Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 4826
Location: In the Armchair.
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THE BIG GAME PREVIEW – CAMB UTD Good Morning fellow suffering Dons fans now don’t despair just 11 more games and it will all be over, and then we can all relax and plan those weekenders at Barrow and Grimsby for next season.
Well, I can only start in one place this week, the Toby Lock article in the Citizen on Monday, if you haven’t read it I suggest you check it out.
I have long felt the likes of Ashmead & Lock have been too cosy with the club in the past, but finally Lock has grown a pair of balls and let the club know what we are all thinking. It’s easy for any club to ignore the social media disquiet but when local journo’s join in it’s getting serious, and I have to say respect to Toby, it needed saying and it’s been a long time coming. No club in the football league ladder would have had such an easy ride from the local press, just click on any local paper website of a club in the EFL and you will see they hold them accountable and ask the difficult questions, and don’t get fobbed off, and it reminded me of Andy Cullen telling me that soon after his move to Portsmouth he was still getting his head round the fact there were at least a dozen pages everyday in the local rag solely on Pompey.
The only danger now is as I see it is you know who will be tempted to come out with a video to try and smooth the waters, promise the earth, and it will of course come to nothing, you have to admit we have heard it all before on many occasions, but strangely some still fall for it….and trust me they will again.
The open letter from Liam Sweeting calling for togetherness is to me confusing, Toby Lock has obviously ruffled some feathers, but I think the fans have been on message since Day 1, unfortunately the players and the club haven’t. The whole season has been a dog’s breakfast on and off the pitch and slowly but surely we have had the enthusiasm sucked out of us, and finally in March they acknowledge it, but swiftly move on calling for unity, when they have casualty ignored our concerns all season…. too little too late in my book.
We as fans have been sold a pup, on the pitch, off the pitch, everywhere, and it’s no wonder so many are staying away, and I would bet if the occasion ever came up that we had to decide to leave our money at the club again or not, many would stick two fingers up at them.
It still breaks my heart to think of the ripping apart of Lewington’s, so much could have been done to get that right, but no its too much trouble and it costs money, and this club does little for the fans.
Those bloody sofas that the MKDSA bought for that bar deemed to be a fire risk even though you cannot buy a sofa today without a safety certificate, now sit collecting dust 50 yards along the landing and somehow are no longer a fire risk…it’s just bullshit. Also, the conference style seats alright everywhere else in the stadium, hotel, and the arena, but ask if they can go into Lewington’s and it’s a no as they are a fire risk.
Why the hell they cannot build a wall I don’t know, well I do, its money, for one thing that would stop having to move all the stuff out when something is on in the stadium that is obviously a bigger priority than football, which incidentally is everything, but no as football fans we are treated like third class citizens, strangers and outcasts in our own stadium and I honestly can’t think of another stadium it would be allowed to happen. If the club had one scrap of decency they would build the wall, get some heating in, and convert it into a decent home bar and not the freezing wind tunnel it is, for once they should do the right thing.
Back to Toby Lock, kudos to him, but I bet he is met with a frosty atmosphere when he next goes to SMK…..never mind Sweetie.
Anyway, rant over…. the Wacko Jacko “Mini League” kicked off against Port Vale last weekend, but sadly nobody told the players and once again the travelling army and those listening in were treated to abject misery.
I estimate currently we need a minimum of 15 points, that’s half of what we have already gained in 35 games and even that might not be enough.
As mentioned we have 11 games left, and a few teams around us have a few games in hand, anyway it’s pointless speculating just yet, but as every games passes the picture becomes just that little bit clearer.
Back to Port Vale then, I went but wished I hadn’t bothered very early into the game. Many of our players looked like they didn’t want to be there, some looked like they didn’t want the ball, the rest were nothing short of hopeless and embarrassing, with only Cumming (again), Harvie and possibly Watson coming out of the game with any credit.
We created just two shots, with one on target, the best chance possibly the Johnson header from two yards out that failed to hit the target and all this against a team that are no great shakes with a large minus goal difference.
It is pitiful stuff from a team supposedly fighting for survival, but it looks anything like fighting as we are going down without a whimper, and more worrying when you hear post-match comments from Wacko like “We are fully aware of what we need to do”, now is it just me but that sort of comment is vaguely familiar, and seems on a par with Dan Micciche saying, “Don’t worry we have a plan”.
Now if it’s not bad enough having probably our best outfield player injured in the shape of Josh McEachran, and dumb arse Leko suspended for violent conduct off the ball, now it looks like Jules could get a three match ban for a deliberate elbow or worse 20 seconds after being booked. You honestly couldn’t make it up, but it fits nicely into the MK Way of self-destruction football that has been so prevalent this season in every aspect of the club.
I cannot claim this one, so a bit of plagiarism, but I saw that someone suggested midweek that everyone at SMK sits in front of a whiteboard and writes down every plan they had from this season on the left hand side of the board, and then on the right hand side write down the complete opposite, then wipe off everything on the left hand side and use the plan on the right hand side next season.
Gallows humour it may be, but it almost feels like every decision taken has been the wrong one, how is that humanly possible that we have got is so wrong, and I’m sorry to harp on about it, but just look at Plymouth, easily comparable with us in many ways, we beat them 5-0 at Home Park on the last day of the season, and they learnt from it, built, invested, engaged with the fans, and we chose our path and look what’s happened…..a total mess.
I also saw someone else comment about the breakdown in discipline suggesting a lack of discipline indicates they (the players) effectively have no answers to their predicament and knowing that person has worked closely at the club I can’t argue with that assessment.
So, we move on to face our next opponents on Saturday, fellow strugglers Cambridge Utd who beat us on the first day of the season and I’m fairly sure there were a handful of people that witnessed that loss were already questioning if this team had what it takes.
For the record that game was way back in July, and we lost 1-0 to a Harvey Knibbs goal after he slalomed through the Dons defence and fired past Cumming, meanwhile up the other end we produced zero shots on target…. a snapshot of the season to come, and the writing was possibly already on the wall.
Below are the league records of both clubs and it doesn’t make for pretty reading, also listed are the home record of the Dons and the away record of Cambridge Utd.MK Dons (22nd) – P 35, W 8, D 6, L 21, GF 31, GA 54, Pts 30.
Camb Utd (23rd) – P 35, W 8, D 6, L 21, GF 27, GA 56, Pts 30.
MK Dons (H) (24th) – P 17, W 2, D 4, L 11, GF 11, GA 25, Pts 10.
Camb Utd (A) (23rd) – P 17, W 2, D 2, L 13, GF 11, GA 35, Pts 8.The Cambridge Utd 8 wins this season have been against us obviously plus, Burton Albion, Exeter City, Lincoln City, Shrewsbury Town, and Oxford Utd, with their two away wins being at Morecambe and Wycombe Wanderers. Other notable results we should mention are knocking Millwall out of the EFL Cup, beating Ipswich Town in the EFL Trophy, a 0-0 draw with Plymouth Argyle, and a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town last month in the league.
On Tuesday night Cambridge were at home to another struggling team Morecambe and purely for research reasons I watched it on IFollow. The game finished 1-1 with both teams having the chance to win it, but what was striking was that both teams were going for it and fighting to avoid the drop. At times it was end to end stuff with the U’s creating 24 shots with 8 of those on target and in honesty I found it very concerning whilst thinking about the fragilities of our defensive line.
History shows we have a decent record against the U’s and those games are shown below with all games being LG1 unless stated.2018/19 – Camb Utd 0 MK Dons 1 (LG2) (Aneke)
2018/19 – MK Dons 6 Camb Utd 0 (LG2) (Healey 2, Agard 2, Sow, Aneke)
2021/22 – MK Dons 4 Camb Utd 1 (Twine 2, Watters 2)
2020/21 – Camb Utd 0 MK Dons 1 (O’Hora)
2022/23 – Camb Utd 1 MK Dons 0Our record stands at P 5, W 4, D 0, L 1, GF 12, GA 2.Top scorer for Cambridge Utd is Sam Smith with 7 goals, with Harvey Knibbs amongst others topping the assists with 3 this season. Like us goals have been a problem for the U’s with just 10 different scorers this season out of a squad of 28 players, in contrast we have 19 scoring players for what god it’s done us.
We have one returning player to report, Conor McGrandles who is on loan from Charlton Athletic, and a cautionary note he is yet to score for his new team in 9 games. Conor played 91 games for the Dons over three seasons scoring just 4 goals.
The Head Coach at Cambridge is Mark Bonner who has been at the club since 2011 in various roles but took over the top job in January 2021 and earned promotion in his first attempt finishing as runners-up and promptly landed a 3 year extension to his contract to take him to May 2024, but that must now be in jeopardy unless he can steer the U’s to safety.
Although languishing with us in the relegation zone Bonner has got a decent record standing at P 163, W 65, D 34, L 64, with almost a 40% Win Ratio, and just in case you want to know Jacko’s Win Ratio is just 21% and that’s just 2% more than MK’s worst ever rated manager Dan Micciche. Betting – Although we are the bookies favourites, this is anything but clear cut and again this game is one to avoid if you like doing accumulators and the 11/4 offered on Cambridge seems extremely generous to me.
MK Dons 13/11, Draw 12/5, Camb Utd 11/4.
The most obvious result is 0-0 considering the goal shy strike forces of both teams, and the odds on that are 10/1.
Another price you might want to know is the bookies have the Dons priced at 4/6 to get relegated.Prediction – I have two schools of thought on this, it’s either going to be 1-0, 0-0, 1-1, or a goal fest, 3-3, 4-2, something totally unexpected. Cambridge have obviously thrown caution to the wind and are prepared to throw everything at it, and if Morecambe had been more clinical and adventurous on Tuesday night they could have punished the U’s commitment to getting forward, this approach may force our hand and we may well have to go equally Gung Ho, imagine that us playing attacking football…. well, I can dream.
Strap yourselves in, this could get messy.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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