Milton Keynes Dons (A) - Sat 9th March

[tangerinedream]

This weekend sees us make our first ever trip to Milton Keynes Dons impressive 30,500 capacity Stadium MK ground which was only built as recently as 2007. It won't however be unfamiliar territory to boss Karl Robinson who at the age of 29 was appointed manager of MK Dons in May 2010 before eventually leaving to manage Oxford United after six and a half years in the hot seat. During his time at MK the club twice reached the semi-finals of the League One play-offs before eventually gaining promotion to the Championship in season 2014-15. Unfortunately relegation back to League One followed the next season with KR leaving the club three months into the the following season. After dropping into League Two at the end of last season our hosts appear to be making a concerted effort at getting straight back up and comfortably occupy a play off place just five points behind leaders Mansfield Town where they recorded an impressive away win last Tuesday night. 10 points from the last 15 (with just one defeat) has reinforced their position as serious promotion contenders despite some prior inconsistent performances with their home record of 11 wins, 4 draws and only 3 defeats being a major contributory factor. 

Two defeats and one draw after eight unbeaten has been disappointing with suspensions and injuries again stretching an already thin squad and it'll be interesting to see how KR responds both in terms of starting line up and tactics. Either way it's going to be a tough game at Stadium MK and we'll need to be at our best to get any sort of points return.

[chipbarm]

I honestly can't see us getting anything on Saturday. MK looked very impressive at Moor Lane and are in good form including a win at Mansfield in midweek which is no mean feat. That said we spanked Barrow and they beat Gillingham on Tuesday so you never can tell. We've a tough 3 games coming up in the next 10 days with Stockport and Morecambe to follow MK. We need to pick up a few points from those if we can as having done the hard work in getting away from the relegation zone we don't want to slip back down there. A draw at best on Saturday but realistically a defeat is the most likely outcome.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I can only see a defeat after last week. I expected us to bounce back in that game or at least show improvement. Instead I thought we were offering 'guest manager' spots on certain games and Neil Wood was having a bash! We reverted to type.

We had Cairns doing his 'I'm going to throw it out quick' routine, but never did...just like he always does. Just waved his hand up and down in a 'slow down' gesture. Almost total hoofball.....and I'm not against that in principle. KR said he'd do what he has to, to win a game. But not every game and for 90 minutes, especially when everyone could see that Smith was being marked out of the game! No urgency, players showing no invention at all. This same group of players showed grit and a never-say-die attitude in the first few games of KRs reign, but what's happened since? Are most of these players not good enough for a mid-table team or is it muscle memory? Having played one way under Wood, are they slipping back to bad habits?

I didn't mind (in a way) about the Mansfield defeat. They were too good, then we lost a player, and you can say we had a shocker. But the last two games have been poor and we could and should have got something from them. Neither of our last two opponents looked that special, although once they got up a head of steam in the second half, Gillingham played well.

Despite the above, I'm as confident as I can be that KR is the manager for us. But he's come here and has to work with a squad that's been in relegation form for much of the season. Let's hope he's worked some magic on them this week.

[alanb]

Yeah as Chip, I think it was, said a bit back, our team are a perverse lot. And they can surprise you over exactly in which games some look like they're just incapable of giving it that final few percent; and in which games they are, to a man, prepared to fight 'til they drop!! Rational thinking suggests we'll get nothing from tomorrow (except for a nice day out at a new ground), BUT... YOU NEVER KNOW... Karl has certainly worked his special man-motivation magic on our team in the past. So why not again tomorrow, eh.     I'm going in totally positive - and all our players better be going in the same!! 

[chipbarm]

None of our injured players are fit to return but Garbutt returns from suspension. Hopefully we bin Mallan and Shephard in the summer, I don't think they've started 20 games between them the last 2 seasons and are just taking up room in the squad. We don't half seem to sign a lot of sick notes.

[tangerinedream]

Anyone got a link to a MK Dons fans forum that actually works? Was on the 'Concrete Roundabout' one earlier this week but it appears to have gone down!

[jayb99]

Found myself in MK on Wednesday so I wouldn't be making that trip twice in a week! They're proud of their stadium which has a nice hotel built into the stadium I'm told.

I find this Salford team under KR so hard to call, everything tells me we get nothing from this game but you never know with KR. He's the ability to stick a rocket up them that's for sure, so here we go again, bang it on and see what happens.

[tangerinedream]

Wasn't at the game today but I did say to alanb on his coach journey down that my tea leaves were predicting a 3-0 loss!

[chipbarm]

To nobody's surprise we duly lost at MK to make it 1 point in 4 games. The halcyon days of KR's first 7 or 8 games seem a long way off, we need to pick up some points and quickly or we'll be worrying about relegation again. Not looking forward to Thursday night one bit

[tangerinedream]

KR post match .....

[Chris P. Bacon]

Well that was poor wasn’t it?

We’ll get a serious ass-kicking on Thursday.

[tangerinedream]

Mar 9, 2024 17:05:54 GMT chipbarm said:

To nobody's surprise we duly lost at MK to make it 1 point in 4 games. The halcyon days of KR's first 7 or 8 games seem a long way off, we need to pick up some points and quickly or we'll be worrying about relegation again. Not looking forward to Thursday night one bit

Barring Colchester United (who I'd love to see go down) we've got the worst points haul of the bottom five teams over the last five games. There's no better time to get back to winning ways than this coming Thursday night!

[je85]

Yesterday was always going to be tough against effectively a L1 squad when we are depleted to the extent we are. They are full of quality, Gibley especially is an engine for that side and his goal was a peach.

The worry I have currently is even going into the season we had injuries and the knock is that we don’t know what our best XI could’ve or should’ve been. Now with almost half the senior players out the knock on seems to be condition and no real variation in style. Last season on a big pitch like that we would deploy speedsters out wide and at full back, and hit direct balls forward to then get crosses into the box. Smith’s 23 goals in the league have been vital but I can’t help but think his presence is diminishing because we cant rotate. He looked out on his feet after his own goal… not having that as a deflection. On to Thursday UTA!