Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 4809
Location: In the Armchair.
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THE BIG GAME PREVIEW – IPSWICH TOWNLet’s be honest, we didn’t expect anything out of the Bolton and Sheffield Wednesday games, and probably this one against Ipswich Town either. At the start of the month, I predicted 4 points in February and we have that now, so anything from here on in is a bonus, but you have to say that our chances of exceeding that total are slim, Ipswich are a side on a mission and just recently held Wednesday 2-2 at Portman Road.
Our final game of the month is on the road to Lincoln City who at the time of writing remain undefeated at Sincil Bank in the league this season and conceding just 10 goals into the bargain. We should probably mention they have drawn 12 of those 15 games at home, but when you consider that the likes of Bolton, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town, Wycombe, and Portsmouth have all tried to conquer Lincolnshire and failed, you can see the scale of our problem.
As I also said at the start of the month, February will not determine our final position in League 1, our fate will be decided next month when we tackle Port Vale (A), Cambridge Utd (H), Accy Stan (A), and Morecambe (H), yes they are all winnable, but these teams are not just going to roll over and die, and on the terraces and in the dressing rooms of those clubs mentioned they will look at our fixture and think we can beat MK, they will be equally determined, its not going to be the easy walk in the park and escape to freedom as some think.
So if we didn’t think we would get anything out of the recent games why are we (me included) getting so vocal about it. Well for me and apparently Jacko listening to his post-match presser, is we are far too easy to score against, yes we have faced some formidable teams, but our defence is like a leaking dam, plug one gap and another appears and the longer the games go on the dam starts leaking at a rate we cannot hold back any longer, which leads me to the next thing.
Stamina, fitness, or whatever you want to call it, as many of us have noticed that some of these players look like they are running on empty, some alarmingly so. Much was said that the Manning regime was easy on the players, and I think I’m right in saying that Jacko in his early days identified a fitness problem, but that was 10-12 weeks ago, so why are players still flagging in the second half so badly.
Something else I have mentioned on occasions is Josh McEachran, in my book one our best outfield players but something will not allow him to go too much past an hour on the pitch as in the last few games he has been subbed off in the 62nd minute, 78th, 66th, 70th, 68th, and the 63rd minute, and the last game I can recall him doing the full 90 minutes was against Lincoln City, and looking back at my notes for that game, I witnessed him almost out on his feet in the final throes of the game. I have no idea, I’m guessing, but that looks like a medical issue to me, carrying an injury perhaps, who knows, but I wouldn’t be shocked to hear at the end of the season he has an issue of some kind that requires attention, we will see as the hour ticks by on Saturday.
So, the task in hand and the visit of Ipswich Town and the annual migration of the Tractor Boys fans who will descend on SMK like flies and more than likely outnumber us in the stands.
Ipswich sit in third place at the moment and are desperately trying to keep up with Wednesday and Argyle, but the top two are showing no sign of letting up on the sprint to the finish, meaning Ipswich are still 8 points adrift.
Below is the league record of the Dons and Ipswich plus the away record of Ipswich and the home record of the Dons. MK Dons (22nd)- P 32, W 8, D 5, L 19, GF 30, GA 51, Pts 29.
Ipswich (3rd) – P 32, W 16, D 12, L 4, GF 60, GA 31, Pts 60.
MK Dons (H) (24th) – P 16, W 2, D 4, L 10, GF 11, GA 24, Pts 10.
Ipswich (A) (3rd) – P 16, W 7, D 6, L 3, GF 27, GA 19, Pts 27.
The 7 recorded away wins for the Tractor Boys have come against Forest Green, Burton Albion, Shrewsbury Town, Accrington Stanley, Morecambe, Port Vale, and Exeter City, but it should be noted they have not won on the road in six games dating back to November 19th. Their 3 defeats have come at the hands of Oxford Utd, Wycombe, and Plymouth Argyle.
We last played Ipswich on August 13th losing 3-0 at Portman Road in front of a crowd of just over 23,000 where we went behind after just 4 minutes. Two further goals and the game was sewn up on the hour to leave the Dons bottom without a single point after 3 games and Ipswich top of the league. In honesty the scoreline flattered the Dons with Cumming making a string of superb saves to keep the score semi respectable.
Below is the history of our previous meetings with Ipswich Town, all games are LG1 unless stated.2007/08 – MK Dons 3 Ipswich 3 (LC) (Knight, OG, Gallen)
2015/16 – MK Dons 0 Ipswich 1 (CH)
2015/16 – Ipswich 3 MK Dons 2 (CH) (Revell 2)
2019/20 – MK Dons 0 Ipswich 1
2020/21 – MK Dons 1 Ipswich 1 (Harvie)
2020/21 – Ipswich 0 MK Dons 0
2021/22 – Ipswich 2 MK Dons 2 (Twine, O’Riley)
2021/22 – MK Dons 0 Ipswich 0
2022/23 – Ipswich 3 MK Dons 0That’s a record of P 9, W 1, D 4, L 4, GF 8, GA 14.
The 3-3 draw in the League Cup went to penalties following an extra time equalizer from the spot by Kevin Gallen in the 120th minute. The Dons won the shootout 5-3 with Dyer, Wright, Gallen, Stirling, and O’Hanlon all scoring, after Nathan Abbey had saved the 3rd penalty from Dan Harding.
Ipswich come to us on the back of a comfortable 4-0 home win over rock bottom Forest Green with goals from Nathan Broadhead, Freddie Ladapo, and a brace from Conor Chaplin. Ipswich had 61% possession and conjured up 25 shots with 12 finding the target.
Chaplin is the top scorer for the Tractor Boys with 17 goals and 3 assists in this his second season for Ipswich after leaving Barnsley for a reported £750k. Freddie Ladapo is next best on 13 goals with Wes Burns and left back Leif Davis providing 15 assists between them in a team that can boast 18 different scorers this season.
After a love hate relationship with a handful of previous managers, the faithful at Portman Road seem satisfied with their latest recruit Kieran McKenna who is in his first league role after serving an apprenticeship with Spurs U18’s and Man Utd U18’s. Former Northern Ireland youth international McKenna took over in December 2021 on a three and a half year deal and so far its going fairly well, but we all know his existence is fragile as he is the 9th manager (including caretakers) since 2018, a failure to get promotion could see Ipswich shuffle the pack again.
For the record McKenna can boast an impressive record of almost a 50% Win Ratio, and a playing record of P 65, W 32, D 21, L 12.Betting – Off the top of my head I cannot think of a game in the league where we have been such long odds to win at home. Last weekend we were 7/1 and by the time the weekend comes around we may well be close to that price again.
MK Dons 11/2, Draw 3/1, Ipswich Town 3/5
Prediction – Everything points to an Ipswich win, our home form, the ease in which we have conceded against some of the better teams, and of course our stamina levels in the second half that have seen our performance levels drop off the edge of a cliff. The only question mark against Ipswich is that they haven’t won on the road in six games, but we all know how the Dons have the knack to break runs of form so I’m going for an Ipswich Town win, I’ll go for 3-1.Team News – Hopefully Devoy is back to full strength after his illness and is able to start this fixture, other than that and of course the long term injuries we haven’t really got anything else to add.
I’m going to finish up this preview with a bit of a question. Dan Kemp only played 16 games for us and allegedly had a falling out session at the club and was loaned out on the last day of the window to LG 2 Hartlepool where he has proved to be a big hit with the fans scoring 3 goals in 4 games, including a brace against AFC last Saturday. I just wonder what went wrong and if he could have done a job for us if he had stayed.
See You Saturday.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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