Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
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Location: In the Armchair.
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THE MELTDOWN – CAMBRIDGE UNITEDSaturday Morning - Well, you can’t say it’s been a dull week, the gutless defeat at Port Vale, followed by the Toby Lock article in the Citizen where he produced an article slamming the club and was duly applauded by the fans who felt it needed saying. In honesty he was just echoing the reactions from social media, but a local journo adding their voice raised it to another level and it obviously found its mark as Liam Sweeting gave a veiled response on behalf of the club, neatly tucked into an article regarding the “Family Fun Day”.
I say neatly as it was a clumsy attempt in a call to arms for the fans that basically made the whole situation a damn site worse. In a poll on social media 93% of those voting were unhappy with the contents of the “Open Letter”, but we shouldn’t be shocked they have got little right this season.
Some felt the letter was insulting, after all the fans have been on message since this sorry journey began and have played their part despite everything that has happened to dampen the enthusiasm, in reality I am surprised some are still onside, but if anything Sweeting’s attempt to gel the fans had the reverse effect with some saying the players should have received the letter, after all they are the catalyst and fans react to what they see on the pitch, if they see something to get behind, they will, and always have, the fans aren’t the issue here.
In a final attempt to get the fans back on side Sweeting finished his letter with “Come on you MK Dons”, whoever says that…..Hmmmmm, nobody that’s who, and just possibly shows how out of touch Sweeting is with the fans, but why should we just blame Sweeting, others must have seen this letter and approved its publication…. again, why should we be surprised.
So, with all that rattling around we finally got the message that Zak Jules had been suspended for reacting with an elbow, forearm or something, it matters little, but you have to say he was bloody stupid to react to a well-known wind up merchant who already this season has claimed several victims much to the amusement of Vale fans who have created a Meme of a tombstone with the names of those that fell for it.
One bit of good news and probably in the nick of time, Lewie could well be back, so we will wait with baited breath for the team announcement at 2pm, it’s been a very long 4 months, I’ll see you soon.
Just got in and I’m still struggling writing this, I’m good when we get beat, but reporting a victory is a little bit alien, after all it’s been almost a year since I have been in this position on a Saturday in the league, and its just struck me there were possibly people attending today that haven’t seen us win live in all that time.
Undoubtedly the uplifting news was the return of “Skip” and although he is still not fully up to speed you could tell the difference it made almost instantly especially for under the cosh Tucker who seemed happy to have Lewie back nursing him through the game, and its going to be vital if we are going to survive to keep this partnership together.
It wasn’t a classic by any stretch, I said in my preview, it was either going to be the odd goal that decided it, or a goal fest and you could quickly tell, there wasn’t going to be many goals so cagey was the start.
I must admit I was surprised we kept Cambridge at a safe distance for most of the game, I watched them play Morecambe on Tuesday and I was impressed how they just went for it and created 28 shots, yes it was Morecambe but even so there was a commitment to get forward, but other than the disallowed goal where they cut through us with ease there was little to raise concerns other than Cumming pushing a shot come cross around the corner.
I notice there has been one or two comments regarding the worth of Mo & Grigg today, so here’s my twopence worth for what it’s worth.
Mo has a very specific style of play preferring a ball he can run at between the defenders, unfortunately we rarely have someone that can play that type of pass, with probably the exception of Devoy, and of course today we have seen he can on occasions tear a page out of the Scott Twine playbook and curl a tasty freekick over the wall and into the net giving the keeper no chance, but other than that he offers nothing, easy to knock off the ball, nothing in the air, no defensive capabilities, nothing, so you have to weigh up the odds, is he a luxury player that will score every now and then when presented with the perfect scenario or is he a burden to the team when all hands are needed to the pumps…it’s a conundrum Jacko is going to have to fathom in the weeks ahead when playing a more fancied team like Derby County.
Will Grigg on the other hand IMHO brings nothing to the table and offers nothing more than a nuisance value, he works hard, but doesn’t see to get the better of centre halves as they appear to have him well shackled, and furthermore he looks devoid of speed to the degree Lewie could do him every time.
He looks a shadow of the player he was and without doubt his best days are behind him. For me if we stay up I would get shot of him, but if we get relegated it might be worth hanging on to him, remember when Agard was born again after relegation, it might just rejuvenate him. I would imagine he’s on a decent wage and that could also add to Pete being eager to unload him regardless of our league status.
Their disallowed goal has been on loop for about 5 minutes, I’ve watched it repeatedly, had it on freeze frame, and I still don’t know, and I think VAR would equally have struggled, it’s such a close call it could have easily gone against us…so folks we may have had a slice of luck, as they say “I’ve seen them given”.
It was a well worked goal or no goal, Tracey picked the ball up on the halfway line and Lewie committed himself to close him down, and Tracey dropped his shoulder and sent Lewie out for a hotdog. Devoy was in his wake but no chance of catching him, Tucker backed off and across came Watson to close him down leaving Lankester free to receive the ball, he switched feet, cut inside and curled it past Cumming and into the net.
Now the debateable element, Smith in his eagerness to support the breakaway attack overran the last man and strayed offside. I am 100% sure he did not obstruct the view of Cumming, but his involvement could have been distracting to the Dons stopper, and he looked to signal that Smith had impeded any possible diving save he might have made, in fact the ball passed so close to Smith he had to “Ole” it in almost a Spanish bullfighter style to prevent it hitting him. The ball clearly never touched him so the only thing I can deduce is the officials deemed him to be interfering and so making him actively offside, like I said it could easily have gone against us and the lino’s flag was bloody late to the degree I thought fate had struck another blow on us.
A mention for Tucker is probably in order, a scapegoat on so many occasions, so it will probably do him good to get a bit of praise and picking up the MOTM, although that award looked in doubt in the first half when Tucker and Watson collided and presented Cambridge with a guilt edged chance but luckily Watson got back and did enough to force the player wide and Cumming saved at the foot of the post.
The day to me though belonged to Lewie, at 37 years old he returned after 4 months off with one of the worst injuries of his career and it was like rolling back the years as he seemed unflappable, and he even got back, and slide tackled a striker who obviously fancied his chance against the legend of SMK. The cheer an adulation from the Cowshed as he got his tackle in and knocked it into the Club Red stand made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but it made me sad that one day he will hang up his boots, surely we will never see his like again, it will be the saddest of days.
I never saw the Jacko interview, but I did catch Mark Bonner who was pissed off beyond belief about everything, even the MK atmos didn’t escape his post-match analysis.
So to summarise, it’s a start and a step in the right direction, but we are not out of the woods yet, not by a long chalk, and in my assessment in games left I rated this as our second biggest opportunity to gain points, the first being Morecambe.
I fear next week Accrington will be a bigger challenge, but at least we go there on the back of a win. Something else we should be mindful of is two teams we were chasing got impressive wins, Burton beating Wycombe 2-1, and Cheltenham thrashing Posh 3-0 at London Road.
Accrington took a point down at the Valley against Charlton but our other rivals Morecambe lost 3-1 at Shrewsbury and FGR were beaten 3-1 at the Soya Milk Stadium and look to be out of the race to survive.
On Tuesday Accrington entertain Portsmouth, Burton are at home to Posh and Morecambe are at home to Charlton Athletic.
Looking at Saturday we have Accrington v MK Dons, Cambridge Utd v Charlton, Cheltenham v Exeter City, Morecambe v Oxford Utd with their new manager Liam Manning making his debut, and in case you hadn’t noticed Oxford are firmly in the battle to survive after recording yet another defeat, the following week sees 6 of the bottom 8 all playing each other, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it, no point in getting the calculator out just yet.
That’s about it I think, I think I’ve covered everything, all I can say is thank God we won, but with other teams winning there is still much to be done.
Enjoy your weekend and make the most of it.
See you later in the week for the Accy Stan preview.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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when I played, that was what we always did. Elementary IMHO.
