My blueprint for how I think we can win on Saturday.

First things first we oughtn't to be shy of saying it, we are playing MK on Saturday. Equally, we shouldn't hide away from the fact that they are currently one of the form teams in the league. You can see that in this table, in the last ten matches they are third best, (We are 20th over the same period).

So we shouldn't be embarrassed about recognizing that we have a tough game on our hands. Nor should it be a shocking revelation to anyone to point out that our record against them ain't great.

QUICK POINT HERE: I know that we as a club and a fanbase don't like to acknowledge them, talk about them,  all that stuff. I only mention the above facts on form for two reasons. Firstly, that "ignore the bastards" policy doesn't seem to me to have been greatly successful, it's high time in my opinion we tried another approach. And secondly, form/league position/our injuries etc definitely ought to impact upon our game plan. Let's face it, it would if we were playing anyone else so why shouldn't it here? Moral victories, "we've won already" and all that stuff is all very well, but it's high time we beat them in a game of football. We can do it too, even with our depleted ranks, on Saturday. This is how I think we should go about it.

Firstly it's worth looking at how they play. Their newish manager Mike Williamson makes Pep Guardiola look like a long ball merchant. They play five at the back (which becomes a three), they flood the midfield and they are obsessed with possession. As in the first game against them though, although they keep the ball they won't be scared of lifting it over the top and exposing us for pace if we get too high. They'll fart around with it at the back and try to draw us on so they can play through us.

Here's my first controversial point. I think we shouldn't press high, we should let them have it, let them fart around, then let em come. I know people will be saying "Oh Fuck off you bellend, you don't understand the rivalry" but they are wrong. I 100% understand the rivalry and the hatred, easily enough to know that if by the end of the game they've had 80% possession and we've won 1-0, we will party long into the night. If it was me, for sure I'd "get fucking stuck into them", but you have to pick your moments. If we lose our heads and go steaming in, they'll play through us and expose our makeshift defence. We ought to look for inspiration at a pack of hyenas stealing a fresh kill off a lion. They go in one at a time, nipping in from the side and behind until in the confusion they can drag the prize away. That should be us, let em come then once they get into our half, spring the ambush.

The hardest thing about such an approach isn't the execution, it's blocking out the noise and the fervour to keep your cool. Let's face it, anything other than "Super gung-ho mode" will have our fans howling their displeasure, we must shut that out.* 

*Quick point here, we could help as fans if we DON'T howl our displeasure.

So this is how we defend, drawn on the back of a menu from the Alex. I've included my team selection.

So we stay compact. The moment they come into our half it should be shark infested waters, but if they want to dick around in their own half we should by and large let them. Remember, they need to win too. They'll come if we're patient.

But what about when we steal the ball? This is where I think we hurt them. Once again my tactics board is a menu from the Alex, with a Sharpie. The good thing about us sitting off them is they WILL advance up the pitch to the half way line. Then we kill them.

The two shaded areas are their soft underbelly. The key is to work it into there through our midfielders (not by launching it out of defence) and then we're in business. They don't have anyone quick enough to stop Neufville and/or Sasu getting onto the ball, and from there we unleash hell upon their tippy tappy nonsense. We flood forward in support and score. Defend properly and we might only have to pull it off once. Do it right and we can ping em again on the break when they get desperate, we could properly hurt them.

If it works, we won't be talking about moral victories or "winning already" again, it'll be a day for the ages. The day we celebrate actually beating them, mugging em off into the process. It just seems to me that we've tried everything else, perhaps just approaching it like it really is "just another game" might be a shout. If these were anybody else with that sort of playing style, in this sort of form, we'd sit in, let em come, then go for the ambush. Surely the pinnacle of being "indifferent" to them is just to treat them like everyone else.

Let's do it. Let em come then kill em with pace.