MK Dons (h) - League - 19th February 2005

[Andy]

Ok I'll start us off, what formation do you think Mers will go with?

I will go for a 3-1 win :)

[Stonnall_Saddler]

i will like to see the 4-5-1 formation.

A tight 2-0 win

[Stu]

Don't care what formation he plays, but I've got a 2-2 draw or a 2-3 defeat I'm afraid.

[Magic Man Fan]

I think he'll stick to his words and play a 4-5-1 which might not be a bad idea as MK have been doing well.

I worry about Roper falling victim to McLeods dives though.

I reckon we'll scrape a 2-1 win after going behind. Why change the habit of a season?!

[Exile]

A tighter game than some would expect, I feel, and I'll plump for a 3-1 win.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Match preview is now on line and, with their midfield problems, I too have gone for a 3 - 1 win.

[Stu]

From what I gather, their midfield problems won't make any difference as its bypassed... Hit it long to Platt, he wins it, flicks it on or knocks it down to McLeod or Small who play just behind him and running onto the ball.

A comprehensive victory would give me bragging rights for a while with a couple of mates. If we lose, I won't live it down for a while.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

I was working on the basis that it's their midfield that stops the other side playing football!

[PerStener]

The bench for tomorows match will be interesting, a bunch of good players that can jump in if things not going our way.

Merson
Bennett
Standing
Fryatt/Leitao
Coleman

[BigFatJan]

I will say 3-1 to us, Roper hat-trick

[Bristol Fan]

With the ref who sent Roper off on the first day of the season, against a rapidly improving team, with (if he does what he said he will do) a somewhat negative formation from us... recipe for disaster I'm afraid. I've got a bad feeling about this one. But then, I said that last week and was proved wrong.

[redalways]

the 4 5 1 played at Briatol was not defensive by the sound of all the reports. Everyone dropping back and attacking at a pace. I hope we stick with this for away games where there is more space as the opposition push forward.

At home, the opposition will play deeper and we will have less space to run in to. I would not change Surman, Osborne and Kris Taylor in the centre of midfield. But I would bring in Fryatt for his stronger play up front. He could drop back into one of the wide midfield positions when we do not have the ball.

That must mean dropping Wrack or D taylor. Normally I would leave out Taylor, but as I think he could now be worth a second chance. Wracky for the bench then, and not certain of a quick return.

[simcity47]

i think a draw, and i hate to say that. (2-2)

They are steadily improving under Danny Wilson (the first summer of love), and last week they walloped Bradford 4-1 at Valley Parade.

i also expect ref Lee Probert to send 2 people off, book 8 and generally ruin the whole game of football.

[Saddler Jim]

Noticable how many people have not predicted,is it a case of the performance last week was so good lets not tempt fate, I agree, any sort of win will do me,I'll go 3-1 the the saddlers,PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE.

[Dave Gittins]

There appears to be a lot plumping for a 3-1 win, personally I am a bit more optimistic and reckon we are looking at a 3-0 victory.

[Stonnall_Saddler]

i told you all this team would be no push overs, they proved today what a strong side they are, well done the dons.

[saddlerken]

Well that was boring and cold

What stupid tactics for a home team

[SheffieldSaddler]

Strong????? How on earth did you come to that conclusion?
Are we talking about MK here? The team who bar Kidderminster have lost the most matches away from home in the entire football league. Even Stockport have lost less.
Oh and MK who have won 1 in last 14 away!!!!

[Cully]

Appalling display, tactics and performance. Roll on the cricket season.

[Stonnall_Saddler]

yes sheff they have but they have been under bad management and danny wilson as come in and changed the side completly around, this team will definatly stay up this season they have a great squad of players and a great gaffer to work under.

Good Luck You Dons

[SheffieldSaddler]

Yes but even with Wilson in charge they have still only managed 1 away win in 7, whcih includes a loss to Stockport.
Sorry but a point against them is 2 points dropped in my opinion.

[Whitti Steve]

Wrong tactics as it turned out - but to be fair, it was a case of damned if you do and damned if you dont with regards formation - and he did change it around once he realised it wasn't working. Awful game - Wright in particular was poor, Wrack unusually quiet, I thought DTaylor struggled against a solid MK team, who were obviously delighted with 0-0. Leitao struggled on his own, and also as a pair once Fryatt came on. Merson made little difference. All - in - all, one to forget and help us see that we are not ready for the play-off - nor will we make them.

[Stonnall_Saddler]

All - in - all, one to forget and help us see that we are not ready for the play-off - nor will we make them.

true steve, merson has alot of work to do if he is to help us a achieve our true feat.

[Whitti Steve]

I found today's game really frustrating - it was there for winning - but lack of effort/skill meant the points were dropped.

[Magic Man Fan]

Without wanting to sound smug I and many moe said that we should stick with the 4-3-1-2 at home and we were proved right.

I'm not fussed about todays result as all round if this was an away performance we'd be happy regardless of who its against but at home we should be looking to win.

To be fair to Merson he changed it to try to win but we're a better team than trying to scrape a win at the last minute against MK Dons.

Play this way away from home but not against anybody at home.

One again one of the few clean sheets of the season...ooh and look who played again. Ian Roper, Ian, Ian Roper. Magnificent.

[Stu]

MMF, you were not proved right at all in saying we should have gone 4-3-1-2. We spent the last 20/25 minutes doing that and didn't create anything of note.

Its also so very easy to be "proved right" with the benefit of hindsight isn't it!

I felt for Merson today and told my old man that he was onto a loser whatever happened. Had we changed to 4-3-1-2 and not won, he'd have been whinged at, had he kept 4-5-1 and not won, he'd have been whinged at.

In the end, he tried both and neither worked. Why? Because the opposition had done some work on us, they worked, they harried, they chased and they closed down. They came off the back of two good wins, including a big victory away in their last match, so they weren't and aren't the team that their league position reflects and I don't expect them to go down.

Merse gave his reasons for keeping the formation and I agreed with it, it would have been unfair on those at City. Where is the incentive if you know you only play in the "away team".

There are arguments for both formations. In the end, neither worked and nobody was "proved right" which is a childish thing to say anyway.

There were positives, in that its 4 games unbeaten, its two successive clean sheets against a decent Bristol City team and a relatively in form Milton Keynes strikeforce who were a handful. There was a good performance by Roper, Kris Taylor was very good in the midfield as well.

Now I hope Merse sticks to his gusn and keeps 4-5-1 at Luton on Tuesday night.

When we went 4-5-1, they did very well to make sure we didn't get any space out wide. When we went 4-3-1-2, they closed Merson down well and left the gaps wide. Give them some credit.

It wasn't a good performance today, but it wasn't bad. As Merson said, it was "solid" to use his word. We never looked in the slightest danger of losing that match, and we created a couple of opportunities where players could have made more of the situation but didn't.

So ultimately, yes it was 2 points dropped, but there were positives there and it wasn't an awful performance. It was a solid performance missing a little spark and creativity, thats all.

[Magic Man Fan]

Sorry Stu, I don't agree.

We only really created chances after we went to 4-3-1-2 when Merson came on.

MK Dons did well against us and we never looked liked conceding against them in a 4-5-1 but I think if we'd gone for it from the start we'd have killed them.

[LarryHagler]

Pathetic performance today. I felt like I was watching a non league game at times.
Now I simply cannot understand why any Walsall manager sticks with Wright and Zigor, they must be the worst full backs in our division, I'm petty sick and tired of paingmy money to watch these to mascarade as proffesional football players. Zigor's performance today was as bad as I have ever seen although he had no real defending to do.
I cant reall put my finger on it but we just looked like we didnt want to win today, didnt want it enough, pretty passionless stuff.
Mr Roper my MOM closely followed by Osborn.

[Burnside]

I think Merson was right to go with 4-5-1 and stick with the same team.

That 4-5-1 means we have 10 defensive players and a striker who he is at attacking. 4-3-1-2 means that we see Merson, Fryatt and Leitao strolling back from the half way line when defending. Plus with the 4-5-1 the lone striker invariably works as hard if not harder than the two.

We have gone 150 minutes without letting in a goal with that system. Have we gone longer than that this season without conceding?

Taylor, Wrack, Zigor and Wright were whipping in crosses for fun. The quality wasn't there 99.9% of the time but the danger was.

Kris Taylor was my Man of the Match. He is making a late surge for my vote in the player of the season poll and he has only played in 5 matches.

The only thing consistent about this Walsall team is their inconsistency and ability to disappoint after a promising performance in the game before.

Merson alone cannot be made for the drop in quality. Anyone at Bristol will tell you that a good 7 or 8 of that starting 11 today did not play anywhere near as well as they did then. Merson cannot not force them to play better. It was up to the players. They did not apply themselves in the same way.

This is a mental factor. They need to apply themselves. If it were Luton, Hull or Tranmere at Bescot today we would have seen a different Walsall.

I will go on record now and say we will get at least a point at Luton if Merse deploys the same team and system as he did at 3pm today.

[Magic Man Fan]

I agree Ernest. Employ this team away and we will (and would have done well) all season.

But at home we need to be more positive which has served us well all season.