Does it not seem so simple to move Hutch into the middle in his natural position and either start McEntee at CB, also in his natural position or leave him out!!? Surely that gives us more control in the middle, especially at home and frees up that RW position for someone more direct.
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I’d have Stirk and Hutch in the 2 in a 4231 personally. Get us playing.
I think we are seriously missing a number 8, though. I’ve been banging on about it since pre season. Major hole in the squad.
But as I said last night, I don’t think it’s in the game plan to even try to think about playing through, and controlling the game. It’s simply now how we are setup.
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Indeed.
I’ve said it before but at our level, footballing hybrids don’t really work. You end up compromising both the individual and the team. In the fourth division you have players who have just about scraped into the football league by being a solid citizen in a position they have probably played since they were ten or younger.
To then begin pissing them about is counter productive for everyone. The old “he can do a job at….”. To be fair he probably can’t. He’s barely good enough to hold down a job in his primary role let alone this new one you’ve dreamt up for him.
So last night you end up with the offensive part of the team being really wonky to the point that gradually it became the hoof to our on loan 18 year old.
Successive managers seem to have had an aversion to number 8s. Which means that we never have a transition through the middle option nor the ability to retain any kind of possession. Last night it was like watching two fours, two tens and a seven who’d much prefer to be a nine but at least stayed wide and covered his full back when required.
Braver managers would have gone for it last night on around seventy minutes. They may have lost the game, but surely at home you need to give yourself the best chance of winning. The changes in the end were very “away team” - settle for a point - like.
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Agree, never understood why we let him go and kept White
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The first couple of minutes we were on top and after that we were second best. A truly flat first half with a slight improvement second half.
Evans definitely man of the match but in fairness DD gave a captain’s performance as you would expect.
We didn’t have much creativity although to be fair MK are well organised and bossed the game most of the match.
It’s a mystery why Johnson isn’t being used, Matt is basically a bit part player yet DJ is behind him, that’s just weird.
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Perhaps though a point against them wasn’t the worse result. I keep making this point but we have a young and energetic midfield but they lack experience . Compare our set up to our opponents tonight-Payne, Gilbey etc who have hundreds of league appearances with a lot in higher divisions. As I commented earlier they expect to win the League hence the boos from their small number of fans at the end. I don’t think they will win it but they are a good ,experienced team and that should be taken into account when discussing our performance.
I have also noticed some criticism of Sadler’s team selection but it worked well on Saturday and he would have got pelters on here if he had changed it before the game! I agree that after an hour he should have changed things but whether we would have won is pure conjecture.
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Norman didn’t want to stay .Simple as that so he went.
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Don’t know about pelters. See my pre game post upon announcement of the team. Especially Williams given the different task facing him last night versus Saturday. Somehow he got away with all of those mistakes last night.
Overall I was concerned that he didn’t change it.
We kind of got away with it in the end. Just.
Well people were commenting before the game about how Sadler should keep the same team! I agree about Williams but would anyone have dropped him after the rave reviews he got after Saturday. I hope he learnt a lot last night because especially in the first half he was struggling as we failed to deal with their play.
You don’t seem to be as positive as in August PT….
I’ve noticed a few others are a bit concerned with the style of football too. My Dad, being one of them. Very positive at the start of the season, but quite disappointed with the style of football on display.
There’s a bag of potential with Williams.
I wasn’t there so don’t know for sure but it sounds like that on Saturday his brief was really clear. Tight to Cook. Don’t let him breath. Win your headers and get it cleared. Probably not dissimilar to a “stop their big man Harry” he’d have had week in week out at Alvechurch. Last night was back to a more modern task where teams are rotating their top man, playing between lines and more intricately trying to break a defence down. Saturday’s brief was tough but very easy to understand. Last night the “who, where, when and how” were far more complicated. Hopefully he’s learning loads and you can see Daniels coaching him “in play” which will help no end.
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Agree entirely with that…he has a lot to learn but I think he is capable of learning the role over the season. If" the priest’ is fit he is obviously first choice.
One other point about our midfield…maybe Comley will make a bit of a difference when fit. His experience might help the younger lads .
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Did anyone have a reason/guess/theory (conspiracy or otherwise) for the Cowley bros being there? Unless just a stop off to watch a bit of footy!!
They disappeared at half time! I presume they are just keeping tabs on clubs where there might be a vacancy. MKDons have decisions of grandeur and their Manager is under pressure.
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We start every game with a disadvantage or handicap mostly of our own making I keep hammering the point we are desperately short of quality in vital areas we don’t have a team .every game Sadler has to shuffle it around players playing in wrong positions or in formation we don’t have players for. it’s glaringly obvious the most annoying is his insistence in. playing McEntee midfield .things won’t change significantly till we plug these gaps in the squad .we will continue to put out a makeshift team .although I don’t think he’s getting the best out a number of players. and the present squad as a whole at the moment.for me we’re not seeing the full potential of Draper, Hutch ,Knowles Tierney.Matt .Riley is a complete puzzle to me looks like a player going through the motions seeing out his contract .light at the end of tunnel for me hope O Kelly is going to have some input.
In the interview Sadler said he wanted the physical presence of Matt at the end. I guess you could interpret that as playing for the draw rather than gambling for the win. I can see why fans would be frustrated with that mentality, but there is a logic to it. I think against a good team like MK Dons its understandable, if it happens against say Harrogate, less so.
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I’m just making the point that with just 1200 paying fans and 6000 plus seats empty seats the club need to do alot more re ticket incentives
They can’t be doing them every week, even when we’ve had good results the attendances only go up a little bit anyway.
Friend for a fiver next week is great, hopefully get 6000+ 
It’s a friend for a fiver against Gillingham so if you any who support Walsall you can get in for a fiver !!!
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would you want him sitting next to you?
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