Morecambe 0 Milton Keynes 4 LIVE THREAD

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

Not good enough all over the pitch I’m afraid. League 1 is bloody tough as we found out last season. Back then we had one top class league 1 player with a fit and motivated Stockton. We ain’t got that option anymore. Very disappointing as we are the only club where he’s actually performed on the pitch. Team Stockton seem to want to walk away from whatever we’re offering so goodbye, unless of course nothing happens by Thursday and he’s left to rot maybe training with the kids

[Redalert1970]

Worrying thing for me Keith - we don`t have a PLAN B (some fans might say we don`t even have a PLAN A)

Derek is a very stubborn manager and doubt he will change anytime soon

When does he become under pressure (it`s possible we could have 3 points from the first 10 games) !!!!

Yes we have had some tough fixtures but it doesnt get much easier anytime soon

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

Worrying thing for me Keith - we don`t have a PLAN B (some fans might say we don`t even have a PLAN A)

Derek is a very stubborn manager and doubt he will change anytime soon

When does he become under pressure (it`s possible we could have 3 points from the first 10 games) !!!!

Yes we have had some tough fixtures but it doesnt get much easier anytime soon

We simply don’t have the money to afford the class of players who can take the game to these class outfits. MK deal in millions (Will Grigg et al). We deal in scraps and get a kid on loan from Huddersfield. Can’t understand the deluded amongst you who think we should go all out attack against class outfits. Trust me most of them would rip us a new one if we tried that with what we have!

[Keith]

Can’t understand the deluded amongst you who think we should go all out attack against class outfits. Trust me most of them would rip us a new one if we tried that with what we have!

It's not a case of going on "all out attack", but sitting back and letting the opposition attack as they want is rarely going to result in a win and is likely to lead to us conceding eventually. The first ten minutes today, the writing was on the wall. Once they scored, we never really looked like getting back in to it.

I'd rather we go down fighting, than go down defending.

[black morse]

Didn't we try the attacking option under the last manager and we conceded dozens of goals.

Phoenix Shrimp is right. We don't have the money to compete on anything like an equal footing. Whatever anyone says on here Stockton's goals kept us up.

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

Can’t understand the deluded amongst you who think we should go all out attack against class outfits. Trust me most of them would rip us a new one if we tried that with what we have!

It's not a case of going on "all out attack", but sitting back and letting the opposition attack as they want is rarely going to result in a win and is likely to lead to us conceding eventually. The first ten minutes today, the writing was on the wall. Once they scored, we never really looked like getting back in to it.

I'd rather we go down fighting, than go down defending.

I don’t think we intentionally sit back and defend. I’m sure if we had the quality in the team we’d push on and put teams under pressure. Very much like out last season in EFL 2. Thing is in my opinion we don’t have that quality so we have to defend for our lives and feed off scraps. Last season we had a platform with Stockton holding the ball up and also smashing the goals in.We haven’t got that quality any more.

I’ve just watched Wrexham win at Woking and they have spent millions in non league. Quality players all over the pitch but we can’t begin to compete with them. Just puts things in perspective. We are a great club but trying to compete with a massive financial handicap .

[Redalert1970]

Derek was asked in his post match interview if we would see Stockton in a Morecambe shirt again

Derek said YES

[redrobo]

Very poor BUT there where flashes of things to come.

Have to say that DA's subs baffled me when the first player off should have been Fane followed shortly by the player responsible for their first 2 goals.....namely Love but DA seems determined to play him although to date he has not impressed me.

We all know DA's way of playing but to sit back and let their defence play simple balls to their midfielders was baffling. Once again our choice of subs left me wondering 'what the hell is going on'...

Once again there was no pressure on their back line which enabled them to play with freedom out of defence.

The total absence in the first 45 of any attacking threat due to no central striker but it did improve mildly in the second 45 and their goalkeeper had to justify his salary on a couple of occasions.

Overall a poor performance I'll be their Tuesday night hoping for a glimmer of improvement.

[BHmfc]

Reality check........we are a small league two club playing in league one. Most of the clubs in our league have massive budgets (compared to ourselves) and just to be playing clubs like Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Derby, Charlton and last season Sunderland, shows how far we have progressed. Today, for the majority of the game, we were outplayed by a better team and there is no disgrace in that. I would be more disappointed if Fleetwood, Accrington, Burton etc, came here and played us off the park. I support Derek 100%, his tactics were spot-on last Tuesday night and despite today's result against one of the teams who will be fighting for promotion at the end of the season, if we keep battling away, we might just stay up. If we get relegated at least we will still be in the football league, it's relegation to the Nationwide which would cause me sleepless nights, just look at some of the big clubs in that league scrapping to get promoted. Anyway keep the faith, only 40 games to go.

[Phil Anderer]

Rather be a Morecambe fan than a Bournemouth one today...just saying

[Wild Bill]

First game of the season for me. Not brilliant. Had a few chances but came up against a decent attacking side and heads dropped at 0.2. Not surprising withe struggle for goals. Great win on Tuesday but the league is where its at right now. Fancy us to grind out a 1.0 against the gas. Possibly with Cole back in the team

[Old Man Kensey]

No plan B.
Their first goal looked way offside
Other than that clutching at straws.
We need to off Stockton if he can't even make the bench.

[Redalert1970]

In my opinion Wild Bill - Don`t think we will see Stockton in a Morecambe shirt again

[Gone_Shrimping]

No plan B.
Their first goal looked way offside
Other than that clutching at straws.
We need to off Stockton if he can't even make the bench.

I think we started the 2nd half with Plan B and it looked better than the first half but the damage was done by then and as we pushed more people forward they caught us with a couple more goals.

Taylor was my man of the match. Phillips looked promising and could play wide with an experienced centre forward as part of a front three.

[glagys]

Thought the weakness was Fane and Love,think they contributed to all the goals

When I saw Love pre-season I wasn’t impressed got skinned too easily and caught out of position

just like today,

not sure what Fane brings,he’s like a poor man’s Toums I know which I would sooner have even Songo would be a better option

[Gone_Shrimping]

Thought the weakness was Fane and Love,think they contributed to all the goals

When I saw Love pre-season I wasn’t impressed got skinned too easily and caught out of position

just like today,

not sure what Fane brings,he’s like a poor man’s Toums I know which I would sooner have even Songo would be a better option

Songo'o was an unused substitute at Bradford yesterday. If we can move any of our transfer-listed players out this week he could be a possibility as he doesn't seem to be in Mark Hughes's plans.

[Keith]

not sure what Fane brings,he’s like a poor man’s Toums I know which I would sooner have even Songo would be a better option

Fane was always a Songo'o and never a Tooms. His job is to break-up the opposition flow, then get rid. I think he's performed really well most times that he played but yesterday, he had an off day and his error really killed the game.

Back to the 'attack' comments. We played much better in the second half and until Fane's error, which led to a goal against the run of play, we were having a positive period, where we went close. I think if we'd set up like that against Shrewsbury & Fleetwood, we'd probably be four points better off.

[sandgrown]

Thought the weakness was Fane and Love,think they contributed to all the goals

When I saw Love pre-season I wasn’t impressed got skinned too easily and caught out of position

just like today,

not sure what Fane brings,he’s like a poor man’s Toums I know which I would sooner have even Songo would be a better option

I agree about them two gladys, and you can include Melbourne for me !

[Phil Anderer]

No plan B.
Their first goal looked way offside
Other than that clutching at straws.
We need to off Stockton if he can't even make the bench.

Even clutching at straws with the offside claim. They made several well timed runs behind our defence. Kept hearing people shout for offside when it genuinely wasn't.

[glagys]

Yep and Melbourne

But I blame Quinny he was saying how good the defence was on radio Lancs before the game

[marky No.1]

Fane was always a Songo'o and never a Tooms. His job is to break-up the opposition flow, then get rid. I think he's performed really well most times that he played but yesterday, he had an off day and his error really killed the game.

He was trying to man mark Bradley Johnson who dragged him all over the midfield, think he gave up in the end, Johnson has played for top clubs and showed his experience, he was on £8500 a week at Blackburn 2 seasons ago and £28K before that at Derby, just shows what we are up against

[BerlinWaller]

I didn't think we were that bad to be honest. Their first 2 goals were very good finishes from an old fashioned number 9 and obviously a tactic well implemented. Love was done a bit easy for the 2nd one. Things might have been different if Ryan's header goes in at 1-0. Their 3rd goal came after we had dominated and should have scored through the impressive Weir but when you chase a game these things happen. Their 4th looked like the lad was on fast forward.

It was the wrong time to play a team like that with a lovely pitch to pass on and not a bit of wind. Their movement was superb and we were chasing shadows at times. We shouldn't need a reality check, we all know we are punching well above our weight and that there will be days like yesterday. We had a go and played some very good stuff at times. Weir and Taylor look very good but you do need a Fanè type to play behind them, that's football. I like Donald Love, i think he is better than what we had. He fits the system but he is what he is, i don't really get the hate he is getting.

[Keith]

I like Donald Love, i think he is better than what we had. He fits the system but he is what he is, i don't really get the hate he is getting.

I don't think he's getting much hate, it is more that, unlike you, a lot of us don't think he's much [or any] improvement on Cooney, who isn't getting a look in. I think they are similar defensively, but Cooney is a better crosser of the ball. Other than the sublime pass from Love to Connolly against Fleetwood, I don't think he's played a decent final ball. Every time he's crossed the ball it has been over hit, or gone to the opposition. Cooney apparently returned from the summer looking fitter & leaner, so I'd like to see him given another chance.

[Freez]

I don’t feel anyone is hating Love, he just needs to improve his all round game. He isn’t as dynamic going forward as Cooney and is no better defensively than McLaughlin, for me. So it’s much of a muchness.
He was done for the first 2 yesterday, inside him ball watching and outside him just slow to react, but that can happen against decent teams.
However, it does keep happening on his side of the pitch. I was hopeful we wouldn’t be conceding 88 goals again, but that’s still open to question. The one thing that is worrying is our lacklustre finishing.
Keep the faith.

[BerlinWaller]

I am not on the supporters FB page or a member of the exclusive group on there but Twitter is full of hate for Donald Love. I am not proclaiming he is the best RB in the world but I think he is the best out of the 3. Cooney should be starting but he has wasted a year of his career and Ryan seems to be heading towards a social media career.