Man of the Match - MK Dons (A)

[McRightSide]

1 hour ago, prowl said:

Johnson doesn't look the player he was last season. Maybe he's under instructions but why would anyone shackle a player with his abilities. Early days though and until James is up to speed the shirt is his. If he doesn't improve James gets a chance to show what he can do.

 

I have seen a number of players having heated discussions with the coaches at different periods of the games. Johnson certainly did last week and Hunt was at it today.

Johnson started last season looking like a raffle winner

[Owly Mowly]

We started really aggressive and created some good chances. 
After 10 mins we took the foot of the gas and MK came into it.

Nice bit of quality won the penalty and great work by Fiz should have made it 2.

Second half - it was obvious we needed more legs in midfield as we were giving them so much space to play their nice football and Stockdale came to the rescue.

 

Byers and Bakinson coming on and Fiz moving forward changed the game and the last 20

were comfortable.

 

Fiz was an absolute beast in that last 20.

 

Byers has to start - he makes so many winning tackles and is great with the ball

 

 

[Owly Mowly]

Credit again to Liam Palmer - did a great job at LCB again 

[Hootsman]

According to Sky it was a one sided game 

[Ian]

Palmer for me…..they were getting in behind Famewo whenever they wanted and was only a matter of time before they scored. Once Palmer came on it just didn’t happen any more

[trotter]

Stockdale 8

 

Ihiekwe.             7

Heneghan.         7

Famewo             7

 

Palmer.                 6

Fizz.                     7

Vaulks.                7

Bannan.               5

Johnson.             5

 

Paterson.             5

Windass.              6

 

Hunt 6

[HOOTIE AND THE SHIT TU]

It's difficult to see everything from behind the goal

 

But I thought Henegan just about won everything, so I voted for him

 

Stockdale's double save in the second half was awesome, at least I think it was he who blocked the second shot

 

I thought Iheikwa had a good game, and the lad who went off injured was doing pretty well

 

Dele-Bashiru is a beast

 

Windass worked his socks off

[Sweet Sheri]

Loungo is a huge loss for us, with Byers and bannan last season that midfield was as good as any in this league 

we buy vaulks to replace him so for me Byers vaulks Bannan have to play in midfield 

we the build round that 

will take the 3 points but against better teams we will struggle if we do not sort the space in the midfield out 

fans today again immense wawaw 

[prowl]

1 hour ago, Owly Mowly said:

We started really aggressive and created some good chances. 
After 10 mins we took the foot of the gas and MK came into it.

Nice bit of quality won the penalty and great work by Fiz should have made it 2.

Second half - it was obvious we needed more legs in midfield as we were giving them so much space to play their nice football and Stockdale came to the rescue.

 

Byers and Bakinson coming on and Fiz moving forward changed the game and the last 20

were comfortable.

 

Fiz was an absolute beast in that last 20.

 

Byers has to start - he makes so many winning tackles and is great with the ball

 

 

I thought Bannan, FDB and Vaulks played as individuals rather than a cohesive unit. They need to work together more, Bannan was off his game today, Vaulks was rusty but showed signs of his quality and FDB was very greedy in the first half, going for the shot at every opportunity even when better options were available. After last week he probably thought he was on a roll so go for it, He got into full beast mode in the last 20 minutes.

 

Give it time and it will come together, at least we won.

[WalthamOwl]

Would like to see James start the next game in place of Johnson. 

[Daz]

All about the points but abysmal second half, I'm at a loss to explain how poor we were.

 

Stockdale         8

 

Ihiekwe.             7

Heneghan.         7

Famewo             8

 

Palmer.                 7

Fizz.                     8

Vaulks.                7

Bannan.               6

Johnson.             5

 

Paterson.             5

Windass.              6

[Drewswfc]

Utterly forgettable game. Probably windass MOM.  Closely followed by Palmer  and Stockdale. Highlight of the day was the night out in Northampton. 

[mancowl08]

Palmer for me, was excellent and yet again, covered another position thanks to his versatility. 
don’t think anyone else stood out, Stockdale had a good game but other than 1 fantastic save, didn’t have enough to do to warrant MOM. 

[A47Owl]

13 hours ago, prowl said:

Johnson doesn't look the player he was last season. Maybe he's under instructions but why would anyone shackle a player with his abilities. Early days though and until James is up to speed the shirt is his. If he doesn't improve James gets a chance to show what he can do.

 

I have seen a number of players having heated discussions with the coaches at different periods of the games. Johnson certainly did last week and Hunt was at it today.

Apparently windass had a heated discussion as well according to the commentary. 

[theowlsman]

I gave it to Bannan for his loss of temper and going right through Bradley Johnson leaving him in a pile on the ground.

[Andrew_Owl]

Stockdale 8

 

Famewo 7 looked good until injured 

Henegan 7

Ikwi 7

 

Johnson 6.5 thought he looked good 1st half

Bannan 5 moaned all game

Vaulks 6.5

FDB 8.5

Palmer 7 solid

 

Windass 7.5

Paterson 6

 

Hunt 6.5

Byers looked good when he came on didn't really notice Bakinson much but take that as a positive as he's a defensive midfielder. 

[prowl]

Plenty of love for FDB but he was very greedy in the first half, every time the ball came to him he was having a shot even when there were better options available. In one instance Windass and one other were going mental at him because they were in really good positions to score. It's understandable after last week when he scored 2 and the ball was running for him.

 

That last 20 minutes he was immense.

 

He's still learning and the ability to make good decisions will come with time.

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

3 hours ago, A47Owl said:

Apparently windass had a heated discussion as well according to the commentary. 

 

Yeah, he did.

 

He was really unhappy about something - presumably the lack of service / support from midfield?

[nevthelodgemoorowl]

Stockdale         8.5  MOTM also bums off seats reflex save. 

 

Ihiekwe.             7

Heneghan.         7

Famewo             8

 

Palmer.                 7

Fizz.                     7

Vaulks.                7

Bannan.               5 Off colour after 1st minute miss.

Johnson.             5

 

Paterson.             6

Windass.              6

[frastheowl]

 

Stockdale - 8 - Man of the Match - Pretty much a spectator in the 1st half. But made three key saves in the 2nd half, and couple of key punches/collections when required late on.

 

Famewo - 7 - A very promising debut cut short. Looked strong and quick in the 1st half an hour. Looked like a hamstring from the challenge, so I suspect we won't see him again this side of Christmas.

 

Heneghan - 7 - Clean sheet, and to be fair, rarely looked in too much trouble. Very strong aerially...but MK Dons looked a shadow of the the side they had last season, and didn't ask too much questions. Did get caught for the chance, in which Stockdale made the smart save down to his right however.

 

Ihiekwe - 7 - Looked a lot more comfortable on the right hand side, probably aided by the conservatism of our wing backs yesterday also. 

 

Palmer - 7 - I don't like him as a wing back, don't think he offers us enough in either directions tbf, however, cannot fault the lad's performance when moved to LCB. He's reliable there, and does a 7/10 job there consistently. 

 

Johnson - 6 - Much more restrained performance today, rarely over-committing himself. Did a job up against MK's winger and WB. Wasted a good crossing opportunity in the 2nd half, with a woeful delivery.

 

Vaulks - 7 - Good solid game. Got himself into some promising attacking positions in the 1st half, and in the 2nd half demonstrated the abilities we need him to, to replace Luongo. Lots of interceptions and tackles, and general mopping up.

 

Dele-Bashiru - 7 - Grew into the game, and looked a real threat in the last 15 minutes when the game opened up and he was pushed into a more advanced position. But, overall, did well. Competed well and stuck to his task defensively, and show three or four moments of genuine strength and physical disrespect. Good follow-up on last weeks display.

 

Bannan - 5 - Poor. His general play and passing were well below par, and his hesitancy led to MK's only clear cut opportunity. He's playing far too advanced at present, and we are struggling to get the ball to him. Something needs tweaking.

 

Windass - 6 - Did well for the penalty, and took it nicely. But, struggled to get into the game. Cannot understand why he didn't go and isolate himself up against Lewington. There was only one winner in that scenario.

 

Paterson - 5 - Offered absolutely nothing. Cannot remember him winning one aerial battle, his general hold up play was abject and like always, seems more interested in fouling and general sheethousery than actually doing his job he's paid to do.

 

Hunt - 6 - Defended well enough, and kept the right hand side relatively quiet.

 

Overall...

 

It wasn't pretty...in fact, it was a bang average performance. However, given our attacking options (or distinct lack of them), I'd have taken a scrappy, dull 1-0 victory at the start of the game.

 

It was vitally important, after last weeks defensive shambles, that we demonstrated an ability to dig in and defend our goal. And although MK Dons were a shower, and barely troubled us, we did show those attributes, which can only stand us in good stead.

 

Would've taken 4 points from the 1st two games, but we still need to address some strikingly obvious imbalances and deficiencies within the squad. Following Famewo's likely long term injury, we can add a LCB to the list, along with another a RWB with pace, and a forward player with genuine pace/trickery.