Was surrounded in the East Stand by a lot of foul mouthed tossers. The hot chocolate was shit. Totally and utterly outplayed by MK Dons. Is Gilbey a footballer? How the hell has Lewington never played at a higher level? Glasses kept steaming up because of the bloody mask.
On a brighter note, parked outside the main entrance -superb.
I was thinking the same about Lewington. You'd think at least that a team in the top 6 in League One would have signed him. What a consistently good player for MK.
And he's my cousin's ex wife's cousin's son.
there was a mention about 4/5 years ago, I think under Slade, that we could be signing Lewington. By chance, at the same time as this was in the air, we played at the Dons, and equally by chance, I 'bumped into' and had a chat in the Marks & Spencer restaurant close to the stadium, with Ray Lewington, Dean's father. Long story short, Ray just said that Dean was happy at the Dons, was content with the regime and the way that things were going and that Dean was staying put. He was non-committal about the 'move to CAFC' rumours
@PragueAddick, that looks like detention for Bows and the coaching team:
"we injured him" - write this on the physio wall 50 times, per injured player in training.
That's not my take at all. By "we" I mean the Club. The Club that didn't have a Championship level backroom set up in the Championship because, Duchatelet. And so obviously had an even worse setup after that, because Southall, Nimer,Farnell, Elliott. And which recently felt moved to part company with its head of medical.
I'll certainly be interested to hear Thomas take on the situation in more detial at the Q&A next week. It's already clear he is taking an interest. But you can't just bring in a whole new medical fitness personnel and regime just like that, any more than you can sign another Lyle Taylor, 4 weeks into the season, on £1.5/week.
But then we're not in the Championship now, I doubt Burton and MKD have massive medical departments either. Indeed the side which seems to have lots of injuries at the moment is Ipswich, a team you'd expect to have better facilities than most in this division!
I wonder how other teams would manage with the defensive problems weve been having? Pratley not far off pension age having to play twice a week at the back with someone whose also not playing in his preferred position. One thing I dont want to see is players being rushed back from injury or playing with an injury. If that means having to play Gunter and Pratley at the back for a couple more games then so be it.
Didn't have to play 2 players out of position in defence........we had TWO centre halves sitting on the bench !!
Mistakes will be made as in life, but it is how we react to those errors, and i expect a positive response Saturday. January window is imperative, and i am sure will be used to it's full extent now Thomas is in the driving seat, let's not forget that the last window was slammed shut for us and only partially opened up with a couple of weeks left, and Lee and Steve did a fantastic job in the time given. But now with the full window in January i feel we will be a lot stronger in negotiations and fully expect a good second half to the season.
I wonder how other teams would manage with the defensive problems weve been having? Pratley not far off pension age having to play twice a week at the back with someone whose also not playing in his preferred position. One thing I dont want to see is players being rushed back from injury or playing with an injury. If that means having to play Gunter and Pratley at the back for a couple more games then so be it.
Didn't have to play 2 players out of position in defence........we had TWO centre halves sitting on the bench !!
I wonder how other teams would manage with the defensive problems weve been having? Pratley not far off pension age having to play twice a week at the back with someone whose also not playing in his preferred position. One thing I dont want to see is players being rushed back from injury or playing with an injury. If that means having to play Gunter and Pratley at the back for a couple more games then so be it.
Didn't have to play 2 players out of position in defence........we had TWO centre halves sitting on the bench !!
When MK scored one of them was on the pitch.
Not sure what that concludes?
it concludes that when they scored one of our first choice central defenders was on the pitch and not, as the previous posted claimed, on the bench !
I wonder how other teams would manage with the defensive problems weve been having? Pratley not far off pension age having to play twice a week at the back with someone whose also not playing in his preferred position. One thing I dont want to see is players being rushed back from injury or playing with an injury. If that means having to play Gunter and Pratley at the back for a couple more games then so be it.
Didn't have to play 2 players out of position in defence........we had TWO centre halves sitting on the bench !!
When MK scored one of them was on the pitch.
Not sure what that concludes?
it concludes that when they scored one of our first choice central defenders was on the pitch and not, as the previous posted claimed, on the bench !
I think he meant to reference the starting lineup. Having Pratley's energy/pressing in midfield and a LCB could have improved our dross performance.
I wonder how other teams would manage with the defensive problems weve been having? Pratley not far off pension age having to play twice a week at the back with someone whose also not playing in his preferred position. One thing I dont want to see is players being rushed back from injury or playing with an injury. If that means having to play Gunter and Pratley at the back for a couple more games then so be it.
Didn't have to play 2 players out of position in defence........we had TWO centre halves sitting on the bench !!
When MK scored one of them was on the pitch.
Not sure what that concludes?
That he might of been better staying on the bench.
We couldn't contain Fraser and he looked like a fantastic player. Quick, skillful and a beauty of a left foot. One of the best players I have seen us come up against for a few years. Their passing and moving was very very good indeed and they will soon be climbing the table if they continue to play like that. Their #9 was also a menace and Surman is always a threat
Bringing on Maddison on right wing was a mistake in my opinion. He didn't play too badly but he is not going to bust his bollocks to get back and defend leaving Mattthews even more exposed as he was being targeted.
One thing that was glaringly obvious is our midfield desperately lacks pace and physicality. Watson is slow to get up to pace and was bypassed quite often. Shinnie and Gilbey are rather one-paced too. We could do with a younger and more agile Pratley type of player.
He left us a while ago now and may no longer be the player he once was but Jordan Cousins could get up and down the pitch and defend too.
A very dispiriting and chastening experience after so much anticipation at the return of some supporters and the fine display at Ipswich. The 2,000 present were willing to applaud and cheer anything remotely encouraging from the team but were probably a little shell shocked at the extent of MK’s dominance, especially in the first half. In criticising supporters, I think that Lee was deploying the well trodden managerial technique of trying to deflect attention away from a very poor performance. If he’s honest with himself, he’ll recognise that - and the fact that he and his management team were tactically outmanoeuvred (which has doubtless irked him).
I’m afraid that we were given a football lesson by MK, who were vastly superior on the night, both collectively and individually, although the fact that they could have surrendered two points in injury time points to a lack of end product in front of goal. That seems odd, given the impressive performances of Fraser and Morris. They can’t have been playing anything like that to have won only 3 of their previous 14 league games and be hovering just 2 points above the relegation zone. Their performance did, however, make sense of some of the passing and possession statistics posted by Lifers prior to the match.
We were totally dominated in the first half, with MK in complete control in midfield, where they had some very impressive players. We were left chasing shadows and they broke through the lines with ease. I also don’t remember opponents finding it so easy to get past our players and take them out of the game.
The change of formation in the second half and the introduction of Chuks on the hour improved matters a little and although an MK winner still looked on the cards, it ironically came after we’d generated a little bit of momentum. Maddison put four excellent crosses into the box, which unfortunately we were unable to convert. The last-gasp effort from Pratters against the underside of the bar was an unfortunate miss and deprived us of what would have been a great - and thoroughly undeserved - point in the circumstances.
I thought the only real positives from a gloomy performance were an excellent display from Ben Amos, the return of Akin Famewo (an instantly reassuring presence) and an impressive cameo from Marcus Maddison. I’d like to see the latter start at Shrewsbury along with Chuks and for Pearce, Famewo and Maatsen to be introduced into the back four. It also might be time to deploy Pratters in his usual midfield berth.
Deeply disappointing but it’s not the end of the world and hopefully we can get back on track on Saturday.
We've managed to put together a midfield (both personnel and system) that neither protects the back 4 nor offers much support to the strikers. It needs ripping up and I hope that starts with the ponderous card magnet at it's base.
I wonder how other teams would manage with the defensive problems weve been having? Pratley not far off pension age having to play twice a week at the back with someone whose also not playing in his preferred position. One thing I dont want to see is players being rushed back from injury or playing with an injury. If that means having to play Gunter and Pratley at the back for a couple more games then so be it.
Didn't have to play 2 players out of position in defence........we had TWO centre halves sitting on the bench !!
When MK scored one of them was on the pitch.
Not sure what that concludes?
That he might of been better staying on the bench.
I wonder how other teams would manage with the defensive problems weve been having? Pratley not far off pension age having to play twice a week at the back with someone whose also not playing in his preferred position. One thing I dont want to see is players being rushed back from injury or playing with an injury. If that means having to play Gunter and Pratley at the back for a couple more games then so be it.
Didn't have to play 2 players out of position in defence........we had TWO centre halves sitting on the bench !!
When MK scored one of them was on the pitch.
Not sure what that concludes?
That he might of been better staying on the bench.
Do you think so? Just interested.
Of course mate. We were holding our own, tammy came on disjointed the whole team and bang weve lost.
Why so much hate towards Omar Bogle? Yeah he didn't have a sight of goal but that's not entirely his fault. I thought he flicked it on nicely a few times and even held it up well and laid it off now and then. And yet he seems to have achieved scapegoat levels of hatred. Our midfield was the problem yesterday, surely.
Amos kept us in it numerous times Matthews: excellent Gunter: really good not his fault overrun at times from lack of midfield cover Pratley: see Gunter - dramatic improvement when he moved into midfield Purrington: decent Watson: decent if quiet game Morgan: noticed what he brought more when he got the hook, wasted on the left Gilbey: industrious maybe unlucky not sure about his decision making Shinnie: injured? worse without him certainly Bogle: no service Washington: ran miles but poor decision making and limited on the left Maddison: this prick has ability but obviously no interest in playing in a team what an absolute waste of a place Aneke: statuesque sulky and stupid - ridiculously bottled a gilt edged chance to score cos he might have got challenged - too pussy to score in case he got hurt - gutless wonder Williams: tumbled around like a toddler on a bouncy castle to absolutely zero impact - hopeless Famewo: good god we've missed him I hope he's really fit Referee: woefully inconsistent and yet another no mark poser who's never watched the game let alone played it, where do they get these pricks from?
Why has Pearce sat on the subs bench for four games in a row? Either he's ready to play a part or he isn't. I can understand a bit of caution at first, but with no natural centre backs being fit to start, it seems incredible that he hasn't had so much as a cameo role. Either he's fit to play in which case he's surely needed, or he isn't fit to play and shouldn't be wasting a position on the bench.
Why so much hate towards Omar Bogle? Yeah he didn't have a sight of goal but that's not entirely his fault. I thought he flicked it on nicely a few times and even held it up well and laid it off now and then. And yet he seems to have achieved scapegoat levels of hatred. Our midfield was the problem yesterday, surely.
Doesnt help that fans will see Aneke is on the bench who in all honesty is a better player
Look beyond Aneke's performance when he did come on and he didnt do that much better than Bogle
Amos kept us in it numerous times Matthews: excellent Gunter: really good not his fault overrun at times from lack of midfield cover Pratley: see Gunter - dramatic improvement when he moved into midfield Purrington: decent Watson: decent if quiet game Morgan: noticed what he brought more when he got the hook, wasted on the left Gilbey: industrious maybe unlucky not sure about his decision making Shinnie: injured? worse without him certainly Bogle: no service Washington: ran miles but poor decision making and limited on the left Maddison: this prick has ability but obviously no interest in playing in a team what an absolute waste of a place Aneke: statuesque sulky and stupid - ridiculously bottled a gilt edged chance to score cos he might have got challenged - too pussy to score in case he got hurt - gutless wonder Williams: tumbled around like a toddler on a bouncy castle to absolutely zero impact - hopeless Famewo: good god we've missed him I hope he's really fit Referee: woefully inconsistent and yet another no mark poser who's never watched the game let alone played it, where do they get these pricks from?
Amos kept us in it numerous times Matthews: excellent Gunter: really good not his fault overrun at times from lack of midfield cover Pratley: see Gunter - dramatic improvement when he moved into midfield Purrington: decent Watson: decent if quiet game Morgan: noticed what he brought more when he got the hook, wasted on the left Gilbey: industrious maybe unlucky not sure about his decision making Shinnie: injured? worse without him certainly Bogle: no service Washington: ran miles but poor decision making and limited on the left Maddison: this prick has ability but obviously no interest in playing in a team what an absolute waste of a place Aneke: statuesque sulky and stupid - ridiculously bottled a gilt edged chance to score cos he might have got challenged - too pussy to score in case he got hurt - gutless wonder Williams: tumbled around like a toddler on a bouncy castle to absolutely zero impact - hopeless Famewo: good god we've missed him I hope he's really fit Referee: woefully inconsistent and yet another no mark poser who's never watched the game let alone played it, where do they get these pricks from?
You really are nasty piece of work.
And a moron. 7s and 8s for our starting defence and midfield, and 3s for Maddison, Aneke and Williams, who between them played just about our only football
Amos kept us in it numerous times Matthews: excellent Gunter: really good not his fault overrun at times from lack of midfield cover Pratley: see Gunter - dramatic improvement when he moved into midfield Purrington: decent Watson: decent if quiet game Morgan: noticed what he brought more when he got the hook, wasted on the left Gilbey: industrious maybe unlucky not sure about his decision making Shinnie: injured? worse without him certainly Bogle: no service Washington: ran miles but poor decision making and limited on the left Maddison: this prick has ability but obviously no interest in playing in a team what an absolute waste of a place Aneke: statuesque sulky and stupid - ridiculously bottled a gilt edged chance to score cos he might have got challenged - too pussy to score in case he got hurt - gutless wonder Williams: tumbled around like a toddler on a bouncy castle to absolutely zero impact - hopeless Famewo: good god we've missed him I hope he's really fit Referee: woefully inconsistent and yet another no mark poser who's never watched the game let alone played it, where do they get these pricks from?
You really are nasty piece of work.
And a moron. 7s and 8s for our starting defence and midfield, and 3s for Maddison, Aneke and Williams, who between them played just about our only football
What does anyone expect from someone calling themselves Stig Thundercock?
Like everybody else, massively pissed off last night, especially as I was so up for it, with all the background mood music. Of course I should have known better but I didn't expect anything that bad. And of course Bow made a massive mistake with his comments about the fans.
But....
Look at the table. Look at where we are. Now look down the other end and find Wigan, a team that should not even be in this division this season. That's where we'd be, if Thomas had not come along. Even when he came along it was miraculous that Bow and Gallen could have managed to still pull in the players they did in the time they had. Not just because it was so late, the season already a month old, but for another reason which too many people here have forgotten... Due to the salary cap, there were a fair few fans in that 2,000 crowd who earned more last month (£6k) than every one of those players out there. That's what Bow had to work with. Now let's remind ourselves what else he had to work with.
* we had one player who started like he was going to tear up the division. Doughty. He got injured. Probably a freak one, but you wonder about whether he'd received the best fitness/conditioning regime for his physical game. * Strikers are always the most difficult to find. Two seasons ago Bow secured Taylor in the face of Sunderland competition. He started with Karlan Grant whom they had whacked into shape mentally. This time, we had one decent striker, Aneke who'd had persistent injury problems and started true to fitness form. And got Covid. We brought in Washington and someone called Omar Bogle. What better did we expect, 4 weeks after the season started, at 1500/week? * We managed to get the highly rated Alex Gilbey. Almost immediately we injured him. In training. * we managed to sign the talented but controversial Marcus Maddison. Almost immediately we injured him. In training. And this was a player with a good injury record before then (as Taylor had) * We brought in Innis and Famewo and far faster than anyone could have expected they formed a formidable partnership. So what did we do? In short order both got injured, one in training, and we had already injured the other two, in training. Let me run that past you again. In two months we injured all four centre backs, three of them in training. *JFC is injured again. In training, again. He's hardly had a run since his injury at Bristol City last season. *Smyth has looked good in the last two games, but he is injured too now (albeit a regular match injury)
We all know this, though the list is quite stark set out like that, isn't it. But here's my question. Having had to deal with all the above, how could any manager know what his best eleven is? Let alone adopt a settled style of play, tactical responses, etc.
Yet despite all that, we are still in the play off zone.
And I'm reading people on here saying Bow's not all that, he never had any offers, blah blah. All because he lost it a bit in a post match conference. Fuck that. Frankly, I could do without post match conferences, period. They don't lose football matches. What loses football matches are the consequences of what's being going on at our club and the stripping bare of essential medical/fitness resources without which even Man City would struggle to cope.
There, I feel better now....
There's no way that none of that team are on more than 6k a month.
Remember a lot of them were here before the salary cap came into play.
Yes I have understood from Price of Football that the formula is more complex. But surely all the new players who have come in cannot be on more, and its these players who are getting the pelters...
'I’ve praised the fans from day one. The players have been on the road – Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday – all of them away games and they were tired last night. I watched the game and we looked off it. They [MK] looked a lot sharper than us. '
I find this sentence very worrying. Surely Bowyer can see that last night was nothing to do with tiredness, and MK Dons being sharper and everything to do with them being a better footballing side then us.
We could have had a week off and they played at the weekend and there movment would have still ran rings around us. You don't beat teams who are that fluid and well drilled by lining up in a rigid formation with no movement. You've got to put them on the back foot with a quick press, and then recycling the ball quickly when you have it.
For those who follow the matchday thread, I mentioned I had a supermarket delivery about 9pm last night............by the way, I do not live near London.............when the driver spoke to me, I recognised his accent, but to make it worse he was from Bermondsey and supported ////, I wish I knew that they were going to lose at the time
Comments
Long story short, Ray just said that Dean was happy at the Dons, was content with the regime and the way that things were going and that Dean was staying put. He was non-committal about the 'move to CAFC' rumours
When MK scored one of them was on the pitch.
errors, and i expect a positive response Saturday.
January window is imperative, and i am sure will be used to it's
full extent now Thomas is in the driving seat, let's not forget
that the last window was slammed shut for us and only partially
opened up with a couple of weeks left, and Lee and Steve did a
fantastic job in the time given.
But now with the full window in January i feel we will be a lot
stronger in negotiations and fully expect a good second half
to the season.
A very dispiriting and chastening experience after so much anticipation at the return of some supporters and the fine display at Ipswich. The 2,000 present were willing to applaud and cheer anything remotely encouraging from the team but were probably a little shell shocked at the extent of MK’s dominance, especially in the first half. In criticising supporters, I think that Lee was deploying the well trodden managerial technique of trying to deflect attention away from a very poor performance. If he’s honest with himself, he’ll recognise that - and the fact that he and his management team were tactically outmanoeuvred (which has doubtless irked him).
I’m afraid that we were given a football lesson by MK, who were vastly superior on the night, both collectively and individually, although the fact that they could have surrendered two points in injury time points to a lack of end product in front of goal. That seems odd, given the impressive performances of Fraser and Morris. They can’t have been playing anything like that to have won only 3 of their previous 14 league games and be hovering just 2 points above the relegation zone. Their performance did, however, make sense of some of the passing and possession statistics posted by Lifers prior to the match.
We were totally dominated in the first half, with MK in complete control in midfield, where they had some very impressive players. We were left chasing shadows and they broke through the lines with ease. I also don’t remember opponents finding it so easy to get past our players and take them out of the game.
The change of formation in the second half and the introduction of Chuks on the hour improved matters a little and although an MK winner still looked on the cards, it ironically came after we’d generated a little bit of momentum. Maddison put four excellent crosses into the box, which unfortunately we were unable to convert. The last-gasp effort from Pratters against the underside of the bar was an unfortunate miss and deprived us of what would have been a great - and thoroughly undeserved - point in the circumstances.
I thought the only real positives from a gloomy performance were an excellent display from Ben Amos, the return of Akin Famewo (an instantly reassuring presence) and an impressive cameo from Marcus Maddison. I’d like to see the latter start at Shrewsbury along with Chuks and for Pearce, Famewo and Maatsen to be introduced into the back four. It also might be time to deploy Pratters in his usual midfield berth.
Deeply disappointing but it’s not the end of the world and hopefully we can get back on track on Saturday.
Certainly wasn't any high pressure last night
We were holding our own, tammy came on disjointed the whole team and bang weve lost.
Why so much hate towards Omar Bogle? Yeah he didn't have a sight of goal but that's not entirely his fault. I thought he flicked it on nicely a few times and even held it up well and laid it off now and then. And yet he seems to have achieved scapegoat levels of hatred. Our midfield was the problem yesterday, surely.
Matthews: excellent
Gunter: really good not his fault overrun at times from lack of midfield cover
Pratley: see Gunter - dramatic improvement when he moved into midfield
Purrington: decent
Watson: decent if quiet game
Morgan: noticed what he brought more when he got the hook, wasted on the left
Gilbey: industrious maybe unlucky not sure about his decision making
Shinnie: injured? worse without him certainly
Bogle: no service
Washington: ran miles but poor decision making and limited on the left
Maddison: this prick has ability but obviously no interest in playing in a team what an absolute waste of a place
Aneke: statuesque sulky and stupid - ridiculously bottled a gilt edged chance to score cos he might have got challenged - too pussy to score in case he got hurt - gutless wonder
Williams: tumbled around like a toddler on a bouncy castle to absolutely zero impact - hopeless
Famewo: good god we've missed him I hope he's really fit
Referee: woefully inconsistent and yet another no mark poser who's never watched the game let alone played it, where do they get these pricks from?
Look beyond Aneke's performance when he did come on and he didnt do that much better than Bogle
Most of the team don't get a chance to find out if they can because you keep changing the bloody team !
We desperately need stability.
The amount of back to back Sat - Tues - Sat games really does reduce
Provided of course we dont start getting any Saturday games postponed due to COVID reasons
Players underperformed across the board.
We (those who attended) were shit.
Thanks Bow.
Fuck off!
Too inconsistant for top two IMO.
I find this sentence very worrying. Surely Bowyer can see that last night was nothing to do with tiredness, and MK Dons being sharper and everything to do with them being a better footballing side then us.
We could have had a week off and they played at the weekend and there movment would have still ran rings around us. You don't beat teams who are that fluid and well drilled by lining up in a rigid formation with no movement. You've got to put them on the back foot with a quick press, and then recycling the ball quickly when you have it.