Milton Keynes Dons v Charlton Athletic
Saturday 17th February 2018 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire)
IntroductionRegardless of the score tomorrow, the last ten minutes will certainly be nervy – On Tuesday night; Bradford City visited the Valley, and once again, Charlton proved that they can be better than most clubs at this level… Josh Magennis would give the Addicks a deserved lead midway through the first half yet once again we couldn’t hold on, and points were once again dropped. Milton Keynes Dons are the opposition tomorrow, sitting at the wrong end of the table, its imperative that we record three points!!
The OppositionName: Milton Keynes Dons |
Manager: Dan Micciche
Ground: Stadium:MK
Two years ago, both Charlton and MK Dons were relegated from the Championship… Last season saw both teams struggling and mid-table was the best that both could achieve. Both clubs sacked their managers after a handful of months, with (as we know), Karl Robinson swapping Buckinghamshire for South East London.
MK Dons went down a different route, they went north of the border to hire Robbie Neilson who’d been impressing with Hearts and looked to have a bright future. Sadly like many previous Scottish Managers; Neilson didn’t quite adapt to the English game and was promptly sacked last month, leaving the Dons in serious relegation trouble.
Of course no one expected Dan Micciche to take the reigns… Having studied at the University of Loughborough, Micciche started is career coaching at a number of clubs before joining MK Dons in 2007 as Assistant Academy Manager. 2015 saw the young coach becoming England U16 Manager (Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho having been coached by Micciche with England).
And so the 38-year old became the new MK Dons Manager, the man who helped make Dele Alli, is now tasked with saving the MK Dons from returning to League Two. In his first three games, he’s suffered three defeats. Yet it’ll be interesting to see which direction his career goes!!
Charlton Team News
There is no doubting the talent of Ahmed Kashi and Jake Forster-Caskey yet you have to start wondering if the two are too similar and whether it should be a fight between the two for one place… Since being dropped from the starting eleven, Charlton have failed to win without Joe Aribo and whilst its unlikely you have to question if its time to make changes as (made obvious by the last three results), things just aren’t working.
Josh Magennis, seems to have hit form (strangely at the same time as the arrival of Michal Zyro) yet our two new loanees havent impressed as much as we’d hoped – Sullay Kaikai was a disappointed on Tuesday, whilst Zyro is being confined to cameos… Is it time to give the Polish winger an opportunity from the start?
Amos
Solly | Konsa | Bauer | Dasilva
Kashi | Aribo
Marshall | Zyro | Fosu
Magennis
Substitutes Bench: Phillips | Lennon | Jackson | Reeves | Kaikai | Forster-Caskey | Ajose
PredictionThe fact that Micciche hasn’t won a game worries me… Typical Charlton luck usually means that the opposition get lucky whenever they play the Addicks so really wouldn’t be surprised if our trip to Buckinghamshire ends in defeat – Three points are becoming desperately needed for Charlton though, who knows which way this one will go.
Comments
1.1
I know a couple of people who watch MK Dons regularly and they tell me they are awful at the moment.
That's the game we should have won about 5-0
Solly Konsa Bauer Dasilva
Kashi Forster-Caskey
Marshall Reeves Fosu
Magennis
Phillips, Pearce, Jackson, Aribo, Kaikai, Zyro, Ajose
MK Dons 0-2 Charlton Athletic
Reeves
Fosu
If Pearce is fit we might be back to our best CB combo of Bauer/Pearce.
That might possibly mean Konsa at RB, as Solly is struggling a bit.
Either way we should have enough to beat MKD, but feel nervous nonetheless.
1-2
I was quite impressed by Ajose's cameo on Tuesday, indeed I'd be tempted to play him alongside Josh (not that it will happen)
I dont see why we dont try 3-5-2 feels like we have the personnel now. Ajose up front with Big Josh should work. Solly/JDS both would be good wingbacks, obviously a couple might end up missing out but worth a shot and we would be pretty solid with a back 3 of Bauer, Pearce, Konsa
3-5-2
Amos
Konsa,BFG, Pearce
Solly, JDS
Kashi/JFC or Aribo
Fosu
Magdennis / Ajose
But we will likely line up:
Amos
Solly/ BFG/ Pearce/ JDS
Kashi / Aribo
Marshall/ Reeves/ Fosu
Magdennis
Also, starting 3 at the back against a team who plays one up front isn't usually the best tactical approach. It can often leave two spare central defenders, which is one too many.
I thought Kaikai showed flashes of some real quality, but he looked raw and rusty, to be expected to some extent. I think bringing Reeves back in against his former club is the play here.
Mark Marshall has badly drifted out of games in recent weeks (though he did have the assist Saturday). But I think Reeves is far less effective on the right for us, and Kaikai and Fosu could both play there, but both prefer either playing through the middle or on the left.
Also, I agree that Ajose provided something different and looked to make really aggressive runs in behind on Tuesday in his short cameo, and that despite not being a huge fan of his I was impressed. But I don't know that he's a 60-70 minutes solution right now. He's not played much football this year, and we know he struggles to impact the game at the best of time. I think his place is still impact sub.
Amos
Solly Konsa Bauer DaSilva
........JFC.....Kashi
Marshall Reeves Fosu
..........Magennis
But we played well for large stretches of Tuesday night. I don't think you can blame the formation necessarily for conceding late goals or not finishing off chances. I think there are other things, like working on concentration and shape, and also getting more movement and inter-play around the ball that could help put us over the line.
That team looks formulaic and rigid- as has been the problem all season
MK are currently the worse form team in the division nothing less than a win will do, no more excuses, no blaming the players, injuries or refs - just get the job done!
Then all we need to do is to work out how we handle the sides in this division who are half decent which is where our manager needs to earn his corn.
I think the player who adds more dynamism is Kaikai. The problem is he didn't make many runs behind Josh on Tuesday, and when playing on the left he didn't make those out to in runs that we desperately need. Now that may still be to come, it's his first start for us and he clearly has some ability. But what he did on Tuesday was all in front of the defense.
Against Donny Reeves did actually get beyond Josh at times, and played as a false 9 for a bit, but that's not his strong suit.
In short, we desperately miss Stephy.
By the way, Mark Marshall very much has the pace to cause defenses all sorts of problems. We were talking about out to in runs in the post match thread, and while it's not his natural game as a chalk on your boots winger, it's something that if he did even a couple times it could help immensely. As things are defenses can kind of stand off him until he has the ball because they know he's not going to run beyond them. But even a couple runs where he tries to run past his fullback when we have the ball in midfield could cause some problems.
It should be noted in fairness he does a lot of tracking back which can make it hard both in terms of tiredness and just logistics to make those runs. But given he doesn't really scare anyone with the ball at his feet at the moment, anything he can do to stretch defenses and make them second guess how to mark him will help himself and the team.