that cost us a point at home to Bath. I could go on. There were just so many costly blunders last season, and avoiding any one of them might have made all the difference. It was a lot easier to finish fourth bottom in National South than it will be to finish 2nd in the Isthmian League, and even that won't guarantee promotion.

 

[Al Cunningham]

My thoughts on today taking onto account it is difficult to judge anyone this early in preseason.

Compared to the game at Altona 5 years ago at about the same time of year, Altona looked sharper this time and we looked less sharp. You can see the threat we can cause at set pieces with the 2nd half backline and if Mills joined them.
I thought Alfie Allen looked a good prospect turning away from players and picking good passes. Overhit a few crosses near the end but overall I was impressed. Not too concerned about not being overexcited about a hot prospect yet as someone said on another thread our 3 most impressive players last season were not signed on until later on after being trialists...Felix and Clarke and then Powell later on the season. Still can't see the value in Krasniqi being part of the set up.

 

[editor]

The atmosphere at the end was pretty close to classic Hamlet.

 

[editor]

Pics!

In photos: Altona 93 take home the Jäger-Kail Cup after defeating Dulwich Hamlet at Champion Hill, Sat 8th July 2023

Anarchy flags and rainbow flags waved against a speckled summer sky as Dulwich Hamlet took on their German friends, Altona 93, in a hard fought pre-season friendly. The match was the highlight of t…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[Hamlet Pete]

The top flag pic

 

[Cat Daisy]

So was that a one-off programme under new editorship or has John Lawrence stood down from that role? He has been doing it in all the years I have been going!

 

[Pink Panther]

So was that a one-off programme under new editorship or has John Lawrence stood down from that role? He has been doing it in all the years I have been going!

JL hasn't done the pre-season programmes for many years, as he is heavily involved with Dulwich Cricket Club during the summer and rarely attends these games himself. (In fact I don't think we've issued any pre-season programmes since the pandemic.) I believe JL is continuing as editor of a revamped programme with assistance from Dave Rogers, who edits the women's programmes and did yesterday's programme.

 

[Pink Panther]

.

 

[AveryDave]

Still can't see the value in Krasniqi being part of the set up.

The match report on the club site seems to go out of it's way to confirm that Krasniqi was one of the nine trialists in the squad.

 

[Ben Caldecourt]

Triallist identified from those set of pictures, was not at the game Saturday so this was first opportunity to have a look.