THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

It boils down to 5 things at the moment:

Complacent, technically poor football
We let teams press us, and when we get the ball back we are very poor at counter-attacking football. Neilson's instructions seem to be just to smash the ball up to whoever is furthest up the pitch. There is no creativity, players are technically poor. Players make too many technical errors - passes to short or over hit, long balls to nobody, balls over the top that are impossible to chase, and simple defensive errors leading to giving away stupid goals. We play like a non-league team.

Lack of team spirit, poor cohesion, lack of motivation and drive
None of the players look like they want to be here. Our players don't look like they have any fight or want the ball more than opponents. I don't see any pressing, chasing down 50/50 balls, no hard tackling or determination. It's all very flat. Reports of friction in the dressing room according to Gilbey, players clearly aren't a cohesive unit under Neilson.

Poor tactics against good teams
We set up the same way against the likes of Blackburn, Wigan, Bradford and Pompy. Four good teams who know how to play football. Ofcourse we are going to eventually get punished if we just sit back and let them come at us. We should be doing the same. Our wins have come against weak teams, the better teams walk all over us. When we inevitably go a goal or two down, our tactics don't change, we still sit back. Neilson's idea of freshening things up just seems to be "bring Aneke on" based on the last two matches.

Poor recruitment, most aren't better players than what we had last season
Not only did we not improve on the players we lost, the players we brought in aren't as good as them either. In terms of replacements, Ariyibi, Tshibola and Cissé aren't in the same league as Barnes, Reeves, O'Keefe, Baldock or Potter. The only worthwhile replacements seem to be Sow over Maynard and Golbourne over Lewie. How are we supposed to build on last season when we destroy what was good about it?!

Poor connection between the fanbase and the staff/players.
Not sure how much of an impact on the squad this has, but there is almost ZERO connection between our fanbase and the current team/staff. I can't remember us singing about a single player yesterday. We lack personality or identity. It's just a team of individuals, most of whom look like they don't want to be here and don't give a shit about the club. Looking at the squad, I don't see any players who want to fight for the badge or who "get" the club. Can you really say that you believe the likes of Sow, Ariyibi, EEL etc have any kind of passion for MK Dons?

How are fans supposed to get behind this group of players and staff when they don't project any kind of confidence or desire to succeed here. Neilson shows no passion for the club, the fans or our identity. He's starting coming out with the same sound bites. I don't feel any kind of motivation or drive to get behind the club even more following a defeat after hearing Neilson's press conferences/post-match interviews.


We just don't feel like MK Dons anymore. We have no characters, no leaders, nobody urging us on.

[/quote] Poor connection between the fanbase and the staff/players.
Not sure how much of an impact on the squad this has, but there is almost ZERO connection between our fanbase and the current team/staff. I can't remember us singing about a single player yesterday. We lack personality or identity. It's just a team of individuals, most of whom look like they don't want to be here and don't give a shit about the club. Looking at the squad, I don't see any players who want to fight for the badge or who "get" the club. Can you really say that you believe the likes of Sow, Ariyibi, EEL etc have any kind of passion for MK Dons?

How are fans supposed to get behind this group of players and staff when they don't project any kind of confidence or desire to succeed here. Neilson shows no passion for the club, the fans or our identity. He's starting coming out with the same sound bites. I don't feel any kind of motivation or drive to get behind the club even more following a defeat after hearing Neilson's press conferences/post-match interviews.

We just don't feel like MK Dons anymore. We have no characters, no leaders, nobody urging us on.[/quote]


Totally agree with this. It's such an important part of supporting and following the team.

I completely agree. I would also like to add that our recruitment policy that prioritised 'physicality' over technical ability has definitely come to haunt us. We've decided to sign players who are tall and strong first, rather than good footballers first. With Aneke for example, his strength is a bonus really, we didn't sign him because he was tall; we signed him because he was a good player. Bringing in players like Cissé and Tshibola who clearly aren't as good as O'Keefe, Potter, Barnes etc who they're replacing but they're more physical so we'll sign them instead! Maybe that's the way things work in the Scotland, but if our promotion season should have taught us anything, it's that getting out of League One actually requires a team of good footballing players above all else, which we haven't got.

It's an MK Dons team in name only.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

[quote="FilthyDon"]It boils down to 5 things at the moment:

Complacent, technically poor football
We let teams press us, and when we get the ball back we are very poor at counter-attacking football. Neilson's instructions seem to be just to smash the ball up to whoever is furthest up the pitch. There is no creativity, players are technically poor. Players make too many technical errors - passes to short or over hit, long balls to nobody, balls over the top that are impossible to chase, and simple defensive errors leading to giving away stupid goals. We play like a non-league team.

Lack of team spirit, poor cohesion, lack of motivation and drive
None of the players look like they want to be here. Our players don't look like they have any fight or want the ball more than opponents. I don't see any pressing, chasing down 50/50 balls, no hard tackling or determination. It's all very flat. Reports of friction in the dressing room according to Gilbey, players clearly aren't a cohesive unit under Neilson.

Is that true? Where did that snippet come from? If true it'd be bad but I'd not be that surprised.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Not for a moment defending yesterday's performance, which was woeful.
However, to put a bit of perspective, last Saturday, after the shell shock of the sending off and 2 quick goals, we did respond and play as a team. I suspect that performance might have swelled the number of us who decided to go to Portsmouth yesterday.
Was in Scotland for the Bury game two weeks ago. The 3CR commentary in the second half was talking about promotion form.
I heard lots of singing about Callum Brittain, also about Chuks and EEL yesterday.
As for dissent in the dressing room - haven't heard anything about this before yesterday's game. And yesterday it was clear that things needed to be said - and clearly were at half time, given the team came out about 10 minutes early.
As Gers has said, Neilson plays a different game to KR. Think we better get used to it, no way can the Club afford to change that already and for what reason? We may not like the style of football, but we are 4 points of the playoff places.
As per usual I will turn up full of hope on Tuesday night, expecting to have my hopes dashed
I've been there before with the Dons, I'm sure I'll be there again. COYD.

(We need to find Scumarmy again so he can remind us WABLO).

Don't think it was dissent towards Neilson, but friction between the players themselves according to Gilbey in Toby Lock's article:

Did you notice his eyes went to the side when he said we would win the next game? There seems to be a lack of belief.

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

He looks a bit pissed off about everything and I don't blame him. Probably regretting moving from Wigan.

I like Gilbey, straight talking and doesn't hold back. Think he and Williams are both decent captain material.

I can't say he has done a lot. Another in my list of under performing.

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