THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight

WELLDON in one word Yes

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Watching and moaning from the Balcony at Stadium MK since 2012
APL Prediction League Champion 21/22 season

I don't think we can attribute to one thing alone but one thing I certainly noticed was that we attacked. Now that might sound a bit silly - but we really were on the front foot all game, always looking forward, always going for more goals and the players looked like they were revelling in it.

The old adage that offense is the best form of defence has some truth to it. Our lads didn't have time to get in their own heads and worry about making mistakes. They just kept looking for the next chance to score. We didn't play the game state (i.e get ahead and try hold on) we just kept doing what was working and low and behold it kept working!

Turns out its easier to win if you keep extending the lead rather than trying to hold out on a narrow one

As Shankly said:

Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.

After GA sacking/paying off, one of the questions was, are the players as good as they/us thought they were.
Last night showed they can play and can be very good, bar set high now for rest of season
But how is it the same players were absolute ***** under GA - I think virtually the whole team just didnt get GA and his methods/style and altho painful, getting rid of Aug Manager of the month a few weeks later was brave and the right thing to do

BUT last night was just 3 points and 1 win, expectations and confidence have hit a new recent high and players will be expected to keep up the output/desire/stamina/style and overall performance now

Shoots of optimism have returned to stadium mk or is it fortress mk now ?

In my book the one thing that changed everything was Max Dean. At last the boy is being given the chance that GA denied him. I have felt that SloMo was a liability up front wasting all the chances he was provided with. Max makes things happen, Mo waits for them to happen.

Its really hard to know what changed.

I think the formation and the selected players made a difference and perhaps the players started to believe they were 'allowed' to play a bit.

I think Bradford would line up completely differently had they known how we would play. They were so narrow it looked like they had set up to deal with hoofball and then got moved all over the place trying to deal with a more pass and move style of play. It looked very similar to the early days of manning to me with 'possession with purpose' coming to mind.

I also think that some of the benched players might have booked themselves a reasonable stay on the bench. Im no great fan of Eisa but he did score goals early in the season but as always wth Mo. if he doesnt score, he adds little else. The trade with Dean is that he offers a lot of good forward play but with less goal return but last night he was excellent and got his goal that will hopefully allow him to kick on.

I dont know if Williamson was just rotating the squad to see players in matches and just got lucky or if he set the team up in a particular way and to be frank I dont care. Last night it worked and we have a platform for Saturday now. I not expecting miracles and know there are going to be some tough days and difficult results to take but this was a good start and if we can get some decent loanees in in January, it might hopefully allow us to push on.

Mike Williamson said in his interview that he hasn't actually had to do much yet. It's on the players and they are playing how they want to play.

This is a very strong team, as shown last night, but GA had them playing such a negative style of football and you could see the players didn't enjoy it. We had 30% possession at home to Barrow for christ sake. No player wants to play in a team that sees less of the ball. It's demoralising. You saw how us keeping the ball more last night, drained the Bradford players, whereas Barrow had the ball way more than us and had the motivation to do something with it

Also, the Tomlinson interview is interesting too. Seems to be very happy with how MW is allowing them to play. Says he joined the club due to the style of football we're known for, so was probably a bit of a shock to him when he saw how GA had this team playing.

So in summary, the shackles have been taken off and the players are being allowed to actually play football again.

I know you don't want me to respond to you and I'm probably muted anyway, but totally agree with this. Right now, Eisa, Dennis and Harrison all seem to be a significant downgrade on Dean and not one of them is even close to getting in ahead of him. With us likely to set up how we did last night moving forward and only having 1 striker, some of them aren't even going to make the bench.

We're going to need at least 1 of them to rediscover their form though and Eisa is probably the most likely but he seems so devoid of confidence right now and missed some decent chances last night.

Same goes for Smith and Stewart. Think they're going to struggle for game time too. Really impressed with Harvie at LCB and his link up with Tomlinson has been great.

Mike Williamson has come across as a proper man manager who makes people (not players) feel great about themselves and inturn I imagine they will run through brick walls for him. I had read about how good he was but you can already see it, he has played down completely any of his input, he has praised how they have trained, how receptive they have been, effort, work rate all of which resonates and tells them what they need to do, he has said they will all get a chance either playing or in training.
He also singled out his coach for the set piece for the first goal and has spoke of the quality of people already at the club.
Now what I will say is many coaches/managers do and say things like this, the key to success is does everyone believe it and so far I suggest they do and his initial impact is genuine, time will tell how well he can build on it.