MK Dons (H) Monday 10th April, 3pm KO

[Foreveram]

1 hour ago, David said:

Blame the manager, tactics, the lineup, referee, time wasting, atmosphere and no chips in the East Stand, when you have 28 shots and score just 1 goal, either you have not been good enough or the keeper has had a worldy of a game.

The keeper didn't.

2 points thrown away. 

You’re absolutely wrong, there were plenty of chips in the east stand.

[RoyMac5]

1 minute ago, The Last Post said:

When was that "promise" broken? why would you have another lined up if you're told I'm on my way 🤷‍♀️

There were others interested (according to a RD/DET bit), but they weren't good enough. Worse than Collins? 😄

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

We've had enough chances in 2 games to win 7 or 8.  Finishing has been pap.  We needed a pacy striker in the window,  We didn't get one 

[ram59]

Terrible result today, but with that domination on any normal day, we'd have won easily. 28 attempts 7 on target which is 2 more than peterborough and Wycombe put together. 10 off target, including one that hit the post and 11 blocked, of which any could have deflected in. That's not including a number of poor decisions made when in good positions. If we could repeat those stats in the remaining 5 games, surely the luck will turn. 

We played some decent football for the first time in weeks, hopefully we can build on that.

[Tyler Durden]

10 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

We've had enough chances in 2 games to win 7 or 8.  Finishing has been pap.  We needed a pacy striker in the window,  We didn't get one 

If we had 28 shots on goal today then surely the problem isn't having a pacey striker.

[Chellaston Ram]

Apart from McGoldrick there’s nobody looking capable of scoring regularly 

[i-Ram]

1 hour ago, Tyler Durden said:

I've given likes to all the non reactionary posts today.

Cba to even debate all the other (predictable) absolute guff on here.

Derby were super today.

[Tyler Durden]

2 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Derby were super today.

Have a like from me 

[Guest]

Composure is completely lacking from the squad. 

Not only finishing chances, but someone just to calm things down. We seemed to panic after the handball penalty shout. 

As Warne has said, and it is glaringly obvious, we need some nasty signings in the summer along with some proper midfield generals.

[Rich3478]

29 minutes ago, The Last Post said:

When was that "promise" broken? why would you have another lined up if you're told I'm on my way 🤷‍♀️

We’ll never know will we, but would like to think warne experienced enough to realise things like that happen in football.

[TomTom92]

The sooner the summer comes the better. We aren’t going to get play offs and the best thing we can do is accept this and hope that we nail the recruitment in the summer. 
 
Unfortunately we’ve got relegated and where in normal circumstances you could go at making an immediate return. We’ve got shackles on that are suffocating us and there appears to more ‘proper’ clubs in the league than say 10 years ago. 
 
If we’re mid table come 15 matches next season then maybe we can start to properly critique Warne and co. But until then we’ve got to hope Clowes has backed the right horse.

[Blondest Goat]

4 minutes ago, Diego said:

Composure is completely lacking from the squad. 

Not only finishing chances, but someone just to calm things down. We seemed to panic after the handball penalty shout. 

As Warne has said, and it is glaringly obvious, we need some nasty signings in the summer along with some proper midfield generals.

Totally agree.  People go on about the age of the players and fitness but it's character that's missing for me.  We've dropped so many points we shouldn't have done this season.  

[MaltRam]

1 hour ago, angieram said:

You're correct. But then he takes off Hourihane, who was running the show, and Collins who always has 90 minutes' pressing in him. Odd.

I reckon he wants pace through the middle, so he's giving Dobbin a go in cameos. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

31 minutes ago, Tyler Durden said:

If we had 28 shots on goal today then surely the problem isn't having a pacey striker.

We've needed one as an option for the last 4 months of the season with the position we were in against better sides.  The majority of chances are falling to wide players.  Bar Simpson back in the day, they convert probably 1 in 3.  If they had a striker with pace to feed rather than constantly take it on themselves we score more of those 28, probably quite a few more.

[angieram]

1 minute ago, Needlesh said:

I reckon he wants pace through the middle, so he's giving Dobbin a go in cameos. 

After he took Collins off, NML continued to put exactly the same crosses into the box as he had done all game. But we've no header of a ball in there. Futile. 

[RoyMac5]

30 minutes ago, Chellaston Ram said:

Apart from McGoldrick there’s nobody looking capable of scoring regularly 

Not often you get a prolific left fullback I agree.

[jono]

48 minutes ago, The Last Post said:

Some say penalty, Some say no penalty...down to the official and he said no.

Scottish ref who did the Celtic/Rangers game on Saturday had his personnel info put online...guess what happened 😡 after disallowing what looked a good goal. 

PGMOL...Again apologise to Brighton for not giving a penalty against Spurs on Saturday.

Up and down the football pyramid this week end decisions have gone against 1 team or the other...all down to opinion or weakness...imo

 

 

I agree and it is thoroughly normal, but two shouts from the south were so instant and so much in unison that I felt there must be a very very good cases. I was interested in hearing some honest appraisals from those with a good sight line and proximity.  
Knights falling over and the “possible” first half HB were very much maybe maybe if you’re lucky. The later ones seemed a different order all together?

[Caerphilly Ram]

16 minutes ago, Blondest Goat said:

Totally agree.  People go on about the age of the players and fitness but it's character that's missing for me.  We've dropped so many points we shouldn't have done this season.  

Which I’ve found very odd in this recent run. Earlier in the season I can recall praising the resilience and grit we seemed to have in the side, something we’d been lacking for years. Remember the exploits of that thrown together defence and the unbeaten run? It was definitely there for a chunk of the season. Wonder if that has just been sapped along with confidence after such a good run has been followed by a poor one? 

[RoyMac5]

1 minute ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Which I’ve found very odd in this recent run. Earlier in the season I can recall praising the resilience and grit we seemed to have in the side, something we’d been lacking for years. Remember the exploits of that thrown together defence and the unbeaten run? It was definitely there for a chunk of the season. Wonder if that has just been sapped along with confidence after such a good run has been followed by a poor one? 

Maybe they can't see where it is they're going any more, what is our Plan A let alone Plan B?

[Caerphilly Ram]

Just now, RoyMac5 said:

Maybe they can't see where it is they're going any more, what is our Plan A let alone Plan B?

How many games have we spoken about really strong first halves followed by a second half adjustment by the opponent that changes the game? Based on that my own observation is that Plan A seems quite clear, it’s just not quite being executed.
The way I see it is Warne wants the team to go out and blow teams away in the first half so the game is done and their spirit is broken meaning they can’t or won’t get back into it, best example I can think of is a league one version of Klopp’s successful Dortmund or Liverpool sides, or even Bielsa’s Leeds (I feel dirty now 🤮 ).

A big problem, as you rightly point out Roy, is when that doesn’t work there doesn’t appear to be a plan b.
I won’t be popular with some of you for having this opinion but I think Warne should persist with how we set up today and on Friday. We did get 4 points from the two games after a poor run, though I know it should have been 6. It’s so close to working, if the players can take their chances and make slightly better decisions we’ll rack up the 2 or 3 goal leads. 
Warne then needs to learn his own lessons about how to manage the game from a winning position and protect what we have. For example today if we’d got into a 2 goal lead (or even with the 1 goal advantage as others have said) it would have been sensible to drop Hourihane and/or Knight alongside Smith to shore up the midfield, or shift to a back 4 as you often champion. It’s so close to working, I think persisting with it until the end of the season make sense then add in the players in the summer to make it even more effective.