THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

THE MELTDOWN - SWINDON TOWN
If you watched or went to Bradford you would have a hard job to believe that today it was the same team, I don’t really know if that’s us, or about how we are equipped to play different teams or different styles.

Technically I think Swindon are better than Bradford, but in defence it’s a different story and you can see how Swindon score a few, but also concede far too many and that was highlighted in the opener with the defender calling the keeper to come and deal with it and then he took a stride backwards and gave Lofty the chance to get a toe in. I’m not 100% sure but it looked like all three players met the ball at the same time and was a case of “After you” and somehow it squirted out of the tangle and fell to Lofty, he squared to Wearne on his first start and despite the keeper trying to rescue the situation Wearne fired it home to create bedlam in the away end.

We had hardly gathered our breath or finished taunting the nearby Swindon fans than we struck again and then out of seemingly nothing as Kemp swung a teasing ball across the box that beat everyone except Wearne who scooped it into the net at the back post unchallenged, it all felt a bit easy.

The rest of the half I felt we had chances to extend the lead but we just couldn’t manufacture a decent angle to get a shot away, but it has prompted me to think I know why we don’t get penalties, our players are too honest, twice in the first half and at least once in the second half a defender made enough contact that if our player went down the ref would have little other choice than to point at the spot.

While we are talking about refs I thought he was awful. He should have booked Charlie Austin for elbowing Harvie in the head just a minute or two after coming on, meaning when he did get booked he would have walked. There was also another situation in the 2nd half where Khan who was already on a yellow rugby tackled Gilbey to the floor a few yards outside their box, in my book he bottled it.

Of course, we couldn’t see the game out without a scare as we failed too clear the ball any distance and it was fired back in for the thug Charlie Austin to nod home with just a minute of normal remaining, and although they had a fair bit of possession I cannot recall them getting close to breaching our defences.

For me Lewis Bate was absolutely superb as just about everything he did, turned to gold, it was a master class from the Leeds loanee, and let’s hope he can kick on now.

Whilst I have singled out Bate, I thought our midfield ran the show and controlled the game, and although not scoring them down I do get concerned about the number of times Lofty and Norman get caught on the wrong side of their man, the goal conceded being typical of that in Norman’s case.

My final gripe is Matt Dennis, I just don’t get what’s going on there, coming on with 20 minutes to go you would have thought he would give his all for the cause but everything about him is so slow motion and lethargic, I’m hoping he is not fully fit, because if that is maximum effort, it’s appalling.

Today one or two results fell in our favour, and finally we took full advantage and move up to 5th and put a 7 point gap between us and the first team outside the playoffs.

On Tuesday we have a big test as Hollywood FC come to town, I just hope we see the Swindon version, and not the Bradford version.

That’s it, don’t forget there will be no Meltdown on Tuesday night after the game, I am away and will be missing my first home game in 9 years.

Have a good weekend.

WD

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

Dreadful attitude.
Resign.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Mate I’m not happy about it myself.

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

Disgusting. It's got Council Kev's name all over it.

I’ve just watched the MW post match presser where he praised Matt Dennis for his efforts…….thats concerning.

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

Man Management.

Swindon were definitely better than Bradford in a number of ways. I also don't think we played badly against Bradford and not a chance 4-0 reflected the true nature of the game. We went 2-0 down against the run of play and then just let our heads drop massively.

I am hoping this win-lose-win-lose trend is our mini dip in form, but Wrexham will be very tough on Tuesday and could likely keep the trend going.

Striker situation worries me as well as Wearne did today. Harrison keeps disappearing, Dennis isn't good enough and Tezgel doesn't look ready. Already counting down the weeks/months until Max is back.

Overall, its a massive win but a clean sheet would be very welcome.

Standard. Manager protects the player from criticism.

I thought we were utter shite against Bradford. Slow. Short of any skill or creativity. Up there with Donny as the worst performance of the season. Our first shot on goal was a free kick 40 minutes in.

Dennis did ok in my view. I don't get what people expect of him. He is a third choice striker for a reason. He is not as pacy as dean and not as much of a poacher as Harrison. But I thought bar a couple of crazy decisions he was functional. But remember we are playing kemp in the main strikers role over him. Ask yourself why.

I don't know your view but I feel we should have had a pen mid way in the first half. Gilbey I think it was clear on goal. Not too sure why he would dive in that position but again no pens for us this season. Wonder what odds we would get for no pens all season?

I'm happy with a win but their goal was soft as shite to concede. We don't take teams to the sword. Previous dons teams would have smashed 4 or 5 past a team as woeful as Swindon were and I am yet to see a complete 90 minutes where we do take teams apart. The only one I can think of is Wrexham. Just lets hope we can match that performance from August against them on Tuesday.

Good write up as usual, I agree with a lot of what was said and especially on Dennis, he showed no energy to close down and didn't provide an outlet when we won the ball.
Bate and Payne really provided excellent control throughout to the point it was a noticeable deterioration when Robson and Williams came on.
Final thought from me is how long do you think Gilbey has as first choice in an attacking role? I feel he lacks the passing range, skill and shot of both Wearne and Kemp, we just seem to breakdown more when he gets it than any other player, which is disappointing because his recovery work and closing down is first class.