Alty_Ram

Have we won a single game this season where someone has described it as a 'must win' ? 😧

Obviously like many Derby fans I have a lingering slight annoyance at how him stringing us along helped to undermine our summer and the following season but I don't really wish the guy any ill. I do think though that once again we are seeing that one of the outstanding players of his generation does not a great manager make. The likes of Frank seem to get far more slack than less illustrious names though and what has he actually achieved in management ? Precious little really. Frank Smith the competent (and invented) ex Doncaster midfielder would be nowhere near these jobs. These celebrity appointments might get some initial slack from players based on their achievements as players but kicking a ball into a net a lot doesn't make you a great motivator or tactician.

Hmm, well even with a slightly patched up United with no Rashford that looked comfortable. The worry if you are a Forest fan that in a home game there wasn't a single shot on target. The away form has been ropey so every remining home game is massive and they've never really got going and given themselves a chance.
All that said and despite several teams winning yesterday and pulling away, Southampton look poor, Leicester are really struggling and Leeds looked woeful last time out and got mauled at home by Palace. Leeds have Leicester then Bournemouth in a couple of games time so someone is getting points and Everton are determined to stay in trouble. It's still so tight but perhaps a diminishing pool of teams in trouble. This is far from over though. Everyone down there is thinking if they can just get one streaky win then it looks a whole lot better. Actually quite exciting !

I think we underestimate ourselves and our facilities sometimes. This is very much in line with the conversation that I had with Bristol Rovers fans this season... they were genuinely really impressed with PP. In fact they started the conversation due to overhearing us talk about a slight surprise at their numbers and as I said elsewhere, they listed the stadium as one of the main reasons why they all wanted to come.

Sure, we can't compete with the top grounds and brand new stadiums but we make countless other ground look like tatty sheds. We're not in the top cluster any more but we've still got great facilities.

I think we underestimate ourselves and our facilities sometimes. This is very much in line with the conversation that I had with Bristol Rovers fans this season... they were genuinely really impressed with PP. In fact they started the conversation due to overhearing us talk about a slight surprise at their numbers and as I said elsewhere, they listed the stadium as one of the main reasons why they all wanted to come.

Sure, we can't compete with the top grounds and brand new stadiums but we make countless other ground look like tatty sheds. We're not in the top cluster any more but we've still got great facilities.

I think we underestimate ourselves and our facilities sometimes. This is very much in line with the conversation that I had with Bristol Rovers fans this season... they were genuinely really impressed with PP. In fact they started the conversation due to overhearing us talk about a slight surprise at their numbers and as I said elsewhere, they listed the stadium as one of the main reasons why they all wanted to come.

Sure, we can't compete with the top grounds and brand new stadiums but we make countless other ground look like tatty sheds. We're not in the top cluster any more but we've still got great facilities.

I think we underestimate ourselves and our facilities sometimes. This is very much in line with the conversation that I had with Bristol Rovers fans this season... they were genuinely really impressed with PP. In fact they started the conversation due to overhearing us talk about a slight surprise at their numbers and as I said elsewhere, they listed the stadium as one of the main reasons why they all wanted to come.

Sure, we can't compete with the top grounds and brand new stadiums but we make countless other ground look like tatty sheds. We're not in the top cluster any more but we've still got great facilities.

I think we underestimate ourselves and our facilities sometimes. This is very much in line with the conversation that I had with Bristol Rovers fans this season... they were genuinely really impressed with PP. In fact they started the conversation due to overhearing us talk about a slight surprise at their numbers and as I said elsewhere, they listed the stadium as one of the main reasons why they all wanted to come.

Sure, we can't compete with the top grounds and brand new stadiums but we make countless other ground look like tatty sheds. We're not in the top cluster any more but we've still got great facilities.

Comment by an MK Dons fan on their forum regarding their visit to PP "Our club could learn so so much from that ground in how to run our ground... for a new build it felt like a football ground... every time I see these types it makes me more and more embarrassed about ours tbh... and even more flabbergasted at those that defend it."
"I'm talking more what it looks like. More character. More feeling of an actual football stadium. You walk around ours when the football isn't on and it feels like what it is, a multi purpose stadium and not a football stadium. Very little signage. Very little to showcase its MK Dons that play there. Pride Park had it all. Old pictures in poster form all around the exterior of the ground of former players, memorable moments, seas9ns gone by. The board we have at the top of the Cowshed? They had similar outside their gate. About 8 burger vans, statues of legends etc. Ours is quite simply a big bowl with some black marble brickwork and an MK Dons badge plastered on the building in each corner. Once you get into the ground there's very little character. Very few quirks to make it feel like ours. Go to many other grounds and it's full of imagery of their club. Their proud moments. Ours is simple, plain black, round and characterless."
I've also seen many, many comments from visiting Championship fans over the years who think PP is the best of the 'bowl' stadiums

I think that's probably overstating it a bit, but obviously anything built currently is bound to look more shiny.
It is looking its age in some places but it seems fixable as the bones of it is still pretty impressive based on the comments by away fans, particularly this year. Some Brizzle Rovers fans I spoke to were waxing lyrical about it on the way back to the station and listed the stadium as one of the the main reasons why they wanted to make the trip.
I think the concourses perhaps look a little basic and I think the yellowing partly translucent screens at the back of the stands look a bit shabby but that's all fixable if the money is there to do it. Most of it is pretty cosmetic I'd say but no, we are not in the queue for tournaments any more as there are plenty of newer modern stadia choose from.

More on a par with Morecambe’s I’ve heard. 😀

I think that's probably overstating it a bit, but obviously anything built currently is bound to look more shiny.
It is looking its age in some places but it seems fixable as the bones of it is still pretty impressive based on the comments by away fans, particularly this year. Some Brizzle Rovers fans I spoke to were waxing lyrical about it on the way back to the station and listed the stadium as one of the the main reasons why they wanted to make the trip.
I think the concourses perhaps look a little basic and I think the yellowing partly translucent screens at the back of the stands look a bit shabby but that's all fixable if the money is there to do it. Most of it is pretty cosmetic I'd say but no, we are not in the queue for tournaments any more as there are plenty of newer modern stadia choose from.

I think that's probably overstating it a bit, but obviously anything built currently is bound to look more shiny.
It is looking its age in some places but it seems fixable as the bones of it is still pretty impressive based on the comments by away fans, particularly this year. Some Brizzle Rovers fans I spoke to were waxing lyrical about it on the way back to the station and listed the stadium as one of the the main reasons why they wanted to make the trip.
I think the concourses perhaps look a little basic and I think the yellowing partly translucent screens at the back of the stands look a bit shabby but that's all fixable if the money is there to do it. Most of it is pretty cosmetic I'd say but no, we are not in the queue for tournaments any more as there are plenty of newer modern stadia choose from.

I agree SBD. I think what is frustrating me most is the fact that with a combination of the seemingly endless substitutions and random players just sitting down for 'treatment' that the last 20 minutes of so many games are just so stop start that it kills any momentum and totally plays into the hands of the spoiling team. Just when you'd hope that the game was building to a big exciting finish it just ends up as an irritating stop-start anti-climax.

As you say, this isn't about this game and our inability to get the job done against MKD (for which we only have ourselves to blame) it's a general football point about the impact of blatant cynical spoiling tactics on games that lots of people are paying good money to watch.

I think you’ve taken a serious and. sensible solution a little too far there! 

And if you have spent several minutes of desperate defending, throwing yourself in the way of shots against relentless pressure then it is knackering, so someone gets 'cramp' and the embattled defence gets a nice breather and a chance to regain shape, push out and move the defensive line up a few metres, pep talk from the skipper and pass on instructions on from the bench and the crowd stand around with their hands in their pockets for a few mins and the intensity of the atmosphere probably dips as everyone is just standing around waiting to resume, although as a South Stander, hurling abuse at he play-acting player can help fill the time..
Momentum in games is hugely important and these tactics are designed specifically to stifle it.

No, exactly, it's about disruption and loss of momentum rather than getting the time back in 1 minute chunks before yet another player just sits down and appeal for 'treatment' for their 'injury'.

Problem is that I just don't know how you could get around refs having to err on the side of caution and take injuries seriously. If they didn't then at some stage they'll get it wrong and it turning into an ugly legal wrangle for negligence as someone is genuinely injured. Remember Seth and the Wembley final - the WBA fans were convinced that he was faking it but he was badly hurt and that was basically it for him. I messed my knee up a few years back and tore my medial meniscus and all I did was over-straighten my leading leg while planting it as I walked down some uneven steps. Nobody with me could understand how I'd managed to mess myself up because I was just walking down some steps.

It'd be nice to think that if the refs weren't happy that an injury was genuine that say they'd double the time added on that the player was down or something but it requires a snap decision from someone (the ref) who has less medical knowledge than the physio so it'd never happen.
The best solution to this is obviously to be 5-0 up and not have to worry about opposition running the clock down on you 😉

The only extra 2 came from Jules going down and off in front of the South Stand, but yeah, I took that as acknowledgement the ref had clocked what they were up to.
Having the time back is great, still takes momentum out the game and that's more valuable tbf.

I agree SBD. I think what is frustrating me most is the fact that with a combination of the seemingly endless substitutions and random players just sitting down for 'treatment' that the last 20 minutes of so many games are just so stop start that it kills any momentum and totally plays into the hands of the spoiling team. Just when you'd hope that the game was building to a big exciting finish it just ends up as an irritating stop-start anti-climax.

As you say, this isn't about this game and our inability to get the job done against MKD (for which we only have ourselves to blame) it's a general football point about the impact of blatant cynical spoiling tactics on games that lots of people are paying good money to watch.

Without wishing to give you any kind of hope, I think there are many more twists and turns to come in the Premier League relegation fight. Teams at the bottom playing each other, opponents with nothing to play for giving some fringe players a runout etc. Leicester got a right kick in the nuts last night with a late winner conceded, Southampton look the poorest of the bunch and you have them at home where you are more or less competent. It's stupidly open... uncharacteristically so.
Re us, yes, I suspect that you're right, unfortunately (just my opinion obvs..). Momentum is very much against us (Lost 4 of the last 5 and only beating a poor Oxford side) and even if we get there I can't see us beating whoever of the top 3 drops out or Barnsley who gave us a bit of a mauling recently.

In all honesty, if we are going to drop out of the top 6 then I'd would rather us have done it now than in some gutting last day of the season scenario. We might rally of course but we seem to have played our best football mid-season and though we've done OK with injuries so nothing really to blame there, we've just seemed to have suffered a loss of form for a number of key players and we haven't scored in the last 3 games.. not great timing. All that seems to have tempered expectation somewhat and it's out of our hands for the first time in a while. Maybe it'll take a bit of pressure off and we'll find some form... who knows.

I wonder how significant that goal difference will be. Forest and Bournemouth are considerably worse than those around them. It's unbelievably tight this year (5 pts separate the bottom 8 clubs). Could be very fine margins that decide this. 

Obviously its something that is probably easier for folk in other stands to see but yesterday even I noticed a lot of empty seats immediately behind me in South Stand with several minutes of normal time to go and it was so noticeable that I pointed it out to the mates I sit with.
I thought the noise level was generally reasonable 2nd given the way the game was going and it inevitably hit a peak with some of the decisions by the officials but yet, it finished pretty flat. I really don't think the endless 2nd half substitutions help things. You get any kind of momentum going and someone on the opposition 'gets cramp' or whatever and then as soon as they are on their feet someone is subbed. Also, why do they do that one at a time and it almost seems like we're waiting for the announcer to do their bit? Just hold the board up, wave 'em all on and then let the announcer summarise the changes.

Obviously its something that is probably easier for folk in other stands to see but yesterday even I noticed a lot of empty seats immediately behind me in South Stand with several minutes of normal time to go and it was so noticeable that I pointed it out to the mates I sit with.
I thought the noise level was generally reasonable 2nd given the way the game was going and it inevitably hit a peak with some of the decisions by the officials but yet, it finished pretty flat. I really don't think the endless 2nd half substitutions help things. You get any kind of momentum going and someone on the opposition 'gets cramp' or whatever and then as soon as they are on their feet someone is subbed. Also, why do they do that one at a time and it almost seems like we're waiting for the announcer to do their bit? Just hold the board up, wave 'em all on and then let the announcer summarise the changes.

0-2 No RFGS

Quite. While we may not be obliged to sell in the same way that we have over the last couple of years, (i.e. prize assets being picked off by the vultures for peanuts just so we can keep the lights on) but we do have to sell if he won't extend or he will be end up being worth nothing and just walks away. I like him and wish we could keep hold of him but I think it's been the widely accepted belief that if we don't go up then he'll be off and that is looking increasingly likely as our form has nose-dived.
Expecting any more than low millions is just fantasy I'm afraid and might depend on multiple parties being interested to even get that. Sadly we will probably have to get what we can while he is still worth something as an asset rather than a free agent. We'll badly miss his energy in this team as it stands though.