Personally, I think Hopper has looked useful in the times he has occupied the pitch and although that hasn't been as much, I can't really put down his work. He came on Tuesday for 20 minutes and held the ball up very well, brought others into the game and can count himself unlucky he was impeded on his way through on goal by another fortunate Dorking defender.  

I am not buying this whole 2 yards slower thing with Dave Pratt, he is just as quick as he ever has been, just more conservative I think, where as before Pratty would chase a defender down if he was two yards from the corner flag on his own, the game has moved on to the point that would be impractical. With teams now looking to play out from the back there is a left and right pass available most of the time for a defender. I think Pratt looks "off the pace" because people aren't used to seeing him so clever with the runs he makes. 

Jarv is a tricky one, 20 goals last term to 1 so far in this, and a lot would put that down to minutes played, but I agree at the moment Jarv looks to be suffering a little with confidence in front of goal. And how do we help someone who is not feeling confident? We show em a little love, remind them who they are and what they do to succeed.

Gaffer has every right to be changing the side around at the moment with the fact no one is putting in "outstanding" performances at the top of the park. Puddy, Tyler, Riggy, Richards, Parselle, Foulston have all been fairly solid this season and it shows. 3 clean sheets and only 7 conceded is top reward for a hard working defence and McDonald has come back into the fold brilliantly and was another real strength against Dorking midweek. Now we need our strikers to step up and do the business and everyone will be aware of that. But being out of form is frustrating, the little breaks don't go for you and you really start to feel it out there, let's get behind them and make sure that they feel that love coming from the stands and I am sure it will come back to us in goals, it needs too, the highlights are getting boring ;) 

As for Yan Klukowski, it's a big talking point at the moment it would seem. I think we are all very aware that Yan is not a striker, he is a Centre Midfielder, a position at the moment which is quite tricky to break into. I mean in truth if you want to play Yan, do you play him instead of Youssef? Haines? Evans? Gunner? they have been to a man fairly impressive this season and are doing a fantastic job of scrapping and winning battles in midfield albeit at the expense of a real creative and play making midfielder. And if he is going up top. Does he replace Jarvis? Zebrokski? Pratt? I am genuinely interested in where you see Yan fitting into the side, on his day undoubted quality as I would like to think all our players have, but where are you putting him in? 

And as always HG don't forget to join the Optimistic Army ;) 

i Thought Yan looked quite fit and played well in pre season, for whatever reason that hasn’t warranted him being given many minutes during season so far. I would personally play him in the 10 with 2 central strikers allowing full back to give us our width. He’s an intelligent player and may be the key to unlocking some defences.

Worth a try I’d say. Defensive solidity is due massively to the effort and shape of our midfield 3, we used to be cut through midfield like Swiss cheese in years give by which isn’t happening this year, the downside being more reserved/defensive minded is perhaps you lose that attacking potency.

Great opportunity to hit A few goals Saturdays though

Thing is chaps, whilst the whole Yan Klukowski (dare we call it a saga) can be viewed as disastrous, it is the risks you run at any club when taking a chance on a player. When Yan was released by Torquay he would have been one of the more sought after players at the level, none can deny that because they had no idea what might follow and at the time the signing was a real statement by the club that we could bring in players of that calibre. 

Risks don't always pay off in football, we took Jack Compton from Bath where he looked absolutely incredible and when we signed him, they genuinely couldn't believe he had made the switch to Chippenham, stating they would have seen him at a League 2 side, better than even the National League Premier. However, now ask any Chippenham fan what they think of Compton. It's a short response. 

With Yan, I don't believe he "owes" anyone anything. He was a player that negotiated a contract with a club and now he see's no reason to not honour that contract and the club, well if it was a mistake it won't be the first nor last we make in terms of players or contracts. All we can hope for is a good resolve and if that is Yan playing or walking away then the appropriate powers that be will find a way in due course.