Plastics 2 Rovers 0

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought we did ok today. For the first seventy minutes the sides were pretty evenly matched, but our defensive shortcomings with both centre halves missing undid us.

First half MK dominated possession, but did very little with it until the final ten minutes when we got a bit stretched and first McCrystal and then Cresswell made goal line clearances. Defensively we looked solid and Welsh and Labadie were tigerish in midfield and we deservedly went in level.

Fifteen seconds in to the second Taylor was muscled off the ball on the bye line by Ibhere (Taylor claimed a foul, and it was impossible for me to judge as it was at the opposite end of the ground), he squared it to Powell, 1-0. For the next twenty to twenty five minutes we dominated, playing some really good stuff. Cresswell and Bakayogo linked up well down the left, with Jennings becoming heavily involved, and we had three or four decent efforts on goal without really stretching their keeper.

However, against the run of play, Ibhere scored what from MK's point of view was an excellent individual goal, again outmuscling our defence far too easily. Game over.

In all, we put in a decent showing but our lack of experience at the back cost us with the poor defending for both goals conceded, with Taylor never really getting to grips with Ibhere. We needed to score in our best spell at the start of the second half, but didn't, perhaps chiefly due to the fact that our top scorer was on the bench (can't blame Les for leaving him out if the transfer shenanigans are still ongoing).

On the positive side, Zoom and Cressa linked up well down the left, Dale put in his best performance in a while, Kay was good again, and McCrystal seemed fairly solid.

On the negative, I can't see us keeping many clean sheets until the Broomes situation is resolved unless Goody's injury is not as serious as feared. Equally, if Moore departs it is difficult to see us scoring enough to stay up.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Should just add, I don't know how the possession statistics of 74% to 26% were arrived at. MK clearly had more of the ball, certainly in the first half, but those stats seem absurd to me. In any case, most of their posession in the first 45 minutes was in front of our back four, with no great penetration.

 

[Ian]

Nice to see Zoom back and was pleased McCrystal put in a decent performance after the shambles from the last game (not his fault mind). Still, another defeat and even more pressure. Got Saints and Swindle still to come this month. At least we didn't move into the bottom four today.

RLC, I took that from Tranmere Player, although not sure how accurate their stats are.

 

[amplesou]

club going no where under lp!
sorry to say time for a change ,bottom 6 all season the ocational win usually as a result of too much efforts and injuries/suspentions follow!

Les just give up and lets some one else have a go !

We want a team that is quality and plays football not always survial survial !!!

I think lp actually enjoys the struggle !

some of us have memories and higher standards to up hold !

 

[roverstillidie]

Amplesou you don't need to put an ! at the end of every sentence.

 

[amplesou]

Amplesou you don't need to put an ! at the end of every sentence.

sorry i am always doing that.

i need to be told for it to sink in .

thanks

ps its does look better with the! on tho.

I have no idea what ! means it just looks better ,maybe i,ll ask one of the kids.

............na they don,t know either!
oh blast

 

[roverstillidie]

Having read the match reports and listened to some of the game online, I think the defeat seems to basically be a result of not having Goodison. Ibhere is the kind of player that Goodison deals with very effectively, unfortunately yesterdays defence was physically lightweight - which seems to have led to their two goals.

It was nice to see that Zoom finally got a game, hopefully he will get a few more. Also good to see that Les dropped ITM who has spent the last few weeks sulking, hopefully that will give him a kick up the arse. The reports seem to suggest McCrystal had an ok game, which is encouraging, I'm going to reserve judgement on whether he is a good signing for a few more games though.

Apparently Goodison is pretty close to been able to play again, he wasn't far off been able to play yesterday apparently.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think the combination of Zoom and Cresswell down the left works well. Like a number of people, I think Bakayogo is the better all round player with his drive and athleticism but keeping them both in the side means we still benefit from Aaron's wand-like left foot on set pieces. The only problem comes with accommodating ITM and Jennings, assuming that Moore's contract dispute is resolved and he stays with us.

Good to hear that Goodison's injury is not as bad as first feared. I think I will also reserve judgement on McCrhystal for the time being, as I thought Nick Wood was a good player based on his first appearance !

 

[roverstillidie]

Unless Rotherham make a stupid offer or ITM holds somebody hostage he will stay until the summer then leave on a free transfer. There's no real incentive to sell him as we didn't pay a fee for him in the first place - so PJ wont be looking to at least break even.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Unless Rotherham make a stupid offer or ITM holds somebody hostage he will stay until the summer then leave on a free transfer. There's no real incentive to sell him as we didn't pay a fee for him in the first place - so PJ wont be looking to at least break even.

Ronnie has said he doesn't think it's going to happen until the summer, although he did say that he thought ITM would "score goals for fun in this (L2) division". So either he doesn't think Rotherham will go up this season, or maybe he's going to have another go at getting him. The fact was that Les was prepared to let ITM go back in July-August when all this blew up and would have settled for £30k. As he is one of the highest paid players at the club Les would have also saved his salary which could have been re-invested. The stumbling block was the Board and their demand of £100,000 from Rotherham (it's personal between Ronnie and PJ).

I still reckon he could leave in January, especially on one of those deadline day 'wheeling-and-dealing' sort of days when players come in and out. Les won't part with him unless he gets a like-for-like replacement, and that's not going to be easy. For all his faults (lazy, disinterested, would rather be playing with daddy), I'd still back him to score more goals this season than any of the rest of our squad!

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Getting back to Saturday's match, my views are much the same as Rockford's. At the end I was disappointed but not disheartened. I was expecting to see us torn apart, but our young and inexperienced defence played well. We kept our shape, battled and chased. As a result, it was a very tight game with only 8 shots on target. Dons edged it because of a couple of slips by Ash Taylor, but we were unlucky on a couple of occasions.

Warner - Looked full of confidence and made no mistakes, although had little to do.
Kay - A real prospect, but I expect we don't have the budget to keep him until the end of the season.
Taylor - A solid performance was marred by the two goals (one he claims resulted from a foul, the other was due to MK Dons MOTM Ibehre's turn of speed)
McChrystal - After a nervous start, he grew in confidence and looked the part.
Cresswell - Who says he can't defend? He made some great tackles and headed a goalbound rocket off the line. My MOTM.
Welsh/Labadie - Both of them seemed to lack a bit of confidence, possibly after they were booked early on.
Bakayogo - Always looked dangerous and gave the team width.
Elford-Alliyu - Ran his socks off on the right without making much of an impact.
Showunmi - Our only out-and-out striker, he kept chasing but had little service.
Jennings - At last, Les played him in what I think is his best position (in the hole behind the strikers). He did not see much of the ball and never got to run far with it, but he hit two superb passes which cut open the defence. Unfortunately, Enoch did not read them. I am afraid he is wasted in our team! I think he's a real gem and will only get better.
SUBS
Thomas-Moore - Ran his heart out for the last 15 minutes.
Fraughan - I'd like to see him play more regularly.
McGurk - Came on too late to make an impression.

Overall, this was not a bad performance against a side in the play-off places. We are not 14 places worse than them. If we play like this in all our away games, we'll get some reward, especially when Goodison and Broomes are back.

Given the rumours, I was looking at the players' attitude and body language. It looked very positive and committed, even ITM. We do not look like a team in crisis.

 

[Sparky]

By all accounts we did better than I was expecting which is good, but we still lost. Hopefully it will give the lads confidence though.

I was surprised when I saw ITM was dropped. Yes he hasnt been playing well and you do wonder whether he wants to be with us - but he is our biggest goal threat (plus the only half decent penalty taker - apart from recent weeks). To me he should be in the starting line up every week as the back up forwards (Akins, McGurk, Morrow) simply arent good enough.

We need goals and experience if we are to stay up so ITM must play every week in my opinion.

Who else will score ? Enoch has gone off the boil too.

Its all very well dropping him if he is sulking etc - but if you dont have the back up your cutting off your nose to spite your face.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

We do not look like a team in crisis.

We're not.

Thanks for the report. Always safer to rely on those who were there rather than the opinions of those of us who stayed behind and listened to the radio.

 

[Boz]

Agree with TT that it's good to get reports from those who actually attended and Rockford's Love Child and Bring Back the Cowshed seem to be signing from the same hymn-sheet on what actually happened.

Watching the highlights, I think it is a bit unfair for Les to single out Ash Taylor for criticism. Second goal, he was outmanoeuvred by Ibhere's skill, but though there was a mistake by or foul on Ash initially for the first goal, the same Ibhere having gone past pulls the ball back and Powell, unchallenged puts the ball into the net. The whole defence were sleeping at this point.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think it is a bit unfair for Les to single out Ash Taylor for criticism.

I think some of the reports have been far too harsh on Taylor and too fulsome in their praise of McCrhystal. For the majority of the afternoon Ash looked the stronger player to me, taking the leading role in the back four and showing quite a bit of maturity.

I think to a large extent McCrhystal came out of the match in the better light because he didn't have the responsibility of marking Ibhere, who is a real handful, and Taylor did.

Still, McCrhystal looks more promising than some of the centre backs we have had recently.

 

[bigmart]

Boz thats what Les does quite a bit, he singles players out for blame he did it recently with Cathalina in the walsall game.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Just to clarify, I did say Ash Taylor played well. But in a full-strength team, I'd play him as a defensive midfielder. He's too slight at the moment to play at the back and was only there because of injuries. Les must know Ash very well and so I expect he intended his rebuke to gee him up and help him improve his game.

McChrystal made no bad mistakes and several good clearances.

The possession statistics surprised me. In any case, for over 80 minutes, the ball was in the middle third of the field, where possession matters a lot less.

The difference between the teams was Ibhere, who was rightly voted MK Dons MOTM. It was a very tight match with only eight shots (four for each side). Unfortunately for us, MK Dons had a 50% hit rate, thanks to Ibhere's strength and speed.

 

[Boz]

Boz thats what Les does quite a bit, he singles players out for blame he did it recently with Cathalina in the walsall game.

Barnes and Ronnie Moore used to be fond of blaming the players too. For all his faults, Little was a better manager in this regard.

 

[bigmart]

I would agree with you there boz.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Just to clarify, I did say Ash Taylor played well. But in a full-strength team, I'd play him as a defensive midfielder. He's too slight at the moment to play at the back and was only there because of injuries.

He's very poor on the ball, long term future deefintely lies at center half imo.