Well here we go again, back in the swing of another season, once again in a lower division. Unlike some, I have a lot of faith that we can achieve promotion back to League One at the first attempt.
It will be a hard start as we have a depleted squad thanks to pre season injuries which have robbed us of McCullough and Taylor - Sinclair for the whole season, McSheffrey and Baudry till the end of August and till the end of September.
We can do without anymore until DF has added some loan players to the squad. We will still have a reasonable first eleven to begin with, but the subs maybe a bit young.
On a personal note I am starting these notes after getting the news on my 70th birthday last Tuesday, that my cancer has spread to my Lung lining. I have been taken off Chemo and hope to begin treatment with one of the new wonder drugs next Tuesday. There are risks involved and it may mean someone else taking over, but I will keep going as long as
possible.
Darren Ferguson has, over the Summer, taken the First team coaching away from Paul Butler and put it in the hands of his Assistant, Gavin Strachan. Presumably he has done this before at Peterborough and knows how DF works. Butler is now Director of recruitment.
The good news is that Harry Middleton and Joe Wright are both fit and Paul Keegan may get a place on the bench. If we play 4,4,2, I suggest the following starting eleven. Etheridge, Lund, Butler Wright, Garrett, Coppinger, Rowe, Blair, Calder, Marquis and Williams.
The subs will come from, Marosi, Evina, Pugh, Mandeville, Longbottom, Keegan and new signing Beestin. That is all the fit players we have.
Referee Sebastian Stockbridge.
Assists. Richard Wild and Simon Clayton.
4th Off. Nicholas Bernard.
Enjoy the game. R.T.I.D.
Finally, a little word for Carl Hall and the Dons who go to South Leeds Stadium to play my old club Hunslet Hawks in the League One Super 8's.
South Leeds Stadium is the ground I opened for Hunslet 20 odd years ago, when the first game was against Leigh. I was Club Secretary and Commercial Manager and was honoured to be there when the Hawks came back to their roots. I am still a Dons fan and will be looking for a win.
Accrington v ROVERS
posted on 8/8/16
I was away at the weekend with no TV and no internet.
I didn't even know our result until 10pm last night.
By reading on VSC and here it appears to me that the only person who thinks 3-5-2 works for us is Ferguson.
Don't hold your breath on him changing to 4-4-2.
It was him persisting with the wing back style that took us down.
He is a stubborn sod and I think he will be responsible for us not going up.
Not like me to be downbeat but I have said all summer that I don't think he is the man to get us promoted.
posted on 8/8/16
When sod changed his plans 2 352 he had a change of Fortune.
O.conner our prob worse player became our best and roberts similar.
But it not all about the full baks or centre baks its about how the WHOLE team adapts
posted on 8/8/16
Adaptability seems the key. If a team is known to play with a particular formation the opposition may well successfully counter it. Ferguson used to talk about players needing to be able to fit into more than one set-up.
Based on the highlights you could conclude that Accrington had players who were capable of getting the better of ours, irrespective of how we set up.
Williams missed a penalty and Etheridge let a soft goal in and their third goal came because the scorer was given a big space in which to gather the ball and to shoot, untroubled.
It was player error that was the difference between a 3-1 win and a 2-3 defeat.
Having said this I don't discount the value of a good system and one which may best utilise the skills of the individuals in the team at the time.
posted on 8/8/16
Hound, I have no issue with Fergie being a stubborn sod as long as he is stubborn in being demanding of his players and stubborn in driving the club forward to win the league. However, stubbornly insisting that something is working when it is plainly not and stubbornly refusing to change is something else completely. That's stupidity. Let's hope that he proves to be stubborn and not stupid. We have to adapt to this league and we also need to adapt our approach to play to the strengths of the players we have on the pitch.
posted on 8/8/16
Just in case we get another pen .
We need to get a pen taker who can do the job.
posted on 9/8/16
I would give Tommy Rowe the job Lanza.
posted on 9/8/16
Donaldo, it can be argued that ALL goals are preventable.
If you are saying that a 2-3 defeat could have been a 3-1 win look at how soft our goals were.
Rowe took the ball into their box and went through a few defenders without any attempt to tackle him.
We would have been annoyed to have let a player go through our defence like that.
The second goal only came about because of an incredibly bad fumble by the Accy keeper.
Any other day any keeper would have saved it easily.
As for the system not working, well it doesnt work with the players available.
As Lanza says, O'Connor and Roberts were good in that system but Lund (particularly) isn't.
The people who were at the game have said that we were constantly caught out by balls over the top.
In a standard back four set up the opposite side full back covers that situation but it cant work with a three.
Any fan at our games can see that 3-5-2 isnt working for us.
Lanza, Williams shouldnt be taking penalties as you say.
As for who should take them, well that is down to a player being brave enough and good enough to step up.
It is often a pressure situation and it needs to be someone who can put their foot through the ball rather than trying to roll the ball into the corner a la AW.
posted on 9/8/16
Exactly hound.
I think i remember last season say that Lund actually gets in the way at wing back.
posted on 9/8/16
A good analysis Hound. Agreed we focus on OUR side's mistakes and ignore the opposition's and I suppose only blatant incompetence, like penalties missed and recklessness can really be counted specifically against players.
I was also making the point that we might have got away with a point or three and not learned a lesson. Painful as it seems to even write it though, Saturday's opposition are probably amongst the better sides in L2, and the hard lesson has been learned early.
posted on 9/8/16
Spot on donaldo, i think Accrington will be up there again this season.
I suppose we will know in about another six weeks or so whether we have a realistic chance of being in the top six or so.
I hope Ferguson sees that the 3 at the back isnt good with the players we have because last season the bad run was only arrested after he went with a flat back four.
As i said at the time, if he had done it three or four games earlier we would have stayed up.