Milton Keynes Dons v Charlton Athletic
Tuesday 14th August 2018 … 7:45pm Kick-Off
Football League Cup – Round One
IntroductionSo that’s three points gained from the first two games of the season… Not a bad return when you consider the standard of the opposition played so far meaning if those injured can return soon before we lose any more players then it may not be the awful season that a handful of fans predicted – Yet as per tradition it’s time to take a brief break from league action, Lee Bowyer will now take his young Charlton side up the M1 to face Milton Keynes Dons in what is the first cup campaign of the season!!
The Opposition
Name: Milton Keynes Dons |
Manager: Paul Tisdale
Ground: Stadium:MK
Whilst both clubs were relegated from the Championship together it’s been no real surprise that neither were able to mount a serious promotion attempt to return to the second tier… Both sides have sacked and hired new men to try and fix the issue, and in one case there was even an ex-MK Dons man coming to Charlton (it didn’t work out, and all we got was ear ache!!)
Last season though saw MK Dons relegated back to League Two last season it certainly came as no surprise seeing that our opponents never looked like surviving in the first place… Over the summer they’ve had yet another managerial change, but on this occasion it looks like it may work; Paul Tisdale is probably the best at this level and is due to his loyalty at Exeter that he’s not managed any higher than League One!!
Their start has been as expected, with maximum points gained against fellow relegated sides in Oldham and Bury – It would be a surprise if Lee Bowyer took tomorrow’s game seriously, yet even if he does, there would be no guarantees of a win even without our injury problems!!
Charlton Team NewsFollowing the press conference on Saturday afternoon we received the tweet from Louis Mendez which confirmed that Charlton will be fielding a team of U23s tomorrow with a handful of first-teamers which naturally means the squad will be pretty unchanged from the one against Shrewsbury.
After having an impressive pre-season, it came as no surprise to see Albie Morgan making his debut from the bench and am sure that us Charlton fans will get to enjoy his potential at least until the January Transfer Window. Having been forced to utilise a number of inexperienced players over pre-season it’ll be interesting to see which other youth players get a run out… The Goalkeeper situation will certainly be a position to watch tomorrow with new loanee: Jed Steer potentially getting a chance to dislodge Dillon Phillips who has performed relatively well to date
Steer
Sarr | Bauer | Blumberg
Dijksteel | Maloney | Morgan | Aribo | Grant
Ajose | Hackett-Fairchild
Substitutes Bench: Phillips | Lapslie | Stevenson | Pratley | Taylor | Doughty
PredictionWith so many injures I’d be surprised if anyone cares about winning tomorrow night yet it’ll be a good opportunity for the likes of Taylor Maloney and Albie Morgan to gain some much needed experience… Fully expect Charlton to put up a good fight yet eventually expect MK Dons to be a little bit too much for us
Comments
This game and our CheckaTrade games show how thin even our bloody U23 squad is though when we dont really have anyone else to call upon!!
A tough match, given our paper thin squad. And a boring one, considering how often we've played them in recent years both in the league and the FA Cup!
Yet they never looked like they would get themselves to safety once we entered the second half of the season and just nose dived at the turn of the year
I thought them appointing Dan Micciche was brave (and really wanted it to work) in January yet quickly proved the risk hadnt paid off
It has to be said that their owner has kept a pretty tight hold on the transfer and wages budget too
Thought maybe Cummings and Mascoll might feature.
Lots of young players, think we will lose but a good experience for them nonetheless
Not sure that is possible though given the size of the squad.
Sarr needs game time so would still pick him even though it’s a risk he might get a knock but we are all confident a top class centre back will be coming on loan aren’t we..
Love a cup run but it definitely doesn’t suit us this season
Not sure about the others, it depends on whether they need rest or whether game time might be useful. I think Bowyer would still like to win this game, so may put the likes of Aribo and Taylor on the bench. Ideally we wouldn't play Bauer, but we still need some experience at the back, and such a game shouldn't be too physically tough, it's not as if MKD under Tisdale are going to be a physical, dirty side.
.............. ...AMB
Dijksteel Yao Blumberg Mascoll
Morgan Maloney Lapslie Doughty
......... Hackett Ajose
I'd love to see Dijksteel in Central midfield one of these days, but given the illness I think playing at RB, or even CB (a position he's played a lot more than RB) with Yao at RB, is a better way to ease him back in.
I'd put Lapslie in the center of midfield because even though he's worked very hard I think he still has a lot to learn when it comes to calmness and Composure, Which will come with experience. And this is a good chance to let him play central midfield in a senior game.
Would start AMB just to give him the senior experience as well. Steer had a full preseason, I don't know that he'd gain much of anything from this, whereas Maynard-Brewer would I believe be making his senior debut.
A huge 3-0 is coming our way.
cant even predict this one as dont know the strength of the mk side being put out.
They know and trust each other and will be up for it.
Not sure that will be enough to win the game but it will be good experience and do wonders for the V numbers.