Back from the game: MK Dons

[urz13]

Harriott is decent. Even as the final whistle blew after extra time he was carrying the ball forward, looking to be positive. A comment suggesting he lacks a footballing brain is harsh. He works incredibly hard, and is always looking to make something happen which is more than can be said for most. Two quality finishes too, which again, most aren't capable of. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing him pushing the first team.

Not saying Harriott isn't any good, he did play fairly well tonight. What I meant by the 'lack of a footballing brain' comment was that he picked the wrong option far too often - ie in the second half he lead a counter attack with Beerens in support, delayed playing Beerens in on goal for ages and when he did play the pass it was underhit, behind him and Beerens was already offside. Chance gone. Another example would be in injury time when he Williams made a run behind a defender down the line, again he delayed the pass until Williams was offside and coming back for a short pass.

It was just basic stuff like that that was frustrating and makes me question his footballing intelligence. Also he failed to see many other passes and had his head down a lot running into trouble.

Still, he was dangerous and scored two good goals. And it was only one game, that's just how he came across to me.

[K.URZ13]

Good end result against a fit and motivated MK side. The fitness levels of our players was a little concerning but other than that it was ok.

Some of the negativity on here is just outstanding. Urz13, royalty creeps in; I hope you get aggressive bollock cancer so you actually have something justifiable to whine about.

[windermere_royal]

11 changes from Saturday gents, this team was nothing like the one we will see on Saturday. ohh and please sent Cooper out on loan somewhere. he`s always an accident waiting to happen.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Evans didn't come on and demand the ball which is what upset that. Long spells of passing along the back five and not going anywhere were largely down to him not dropping into pockets or coming deeper to receive the ball. He seemed to just stand and watch it without being the option most of the time.

Thought this on Saturday. Shame because he looked very good in the first two games. Maybe his confidence has taken a knock after Wolves and Newcastle.

[bobby1413]

Well at least tonight proves we need to get rid of Cooper

Corrected for you

[Thomas L'Heureux]

Not saying Harriott isn't any good, he did play fairly well tonight. What I meant by the 'lack of a footballing brain' comment was that he picked the wrong option far too often - ie in the second half he lead a counter attack with Beerens in support, delayed playing Beerens in on goal for ages and when he did play the pass it was underhit, behind him and Beerens was already offside. Chance gone.

I thought that was Mendes. If it was Harriott then I stand corrected. But I agree with the sentiment, it was a poor piece of football on whomever the ball carrier was.

[LWJ]

I managed to get weirdly angry at Stamp's tactical f*ck up in that game. Still struggling to understand

Apart from the first 5 min we were aimless dogsh*t just slowly and obviously passing it around the back with no purpose, until the all too predictable backpass from Cooper for the pen. Still nothing after that until Kelly got injured.

Weirdly Kelly was one our best players, but we got so much better when he got injured. We went 3-5-2 with Gravenburch playing it nicely out from the centre of defence. Quinn got more involved, and Obita & Watson were playing high up the field. I thought we looked class from then on and it was only a matter of time before we scored. The system really suited us. So what did Stam do straight after the goal? Go for jugular? No....... he brought on Williams and reverted to 4-4-2. Cue aimless passing around at the back and utter dogs*t for the rest of the game.

Our formation didn't change

In that nice section between Kelly getting injured and Williams coming on we were playing with Grav right in the middle of a back 3

I think you are confused as to what a formation is.

When we lined up against a goal kick, kick off or set piece from inside their half. Were we 3-5-2? No.

[Brum Royal]

Third game of the season for me last night (Plymouth, Wolves and MK) and my overall verdict remains the same - the passing system is fine and I can see how Stam is trying to get us to play, but it needs to have a) a lot more off the ball movement, and b) a higher tempo to make it work. When that has happened we look decent, but when the movement dries up it becomes very nervy and lots of passing between the two centre backs, the keeper and a deep lieing centre mid.

Losing Rakkels first half was a blow as his movement up top was helping to create opportunities for others and we didn't look as effective from the centre forward position after he went off. Felt sorry for Cooper last night, an awful back pass for the opening goal, a really nasty clash of heads with Kelly and then having to limp around up front for about 40 minutes after picking up a leg injury as we'd used all our subs - I still he'll come good in time but there's still that one major howler per game in him at the moment. Gravenberch looked decent as a centre mid, had good feet, used the ball well and linked play, when he came off I didn't think we looked as effective in the middle until Quinn moved across later on. Quinn I thought had a very good game last night, probably our MotM. Two good goals from Harriott.

[Maneki Neko]

Who really deserved higher? 5 to me means not great, 6 average and 7 fairly good. Nobody was really better than 'fairly good' tonight, IMO. Maybe bump Mendes up to a 2.

surely 5 is average.

[tidus_mi2]

Who really deserved higher? 5 to me means not great, 6 average and 7 fairly good. Nobody was really better than 'fairly good' tonight, IMO. Maybe bump Mendes up to a 2.

surely 5 is average.

I'm too used to Football Manager at this point where 6 is the start off point, anything below that is a poor performance, 6 is average, 7 is good and so on.

[John Smith]

As someone previously mentioned it was a patchwork squad of new players so I think it would be unfair to criticise too much. Yes Cooper made an error with the backpass (player was going away from goal with his touch so could never be a red).
My only grumble would be the lack of quality deliveries. Mendes didn't seem to be on the same wavelength but I think that will come with time.

- Rakels injury was a bit needless as he was charging down a clearance that would have gone to the halfway line at best.
- Gravenbach looked useful, bar his shooting.
- Fair play to MK side who gave it a real go
- Garath McCeary and Danny Williams are our best players

[Forbury Lion]

Idiot fans were booing when Cooper kept passing the ball back to the keeper and we kept possession, I think might be the reason he then cracked and did a McDermot era long ball up to the attacker who then lost the ball. From that long ball, MK Dons got possession, launched an attack that had our attack and midfield peddling back trying and failing to stop them until they got through and had a chance on goal

[Maneki Neko]

Who really deserved higher? 5 to me means not great, 6 average and 7 fairly good. Nobody was really better than 'fairly good' tonight, IMO. Maybe bump Mendes up to a 2.

surely 5 is average.

I'm too used to Football Manager at this point where 6 is the start off point, anything below that is a poor performance, 6 is average, 7 is good and so on.

surely that gives too much range for review in the bottom end and not enough in the top end.
BOOOOOOOOOOO

[tidus_mi2]

Idiot fans were booing when Cooper kept passing the ball back to the keeper and we kept possession, I think might be the reason he then cracked and did a McDermot era long ball up to the attacker who then lost the ball. From that long ball, MK Dons got possession, launched an attack that had our attack and midfield peddling back trying and failing to stop them until they got through and had a chance on goal

Full credit to Karl Robinson who called out our fans on that, said that he was a big fan of the style of play Stam is trying to bring in and can't understand the booing from sections of our support.

[Sutekh]

Pretty uninspiring performance last night to be honest. Would have expected much better and much more incisive performance from those players on show but it just showed really how far short our "second string" is as a whole.



Feel really sorry for poor Jake Cooper who had a game where nothing really went right for him and his dropping down the pecking order seems to have really affected his confidence.

He wasn't the only one struggling but how much of that is just down to players coming to terms with Stam's new "concept" or just not being fit enough due to a lack of match practice I'm unsure.

Plus points were Kelly, Watson and Harriott. Moore did well also but appeared to be struggling with a knock towards the end of the game (which isn't surprising since it's probably the first time he's played in a competitive game since god knows when).

[George_]

We're a work in progress. And we're in the next round of the league cup. And that, for tonight, is enough

Yep. THIS.

[Brum Royal]

I like Watson but there was too many occasions last night that he had loads of space in front of him down the right and he didn't drive into it but turned back inside and played a short pass rather than go on and carry the attack forward. We've got used to watching attacking full backs who provide the width over the last 10-15 years (like Gunter, Murty and Shorey) so hopefully he will add that to his game as he develops and gets more confident. He had a pretty solid game otherwise.

[Hendo]

I do find these back from the game threads odd at times. I can't say I really agree with the take on player ratings thus far, and here's as to why:

Jaakkola seemed pretty assured to me. He made some decent saves, one particularly towards the end of the game when it came through a crowd and he tipped it around the post. The equaliser seemed to be a very good first save from him, one he had no right to make, and given the close proximity it's no surprise their player got a second bite. I said to the person I was with that he'd save a penalty. And he did.

Moore looked a serious upgrade on McShane. Not that I think he is an upgrade on the aforementioned as they'll begin playing together, but he looks by far a more rounded player. Could hear him talking throughout and he looked comfortable on the ball, playing out from the back.

We had a decent shape and tempo to us until Kelly's injury. Evans didn't come on and demand the ball which is what upset that. Long spells of passing along the back five and not going anywhere were largely down to him not dropping into pockets or coming deeper to receive the ball. He seemed to just stand and watch it without being the option most of the time.

Gravenberch looked very capable on the ball, which is no surprise for his size. He can receive it under pressure and turn his man quite easily. I don't think we'll quite know how or where to play him right now, but he showed decent potential from what I saw.

Rakkels lost the ball every time he touched it. And unfortunately for him got injured doing the only good thing he did in the match.

Harriott is decent. Even as the final whistle blew after extra time he was carrying the ball forward, looking to be positive. A comment suggesting he lacks a footballing brain is harsh. He works incredibly hard, and is always looking to make something happen which is more than can be said for most. Two quality finishes too, which again, most aren't capable of. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing him pushing the first team.

Agree with pretty much all of this.

[Silver Fox]

If we achieved anything last night it seems to be we've got a new h8 figure, although he seems a bit paler than normal

[Schards#2]

Idiot fans were booing when Cooper kept passing the ball back to the keeper and we kept possession, I think might be the reason he then cracked and did a McDermot era long ball up to the attacker who then lost the ball. From that long ball, MK Dons got possession, launched an attack that had our attack and midfield peddling back trying and failing to stop them until they got through and had a chance on goal

Agree with this and it makes me worry about the future

We have a new manager who is looking to implement a strategy based on ball retention with a squad of players who have barely met. He must wonder what he's let himself in for when, five games in, fans are booing and demanding the ball be hoofed up field to a lone striker who shows no ability at retaining the ball.

Making this work consistently, if it ever does, is going to take time and I wonder how long the board's nerve will hold if the team is being booed during the game by our own fans every time we're not ahead in a game. Idiots, and that's before you take into account that the team tonight was nowhere near our actual first team. Some of our fans deserve to be where Leeds are with a new manager ever few months and a spiral of failure, for god's sake have some patience.

Other than that, we learned Cooper surely has no future in a Stam squad, Mendes is not the answer to any of our problems and fitness seems to be an issue in the squad. I've rarely seen a team look so out on its feet