Back from the game: MK Dons

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Well that was tiring!

The fitness was just pure comedy

[Armadillo Roadkill]

First twenty minutes it looked like just a matter of time until we started to notch up a cricket score. Then Cooper makes one of his calamities - woefully undercut back pass, we're lucky the keeper didn't go off.

To be fair to MK, they carried on trying to make chances all the way through as well as defending deep. It's a bit harsh on them overall. They looked a lot fitter than us.

Kelly looked like the best player on the pitch until his injury. Hope he's OK - it happened just in front of me and it was a sickener.

Harriott was good. Evans was good. Watson was good until he faded. Quinn worked hard. Mendes lacks confidence. Bereens showed flashes of brilliance in fits and starts. Moore looks class.

MK were actually rather more effective at playing out from the back - they showed more purpose and didn't look like they were just passing it around because they didn't know what to do.

We're a work in progress. And we're in the next round of the league cup. And that, for tonight, is enough.

[LWJ]

we're lucky the keeper didn't go off.

No, we aren't. We would have been unlucky if he had been sent off as it would have been against the new rules.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I managed to get weirdly angry at Stamp's tactical f*ck up in that game. Still struggling to understand

Apart from the first 5 min we were aimless dogsh*t just slowly and obviously passing it around the back with no purpose, until the all too predictable backpass from Cooper for the pen. Still nothing after that until Kelly got injured.

Weirdly Kelly was one our best players, but we got so much better when he got injured. We went 3-5-2 with Gravenburch playing it nicely out from the centre of defence. Quinn got more involved, and Obita & Watson were playing high up the field. I thought we looked class from then on and it was only a matter of time before we scored. The system really suited us. So what did Stam do straight after the goal? Go for jugular? No....... he brought on Williams and reverted to 4-4-2. Cue aimless passing around at the back and utter dogs*t for the rest of the game. Just WTF Stam

Fair fooks to our Keeper for that awesome double save thing in the first half of extra time. Like the look of him so far.

And I particularly enjoyed the fact that our penalty takers seemed to consist of the ONLY 5 players that could still walk. Seriously, players going down with cramp 5 min into extra time is just mental. Quinn's layoff for the 2nd in ET came purely because he was blowing out his arse, wasn't looking and didn't actually want the ball

Still, some good entertainment for the money

[Armadillo Roadkill]

we're lucky the keeper didn't go off.

No, we aren't. We would have been unlucky if he had been sent off as it would have been against the new rules.

Not quite a clear cut as you make out. Refs may choose to only give a yellow if it's not dangerous or was accidental. It was't dangerous, but it was pretty cynical, and could have earned a red. It's not automatic, but then neither is it no longer a red card offence if the referee deems it so.

[yuomi]

I counted 22 crosses that either found a franchise player or noone. The sideways / backwards tappy tappy will get us into trouble against better sides. Cooper is a f*cking liability. Mendes can't play up top by himself.

[TBM]

Well at least tonight proves we need a new striker

Mendes was shocking, not once did I see him get across the defender when a cross was coming in, he simply just stood and watched/waited

[bracksroyal10]

Yes we are a work in progress and yes we got a result tonight.

Let's not forget, this was MK Dons second/youth team pretty much.

How can we go from battling against top of the league Brighton to a draw to scraping through against MK Dons? (Credit to themselves tonight)

Some people might call me short sighted but regardless of our team that we played tonight, that game should have been a forgone conclusion by half time.

With the exception of Harriot and a couple of other occasions, it seemed that no one wanted to take responsibility and make something happen particularly beyond the second half.

We move on to Cardiff, with some very unncessarily tired first team starters.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

we're lucky the keeper didn't go off.

No, we aren't. We would have been unlucky if he had been sent off as it would have been against the new rules.

Not quite a clear cut as you make out. Refs may choose to only give a yellow if it's not dangerous or was accidental. It was't dangerous, but it was pretty cynical, and could have earned a red. It's not automatic, but then neither is it no longer a red card offence if the referee deems it so.

But it also in no way denied a goal scoring chance as their player had booted it so hard it was almost out for a goal kick when the pen occurred

//fwiw definitely outside the box

[John Madejski's Wallet]

That ref was utter gash

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Obviously Stam really wants a 4-4-2 borefest, but I really like the idea of

................ McShane.....Grav......Moore.............
Watson/Gunts.........................................Obita/Blackett

[LWJ]

I managed to get weirdly angry at Stamp's tactical f*ck up in that game. Still struggling to understand

Apart from the first 5 min we were aimless dogsh*t just slowly and obviously passing it around the back with no purpose, until the all too predictable backpass from Cooper for the pen. Still nothing after that until Kelly got injured.

Weirdly Kelly was one our best players, but we got so much better when he got injured. We went 3-5-2 with Gravenburch playing it nicely out from the centre of defence. Quinn got more involved, and Obita & Watson were playing high up the field. I thought we looked class from then on and it was only a matter of time before we scored. The system really suited us. So what did Stam do straight after the goal? Go for jugular? No....... he brought on Williams and reverted to 4-4-2. Cue aimless passing around at the back and utter dogs*t for the rest of the game.

Our formation didn't change

The formation is what we line up as at kickoff or when defending, not when we are attacking. Kelly played the exact same role in the first half by dropping between the two centre backs and the fullbacks pushing up. We were 4-3-3 the whole game.

Also Williams came on because Gravenbirch was exhausted, he went into his natural role with Evans dropping deeper. Who would you have bought on to continue us playing the same way? The reason we had aimless passing was because Evans didn't pick the ball up enough and spread it.

[Royality creeps In]

Mendes is dreadful
Cooper a liability
Obita runs backwards
Rakels WTF
Jakola What on earth happened for their equalizer
Watson OK
Quinn OK
Beerens frustrating
Williams OK
Graven Big bloke was average
Harriet OK
Kelly Star man until injured by Cooper
Liam Moore looked OK

I'm sure theres others but I cant be arsed

STAM WE NEED A STRIKER, A FOX IN THE BOX. A GOAL SCORING CENTRE FORWARD, God were screaming out for one so bloody frustrating

[urz13]

Jaakola - 7 did fine really, a few good saves.
Watson - 6.5 one of our better players until he got knackered.
Moore - 5.5 put in the two best crosses all night but wasn't that impressed defensively
Cooper - 4 liability, always looked for the sideways pass first
Obita - 4 he's turning from a decent attacking fullback into a poor mans version of Gunter
Quinn - 5 runs around a lot and covers for players out of position well but lacks any real talent
Gravenberch - 6 was quite tidy and impressive bar his awful shooting
Kelly - 6 nice on the ball but delivery from corners was very poor
Rakels - 5 nothing to say really
Harriott - 6.5 two good goals but lacks a football brain; far too often he didn't see easy passes, played the wrong option, passed to offside players or slowed the play down unnecessarily. Still, could be a useful signing.
Mendes - 1 absolute carthorse. Missed 3 sitters, hold up play was very poor, every time a low cross came along the 6 yard box he was nowhere to be found - usually just plodding around the edge of the box. Seriously dreadful.

[urz13]

Subs:
Beerens - 5 didn't get into the game, crossing was poor.
Evans - 5.5 different player to the one we saw on Saturday
Williams - 6 usual energy and drive took us forward a lot more, should've had a pen.

[Lower West]

Jaakola - 7 did fine really, a few good saves.
Watson - 6.5 one of our better players until he got knackered.
Moore - 5.5 put in the two best crosses all night but wasn't that impressed defensively
Cooper - 4 liability, always looked for the sideways pass first
Obita - 4 he's turning from a decent attacking fullback into a poor mans version of Gunter
Quinn - 5 runs around a lot and covers for players out of position well but lacks any real talent
Gravenberch - 6 was quite tidy and impressive bar his awful shooting
Kelly - 6 nice on the ball but delivery from corners was very poor
Rakels - 5 nothing to say really
Harriott - 6.5 two good goals but lacks a football brain; far too often he didn't see easy passes, played the wrong option, passed to offside players or slowed the play down unnecessarily. Still, could be a useful signing.
Mendes - 1 absolute carthorse. Missed 3 sitters, hold up play was very poor, every time a low cross came along the 6 yard box he was nowhere to be found - usually just plodding around the edge of the box. Seriously dreadful.

That's a harsh verdict on what was a patchwork side that was collectively short of match practice.

Pleasing to see that we have at last a style of play. With competition of places. The future looks a lot brighter.

Mendes may just be what we need.

[urz13]

Who really deserved higher? 5 to me means not great, 6 average and 7 fairly good. Nobody was really better than 'fairly good' tonight, IMO. Maybe bump Mendes up to a 2.

[paultheroyal]

Yes we are a work in progress and yes we got a result tonight.

Let's not forget, this was MK Dons second/youth team pretty much.

How can we go from battling against top of the league Brighton to a draw to scraping through against MK Dons? (Credit to themselves tonight)

Some people might call me short sighted but regardless of our team that we played tonight, that game should have been a forgone conclusion by half time.

With the exception of Harriot and a couple of other occasions, it seemed that no one wanted to take responsibility and make something happen particularly beyond the second half.

We move on to Cardiff, with some very unncessarily tired first team starters.

You can't even compare that to Brighton. We made 10 changes ffs!!

We had more possession, more shots and we bloody won.

Carlisle took Derby to penalties, Northampton beat West Brom
Etc etc

Why are the players unnecessarily tired? It's Tuesday and the first teamers were in bar 1871 or played 60 mins of football.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I managed to get weirdly angry at Stamp's tactical f*ck up in that game. Still struggling to understand

Apart from the first 5 min we were aimless dogsh*t just slowly and obviously passing it around the back with no purpose, until the all too predictable backpass from Cooper for the pen. Still nothing after that until Kelly got injured.

Weirdly Kelly was one our best players, but we got so much better when he got injured. We went 3-5-2 with Gravenburch playing it nicely out from the centre of defence. Quinn got more involved, and Obita & Watson were playing high up the field. I thought we looked class from then on and it was only a matter of time before we scored. The system really suited us. So what did Stam do straight after the goal? Go for jugular? No....... he brought on Williams and reverted to 4-4-2. Cue aimless passing around at the back and utter dogs*t for the rest of the game.

Our formation didn't change

In that nice section between Kelly getting injured and Williams coming on we were playing with Grav right in the middle of a back 3

[Thomas L'Heureux]

I do find these back from the game threads odd at times. I can't say I really agree with the take on player ratings thus far, and here's as to why:

Jaakkola seemed pretty assured to me. He made some decent saves, one particularly towards the end of the game when it came through a crowd and he tipped it around the post. The equaliser seemed to be a very good first save from him, one he had no right to make, and given the close proximity it's no surprise their player got a second bite. I said to the person I was with that he'd save a penalty. And he did.

Moore looked a serious upgrade on McShane. Not that I think he is an upgrade on the aforementioned as they'll begin playing together, but he looks by far a more rounded player. Could hear him talking throughout and he looked comfortable on the ball, playing out from the back.

We had a decent shape and tempo to us until Kelly's injury. Evans didn't come on and demand the ball which is what upset that. Long spells of passing along the back five and not going anywhere were largely down to him not dropping into pockets or coming deeper to receive the ball. He seemed to just stand and watch it without being the option most of the time.

Gravenberch looked very capable on the ball, which is no surprise for his size. He can receive it under pressure and turn his man quite easily. I don't think we'll quite know how or where to play him right now, but he showed decent potential from what I saw.

Rakkels lost the ball every time he touched it. And unfortunately for him got injured doing the only good thing he did in the match.

Harriott is decent. Even as the final whistle blew after extra time he was carrying the ball forward, looking to be positive. A comment suggesting he lacks a footballing brain is harsh. He works incredibly hard, and is always looking to make something happen which is more than can be said for most. Two quality finishes too, which again, most aren't capable of. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing him pushing the first team.