MATCHWATCH : MK Dons (h)

[Orion1871]

Ryan's crossing has been very dangerous in the games I've seen him play. Honestly don't see him as any weaker than Jacob and as he's our player, I'd rather Ryan plays regularly rather than Jacob as his development will benefit from regular football.

Agreed.[/quote]

Jacob and Ryan are both far better going forward than they are going back.

[windermereROYAL]

So we`re through unless West ham beat Swindon and Swindon beat MK (a) by enough goals to pass us on GD which will be a minimum of 3, I don`t know what happens if we`re level on GD

Correct me if I`m wrong.

[Royals and Racers]

So we`re through unless West ham beat Swindon and Swindon beat MK (a) by enough goals to pass us on GD which will be a minimum of 3, I don`t know what happens if we`re level on GD

Correct me if I`m wrong.

If it’s level on GD it goes to goals scored.

[Hound]

It wasn’t a great watch really. As I said above it’s all very coach book. I don’t see a lot of individual thought, flair or bravery. Everyone goes into the positions they are meant to be and do what the book tells them to do. Which also makes it very easy to counter against

Kyeweera added something in the role he should have - a second half sub. Ryan and Spencer did ok and wouldn’t mind seeing them first 11. I like Borgnis, he’s better than Stickland. Faster and more confident

Kelvin did ok up front, the service was shite. He adds more all round than MoM or Marriott but doesn’t especially look like scoring

In fact Kelvin sums the side up. It seems like it’s got the potential to do well and ticks the boxes but there’s just something - and something I can’t really put my finger on - that just isn’t working

[Esteban]

It wasn’t a great watch really. As I said above it’s all very coach book. I don’t see a lot of individual thought, flair or bravery. Everyone goes into the positions they are meant to be and do what the book tells them to do. Which also makes it very easy to counter against

Kyeweera added something in the role he should have - a second half sub. Ryan and Spencer did ok and wouldn’t mind seeing them first 11. I like Borgnis, he’s better than Stickland. Faster and more confident

Kelvin did ok up front, the service was shite. He adds more all round than MoM or Marriott but doesn’t especially look like scoring

In fact Kelvin sums the side up. It seems like it’s got the potential to do well and ticks the boxes but there’s just something - and something I can’t really put my finger on - that just isn’t working

Very good summary of the match.

As for the part that isn't working, I think you've probably covered it above. It's all very text book and safe, nobody is particularly brave on the ball. I think Ritchie is the only exception to that.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yes. We've gone back in our shell.

[windermereROYAL]

Truly surprised how many people over on you know where are losing their shit because our kids couldn`t beat MKs kids convincingly.

[stealthpapes]

First half, we played some really neat football. Just missing a striker or a bit of a wild card.
Second half was a slog, sure.

[Hound]

Truly surprised how many people over on you know where are losing their shit because our kids couldn`t beat MKs kids convincingly.

You’re surprised? Honestly?

[South Coast Royal]

I just don't get all the Elliott love. Felt he offered little tonight, although not as poor as Lane. He's back to looking lightweight.

Kelvin just isn't a striker.

Yiadom looked excellent for 45.

Ryan looks a superb prospect.

We all see games differently.
I agree on Kelvin and Yiadom but thought Ryan looked weak defensively but a good crosser-we have had too many left-backs who aren't strong enough doing their main job of tackling and defending and he might be yet another one.

I think people are rating Elliott's performance on the fact that he didn't score even if he had a good strike just before half-time that the keeper tipped over.
What I like about him is his weight of pass, something that you often don't get from lower division players.
As I saw it, he was behind nearly all of our forward moves and was everywhere, even in the box , showing that he can last 90 minutes.

We have very little class in our squad and IMHO he is one who has it and when you are a creative player you will make mistakes because you aren't just taking the safe option-too many midfielders just pass the ball square and I see very little in the likes of Fraser, Doyle or Lane to see why they would be selected ahead of him.
With Savage only rarely playing a decent creative pass and Wing playing Hollywood passes to wide players who then do nothing with the ball I do feel that Elliott is much more likely to play the killer through ball.

Anyway, it doesn't matter because our dozy manager won't play him and will be happy for our centre-backs and keeper to launch the ball in the air to our 5ft 8 in striker as our main attacking strategy and just hope that the opposition defenders give the ball back to us.

[windermereROYAL]

Truly surprised how many people over on you know where are losing their shit because our kids couldn`t beat MKs kids convincingly.

You’re surprised? Honestly?

No, not really.

[Snowflake Royal]

Truly surprised how many people over on you know where are losing their shit because our kids couldn`t beat MKs kids convincingly.

You’re surprised? Honestly?

That our fans are thick petulant turds? Not really

[Esteban]

Yes. We've gone back in our shell.

Great way to describe it succinctly.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yes. We've gone back in our shell.

Great way to describe it succinctly.

There's definitely a feeling that because turnovers have led to silly goals against the run of play, we're now more reticent about taking risks to avoid that, which means we're not playing the balls that create chances.

Back at the start of the season, it felt to me a lot like Hunt had emphasised ball retention in pre-season and it was a bit Stam passy passy possession for possessions sake, whoops we've forgotten goals don't just come every 50 passes, we've got to actually try something.

Then we became a bit more expresssive. And now we've lost that again probably because of lack of confidence in the defence without Williams.

It's the reason I like Kyerewaa, he's still trying it.

[Hound]

Truly surprised how many people over on you know where are losing their shit because our kids couldn`t beat MKs kids convincingly.

You’re surprised? Honestly?

That our fans are thick petulant turds? Not really

It’s everyone on Twitter - not just our fans. An absolute disgrace of a platform headed by a disgrace of a human being

[Hound]

Yes. We've gone back in our shell.

Great way to describe it succinctly.

Yep fair

[Mr Angry]

What I find strange* is that a large % of those fans who say that this is a nothing competition they couldn't care less about, are the same fans who reached for the razor blades and paraquat because we lost to Swindon in an earlier game, and are now moaning loudly because we didn't win "convincingly enough"!

Couldn't make it up really.


*(not really)

[Clyde1998]

What I find strange* is that a large % of those fans who say that this is a nothing competition they couldn't care less about, are the same fans who reached for the razor blades and paraquat because we lost to Swindon in an earlier game, and are now moaning loudly because we didn't win "convincingly enough"!

Couldn't make it up really.


*(not really)

I might be the only person who'd be happy to see us take this competition seriously, largely because I think this is the best chance we've got of actually winning a cup in the foreseeable future. Even financially for the club, getting to a Wembley final would grant us a share of the ticket revenue (even a third of 50,000 people paying an average of £30 would be £400k post-tax, notwithstanding the deductions for stadium rent and operational costs).

On the flip side, I do like to see the younger players get an opportunity and the U21/first team hybrid has an interesting dynamic to it - especially when judging which players may be close to the first team squad.

I'm heavily of the view that if we're playing a large amount of fringe players and experimenting with tactics, we should expect unconvincing performances.

I'm annoyed we lost at Swindon, because we should've performed better with the side we had out and didn't have scope on the bench to really change the game, however that Swindon starting XI appears to be roughly as strong as our starting XI that day and they had a much stronger bench than us. It didn't deserve anything like the reaction it got from the obvious people; the more we can ignore them, the more they're shouting into the abyss.

I would say I'm disappointed by the performances in this competition, although that's the case in the league. The most important thing to me is we've hopefully done enough to get through and we can take it game by game now.

[From Despair To Where?]

Shit, I didn't realise we played last night until I noticed this thread had got to 4 pages.


Up for the cup, I guess.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Shit, I didn't realise we played last night until I noticed this thread had got to 4 pages.


Up for the cup, I guess.

pLOLastic ( )

(Happy to agree with Clyde here) Write this cup off as a non-entity by all means, but nearly 9k at Cardiff didn’t last night.

Didn’t Sunderland face Portsmouth in its similar final at a packed-out Wembley a few years back?