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Post by davidm on Dec 6, 2019 18:25:23 GMT
Too long without a match so thank goodness Saturday is nearly upon us.
We have a lot of making up to do after the debacle that was Accrington.
The manager is hinting that there are injuries in the squad. This, together with Earl being suspended, means that there may be a few changes to the line up.
In reality, it is another must-win game. A defeat would knock us back massively whilst a draw is of little benefit either.
Having said all that, surely the players have enough about them to restore pride after Accrington – so I am going for a 2-0 victory. Actually, any win would do!
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Post by OohMac on Dec 7, 2019 9:29:10 GMT
I like Keith Hill. I think hes the right man at this time. So with that said im going to add that when you come out and ask players to rub through pain barrier, when they get tired run around some more and admit you play players who werent quite ready and then start dropping hints about injuries it goea against you.
I think hes king of the soundbyte and things leave his mouth without him thinking if they should.
Course i have sympathy for him but if hes half a squad in the treatment room that is either really bad luck, really bad planning or perhaps the inevitability of playing catch up in August.
In September though we were told and all understood this is our pre season. Fair enough but by that analogy we ought to now be up to speed, when fatigue is settling in for other clubs, who have 25 games say, we should be going up the gears.
Lets hope were playing possum and are actually ready to go into this long stretch of the season ready. Probably need 6 wins and a couple of draws say from next 10 games. 20 from 30? Must start today.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2019 9:56:31 GMT
Morning one and all unfortunately I will be in Fleetwood today visiting family so I will miss this one. I have to take my hat off to all Bolton fans who still turn up when baring a massive miracle we are getting relegated saying that I’m planning on going to Sunderland if I get a ticket. We must win today so 3-1 COYWM
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Post by whitesince63 on Dec 7, 2019 12:15:54 GMT
I can’t get there today either chip I’m afraid. When we came to the Malton Food Fayre last summer I promised we’d come to the Christmas Market so here we are sadly. I’ll be glued to my phone to see how we’re doing so I hope I’m not disappointed driving back home as we desperately need this win to get the Accy debacle out of our system.
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Post by andyl on Dec 7, 2019 17:20:06 GMT
Not sure what happened to KH's new way of playing? That was pure Parkinson: long balls, awful ball control and some really poor head tennis. Wimbledon were, if not on top throughout more or less in control?
We threatened little in the first half. Chicksen and Emmanuel were pressured in possession snd could not reach the non existent O'Grady or Dodoo.. Lowe was back to his most irritating ever preferring to pass back .
The one bright spark was Darcy, I thought. He all but got a snapshot on target and he offered the energy others lacked. Their goal came after Graham turned into trouble and Wright was outpaced an earlier booking denying him a risky challenge.
Second half we improved a bit when Verlinden came on. Dodoo got in a good near post shot which led to two corners, the second of which by Darcy was a peach met superrbly by Murphy. 1-1. We then went from bad to worse .A stupid Verlinden foul broughy a goal bound effort superbly saved only to be crashed in for what felt like a Wimbledon winner. But in the 94th minute a magnificent cross from I think Emmanuel was met by I think Dodoo and we escapef ignominy. Please note I am allocating both 2 marks for that to br withdrawn if wrongly assigned. Matthews 7 Emmanuel 4 Wright 4 Zouma 6 Chicksen 5 Lowe 5 Graham 3 O Grafdy 2 Dodoo4 Murphy 7 Darcy 8 Verlinden 6
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Post by kenglowhite on Dec 7, 2019 18:02:16 GMT
If we keep passing the ball back to Remi, inevitably his clearances will lead to 50-50 balls and that is how PP had us playing. The number of times our players, well in possession and in space. choose not to run forward and dribble past a defender, but pass eieth back, or square , or to a marked man is legion, and for me prves that keith Hill ism perhaps better at talking than organising coherence. Haveing endured 87 minutes of frustration, even seeing young Graham concede the opening goal with a (poor) backpass, we left only to hear the relieved sigh of those still there after our late equaliser. True we missed Bridcutt,. but saw promise from Darcy. Come on Keith - you should be able to do better than this show today !
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Post by davidm on Dec 7, 2019 18:59:02 GMT
Praise for the last minute fightback but really this was a dreadful performance
We were slow, our passing was dreadful and defensively in the air, we were a shambles.
There were 4 changes from the Accrington disgrace. I presume that Luke Murphy and Bridcutt were injured, Earl was suspended and, very surprisingly, Verlinden left on the bench.
We started so slowly but so too did Wimbledon. I said after 15 minutes that this match was league 2 standard and it didn’t improve.
The Wimbledon goalie gave us hope a couple of times when he lost a high ball – the second occasion we should have scored but Darcy curled a shot wide of the empty net.
Murphy had a couple of headers which did not trouble their keeper.
Wimbledon did little except put crosses into the boxes where our central defensive pair just slept. Twice they put headers over the bar from very good positions.
So the game just drifted until one of our attacks broke down, the ball came out to Graham whose first touch was dreadful and second touch turned straight into an opponent and lost the ball. Wimbledon then had 2 onto 1, our 1 being Wright who had just been booked (this after a dreadful pass from Emmanuel) so he couldn’t foul and their guy just broke and scored easily. 100% bad mistake from Graham.
So ended a really poor first half. Little or no attacking, a midfield who could only pass back and a defence that was in sleep mode.
The manager replaced O’Grady with Verlinden at half time.
The play improved with this change although Verlinden did not do anything special until the 95th minute. We did though drive forward a bit and got a reward when Murphy headed in from a corner. Darcy put in some really corners today.
At this stage, we were on top but couldn’t create and the game faded back into an even contest.
Wimbledon had another great chance from an unmarked header in the box but again it went over.
We were pressing but there really is no spark in our midfield at all and the inevitable happened. A needless foul resulted in a free kick into the box. Another unmarked header. This time on target brought a good save from Matthews but the ball fell to the Wimbledon striker to score. Terrible terrible defending!!!.
We pushed forward but passes were wayward – sideways and back passes still dominated until following a last minute corner we got the ball back, Verlinden put in a lovely centre for Dodoo to head home. There was an allocated additional time of 4 minutes and this was the 95th minute so we really were lucky.
Overall a fair result but they were 2 very poor sides out there today.
One point is no good in the grand scale of things – the miracle is getting farther away
The neat passing that got us through Keith Hill’s first few games has gone totally.
The link-ups between full backs and wingers has disappeared.
The midfield are playing 100% sideways/backwards until a big boot occurs.
Really poor.
Marks:-
Matthews - 6 Not much that he could do with the goals. I wish he could improve his kicking as this is a major part of how we play and his kicking seems so random. Emmanuel - 4 The understanding that he and Dodoo had in previous weeks has gone. Twice in the second half there was an opponent totally clear on the right of our penalty area. Chicksen - 5 Not as poor as last match but, like Emanuel & Dodoo, there was little or no link up down the left with O’Grady. Wright - 4 We were awful at the back when crosses came in. Wimbledon had 4 easy unmarked headers, the last one resulting in the second goal. Zouma - 4 Same comment as Wright – who is marking. He also scares the life out of me when he gets on the ball. Graham - 3 Terrible mistake for the first goal. His passing was not up to scratch plus easily knocked off the ball. Lowe - 4 Hardly any forward passes even when we were losing. He was captain but no driving the team forwards. All sideways and back. Dodoo - 4 Didn’t link very well with Emmanuel. Lost possession easily but credit for his last second header. O’Grady - 2 He just did nothing. He is not a left winger. Murphy D - 5 Scored again but it was a struggle today. The supply to him was awful. Darcy - 5 Some decent deadball play. He is very lightweight though – knocked off the ball very easily. Verlinden - 5 Half time sub – why didn’t he start? We improved when he came on but not particularly because of him. Great cross for the equaliser.
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Post by bonaparte on Dec 7, 2019 19:22:06 GMT
Genrally agree with both Andy and David, we were poor. The midfield was overrun and the Wimbledon Centre backs were rarely split and so Murphy had few opportunities to lay off, and when he did no one was near to collect. Zouma I thought was always a liability, and we were lucky following one of his many mistakes not to concede more. Where is the player who was so strong in the early games? Wimbledon pressed from the start and we had no answer, when we were lucky in the dying minutes as did not seem to be able to hold the ball and break down the determined defence. Lucky got a corner and a good goal. One point is better than none, but we are showing relegation form, after our hopes were raised in early games under KH.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2019 20:37:02 GMT
Not to sure today, point gained or two points dropped, when we are playing teams around us we need to win and when we play teams higher up the league take a point except small defeats and see if it’s enough come the end of the season. COYWM
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Post by OohMac on Dec 8, 2019 17:09:35 GMT
Could be that Hill is now falling victim of his own, relative, success. The expectation is that we should be beating teams like AFC Wimbeldon. The reality is we still have a squad made up of young players who shouldnt really be plying thier trade in this league yet( Or maybe cameos when things are going well) anfd freebies/rejects.
But the reality is fair or not if we are looking to stay up(and it is an if, Hill and FV may have already concluded thats not the expextation) then we need to be taking more than a point against accy and Wimbledon.
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Post by whitesince63 on Dec 8, 2019 18:07:57 GMT
Like you OM I think reality is starting to bite. We are a team of kids and misfits who managed a few unexpected wins and I think it raised peoples expectations.of what we could achieve. I think KH knows this and it’s why he is trying to bring supporters down a little. In fairness though, we have been badly affected by injuries, especially to key players, so we really do need to be realistic in what we hope to achieve. I’m pretty much resigned to indifference and inconsistency now for the rest of the season and eventual relegation. I think KH feels that way too and is why he needs to keep giving our youngsters as much game time as he can in the hope they can come good next year.
With the embargo in place this year and next, even next season could be a struggle so it may be a while before things improve. As for KH, he wasn’t my choice to be fair but actually I don’t think it would have mattered who we got in because nobody could do any more with what we’ve got. Maybe January will help and he will pull a couple of rabbits out of the hat but it’s hard to see how he can without the ability to pay what’s required. So it looks like tough times ahead I’m afraid and just be grateful we’re still here to cheer the club on at all.
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Post by OohMac on Dec 8, 2019 19:55:29 GMT
Just to add too if we are thinking that relegation is very likely/almost guaranteed then really we should give the FA Cup much more of a go. Seemed like Hill was more bothered about winning in the leasing.com shield than losing in the FA Cup.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2019 21:33:35 GMT
I have kinda settled on relegation but I’m still going to leave my family Boxing Day and go to Sunderland no matter who is in charge at Sunderland it’s a Boxing Day out COYWM
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Post by kenglowhite on Dec 9, 2019 9:49:00 GMT
The reason I feel it necessary to criticise performances such as the last two against two forms of Dons is first and foremost because the shape and style is not what we have been used to under Keith Hill. Secondly there is a failure to build up empathy for whichever team he puts out becauses there is not enough early information about injury problems for the coming game. (for instance where is Hobbs, how long is Liam Edwards out for, remembering his excellent performance v Coventry, why late or no information on Bridcutt and Luke Murphy on Saturday ?). Traditionally the introduction of a young player like the extremely promising Darcy would have brought BEN articles heralding his appearance. Instead there was news of a shock change on the Marc Iles pre-match blog. but nothing further until the team announcement at 2 pm. On the same blog Iles promised to look into the continued absence of Alnwick, buut where is he ? I think that Keith Hill would get much more sympathy for his necessary team selections and subsequent team displays if he talked more of these problems than his constant pie in the sky stuff. At least I would then look more sympathetically on performances like Saturday's, though still not understanding fully the need to play such retrogressive football.
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