Morecambe 0 Milton Keynes 4 LIVE Thread

[Old Man Kensey]

First time I've left a game early since Gravesend.

[P/T Indie]

Ayunga needs to learn to pass instead of taking the extra touch.

Someone said on here a few weeks ago we look like an academy side and I agree we need some experienced heads who can do the hard stuff.

None of the front players are good enough but I suppose that's why they are here if they were consistent they would be at bigger clubs.

I'm still not convinced by O'connor hes the best CB we have but that's not saying a lot. He deff needs a more physical partner next to him.

[Posh]

we dont have the quality to play 3 upfront, we’d be better suited with 4 in midfield as we have more quality in midfield.

like Toums & Philips offer more than Duffus, McDonald, Arthur, if we were to go 4-4-2

I agree. At the start of the season the manager said we’d need to play a counter-attacking game because we’d struggle to compete at times with stronger and better funded sides. Instead we’re going into games setup to win and play an open game but without the players to make it work. We look naive and it isn’t working.

We also don’t look a team. Other sides turn up and look really well organised, yet we look disjointed and lacking some basic nous. Some of that stems from trying to make a team to fit a system, which means playing weaker players. I just think it should be the other way round and get our best players on the pitch in a system that means we look better organised and play to our strengths.

[fulwoodshrimp]

If we need our best players on the pitch why isn’t Toumani Diagouraga playing?

[Posh]

That’s kind of the point I’m making.

[P/T Indie]

My 9 year old would offer more than Duffus, Arthur, Ayuga and Wes!

At times today I was wishing for Derek Ball at least then we would get the ball up the pitch earlier and get midfielders running into the box.

I'm guessing Alfie should be the more attacking midfielder out of the three but he never gets in the box or takes a shot on goal, yet he scored 2 for NI.

[BerlinWaller]

My 9 year old would offer more than Duffus, Arthur, Ayuga and Wes!

At times today I was wishing for Derek Ball at least then we would get the ball up the pitch earlier and get midfielders running into the box.

I'm guessing Alfie should be the more attacking midfielder out of the three but he never gets in the box or takes a shot on goal, yet he scored 2 for NI.

I long for Derekball. Seeing a team having a right go, bullying and horrible with a sense of invincibility. Players fit for purpose and all pulling together.

Agree about Alfie. The game looks so easy for him but he isn't a match winner on his own like a CMG or Phillips.

[CityShrimp]

What a strange/frustrating afternoon.

The scoreline flattered MK Dons but it was a game that really highlighted all of our weaknesses. Lapses of concentration at the back, lack of quality up front and shaky goalkeeping.

January is going to be massive for us. We have some technically good footballers in our ranks but we are crying out for some steel/hard men to bolster the defence and midfield. We also need to find a way of scoring goals when Stockton isn’t on the pitch because right now we have no answer for that. And unfortunately we need a keeper between the sticks who commands his area better than young Jokull who has potential but isn’t the keeper you need when you’re going into a relegation dogfight.

[glagys]

So what does Jonah offer to the game ??
He couldn’t trap a ball,never found his teammates
Never tracked back, never closed the player down
Never chased the back pass to keeper,
I’ve never been a fan of Arthur,but he did all the work you should be doing when he came on
Hope we ain’t got Jonah on a long contract,cos we’ll never make a profit on him
Absolute dire performance today and robbo needs to step up
Ok midfield was fine and did their bit
gibbo did well when he came on and wanted to push forward,
Ryan wasn’t interested in the first half or was told not to
Running out of patience with Robbo’s excuses,
He better sort some decent moves in and out in January or he could be our first managerial sacking for quite a while
Rant over

[fulwoodshrimp]

I agree with the comments about the manager needing to step up to the plate. As I have said previously he talks a good job and is good at analysing what went wrong. A good manager then puts right what is going wrong. I have seen no sign of any improvement on the pitch correcting mistakes made in previous games. I worry SR has no management experience of League 1 and I think it shows. Several of the players signed in the summer who are not good enough for League 1 are on two year contracts. January is a crucial time for him. We need 3 or 4 good signings if we are to survive.

[Little Shrimp]

Deserved to lose for defending like wet tissue paper, but that wasn't a 4-0 game. We were definitely worth a goal or two - we worked the opposition keeper more than we usually do.

Didn't really learn anything today that we didn't already know - we need a new keeper and a new centre back.

Our midfield was very good once again, and did well throughout large periods to keep MK Dons at bay. Just very frustrating that the few times MK Dons were able to get through into the final third, they came up against pretty much no resistance from our defence. I think they must have only gotten into that area of the pitch 4/5 times in the first half, but from that managed two goals, an effort cleared off the line and a decent save from Jokull.

We clearly missed Stockton as a sticking point up front, although still created a good few chances which was encouraging. Their keeper made a couple of superb saves and if we'd scored in that 15 minute period at the start of the second half when we were well on top, it could have been a different story. But again, too easy to score and it's 3-0 from their first attack of the half.

Ayunga's form has tailed off which is frustrating, but there's still a very good player there - just needs some tweaking and improvement. Duffus looked off the pace - not surprising though. McDonald put a good shift in but doesn't look quite enough for this level. Fingers crossed he can improve and kick on. Gnahoua good to have back, and hopefully McPake can show a bit coming back from injury. Let's hope Obika is ready to make an impact too.

[Redalert1970]

Just got back and to fair not much to say other than very very poor performance

If we go to Buxton next week and have the same mentality as today we will get beat

We will have to match Buxton in every department … I can see them scoring against our very weak defence .. if they had a scout there today they will certainly fancy there chances that’s for sure

[Ispyshrimp]

A few things stood out today for me, Delaney just cant defend, people are going on about the keeper making the CB's nervous, if that's the case why has Delaney cost us at least 2 goals in 2 games, made no effort to clear the ball if he doubts the keeper, was all over the place today.
The 3 midfielders today were the best players on the pitch by miles, Gibson offered something different when he came on but the front 3, speechless, poor!
Ayunga kept losing the ball but did nothing to show he wanted to chase and get it back, his step overs have no end product and waste of time. I could go on, don't mind losing but hate it when we go down without a fight, we were shocking for 70 minutes of todays game. Wes, no words to describe his efforts today!
I've criticised AOC previously, thought he's played well recently but misses that bite with the players and should be screaming at them for their lazy approach to the game, I know Sam wouldn't have stood for that performance today from players.
Robinson did wonders at Motherwell, I know that other fans at other clubs in Scotland respected him and the job he did there, I think the speed and time scale he had to work with is biting us on the backside as some of these players are stealing a wage, I think it will come good with another couple of transfer windows but would like to hear of a few home truths being said after that performance between him and the players.

There's no way those players should be getting a day off tomorrow, double training sessions until the efforts increases for certain lazy players

Lastly, fans need to start behaving themselves last few weeks hasn't shown the club look in good light as issues at most games recently.

[P/T Indie]

I agree the odd sunday session wouldn't do any harm as they don't seem to be learning through the week.

[Andy D]

On a positive Gibson looks a good LCB in a back 3. And it allows Greg Leigh to raid forward.

[Gone_Shrimping]

On a positive Gibson looks a good LCB in a back 3. And it allows Greg Leigh to raid forward.

Agreed , Gibson is too good to leave on the bench.

[glagys]

The worrying thing is that our midfield are playing well
Alfie,Callum and Shane looked calm and created some good openings, but 2 of those players are on loan, and Shane’s only on a 1 year deal,
toums is unlucky not to get on but with the midfield playing well someone has to miss out

[BerlinWaller]

The worrying thing is that our midfield are playing well
Alfie,Callum and Shane looked calm and created some good openings, but 2 of those players are on loan, and Shane’s only on a 1 year deal,
toums is unlucky not to get on but with the midfield playing well someone has to miss out

The midfield are playing well and it is great to see such technically gifted footballers but are they effecting games? They don't shield the defence and they don't create many chances.

[P/T Indie]

Agree they run around a lot but none of them specialise in anything such as a playmaker or holding midfielder.

[Keith]

I'm guessing Alfie should be the more attacking midfielder out of the three but he never gets in the box or takes a shot on goal, yet he scored 2 for NI.

You must have been at the toilet when their keeper pulled off an amazing save from him then?

[Andy D]

I'm guessing Alfie should be the more attacking midfielder out of the three but he never gets in the box or takes a shot on goal, yet he scored 2 for NI.

You must have been at the toilet when their keeper pulled off an amazing save from him then?

to be fair Keith the point Indie is making if Alfie was more advanced he’d get more more goals for us, look at his record and goals in particular for Oldham where he was on double numbers.

[Keith]

I'm guessing Alfie should be the more attacking midfielder out of the three but he never gets in the box or takes a shot on goal, yet he scored 2 for NI.

You must have been at the toilet when their keeper pulled off an amazing save from him then?

to be fair Keith the point Indie is making if Alfie was more advanced he’d get more more goals for us, look at his record and goals in particular for Oldham where he was on double numbers.

That may be his point, but he actually said; "never gets in the box or takes a shot on goal" when clearly, he does and he does.

Now if he'd said he wanted to see more shots and playing in a more advanced role, then fair enough, but hyperbole doesn't make that point. If the keeper hadn't made a superb save from McCalmont, the entire game could have changed.

[BerlinWaller]

I'm guessing Alfie should be the more attacking midfielder out of the three but he never gets in the box or takes a shot on goal, yet he scored 2 for NI.

You must have been at the toilet when their keeper pulled off an amazing save from him then?

Wasn't that following a corner rather than a structured attack? Alfie is brilliant to watch, he is a hell of a footballer but he doesn't win games.

[sandgrown]

Agree they run around a lot but none of them specialise in anything such as a playmaker or holding midfielder.

spot on post Indie and BW

they are also too lightweight

for me play Toums in a 4-4-2