Was Reeves supposed to be playing up front alongside Magennis? His role seemed very ill-defined today, and he contributed little. And he's so lightweight that he never wins the ball in a tackle. Some sort of rethink is needed if we're to integrate him successfully into this team and make the most of his undoubted talent.
I also wasn't hugely impressed by Marshall. There were a number of occasions, particularly in the second half, when Solly had the ball in the right-back area and was gesturing that Marshall should be trying to run in behind his defender, but he just stood there. And then the one time he did break through he couldn't finish past the keeper. Obviously it's still fairly early days as he comes back from injury, but at the moment Fosu looks like he offers more than him.
One more thing that's struck me this season - we have a very large proportion of left-footed players in Sarr, Marshall, Kashi, Forster-Caskey, Dasilva and Reeves. That in itself isn't a problem, but they are all quite one-footed, and it does restrict the potential options in a lot of situations. The same goes for the right-footed players too, so maybe I'm unfair in singling the left-footers out, but I can't help feel slightly frustrated that so many professional footballers (it's not just us, obviously) are so unwilling to use their weaker foot.
I wouldn't say we were particularly bad today, even though we didn't really create the amount of chances we should have done given how much possession we had. Sarr was pretty good for instance, Magennis had a decent game and were it not for what looks a very questionable decision we would have won. Let's hope that today's inability to break down a pretty mediocre team isn't a foretaste of things to come, and that we shake off the disappointment and frustration in time for Rochdale on Tuesday.
To be fair MK were a horrible cynical cheating whinging team with a manager constantly in the officials ear when Robinson was their manager. Must be something in the water up there.
I know Robbo said the Shrews can be caught but fair play to them. Down to ten for over 30 mins, surrendered the lead, ended up winning. Maybe they can keep up the pace.
Shrewsbury can definitely be caught - Win our two games in hand and that gap is down to three points (easier said than done)
they're comfortable because they only have to worry about Wigan at the moment which means they'd still get second and automatic promotion, what will they do when more teams are breathing down their neck and they risk losing everything - Still think they'll do a Fleetwood, drop into the Play-Offs and then just run out of steam
One of the two in hand is against Shrewsbury. Lose that and we're 12 behind. My point really was Robbo saying Shrewsbury can be caught whilst apparently conceding Wigan were the best team in the Division and can't. I don't agree with that at all.
If we were automatic promotion material we would have come through this 3-1 or 4-1. After half time both Marshall and Konsa got 1-on-1 with their goalkeeper and both failed to score. Forster-Caskey also missed on 23 minutes.
We look a good bet for the play-offs at present, but not sure at all we're better than that.
Interesting to see what might happen post-January if the club passes to Australian ownership.
First off I would like to ask what type of game MK Dons were playing in the first half because it was nothing like the football I know and love. They were one of the biggest bunch of cloggers I have seen down here this season and we still failed to keep the boot on their neck with our domination. Their changes in the second half made a difference and up until then I could not see them getting a shot on target let alone 2 goals. Both sides were profligate with the chances they had and whatever I think of the penalty decision it wouldn’t have mattered had we buried all the chances we had compared to the chances they had.
I enjoyed the match & it was great to be back at the Valley.
Charlton looked good & controlled the game for the first 30 mins. Charlton would have been good value for 2-0 but didn’t convert good positions & pressure into goals. The last 15 mins of the first half was a bit scrappy & disjointed & MK Dons came more into it.
Second half first 15 mins Charlton pushed forward should have been 2-0 up. Marshall could have played the ball round the keeper but opted to shoot & the goalkeeper saved.
MK Dons then made 2 good attacking subs, scored & looked more likely to win. They missed an absolute sitter. To Robinson’s credit, the Fosu sub steadied the ship. Sarr had a great chance at 1-1. It would have been excellent if he scored but he tried to place instead of blasting it. It partially answers the question whether Sarr should play upfront.
Holmes drove things on & Charlton got a slightly fortunate second. It was a great cross though. Then the MK Dons dive from an unnecessary Kashi challenge. Kashi made a few misplaced passes in the game that created danger.
The referee was very poor. MK Dons alongside some tidy passing were a dirty team. They had stronger attacking options on the bench than Charlton.
Charlton can pass the ball & have some quick players. Charlton’s squad is weak though as showed by the bench & lack of depth of quality. That definitely limits Robinson’s tactical options & his ability to respond to changing match situations. Clarke not playing probably didn’t help but if Charlton had stronger attacking options then Charlton would be a reasonable bet for the top 2. It’s a shame as the team is not far off. I enjoyed the game though all in all. It helps not having too much expectation.
Very disappointing outcome to the match, albeit after an OG put us in front.
MKD - nasty little oiks with one plan & one plan only - to knock us off our stride which they managed to do in the 2nd half.
Agree with previous posts that question what Reeves gave the team today ....for me, he was pretty invisible. And with Marshall clearly lacking in full match fitness, we were lightweight to say the least.
Sod's law that our Rickeeee wasn't at his best today either....
But it is the quality of our bench that concerns me the most. No-one on there today who could make a difference and maybe do his bit to help win us the game.
Sadly, Leon Best apart, this is what we have until the window opens & what may ultimately cost us promotion IMHO.
For 60 minutes we were excellent and MKD terrible. Then after they made their changes, they were much improved while we seemed to go to pieces defensively. Lack of protection from midfield, and their strikers kept losing their markers both in the air and on the ground. We definitely missed the experience of Bayer or Pearce in the last 30 today, Konsa in particular made some poor decisions at the end, but Kashi was just as guilty in that respect, he does sometimes dally on the ball too long.
Not impressed with Marshall, surprised Reeves was take off first (he wasn't much better), some very poor finishing, though none of the gilt edged chances fell to our main scores this season, Josh, Holmes or Fosu.
Disappointed with the niggly nature of the MKD today, constantly fouling. 5 bookings and it should have been more.
KAG was a waste of space again, no idea why Aribo can't get on, he can't be any worse.
Felt like the sort of game where Jacko could have made a difference coming on late on. Good in both boxes and a bit of leadership and experience in front of an inexperienced CB pair would have helped..
Cant score from open play at the moment. We got 2 goals but 1 was from a corner and other an own goal. Need to score more when we are on top.
We seem pretty good at home..play 2 up top, Clarke or Doodoo with big mag behind them with some knock downs and hold up play..may not work obviously but 2 up top would increase our chances I would think and we could use wing play and go through the middle aswell.
To be fair MK were a horrible cynical cheating whinging team with a manager constantly in the officials ear when Robinson was their manager. Must be something in the water up there.
I wonder how much Neilson bribed the ref just so he could suck the ref's cock. LOL!
An immaculately observed silence before the game was a credit to all present.
That positive mood translated itself into Charlton's players who came out of the blocks with some lovely football and deservedly took the lead following a bullet header by Big Josh from a Rickeeeee corner after about 10 minutes. Charlton dominated for most of the remainder of the first half but were profligate and the score remained at 1-0 rather than the 2 or 3 it could (should) have been.
In the second half 11 Mr Hydes 'Donned' (see what I did there?) the 11 red shirts previously worn by the Dr Jeckylls of the first half.
MK Dons gradually seized control of the midfield. I attributed that to Reeves as I wasn't sure quite what he contributed other than winding up the ref and opposition. That said once Robbo made the substitution I wanted if anything our lack of control of the midfield got even worse.
Despite MK Dons coming into it we still created enough opportunities in the second half to win it. The most blatant miss being when the 'best finisher in the club' found himself on the 6 yard line and hit the ball straight at the keeper with less power than my 2 year old grandson kicks his ball at me! In mitigation I think Sarr thought he was offside but surely you bury the ball in the net anyway and worry after? Play the whistle is a basic lesson for footballers (and rugby players) at all levels.
It seemed as though we were going to get away with our profligacy when a Dons defender could only deflect the ball into his own net under pressure from sub Ahearne-Grant. Unfortunately Dons went on the attack and one of their forwards collapsed as if shot in the penalty area seemingly without contact from a Charlton defender. Nevertheless the referee gave a penalty and it was despatched to make the final score 2-2.
This result felt like a defeat with their equaliser coming on the stroke of the end of normal time. Definitely 2 points dropped given our early dominance and opportunities.
Hopefully we bounce back and beat Rochdale on Tuesday.
Incapable of putting sides away when we are on top. Missed Pearce and/or Bauer's experience when we came under pressure. Blackburn creeping up. Best we can hope for is a play off place.
Comments
But I felt gutted walking away from The Valley. We could and should have had the game wrapped up in the first half.
I shall now spend the evening watching Bob Peter's post match press conferences.
I also wasn't hugely impressed by Marshall. There were a number of occasions, particularly in the second half, when Solly had the ball in the right-back area and was gesturing that Marshall should be trying to run in behind his defender, but he just stood there. And then the one time he did break through he couldn't finish past the keeper. Obviously it's still fairly early days as he comes back from injury, but at the moment Fosu looks like he offers more than him.
One more thing that's struck me this season - we have a very large proportion of left-footed players in Sarr, Marshall, Kashi, Forster-Caskey, Dasilva and Reeves. That in itself isn't a problem, but they are all quite one-footed, and it does restrict the potential options in a lot of situations. The same goes for the right-footed players too, so maybe I'm unfair in singling the left-footers out, but I can't help feel slightly frustrated that so many professional footballers (it's not just us, obviously) are so unwilling to use their weaker foot.
I wouldn't say we were particularly bad today, even though we didn't really create the amount of chances we should have done given how much possession we had. Sarr was pretty good for instance, Magennis had a decent game and were it not for what looks a very questionable decision we would have won. Let's hope that today's inability to break down a pretty mediocre team isn't a foretaste of things to come, and that we shake off the disappointment and frustration in time for Rochdale on Tuesday.
Shocking miss and Marshall's almost as bad.
Yet we played so much good football and dominated for long periods.
Konsa and Sarr both made mistakes, Maginnis was aggressive, scored and linked up the play well but was asked to do too much.
Reeves didn't impress and we missed Clarke's calm promoting.
Franchise had an option and a change off the bench. Other than Fosu we didnt
gifted an OG winner but blew it.
Not the end of the world, we are still in it but I would be putting a short term contract in front of Leon Best tonight.
We look a good bet for the play-offs at present, but not sure at all we're better than that.
Interesting to see what might happen post-January if the club passes to Australian ownership.
Otherwise: 2 points dropped today.
Charlton looked good & controlled the game for the first 30 mins. Charlton would have been good value for 2-0 but didn’t convert good positions & pressure into goals. The last 15 mins of the first half was a bit scrappy & disjointed & MK Dons came more into it.
Second half first 15 mins Charlton pushed forward should have been 2-0 up. Marshall could have played the ball round the keeper but opted to shoot & the goalkeeper saved.
MK Dons then made 2 good attacking subs, scored & looked more likely to win. They missed an absolute sitter. To Robinson’s credit, the Fosu sub steadied the ship. Sarr had a great chance at 1-1. It would have been excellent if he scored but he tried to place instead of blasting it. It partially answers the question whether Sarr should play upfront.
Holmes drove things on & Charlton got a slightly fortunate second. It was a great cross though. Then the MK Dons dive from an unnecessary Kashi challenge. Kashi made a few misplaced passes in the game that created danger.
The referee was very poor. MK Dons alongside some tidy passing were a dirty team. They had stronger attacking options on the bench than Charlton.
Charlton can pass the ball & have some quick players. Charlton’s squad is weak though as showed by the bench & lack of depth of quality. That definitely limits Robinson’s tactical options & his ability to respond to changing match situations. Clarke not playing probably didn’t help but if Charlton had stronger attacking options then Charlton would be a reasonable bet for the top 2. It’s a shame as the team is not far off. I enjoyed the game though all in all. It helps not having too much expectation.
MKD - nasty little oiks with one plan & one plan only - to knock us off our stride which they managed to do in the 2nd half.
Agree with previous posts that question what Reeves gave the team today ....for me, he was pretty invisible. And with Marshall clearly lacking in full match fitness, we were lightweight to say the least.
Sod's law that our Rickeeee wasn't at his best today either....
But it is the quality of our bench that concerns me the most. No-one on there today who could make a difference and maybe do his bit to help win us the game.
Sadly, Leon Best apart, this is what we have until the window opens & what may ultimately cost us promotion IMHO.
Thank you from the heart of my bottom, Roland.
For 60 minutes we were excellent and MKD terrible. Then after they made their changes, they were much improved while we seemed to go to pieces defensively. Lack of protection from midfield, and their strikers kept losing their markers both in the air and on the ground. We definitely missed the experience of Bayer or Pearce in the last 30 today, Konsa in particular made some poor decisions at the end, but Kashi was just as guilty in that respect, he does sometimes dally on the ball too long.
Not impressed with Marshall, surprised Reeves was take off first (he wasn't much better), some very poor finishing, though none of the gilt edged chances fell to our main scores this season, Josh, Holmes or Fosu.
Disappointed with the niggly nature of the MKD today, constantly fouling. 5 bookings and it should have been more.
KAG was a waste of space again, no idea why Aribo can't get on, he can't be any worse.
Under 10k home fans then
An immaculately observed silence before the game was a credit to all present.
That positive mood translated itself into Charlton's players who came out of the blocks with some lovely football and deservedly took the lead following a bullet header by Big Josh from a Rickeeeee corner after about 10 minutes. Charlton dominated for most of the remainder of the first half but were profligate and the score remained at 1-0 rather than the 2 or 3 it could (should) have been.
In the second half 11 Mr Hydes 'Donned' (see what I did there?) the 11 red shirts previously worn by the Dr Jeckylls of the first half.
MK Dons gradually seized control of the midfield. I attributed that to Reeves as I wasn't sure quite what he contributed other than winding up the ref and opposition. That said once Robbo made the substitution I wanted if anything our lack of control of the midfield got even worse.
Despite MK Dons coming into it we still created enough opportunities in the second half to win it. The most blatant miss being when the 'best finisher in the club' found himself on the 6 yard line and hit the ball straight at the keeper with less power than my 2 year old grandson kicks his ball at me! In mitigation I think Sarr thought he was offside but surely you bury the ball in the net anyway and worry after? Play the whistle is a basic lesson for footballers (and rugby players) at all levels.
It seemed as though we were going to get away with our profligacy when a Dons defender could only deflect the ball into his own net under pressure from sub Ahearne-Grant. Unfortunately Dons went on the attack and one of their forwards collapsed as if shot in the penalty area seemingly without contact from a Charlton defender. Nevertheless the referee gave a penalty and it was despatched to make the final score 2-2.
This result felt like a defeat with their equaliser coming on the stroke of the end of normal time. Definitely 2 points dropped given our early dominance and opportunities.
Hopefully we bounce back and beat Rochdale on Tuesday.
Reason being, we’ve got a proper team spirit and a good first XI if they play to the best of their abilities
You also have to factor in Reeves and Marshall starting today, not Clarke & Fosu
We do need another striker, that’s painfully obvious, if only to give us the option of mixing it up a bit
I think we can challenge, but KR has to be given the chance to sign a couple more in Jan