Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 4817
Location: In the Armchair.
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THE MELTDOWN – DONCASTER ROVERSIt’s early doors on Saturday morning with just me, a brew, a vape, and my thoughts ahead of the game, and of course the impending closing of the transfer window.
With under a week to go, and unless we announce something ahead of kick-off and that is highly unlikely, we haven’t done any business since Ash Hunter came in the door over 3 weeks ago, which basically means we are going to be involved in the bunfight right up until next Friday at 11pm…. don’t go to bed.
For those unfamiliar with this scenario, and there can’t be many, it’s a bit like being in a chain to buy a house, A can’t move until B is sold, C can’t move until B is sold, D can’t move until C is sold and so on, and a whole string of transfers can collapse if one or more deals goes Pete Tong.
Rightly so, teams don’t want to let players go, until they have got their part of the deal done, which very often means there is a large amount going on until the final tick of the clock.
You could easily be sitting there at 11pm with a pocket full of cash and can’t get a deal done, and then have to make do with what you have got until January. The scenarios are plenty, we’ve even heard of players on their way to one ground, and getting diverted to go somewhere else, players failing medicals, and players walking out whilst having a medical…it is madness, and if you are after more than one player like us, well the whole thing goes crazy, as you try to juggle several balls at once.
The circus this time will also see us keeping a watchful eye elsewhere as well, Matt O’Riley or Sam Nombe moving could add to the war chest with GA saying he has been promised that any money coming from those sales will be given to him…but I can only think Pete told him that to get him out of the office one day while watching a Box Set highly recommended by Gers, I find it very hard to believe we will reinvest the full amount, but I am happy to be wrong.
No point in speculating any further we will just have to see what happens once the dust has settled, but I think it’s fair to say this is probably one of the most crucial windows for us in years, and before I forget, we are not safe from the vultures either, I just hope we don’t do something stupid like sell Mo at 10-55pm…madness I know, but would you really put it past us…no me neither….it will be all right of course, after all we don’t want to stand in anyone’s way …watch out for the sound bites, and have your Transfer Window bingo cards ready, and have Wikipedia on standby…and don’t forget, we are going for it this season.
So, the game then, this should be a home victory, and I’m hearing Donny have a bit of an injury crisis, but having lost to Donny twice before when they were bottom and we were chasing promotion and being mindful of some of the dross we have served up so far, it might not be the given we think, we can’t rely on last minute escape plans too often, so we need to start putting in a shift for 90 minutes plus…fingers crossed.
An unchanged side…here we go then.
Top of the League, four wins from five, unbeaten at home, happy right, ……no, definitely not, yet again that was awful for large parts of the game, we got absolutely dominated in possession and shots, and again it felt like we were hanging on, and as already discussed on the forum you have to wonder how the hell we are getting away with this. Those that often say, “I don’t care what we play like as long as we win”, surely they can’t be enjoying this or feel comfortable during the game, and the only comfort I can take from this is if we recruit well next week, things will improve…he says hopefully…. the danger is we don’t recruit well, with the false illusion that we are alright as we are, we need people to start the game, definitely not cover players.
It wouldn’t have been underserved if Doncaster had of been leading before we opened the scoring, in the opening 10 minutes they created chances that were begging to be put away but with a mixture of poor finishing and a bit of last ditch defending we got away with it.
They didn’t let us settle with a high press and we were desperate for a bit of possession and really the first time we got it to Leko, he slid it across and picked out Harvie via a deflection at the back door who calmly slotted it home.
Leko could have scored a second, but it just squirted wide, but we didn’t have to wait long, as O’Hora got the better of the Donny centre half from a corner that dropped with little of no power into the back of the net.
It all looked a bit easy at the time, we were under pressure but it looked like we were capable of a change of gear and we had this well under control.
The second half was dreadful, and it came as no surprise to see Donny pull one back early on and you have to say a decent finish as it flew into the corner from just inside the box, with Mac having no chance, but you have to think he should have been closed down, he had too much time and was allowed to turn into the box.
What followed shortly after baffled me and ranks as one of the stupidest substitutions I have seen us make…possibly ever. Mo went down in their box and after a few minutes receiving treatment, limped to the touchline. GA apparently asked Mo if he could carry on, and Mo asked for 5 minutes to try and run it off, and then rather than wait to see what Mo was going to do he subbed off a furious Leko, he may be an experienced gaffer but that was just plain crazy.
Mo hobbled on but I think it was plain to see he was not firing on all cylinders, and Dennis who came on for Leko just looked like he wasn’t interested which is surprising after the adulation he received last week. The first line of defence is your front men, but Dennis looked like he was out for a bit of a stroll on a wet Saturday, and just watched as they played it out from the back and blatantly refused to close down, chase a lost cause or anything come to that. Leko when he was on was just the same, and only got involved if it was played close to him, and if he lost it…forget it….it really isn’t good enough, Gilbey with his work rate put these two to shame, and if we bring in players to put in the hard miles, Leko and Dennis can have no complaints.
Ilunga and Hunter came on and did nothing really to help the cause, which was becoming more defensive minded the longer the clock ticked by, and I have to say I’m already likening Hunter to Bradley Johnson, come on and flatter occasionally and then do next to bugger all for a month, the jury is definitely out on Hunter in my book.
MJ came on and added a bit more steel in midfield, but we were retreating quickly and under pressure with a string of corners, which thankfully Mac claimed on 3 occasions, or it was hoofed clear for Donny to recycle and come back at us.
Mac also pushed a couple of efforts away, but I think he would have been disappointed had he conceded, and to be honest even though it didn’t feel like it in those painful last minutes Donny just lacked a bit of quality to get a share of the spoils, that they probably deserved.
Early days yet but playing badly and being top of the league makes you think how bad the standard in LG 2 is, and if you offered me 12 points from 5 games, I would have ripped your arms off, we all would, but let's face it we could just as easily be in the bottom three, you wouldn’t have been shocked the way we have played.
Looking at the weekend’s scores, they leave you scratching your head even more. The only team to beat us Crawley Town got torn apart by Swindon 6-0, and you know who scored again and chucked in a couple of assists for good measure. Gillingham top of the league, unbeaten and without conceding a goal lost 3-0 at home to bottom club Colchester…remember them.
Notts County are starting to get to grips with life in LG 2, and I’m guessing not many would have had Stockport and Wrexham this far down the table at this stage…. but again, its early days, and the Window may be critical for us and few teams before 11pm on Friday night, and just for the record just 3 teams remain undefeated, my picks for promotion Mansfield, the Dan Kemp propelled Swindon and our friends from Merton.
See you at Crewe.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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