Tuesday 16th October

[SMH]

Sounds like MK throughly deserved the three points tonight, good for them. Cousins a huge loss from the weekend, Richardson should have just played Pearce and moved Power to CM, which would have caused the least disruption to Saturday's team. Instead he threw Bayliss in cold, who was shite. Our lack of depth is a big worry as is this midweek form. Eight now without a win in 90 minutes this season and Lincoln are the lucky ones that come next.

 

[K-Win]

Oh well. The game was pretty even until Bazunu gifted Ipswich a goal, which has to be seen to be believed. Then we collapsed immediately, exactly the same as we did at Rotherham after Bazunu gifted them a goal too.

Ipswich played some nice stuff after that and really could have pushed it to 5 or 6 if they'd wanted to. It looks like they may have finally clicked.

As for us, it's starting to look like a relegation battle. In the last 10 in all comps we are W1 D3 L6. The one win was a freak 4-0 over Sunderland in farcical conditions. Ending the transfer window with no central defensive cover has predictably bitten us in the arse after just one long term injury.

Other than that we pretty much have our best 11 all out there on the pitch. And that is really depressing.

 

[TommoCUFC]

Cowleys surely don’t have long? Get that they’re more of your “project manager” types but this is truly abysmal from Pompey

 

[DearneValleyRover]

It’s no wonder we are where we are, got into good positions especially in the first half and really should have been 3 up before the break if our strike force wasn’t Sunday league after a night on the piss quality. Gillingham were always going to score as we can’t defend balls into the box either, it’s going to take a miracle on a biblical proportion to keep us up.

 

[Bobbin']

It willl get better. You may have to get worse before it gets better.
You are not cut adrift and have a game in hand.
First thing to do is sack the manager and get someone in who can motivate and stop the rot.

Our problems are more deep rooted than that again it seems. Getting rid of Adkins would only be the first step and God only knows why that’s not happened yet.

I find your squad very strange. Some decent players in it but doesn’t seem to be any sort of plan with recruitment? Lots of the same sorta player?

I don’t know. They’re just awful, I’m watching some of them scratching my head at how they’ve managed a career as a professional footballer.

No recruitment strategy, no game plans, he makes 5 changes every week just hoping something works and of course, nothing ever does.

What an earth has happened to you guys?
edit: just seen your posts. Incredible how Adkins is in a job still

You’re telling me.

 

[Laker]

Just seen Plymouth’s third goal. Amazing!

 

[Luke Imp]

One step forward, two back for us - again.

Mentioned it before but the gap between us doing ok and not is far, far too big. We're towards the end of October now, we shouldn't be swinging so wildly between the two. We haven't got the players to battle and dig a result out either. It's all a bit too lightweight.

EDIT - Just to add, not a penalty for me. Soft is being polite, the guy just ran out of pitch and has done a knee slide.

 

[TractorBoys]

Very happy with that, only one side in it after the opening goal.

We're the leagues top scorers and that's 1 defeat in 8. Promising.

 

[K-Win]

Cowleys surely don’t have long? Get that they’re more of your “project manager” types but this is truly abysmal from Pompey

The majority of our fans have been quite patient.....up to now. There were the first real signs last night that the honeymoon period has come to an end, with many heading to the exit very early.

It's interesting that there haven't been any chants yet calling for Cowley's head. There was a fair bit of sympathy for him during the transfer window when lack of budget and a tougher than expected player market meant that he clearly didn't end up anywhere close to the squad he was expecting.

It's the loan market where we've really screwed up. Kenny Jackett too was generally awful with his loanees and it looks like the Cowleys have carried on the tradition. Marlon Romeo has made it into the team at wing back, but only at the expense of Kieron Freeman who's decent there anyway. Keeper Bazunu has been good.... up until his last two disastrous performances, and his confidence may now be shot. The two additional strikers, Gassan Ahadme and George Hirst have contributed absolutely nothing, leaving us with Marquis as our only option. Miguel Azeez from Arsenal has had injuries and may yet come good. I'd be surprised if he doesn't start on Saturday.

We've been playing three at the back since Clark Robertson got injured. Mainly because we don't have any central defenders as cover, instead playing a wing back and a midfielder there, alongside Raggett. Now keeper Bazunu has started gift-wrapping goals, the whole edifice has crumbled. That's 16 goals shipped in the last 7 games since Robertson's injury, after conceding just 2 goals in the first 6.

I'm not expecting the flood of goals to stop any time soon, as we just don't really have options. He could justifiably drop Bazunu as Bass isn't a bad keeper. If we lose badly at Accrington on Saturday, which is on-the-cards with their excellent forward line, and go behind early the next home game against Bolton then that may well trigger some anti-Cowley anger.

 

[Davidimp]

One step forward, two back for us - again.

Mentioned it before but the gap between us doing ok and not is far, far too big. We're towards the end of October now, we shouldn't be swinging so wildly between the two. We haven't got the players to battle and dig a result out either. It's all a bit too lightweight.

EDIT - Just to add, not a penalty for me. Soft is being polite, the guy just ran out of pitch and has done a knee slide.

Spoken to a Wimbledon fan (Sam Elliott of the mirror, there as a fan not a journo) and he said it had been given to us he'd have been angry.

We were terrible, we never got going , we always want the extra touch at both end of the pitch and play ourselves into trouble in defence or lose the chance in attack.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

I have just watched the whole game again on Argyle TV, and Bolton remind me very much of one team last season. Us. There is excitement going forward, but a nativity in defence. We also tried to take a very attack minded approach, with a you can score two we’ll score three approach. However, last year we shipped 80 goals. I think Bolton need to calm down a bit, get a better balance between an attack minded and defence minded approach. Oh, and get in some mature defenders in January.

 

[Si Robin]

I have just watched the whole game again on Argyle TV, and Bolton remind me very much of one team last season. Us. There is excitement going forward, but a nativity in defence. We also tried to take a very attack minded approach, with a you can score two we’ll score three approach. However, last year we shipped 80 goals. I think Bolton need to calm down a bit, get a better balance between an attack minded and defence minded approach. Oh, and get in some mature defenders in January.

Was it 3 wise men and a donkey?

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Was it 3 wise men and a donkey?

Have you see THAT goal yet, suggests there were no Wise men in White? A point Evatt conceded afterwards.

 

[stevowanderer]

I have just watched the whole game again on Argyle TV, and Bolton remind me very much of one team last season. Us. There is excitement going forward, but a nativity in defence. We also tried to take a very attack minded approach, with a you can score two we’ll score three approach. However, last year we shipped 80 goals. I think Bolton need to calm down a bit, get a better balance between an attack minded and defence minded approach. Oh, and get in some mature defenders in January.

Hit the nail on the head there. 100% agree with you. We didn’t play well at all first half midweek and against Wigan but we have been on top a lot this season. The problem is that we regularly don’t take our chances when we are on top and then as you say we are so open. We concede so many soft goals and set pieces. We were missing 3 of our usual back 4 so defensively we were always going to be way off it anyway and I said it before the game that I was really worried defensively but it’s an ongoing problem. Some of the football we play is great but we need to build a solid defensive base to play that way. Attacks win games… defences win leagues. If Santos isn’t playing (who is a great 1 on 1 defender) we have no chance.

In pre season I thought mid table would be a good season and we could build from there and I still think that’s where we will be. You guys look incredibly organised, work hard and played some decent stuff in horrendous weather. I think you will be right up there at the end of the season.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Hit the nail on the head there. 100% agree with you. We didn’t play well at all first half midweek and against Wigan but we have been on top a lot this season. The problem is that we regularly don’t take our chances when we are on top and then as you say we are so open. We concede so many soft goals and set pieces. We were missing 3 of our usual back 4 so defensively we were always going to be way off it anyway and I said it before the game that I was really worried defensively but it’s an ongoing problem. Some of the football we play is great but we need to build a solid defensive base to play that way. Attacks win games… defences win leagues. If Santos isn’t playing (who is a great 1 on 1 defender) we have no chance.

In pre season I thought mid table would be a good season and we could build from there and I still think that’s where we will be. You guys look incredibly organised, work hard and played some decent stuff in horrendous weather. I think you will be right up there at the end of the season.

Last year I and most janners thought anything between 10-14th, with most at the lower end. We started off really well, I think after about nine or ten games last year we had one more point than this year. Then I think teams figured out what to do - press and press hard so we could not play it out. We looked lovely on the ball in the middle third but terrible in the last third. We went on a six on the bounce run of defeats, some quite heavy. We then made a few adjustments, and went on another good winning streak around Xmas/Jan/Feb, just off the play off spots. And then ran out of steam and went on a major losing streak, only avoided a relegation fight because there were several teams far worse than us. Our mistakes were a) having too many young loaners, especially in defence. B) relying on one player (Danny Major) and c) just having too small a squad of experienced players D) taking too long to come up with refinements.

a, b and c, from the outside, seem to be where you might be.

Our solution this season was to bring in experienced defenders, make our play a bit more direct and little less tippy tippy and have other threats than Major (which is just as well because he has hardly played). We are still a bit light on numbers, we have at least three youngsters who should be out on loan but we need them to sit on the subs bench and get the odd ten minutes or play in the Mickey Mouse cup games (We have had two 15 year olds and a 16 old the bench for pizza games). I think the best we can hope for is squeezing in the play offs. So there is a way out for you, but good recruitment is key.

 

[Meadow]

Would appear Sam Elliott of the mirror is a AFC Wimbledon fan, after a bit of confusion over pay on the day he's visiting our lovely city.

Yes, long standing Wimbledon supporter and someone I've got to know reasonably well in the last 15 years. In fact, he was my first Facebook friend. It seems strange to see him listed as of the Mirror. His first journalistic job after leaving college was writing tor the Non League Paper which coincided with our rise from the depths. Now he's moved on to bigger stuff like the Mirror and Yahoo.

A frustrating evening for us. Wimbledon pressed us from the start and really got into us. We struggled to cope and gave the ball away numerous times. A very contentious penalty after 4 minutes really set up for a horrid evening.

You could see the frustrations getting to the players as balls went wayward etc. Wimbledon could and should have been more than 1 goal up in the first half to be honest, some good chances missed. Very rare you get three players booked all for time wasting however - that was a sign for how frustrating it was.

2nd half we adapted better and I don't think we played too bad, we huffed and puffed, but as with every game this season, we lack that striker. I think there's only 1 home league game this season where we haven't conceded first. Frustrating indeed!

Our timewasting has been commented on. We as supporters get frustrated when other teams do it to us so it's galling when we do it as well. Hopefully we'll cut it out.

There have been a number of matches where we've conceded first. We haven't lost that many although Tuesday was the first time we've had a clean sheet. We don't know when we're beaten and keep plugging on until the end.

Spoken to a Wimbledon fan (Sam Elliott of the mirror, there as a fan not a journo) and he said it had been given to us he'd have been angry.

We were terrible, we never got going , we always want the extra touch at both end of the pitch and play ourselves into trouble in defence or lose the chance in attack.

I've yet to see the highlights but you'd take that penalty if it was awarded to you.

 

[Davidimp]

Yes, long standing Wimbledon supporter and someone I've got to know reasonably well in the last 15 years. In fact, he was my first Facebook friend. It seems strange to see him listed as of the Mirror. His first journalistic job after leaving college was writing tor the Non League Paper which coincided with our rise from the depths. Now he's moved on to bigger stuff like the Mirror and Yahoo.



Our timewasting has been commented on. We as supporters get frustrated when other teams do it to us so it's galling when we do it as well. Hopefully we'll cut it out.

There have been a number of matches where we've conceded first. We haven't lost that many although Tuesday was the first time we've had a clean sheet. We don't know when we're beaten and keep plugging on until the end.




I've yet to see the highlights but you'd take that penalty if it was awarded to you.

Absolutely if the ref gives at our level we've been on the end of both .
I remember Sam at the non league paper.
Don't blame any team for time wasting when winning away from home, just odd the ref didn't seem to be as strict in the second half as the first

 

[stevowanderer]

Last year I and most janners thought anything between 10-14th, with most at the lower end. We started off really well, I think after about nine or ten games last year we had one more point than this year. Then I think teams figured out what to do - press and press hard so we could not play it out. We looked lovely on the ball in the middle third but terrible in the last third. We went on a six on the bounce run of defeats, some quite heavy. We then made a few adjustments, and went on another good winning streak around Xmas/Jan/Feb, just off the play off spots. And then ran out of steam and went on a major losing streak, only avoided a relegation fight because there were several teams far worse than us. Our mistakes were a) having too many young loaners, especially in defence. B) relying on one player (Danny Major) and c) just having too small a squad of experienced players D) taking too long to come up with refinements.

a, b and c, from the outside, seem to be where you might be.

Our solution this season was to bring in experienced defenders, make our play a bit more direct and little less tippy tippy and have other threats than Major (which is just as well because he has hardly played). We are still a bit light on numbers, we have at least three youngsters who should be out on loan but we need them to sit on the subs bench and get the odd ten minutes or play in the Mickey Mouse cup games (We have had two 15 year olds and a 16 old the bench for pizza games). I think the best we can hope for is squeezing in the play offs. So there is a way out for you, but good recruitment is key.

Yeah again I agree with the vast majority of that. If we recruit well, we are 2/3 transfer windows from being very competitive in this league and I think next season we will have a better chance of pushing for top 6. But as Sunderland and Pompey have proved it isn’t an easy league to get out of.

Do you think you will have a go in January to strengthen the squad for a real promotion push if you are still in and around it? I’m not sure how ambitious your owners are?

 

[K-Win]

But as Sunderland and Pompey have proved it isn’t an easy league to get out of.

We're giving it a good go at the moment

 

[stevowanderer]

Apparently we have lost Sarcevic to Stockport today!? Wtf!? There’s something not right behind the scenes

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Yeah again I agree with the vast majority of that. If we recruit well, we are 2/3 transfer windows from being very competitive in this league and I think next season we will have a better chance of pushing for top 6. But as Sunderland and Pompey have proved it isn’t an easy league to get out of.

Do you think you will have a go in January to strengthen the squad for a real promotion push if you are still in and around it? I’m not sure how ambitious your owners are?

I think the more germane question is first can we keep hold of our players. Hardie and Camara must be attracting attention , and Agard and Galloway are on short term contracts. Galloway leaving would be a big problem.

Our owner is widely praised by Kieran Maguire. He is all about sustainable growth. I think there will be a bit of money in the piggy bank in our terms, but certainly nothing compared to the big spenders. We have a small squad in terms of experienced players and so need a few more, and this allows the youngsters to get out and play on loan which helps for the future. We are vulnerable to injuries and suspensions, though our best striker Ennis will be back soon, and Major is not a bad sub to bring on. Our owner Simon Hallett is a finance man, and we use stats in recruitment. Everyone told us we were mad to get Dan Scarr for example, but we saw what he has become. So to answer your question if we get two or three in they won't be marquee signings, but someone who fits us.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Apparently we have lost Sarcevic to Stockport today!? Wtf!? There’s something not right behind the scenes

When i saw this yesterday I genuinely thought it was a wind up. Sounds very odd.

 

[stevowanderer]

When i saw this yesterday I genuinely thought it was a wind up. Sounds very odd.

Big fall out. A rumour that eoin Doyle is following him out the door now too

 

[Luke Imp]

Big fall out. A rumour that eoin Doyle is following him out the door now too

Would Doyle be a loss? He's not really a L1 player, L2 is about his level I think? Probably too good for L2 but not quite a L1 striker?

 

[stevowanderer]

You are probably right but we don’t have anyone else. That’s the problem. And we are outside the transfer window so can’t replace them unless there’s some frees still knocking about. But they won’t be fit.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Big fall out. A rumour that eoin Doyle is following him out the door now too

Fall out with Evatt or the club hierarchy?

 

[stevowanderer]

Evatt according to some newspaper articles. He lashed out when we dropped him for the Plymouth game and wouldn’t back down. A few people saying we’ve sacked him so won’t be getting a fee.

edit - although reading that we’ve also received a 6 figure fee. Don’t know who to believe haha