As I said over on the Jacko thread, I do think questions now need to be asked of his managerial ability and the rest of the season should be seen as an audition for the job next year. Things are tough for him at the moment with the players out against some of the best sides in the division, so I don't want to completely write him off. But our form since the turn of the year means he shouldn't be guaranteed his job next year.
We started much better from what I saw. We at least looked to press and put pressure on the ball higher up the pitch. And it caused them some problems. But this is a good passing MK Dons side, and they wore us down with their possession. And it begs the question if you're playing a good passing side, is it wise to press them given they have the ability to play out from the back? And then when we tired in the second half, the gameplan went out the window, we dropped too deep, conceded a second, and didn't really look like getting back in the game.
Curbs made a really good point earlier, "could you see our wingbacks getting into those positions (to score goals)"? And without Purrington in the side, the answer for weeks has been "no."
MK Dons are a very good side. We are missing a lot of crucial players. So I'm not going to pass judgement on this side or on Jackson based solely on tonight. But here are my feelings on some of the players I think could be around next year. That doesn't include Gunter, Matthews, Leko, Burstow, and Castillo (who looked fine, not special).
Gilbey: I've been a defender of his this season, that his running and pressing are crucial. But he has been awful of late. And he hides from the ball. And gets nowhere near the goal. A shell of the player from the second half of last season. I do wonder about long Covid with him, but he's been very poor.
Lavelle: Looked rusty, but I also think he got better in peoples' minds the longer he was out.
Lee: The technical skill is there, it's just the end product. Looked bright, but he's far too reliant on his right foot for someone who likes to drift out to the left.
Dobbo: Give him everything. Give him a key to the city. But with the way he's playing I worry about someone coming in for him in the summer.
Morgan: I wrote this in the match thread, but wanted to put it here as well. I've preached patience with Morgan as he hasn't really had a run in a good and settled team in his entire career. And to be fair he still hasn't really. But I just worry that at this point in his career, his best may not quite be good enough. To his credit, both Saturday and today he's put in a shift, but he doesn't have the quality in the final third to be a 10 and he doesn't have the nous to be a deeper lying playmaker. He's got good technical talent, it's just not clear how to get the best out of it.
I would be in favor of loaning him out next season to see if playing regularly helps him out it all together. But I wouldn't rely on it.
With the players we have out, I don't see how things get better anytime soon.
We are a team that is very reliant on our front players. Too reliant and if we lose their goals we haven't got many from anywhere else. We have lost the source of our goals so we shouldn't be surprised really and to be fair, from the pre-match comments I doubt many of us are.
Burstow is an U-23 player. He should not be playing against savvy defenders. The chance in the first half where the keeper has kicked the ball out, he plays it at the defender. It says it all to me. He is too easy to play against. We have got £1.6m for him and that is a result and he could become a real player but I'd rather have Lee playing than him.
I’m not as doom as gloom as most, and can see the wider picture as pointed out by @ForeverAddickted, in as much as in 6 games time we could have Fraser, Washington, Stockley starting and Aneke coming on against sides in the bottom half of the table - instead of what we have currently, which is a weaker side playing against all the inform teams - and things could be looking totally different.
That being said, it’s still no excuse really for what is happening which is us falling into the same patterns, mistakes and capitulations which have dogged us for a couple of seasons now. Whatever people think, League one is competitive, high level and brutal (if not pretty) football. And there’s always going to be tough times, but we don’t seem to manage them at all well, whether that’s periods in games or a set of games themselves.
This is not helped by buying injury prone players, not helped by having essentially the same coaching set up for a while now, not helped by having some whack recruitment structure in place, not helped by relying on kids, and certainly not helped by players who can’t dig deep when we need them to.
I said it when Adkins went, but there needs to be a real hard look at the processes and ethos in place at the club. Maybe that’s what they tried to do with the 4-3-3 and ‘the black box’ etc etc, but it’s clearly not worked and we’ve basically just ended up back where started.
At this point in time i wouldn’t be fussed if Jackson stayed or went tbh, but if he was able to build a squad of young, hungry players that can play high press and with confidence then I wouldn’t be too sad if he stayed. We saw that work when he first took over, then the injuries hit, the deadwood plays every week and everyone is just going through the motions, including the Jackson himself.
I don't think anything will change until we get those forwards back. Saturday will be three weeks without Washington and Aneke, if I were Jackson I would probably ask the medical team what the feck is going on ? We will lose to most of the teams in this division if we don't have a forward line.
I don't understand why Elliott Lee is getting criticism on here. He was one of our better players when he came on; showing for the ball, turning his defender, creating pressure and opportunities. Seems to be a bit of a habit to dig out the same players every match regardless of the reality of what happened.
Tactically we are at the same place we were under Adkins. No surprise when we have hired his Assistant.
Jacko isn’t ready for a job this size.
Liam Manning done a year in Belgium and a couple years coaching West Ham U23’s before landing the MK Dons job. How ready do you need to be?
Did MK Dons have the mess we have behind the scenes? We need a manager with a proper recent experience who will come in and shake this whole thing up.
Hiring a man who was number 2 to the guy who got sacked has proven not to work.
I don’t care what you say about those players, tactically we are best, the same level as Adkins.
Mk Dons finished 13th the season before and had a high turnover of playing staff with the manager leaving first week of the season, so hardly a suitable start.
you could say Jackson did shake the whole thing up. If he hadn’t then we’d be currently 4/5 places lower than we are now. Since injuries have taken their toll and the season looks over, they’ve jacked it in. I’m not making excuses for Jackson, I think he should of at least tried something else by now.
Just watched the entire post match interview with Jacko, and he looks not a broken man, but certainly injured and at a low ebb, we are doing the best we can with the troops available, no Stockley, Washington, Aneke, CBT, Fraser, and now Burstow with what looks like a hamstring that could mean we start Saturday with no forwards at all. We were in it tonight for the first half, and could argue we didn't deserve to be one down at half time, all be it with a good goal well taken, we are starting the second half chasing a game we shouldn't be, then another slip up at the back and it's 0-2, game over, so we go again Saturday at Sheff Weds, another difficult game, and will give it a go, but we need some bodies back soon or look over our shoulder until the end of this miserable season...
I don't understand why Elliott Lee is getting criticism on here. He was one of our better players when he came on; showing for the ball, turning his defender, creating pressure and opportunities. Seems to be a bit of a habit to dig out the same players every match regardless of the reality of what happened.
Just seems there are protagonists who are fair game every week, those who breeze in and out of favour, then those who can be questioned in any way. It's how its always been mate
Think tonight was all about our missing strikers if we had Stockley and Washington tonight we would have won .. first half nothing between the sides decent display by the reds but one moment of hesitation from Matthews and we are one down …second half Burstow misses another guilt edge chance … and McG makes a great only fir the ball to fall to their striker who scores …. Tonight we kept battling and trying but without experienced strikers its impossible .
Burstow goes of injured and we end with DJ and Lee uk front that tells the story of tonight .. Mk Dons showed their confidence passing the ball around . What else can JJ do my only moan he should have given Campbell and Kanu longer
Jackson should have put a side out that can park the bus. And please stop playing out from the back we do not have the players capable of doing it.
Going by how Jackson tends to line up, I think tonight was a case of parking the bus
Previously we've tended to see a "defender" as a wing-back down one flank - with an "attacking" winger on the other side - Neither Matthews or Castillo were the latter tonight.
Glad I wasn’t able to watch it. Any news when Fraser and the strikers are expected back? I saw Burstow went off injured so that’s all four out now. Need them sooner than later to get the points we need to stay up before a full rebuild in the summer.
Re JJ and 'he's responsible'/'he isn't responsible' - I think the truth could lie somewhere in between, only going on what we've all seen.
Maybe the wing-back thing is something that *has* to be done (for whatever reason), and maybe players are vetoed by people who are utterly clueless.
Not that excuses him from his player choices and subs. Maybe he just wants out.
Like everything regarding this football club (and probably all others), as punters we will never really know.
This is baseless, though. First it was "Adkins is being forced to play the 4-2-3-1" but then that went out the window when JJ took over and played whatever formation he wanted. He's already gone into detail about why he likes the 3-5-2 and that was from his first real interview.
Surely if Sandgaard was going to force JJ to play anything, it would be a formation that fits the players he spent money on - wingers.
That was a stroll in the park for MK. We are dire and just going through the motions.
The buck stops with JJ for me. I have completely lost faith in him. Dreading what Wednesday will do to us if we set up the same again... Again again again.
It’s the same old shit from the same old players. Mass clear out needed from top to bottom. Not quite sure what Chelsea we got Castillo from but can only assume the flower show. Absolute pish.
I appreciate that any team is going to miss their top 3 strikers........but any decent footballer knows how to shoot.
No shots on target. You won't win any games with that stat, no matter how good you defend.
First thing Jackson has to do is to get the players to shoot. Get the wingers (fuck wingbacks - go back to 4 4 2) to put in decent crosses & the central midfielders to put in passes that made their first goal.
And dont put Kanu on the bench if you are then going to throw DJ up front.
DJ & Leko arent going to score. Might as well put a defender up there & use their height.
I say it quite often - coaching badges aren't worth a light.
Jackson should have put a side out that can park the bus. And please stop playing out from the back we do not have the players capable of doing it.
When I suggested that I was told it was the worst post in CL history. We might as well have crash test dummies up front as Burstow and Leko so why not at least flood the midfield. One of the players could have the job of tracking runs behind and one could booster the others who alternate in attacking positions.
The problem is, if he does that and loses, as he probably still will, he will get slagged off. It is only, we don't have any strikers who can challenge opponents so what is the point in playing ones that can't.
Comments
We started much better from what I saw. We at least looked to press and put pressure on the ball higher up the pitch. And it caused them some problems. But this is a good passing MK Dons side, and they wore us down with their possession. And it begs the question if you're playing a good passing side, is it wise to press them given they have the ability to play out from the back? And then when we tired in the second half, the gameplan went out the window, we dropped too deep, conceded a second, and didn't really look like getting back in the game.
Curbs made a really good point earlier, "could you see our wingbacks getting into those positions (to score goals)"? And without Purrington in the side, the answer for weeks has been "no."
MK Dons are a very good side. We are missing a lot of crucial players. So I'm not going to pass judgement on this side or on Jackson based solely on tonight. But here are my feelings on some of the players I think could be around next year. That doesn't include Gunter, Matthews, Leko, Burstow, and Castillo (who looked fine, not special).
Gilbey: I've been a defender of his this season, that his running and pressing are crucial. But he has been awful of late. And he hides from the ball. And gets nowhere near the goal. A shell of the player from the second half of last season. I do wonder about long Covid with him, but he's been very poor.
Lavelle: Looked rusty, but I also think he got better in peoples' minds the longer he was out.
Lee: The technical skill is there, it's just the end product. Looked bright, but he's far too reliant on his right foot for someone who likes to drift out to the left.
Dobbo: Give him everything. Give him a key to the city. But with the way he's playing I worry about someone coming in for him in the summer.
Morgan: I wrote this in the match thread, but wanted to put it here as well. I've preached patience with Morgan as he hasn't really had a run in a good and settled team in his entire career. And to be fair he still hasn't really. But I just worry that at this point in his career, his best may not quite be good enough. To his credit, both Saturday and today he's put in a shift, but he doesn't have the quality in the final third to be a 10 and he doesn't have the nous to be a deeper lying playmaker. He's got good technical talent, it's just not clear how to get the best out of it.
I would be in favor of loaning him out next season to see if playing regularly helps him out it all together. But I wouldn't rely on it.
With the players we have out, I don't see how things get better anytime soon.
Burstow is an U-23 player. He should not be playing against savvy defenders. The chance in the first half where the keeper has kicked the ball out, he plays it at the defender. It says it all to me. He is too easy to play against. We have got £1.6m for him and that is a result and he could become a real player but I'd rather have Lee playing than him.
That being said, it’s still no excuse really for what is happening which is us falling into the same patterns, mistakes and capitulations which have dogged us for a couple of seasons now. Whatever people think, League one is competitive, high level and brutal (if not pretty) football. And there’s always going to be tough times, but we don’t seem to manage them at all well, whether that’s periods in games or a set of games themselves.
This is not helped by buying injury prone players, not helped by having essentially the same coaching set up for a while now, not helped by having some whack recruitment structure in place, not helped by relying on kids, and certainly not helped by players who can’t dig deep when we need them to.
I said it when Adkins went, but there needs to be a real hard look at the processes and ethos in place at the club. Maybe that’s what they tried to do with the 4-3-3 and ‘the black box’ etc etc, but it’s clearly not worked and we’ve basically just ended up back where started.
Maybe the wing-back thing is something that *has* to be done (for whatever reason), and maybe players are vetoed by people who are utterly clueless.
Not that excuses him from his player choices and subs. Maybe he just wants out.
Like everything regarding this football club (and probably all others), as punters we will never really know.
injured and at a low ebb, we are doing the best we can with the troops available, no Stockley, Washington, Aneke, CBT, Fraser, and now Burstow with what looks like a hamstring that could mean we start Saturday with no forwards at all.
We were in it tonight for the first half, and could argue we didn't deserve to be one down at half time, all be it with a good goal well taken, we are starting the second half chasing a game we shouldn't be, then another slip up at the back and it's 0-2, game over, so we go again Saturday at Sheff Weds, another difficult game, and will give it a go, but we need some bodies back soon or look over our shoulder until the end of this miserable season...
Burstow goes of injured and we end with DJ and Lee uk front that tells the story of tonight .. Mk Dons showed their confidence passing the ball around .
What else can JJ do my only moan he should have given Campbell and Kanu longer
Previously we've tended to see a "defender" as a wing-back down one flank - with an "attacking" winger on the other side - Neither Matthews or Castillo were the latter tonight.
Surely if Sandgaard was going to force JJ to play anything, it would be a formation that fits the players he spent money on - wingers.
The buck stops with JJ for me. I have completely lost faith in him. Dreading what Wednesday will do to us if we set up the same again... Again again again.
No shots on target. You won't win any games with that stat, no matter how good you defend.
First thing Jackson has to do is to get the players to shoot. Get the wingers (fuck wingbacks - go back to 4 4 2) to put in decent crosses & the central midfielders to put in passes that made their first goal.
And dont put Kanu on the bench if you are then going to throw DJ up front.
DJ & Leko arent going to score. Might as well put a defender up there & use their height.
I say it quite often - coaching badges aren't worth a light.
The problem is, if he does that and loses, as he probably still will, he will get slagged off. It is only, we don't have any strikers who can challenge opponents so what is the point in playing ones that can't.
Huw Edwards has just said that it is 22mins past 10 (so 22.22) on the 22nd day of the 2nd month of 2022.
22.22 on 22.02.22