Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
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Location: In the Armchair.
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THE BIG GAME PREVIEW – FOREST GREEN ROVERSI know many of us walked out of SMK on Saturday frustrated, and not for the first time this season, the result in my eyes was not one point gained and a clean sheet, but two points lost. Lincoln without a win in 11 games, and playing for time on 45 minutes were there for the taking, so I can only conclude we missed on an opportunity to take all the points and make ground on the teams above us.
Much had been made of the 12 days of training under the all seeing eye of Jacko, but now in the cold light of day I believe it raises more questions than answers. Firstly Sweeting stated after the sacking of Manning they had identified areas that needed recruitment and would be signing players to fill those voids, but shortly after the recruitment of Jacko he stated he was happy with the players he had, and he would only recruit if the right player or players became available, so which is it, because I am confused at this mixed message to the fans, and in my eyes it just heightens the frustration of the fanbase.
Regarding this training time, I don’t think any of us thought he would be able to turn us into some lower league version of PSG in such a short space of time, but what I am sure about is just about all of us made our way to SMK on Saturday and thought we would see something a little bit different, if only for a few minutes here and there, and I don’t think I am being unfair, as much as I was desperate to see something, it looked to me like business as usual.
What did become apparent was the introduction of Matt Dennis and Mo going out wide did liven things up, not much but it did, and that says to me that Dennis must start from now on, it should not matter that Mo & Grigg are the senior players or the most proven at this level, Dennis carries a threat and should start.
What was also apparent was our poor fitness levels as several of our players looked out on their feet with 20 minutes to go, is this part of the Jacko fitness programme taking its toll, and further supporting the rumours that Manning was easy on the players, or was it something a bit more serious like a virus sweeping the camp, leaving some of our players under strength, McEachran in particular looked to be really struggling, and that in a game I didn’t think was played at any real tempo or intensity.
So where do we go from here as Haircut 100 once sung, well Forest Green obviously in what is the latest of must win games, the only issue is, slowly but surely these opportunities are getting fewer game by game, so next Saturday is a line in the sand, it has to start here, and that not only means the team, but us as fans as well.
Yes I know we have had just about every bit of enthusiasm sucked out of us, but we have to put that to one side now, all that is wrong with the club is not the issue right now, survival is everything as the damage relegation would bring doesn’t bear thinking about, and I for one am not excited about going to Barrow or Grimsby on a Tuesday night in February, although I confess playing AFC again does have its appeal.
So as some have done already a rallying call, put your differences to one side and get to Forest Green on Saturday and drag this team kicking and screaming up the League 1 table, show the players just how much this means to us. Go and give it everything you have, shout, scream, sing, cheer, and leave nothing in the tank, and let the players know we are prepared to fight for them and support them if they are prepared to fight for us. So, I urge you to get online, get down the ticket office and buy tickets and give them one last chance, we cannot desert them in our hour of need.
So, the game, well let’s not forget FGR will also be looking at this game as an opportunity to put points on the board as well, it should be a battle for survival, as the saying goes, a real six pointer.
Forest Green have been busy in the Transfer Market signing 6 players mostly for undisclosed fees, so owner Dale Vince must be feeling the pinch a bit, although he has probably made a few bob with his electric company Ecotricity since the fuel price hike.
Of course, we have no idea of the quality of the signings made by FGR, I doubt many of us have ever heard of them, time will tell, but there are encouraging signs as debutant Jordon Garrick scored on Saturday and it took a late equaliser from Exeter to rescue a point, so that is a worry especially with Exeter in some decent form this season.
Forest Green had a game at home on Tuesday against Birmingham City in the FA Cup, the first attempt to play this game was called off due to a waterlogged pitch. I watched the game purely for research purposes and it was a job to tell who was bottom of League 1 and who was in the Championship. FGR took the lead early on with a Ben Stevenson thunderbolt from about 25 yards after a well worked corner routine and you have to say they deserved the lead at halftime with the bulk of possession and chances.
With the words of the Brum gaffer still ringing in their ears City were level within 5 minutes of the start of the second half, and on the hour were in front as the pressure told on the home side thanks mainly to a reshuffle that saw 3 subs come on for Birmingham at halftime. It ended at 2-1 but I have to say I thought FGR were unlucky, and they were certainly not overawed by a bigger, more physical, and experienced team, and were only denied missing a guilt edged chance, and the Brum keeper pulling off an unbelievable double save. Rovers were without many of their new signings who were cup tied and I feel they are going to be much harder to overcome than some of our fans think based on this game.
FGR have though lost their top scorer former Don Connor Wickham who is out of contract and returns to being a Free Agent, but he will no doubt find a club as more teams become desperate to find goals to get them out of trouble, the only stumbling block for some will be the wages. Wickham scored 9 goals for FGR in 20 games as opposed to the 1 goal he scored for us in 15 games, but for those that went to Sunderland that day it was worth every penny.
Looking at the form, we have compiled the league records below and the home and away records of both clubs, and it doesn’t make for pretty reading for either club.FGR (24th) – P 26, W 5, D 6, L 15, GF 22, GA 50, Pts 21.
MK Dons (22nd) – P 25, W 6, D 4, L 15, GF 23, GA 36, Pts 22.
FGR (H) (22nd) – P 13, W 4, D 0, L 9, GF 10, GA 23, Pts 12.
MK Dons (A) (16th) – P 12, W 4, D 1, L 7, GF 13, GA 16, Pts 13.
Current form indicates there is nothing between the teams with both sides recording 8 points from their last 8 games. Forest Green’s 5 league wins this season have come against Bristol Rovers, Accrington Stanley, Bolton, Cheltenham, and Cambridge Utd.
History shows we do have more than an edge over FGR having not lost in our 4 previous meetings and having won both our previous games at the Bolt New Lawn Stadium. 2017/18 – Forest Green 0 MK Dons 1 (LC) (Ariyibi)
2018/19 – MK Dons 1 Forest Green 1 (LG2) (Aneke)
2018/19 – Forest Green 1 MK Dons 2 (LG2) (Agard, Martin)
2022/23 – MK Dons 1 Forest Green 0 (LG1) (Harvie)With Wickham now gone, the FGR leading scorer is Josh March with 5 goals in 28 games, and Kyle McAllister is the top assists man with just 3 so much is going to depend on the new recruits if they are going to dig themselves out of the hole they are in. New No 11 Garrick has already responded on his debut, and a lot is also going to be expected from the backline especially their third keeper of the season Ross Doohan signed just last week from Tranmere Rovers, and he has kept 11 clean sheets in 25 appearances this season.
Rovers have two former Dons players in their ranks, Baily Cargill who played 68 games for the Dons and scored 1 goal. He’s been a regular this season being the skipper and is likely to start unlike Jordan Moore-Taylor who has unsurprisingly been out since early December with an injury. JMT played 41 games for the Dons and scored just 1 goal.
The Head Coach at FGR is Ian Burchnall who cut his teeth at the Leeds Utd and Bradford City Academies and then moved abroad to get some experience in the Norway with Viking and then Sweden with Ostersund. Burchnall’s left Sweden citing personal reasons, but he soon moved to Notts County where he recorded a 50.7% Win Ratio in 71 games.
County and Burchnall failed to make it out of the National League so parted company and in May 2022 he joined the newly promoted FGR. He has overseen 34 games since being at the New Lawn and has a record of P 34, W 11, D 7, L 16, giving him a Win Ratio of just 32%.
Betting – Well I called it right last weekend, if only it was that easy all the time. Everything pointed to the draw, us as weak favourites, Lincoln being the draw specialists of League 1, and of course our poor home form. Judging by the betting for this game, the bookies don’t have a clue and offer the following odds.Forest Green 35/19, Draw 12/5, MK Dons 8/5So, that’s us installed as favourites and that probably based on our better away form, and to a small degree the history of results.
Prediction – This is a tough call, but I’m sticking my neck out and say we will win, but it depends on a few factors. Dennis and new signing Leko to start the game, I know nothing about this new guy, but he might just whip our fans up a bit to increase the atmosphere, and nobody can deny we need some of that.
There is obviously a doubt over some of our players following three of them limping off on Saturday so I would hope we will take steps to bolster our numbers and stick our toe in the waters of the Transfer Window again and have them ready to go on Saturday.
Neither team will want to lose but I feel we have to be brave and take the game to them, don’t pass it around indefinitely hoping something will happen, make it happen, and let’s just hope these extra 7 days under Jacko start to reap some rewards.
New Recruits – At the time of writing and 19 days into the Transfer Window it is somewhat baffling that we have only signed one player when there is such a need to strengthen all over the pitch, further baffling is Jacko has now been at the helm for almost a month and still doesn’t have an assistant in place. It may still be January, but time is running out and our opportunities to get out of this mess get fewer with every day that passes, we can only hope they know what they are doing.
Safe journey and get behind the lads, enjoy the game.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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