Swindon v Wimbledon pre match chat and matchday thread

[ronnie21]

Well that was crap.  Run out of ideas early on, looking very disjointed.  I truly hope we will get better quickly or else it is going to be a long hard season.

[RedRag]

On a positive note, this may have been our best defensive performance.  Certainly since 'dale.

In terms of creativity, we are missing Doughty but Smith is very similar (a better disrupter but lacking in experience and without the same eye for a goal).  How about we may be missing Anderson too?  He really didn't finish but he could spark the sudden kind of pass or interplay that could undo a well organised side like AFC.

For me, Doyle is the big miss.

Doyle himself, us and many others besides all said he'd not have scored without our midfield and wing backs.  However, once they understood Doyle's movement and runs, never mind what he could do, he certainly helped make his teammates look like creative geniuses.

Academic I know.

I used to enjoy midweek iplayer matches as I rarely attended but this Saturday business with no crowds, sat at home with no ability to try and lift the side is a bit shit.  Certainly when we lose a dull game like today.

[Rapidflyer]

Frustrating game to watch !! Nothing clicked, passing was awful,  defensive changes obviously affected balance and we played into Wimbledons strengths constantly booting it up the pitch. Strangely we had most of the possession and I agree with Wellens that the game plan was working in the first half until we switched wingers and then the whole game plan fell apart other than possession statistics.

It might have been a poor game and to be honest playing against 532 looking for the odd chance paid off for Wimbledon who really didn't impress me either, and 2nd half Swindon just dominated as they sat back. A couple of very unlucky interceptions on a few passes that nearly reached targets and runs into space by a few players not being picked up, or , there was a resistance to give the pass a go because of the insecurity behind.

I don't agree with some of the other posters doom and gloom , the team has just been promoted has sufferred many changes due to injuries and a load of new players who don't know each others strengths yet, but in previous games have showed possible capabilities of a great team. I would not say any player was poor today, other than it just did not work out, and passing was off the mark. Too many individuals who did not play as a team and a risk adversity to a chancy pass .... just my view, but I sense it will click shortly with a little bit more luck over injuries or niggles.

Time wasting was constant in the 2nd half which was my only complaint on the referee who I thought had a pretty good game.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Frustrating game to watch !! Nothing clicked, passing was awful,  defensive changes obviously affected balance and we played into Wimbledons strengths constantly booting it up the pitch. Strangely we had most of the possession and I agree with Wellens that the game plan was working in the first half until we switched wingers and then the whole game plan fell apart other than possession statistics.

It might have been a poor game and to be honest playing against 532 looking for the odd chance paid off for Wimbledon who really didn't impress me either, and 2nd half Swindon just dominated as they sat back. A couple of very unlucky interceptions on a few passes that nearly reached targets and runs into space by a few players not being picked up, or , there was a resistance to give the pass a go because of the insecurity behind.

I don't agree with some of the other posters doom and gloom , the team has just been promoted has sufferred many changes due to injuries and a load of new players who don't know each others strengths yet, but in previous games have showed possible capabilities of a great team. I would not say any player was poor today, other than it just did not work out, and passing was off the mark. Too many individuals who did not play as a team and a risk adversity to a chancy pass .... just my view, but I sense it will click shortly with a little bit more luck over injuries or niggles.

Time wasting was constant in the 2nd half which was my only complaint on the referee who I thought had a pretty good game.

Good honest post as always and it proves that there's some experienced teams in league one who know how to nullify teams even if it isn't pretty to watch.   

[Reg Smeeton]

Good honest post as always and it proves that there's some experienced teams in league one who know how to nullify teams even if it isn't pretty to watch.  

Possibly but not proof and Wimbledon wouldn't be one of them... having a kid on debut, 2 playing their 3rd and 4th game, a keeper with < 20 appearances and 3 what you might call lower league journeymen with 150+ games.

What you get in most of both Div 3 and 4 is teams bunged together composed of kids and a few journeymen, who have to hit it off or not pronto.. not much room for development.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Possibly but not proof and Wimbledon wouldn't be one of them... having a kid on debut, 2 playing their 3rd and 4th game, a keeper with < 20 appearances and 3 what you might call lower league journeymen with 150+ games.

What you get in most of both Div 3 and 4 is teams bunged together composed of kids and a few journeymen, who have to hit it off or not pronto.. not much room for development.

Have to give Wimbledon credit though as like you have pointed out they are just a team of kids (released from London clubs) the odd loanee and journeyman who have risen from the dead and know how to fight for each other to stay in league one. Not attractive to watch but effective and at long last alot to look forward to with the new stadium hidden away surrounded by their wealthy Premiership neighbours

[Wobbly Bob]

I miss last season's team. Doyle and Yates up front, Doughty in midfield, BFG in goal. Isgrove (early season form) out wide...😕

The pandemic probably put paid to a case of every effort being made to keep that squad together, warts and all.
Think that they would have done ok this season, which is not to say that the class of 20-21 won't make a good go of it.

On a different note, football without fans is ripping my heart out...

Yep. It's not the same.

... but this Saturday business with no crowds, sat at home with no ability to try and lift the side is a bit shit.  Certainly when we lose a dull game like today.

Well put.

It will hit home next Saturday when there would have been well over 10k at the CG.
Won't be the same for the players either but hopefully they can find that extra bit of motivation for the so called big games this season.

[TheDukeOfBanbury]

We look very disjointed.
No real legs in the central midfield but that may also be down to protecting a fragile defence.
We didn’t press Wimbledon, no real periods were we were dominant and they were happy for us to go left to right and back again in and around the halfway line. That led to frustration.
I know we like to play to a style but we didn’t mix it up enough and as the game past us by Wimbledon simply managed it out.
Not throwing him under the bus but Pitman is not delivering. Now that is likely to be a combination of a few factors, however I was surprised by his signing as I never thought of him as the player that suited our style.
We are very much work in progress and the constant rebuilds are always a challenge, however we simply don’t have the money and thus are propped up by maximising the loan market. Just hope Wellens sticks it out and we can get to become an established League One side this season.
Not all gloom and doom but it is watching it from home. Yesterday the first real time that I didn’t enjoy it from a TV screen.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

We look very disjointed.
No real legs in the central midfield but that may also be down to protecting a fragile defence.
We didn’t press Wimbledon, no real periods were we were dominant and they were happy for us to go left to right and back again in and around the halfway line. That led to frustration.
I know we like to play to a style but we didn’t mix it up enough and as the game past us by Wimbledon simply managed it out.
Not throwing him under the bus but Pitman is not delivering. Now that is likely to be a combination of a few factors, however I was surprised by his signing as I never thought of him as the player that suited our style.
We are very much work in progress and the constant rebuilds are always a challenge, however we simply don’t have the money and thus are propped up by maximising the loan market. Just hope Wellens sticks it out and we can get to become an established League One side this season.
Not all gloom and doom but it is watching it from home. Yesterday the first real time that I didn’t enjoy it from a TV screen.

Pittman is a strange one as I thought with our attack he would bag lots of goals with crosses coming in from all angles. Maybe at 31 he's not got the enthusiasm anymore to push himself which makes him look lazy which is what some Pompey fans were saying about him. My other worry up front is that's Hope and Grant aren't good enough so that only leaves us with Tyler Smith as a natural goalscorer which won't be enough.
Hopefully the defence will sort itself out over the next few weeks and Wellens will get somebody in to help out the central midfield as Grant isn't controlling the games like last season but it doubts be because Doughty isn't there or that the quality of opposition is much better

[Dr Pierre Chang]

Grant not ‘good enough’ already? Has he even started a match in the league yet!?

 

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Grant not ‘good enough’ already? Has he even started a match in the league yet!?

 

Can only go on what we've seen so far, his career to date and what Wellens is seeing on the training pitch not to give him more game time

[NotHarryAgombar]

A poor performance yesterday - not enough energy or movement when we were in possession, and no real goal threat.
On reflection I understand what RW was getting at in his post match interview - we limited AFC to one shot on target (excluding the 2 which were ruled offside), dominated possession but were poor in the final third.
The problem of course is that the single chance again led to us conceding (this time Kovar was blameless - poor covering by the two centre backs) although I thought at the time the Piggott may have mis hit the shot which fortuitously for him meant it went just inside the to corner.
Not living locally, I don’t know how windy it was (there was a reference in commentary to it, and certainly AFC keeper was reaching our box with his kicks first half, whereas in the second he didn’t manage that.
I worry that Pitman isn’t mobile enough to be the front of the press - whereas last year Doyle  and Yates were very much te first line of the press when the opposition keeper / defence had the ball. DJ was our biggest attacking threat , but his delivery was poor at times.
We really need some respite from the injuries, but the 2 games a week schedule will mean some variable results, and some players playing when they need a rest - I think there are 18 games in the 11.5 weeks between now and the end of December  (19 if we break the recent trend and win in the FACup 1st round). Don’t underestimate the impact of a shorter preseason too.
Other teams will have similar issues, but it’s going to be a strange and challenging season.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Wellens did say before signing Pitman that he hopes he hasn’t made a mistake with a signing.

I presume he meant him.

[Rapidflyer]

I also believe some posters are missing the point that some of the players have only had 3 weeks preseason and did not play at match pace for 4-5 months prior to the resumption of football  or the completion  of L1. Any player coming up from L2 or lower have missed a minimum of 4-5 months match game time !!  Hence why a few are running at 60-70% but getting quicker by the week.

I don't believe you will see the real potential until 3/4 weeks time when combined with players coming back from Injury plus the ability to pick from a full squad and hopefully some sort of resumption of fans attending in the near future, it will be a completely different perspective & landscape.

I read the Advertisers player scores and obviously the guy does not have a clue about football, as whilst it was a poor game Wimbledon got the goal and then stuck 10 players in their own half with only 1 shot on our goal in the entire 2nd half. Its not about just when you have the ball at your feet ?? Many times in the match players made runs into space and the pass was not made, however just one of those converting changes the whole result and opinion.

Let's see in a few weeks time...

[Jimmy HaveHave]

I also believe some posters are missing the point that some of the players have only had 3 weeks preseason and did not play at match pace for 4-5 months prior to the resumption of football  or the completion  of L1. Any player coming up from L2 or lower have missed a minimum of 4-5 months match game time !!  Hence why a few are running at 60-70% but getting quicker by the week.

I don't believe you will see the real potential until 3/4 weeks time when combined with players coming back from Injury plus the ability to pick from a full squad and hopefully some sort of resumption of fans attending in the near future, it will be a completely different perspective & landscape.

I read the Advertisers player scores and obviously the guy does not have a clue about football, as whilst it was a poor game Wimbledon got the goal and then stuck 10 players in their own half with only 1 shot on our goal in the entire 2nd half. Its not about just when you have the ball at your feet ?? Many times in the match players made runs into space and the pass was not made, however just one of those converting changes the whole result and opinion.

Let's see in a few weeks time...


Don't go on the Advertisers scoring they get it wrong most weeks