Swindon Town Vs Franchise Matchday Thread

[chalkies_shorts]

I hate the cunt from his Walsall days but Griggs tore us a new one today. Absolutely fucked over our defence. As good a performance as I've seen down here. Their no 22 was also decent. We were shit. The line up was ultra defensive and didn't work in any shape or form.
The midfield were generally fuck all use to the defence or attack.
MOM for me by a country mile was Gladwin. We created very little and what we did, he was at the heart of. Shows great skill and vision. I know he can look a languid bastard but I'd have him in the die every time.
The defence yet again though was total shit - carved apart time and time again. Nate Dog was ultra shit today and lucky to stay on the pitch. I would have thought it would have been good to take him off, move Stephens / Rickets back into the 3 and bring Kasim on but what do I know.
Its the play offs for us which is still good but the defence is not good enough and hasn't been for quite some time. We are particularly shit on the right hand side of defence and have been since X Mas, which coincides with Byrne's downturn in form.
I will defend Branco a bit for his performance today as he was constantly getting dragged out of position covering for our totally useless midfield. Swift is not exactly the hardest working player, is he?

[DarloSTFC84]

It does make me giggle that there's so much abuse hurled at Franchise fans.. I mean, say you get into football around the age of 6-8.... they were formed 11 years ago, so realisitcally they can actually say they've supported them 'all their lives'...

Although, I think the way the club came about is a fucking shambles, for sure. Who did the older MKD fans support pre 2004?... Not Wimbledon, surely?

[Batch]

I've a question, it is regarding team selection but its not intended to be a moan as such, why have Kassim and Obika had far less game time than I think they should?

The midfield with Kassim and Luongo in it seemed to be our best option for ages, then after the Asia cup we've stuck Stephens in there. I know people say Kassim slowed play down too much, I've not really noticed it myself.

As I said earlier, never been a fan of one up front, but it is here and I guess that limits our starting lineup. But I'm not sure what Smith has over and above Obika. I suppose he must be better suited to the loan striker role in Coopers eyes. The point would make more sense if we played two up top I suppose.

[DarloSTFC84]

I've a question, it is regarding team selection but its not intended to be a moan as such, why have Kassim and Obika had far less game time than I think they should?

The midfield with Kassim and Luongo in it seemed to be our best option for ages, then after the Asia cup we've stuck Stephens in there. I know people say Kassim slowed play down too much, I've not really noticed it myself.

As I said earlier, never been a fan of one up front, but it is here and I guess that limits our starting lineup. But I'm not sure what Smith has over and above Obika. I suppose he must be better suited to the loan striker role in Coopers eyes. The point would make more sense if we played two up top I suppose.

I think the idea today was for Smith to play the target man and Swift to play in 'the hole' - it clearly didn't work. I know the 3 at the back idea worked for a long while, but I'm wondering whether we have the players to play 4 at the back. Maybe a 4-2-3-1 (if they insist on playing the holding mid and one up top). I don't know what Obika has to do to get a start though.

[nigel grays a postie]

worst performance from Stephens since he's been here. Not sure anyone really understood position he was supposed to be playing - he certainly dfidn't. Completely agree with commenyts about ho committed MK Dongs looked. When they attacked there were alays plenty there in support. For all the defenders, holding midfielders etc we seemed constantly caught out in defence. Ricketts had his good moments but trying to fit him into the starting 11 seems to have screwed up the midfield that has got us to where we are in the table. Swift playing off Smith might have worked against out of sorts Notts County but definitely didn't today.

[kerry red]

Here's the Cooper push. Defo red.

https://vine.co/v/OlHMil5hzpj

[chalkies_shorts]

Stephens worst performance was away to Cheltenham. In fact it's probably the worst individual performance by any player this season. Today Stephens was poor but the players didn't have much of a fucking clue as to who was meant to be where on the pitch

[joteddyred]

I think the idea today was for Smith to play the target man and Swift to play in 'the hole' - it clearly didn't work. I know the 3 at the back idea worked for a long while, but I'm wondering whether we have the players to play 4 at the back. Maybe a 4-2-3-1 (if they insist on playing the holding mid and one up top). I don't know what Obika has to do to get a start though.

I think we could have easily played 4 at the back today considering we had 5 defenders on the pitch.  Cooper just chose to play 2 of them in midfield instead.

[DarloSTFC84]

I think we could have easily played 4 at the back today considering we had 5 defenders on the pitch.  Cooper just chose to play 2 of them in midfield instead.

What I mean is I wonder if they are the type of players to fit the mould of a 4 man defense.

Obviously I know we've got a decent amount of players in that position..

[london_red]

Where's our width going forward going to come from if we play 4 at the back though? We've got a lot of midfielder and forwards, all of them naturally play central though.

[JoeMezz]

Where's our width going forward going to come from if we play 4 at the back though? We've got a lot of midfielder and forwards, all of them naturally play central though.

this

[Ardiles]

It does make me giggle that there's so much abuse hurled at Franchise fans.. I mean, say you get into football around the age of 6-8.... they were formed 11 years ago, so realisitcally they can actually say they've supported them 'all their lives'...

Age of fans is irrelevant.  The abuse stems from strong feeling that the club shouldn't even exist.  If you're going to legitimise the theft of a football club after 10 to 15 years simply because time has past, you might as well not bother objecting in the first place.  It was wrong in 2002 and it's wrong now.

Yes, I'm bitter.

[Arriba]

Age of fans is irrelevant.  The abuse stems from strong feeling that the club shouldn't even exist.  If you're going to legitimise the theft of a football club after 10 to 15 years simply because time has past, you might as well not bother objecting in the first place.  It was wrong in 2002 and it's wrong now.

Yes, I'm bitter.

I agree with this completely. They should have never been created. A disgrace, completely and utterly on every level.

[ronnie21]

I know Swift and Gladwin excite some fans and infuriate others, but what is Byrne offering the team at the moment?  Probably our only outlet with any real pace but rarely is there any end product in my opinion.  Certainly not in the form he was in early season.

[Costanza]

Milton Keynes must be the only place in England where the kids in the playground who don't 'support their local team' are on the moral high ground.