THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Watched that excuse for football tonight v Crawley, absolutely awful football, apparently we're a long ball pub style football club, unbelievable.
PS Mr Winkelman, sort it out or ship out.

One of my big concerns with the GA appointment was that we had thrown out everything that worked so well for us 3 seasons ago (leading to the outstanding season under Manning). We had a squad full of technical players who massively underperformed but now we’ve lumped all in on a manager with a long ball style.

I've been pretty impressed with GA and the way he's carried himself since he's come in, and I really hope it goes well for him. But I can't shake this fear that this whole thing could go horribly wrong. Ever since Russell Martin became manager 4 years ago, we've been building a team to play a certain style. "The MK way" had been evolving and built to something pretty special a couple of seasons ago. All of the noises from the club, with the new sporting director model was that we were going to stick to this style. Managers may come and go but we'll still stick to our principles and have some consistency.

Obviously last year was a total disaster and I understand we simply have to get out of this league as soon as possible. If we need to be a little more pragmatic, like we were under Tisdale, I get it. I just worry that this is too big a change for this squad. Pretty much everyone (bar the new recruits) were brought here to play possession football, and now they're being asked to do the total opposite. I can't help but feel this group of players, although they're not perfect, are better than what we saw tonight. 30% possession against Crawley! Constant aimless long balls up to nobody. We struggled to win anything in the air, and when we did, the ball landed at the feet of a red shirt. And this wasn't just tonight - the signs have been there in every game so far. Anyway, it's too late to back out of this situation now. This is how we're going to play. Whether you love it or hate it, we're all gonna have to get used to it. I just hope Pete puts his money where his mouth is so we have a squad who is capable of achieving something playing this way. If win enough games to get promoted this season, you won't hear any complaints from me about the style of play. All that matters is that we somehow find a way to bounce back.

Can't disagree with a word of this.

I could take Long ball rubbish with wins, goals and excitement.

All I saw tonight was the classic Tucker and Smith hopeless mis-directed punts up field to either no-one or our slender number 10.

Panic football.

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Decided to come back.

Whilst I wouldn't like it, I'd accept it especially in this league and after last season. The concern is that we haven't really built a squad for it. If we'd signed a big man early on and replaced Wozza with a Wycombe reject then I'd understand it to an extent. Pure panic as you say, and to me that was evident when we set up 5-3-2 opening day - weird Manning got called out for formation change, yet GA hasn't really. Does GA simply not think the squad is capable enough or what he wants?

It'd help if we'd signed plenty of players suited to this style - when Tis came in, despite not having as much a transition from the Neilson hangover in terms of style, he signed an awful lot of players and they were all suited to being pragmatic and not fucking around.

The worry I have, is that the style is fine to me short term if it works. And it's not on GA at this moment in time - because I'm reading between the lines and seeing very little help from the hierarchy in terms of recruitment. If he wants to play this style, then cool, let's see how it works, but he's got at best 13 players... some are used to playing a style that is polar opposite to this, they have to transition as much as new signings so there isn't much continuity. I've not seen any player come in, and know that they're suited to a longer style... not even remotely saying they can't- but its a slower burn when you've got barely any in reserve to help out.

An influx of new signings isn't always the option - didn't work last year, but it worked in L2 under Tisdale... what definitely doesn't work is the absolute clear disjointed contrast between what starts, and what doesn't. We are still well short of what we should be - maybe we're fitter which is great. Maybe we're more confident, which is great. Maybe we're more together as a club, which is great. But we're so fucking thin and threadbare it's crazy.

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If they play every week like they did against Wrexham I could live with it, with Eisa and Leko knocking them in for fun. But the dross against Crawley and the self-interest are inexcusable.

Would we be worse off now if we had not sacked Manning but stuck with him through difficult times?

Continually changing managers, particularly if the next one plays a different style, really doesn’t help, in my view.

Long balls, short balls, passes, big chances created, shots, expected goals, the score, Crawley out played us.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/17332 ... eynes-Dons

GA finish the press ups, squats, shuttle runs and start some training on playing football. Pete get the cheque book out or bow out gracefully and not in the National league. Liam and your team, I hope you have something lined up or you might go the way of Wilkos.

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Disclaimer: All my comments are my opinions unless stated otherwise. I'm just a fan following my club.