Fulham 3-0 AFC Wimbledon

I don't think I can ever remember a 3-0 defeat generating quite so much debate amongst the losing teams supporters than our fairly comfortable "seeing off" by Fulham last night. The manager said he was proud of the team, the Chairman said we "Lived our values" (no, me neither) & while plenty of fans agree with them if you go online or were in the pub last night, many viewed our performance with utter dismay & disillusion. One thing we can all agree on is that the fans were utterly magnificent, but the question of whether or not we DID actually "Go for it" as the manager promised we would caused plenty of debate.

From my seat I thought we played very well under extremely difficult circumstances, and on the "wentforitometer" I had the needle firmly settling into the green "As well as we could" section. For sure not rattling round into the "balls out kamikazi" red zone, but definitely well clear of the "didn't give a shit" blue section.

I aren't privvie to Johnnie's team talks, but I'm fairly sure "stay in the game" will have figured a few times during it. Dead right too, as was the "Slow the game down at every opportunity" section which no doubt existed. Let's face it, we haven't got a single player who currently would get near their squad never mind first team (I guess Junior Nkeng possibly could given time) so to embark on a "Let's have a free flowing end to ender & see who comes out on top" would have been madness (in my opinion anyway). The 3-0 could have very easily been double figures if we'd gone down that route, so I for one totally agree with the decision not to go there.

Equally at 2-0 down at half time, that isn't (once again in my opinion) the time to "go for it". You are still totally in the game at 2-0, and I'm fairly sure the thought process would have been that if it's still 2-0 with ten minutes to go, we've only got to nick a goal from a set piece or something and it's game on. Once again, that is EXACTLY what I would have said, so if Johnnie did I can hardly criticize. In fact to that end we DID stay in the game and were only eventually killed off by a goal from a player they signed from Real Madrid for 40 million quid 😂.

Of course we didn't get EVERYTHING right, I'm not saying that. Steve Seddon (who I love) won't need me to tell him that his set piece deliveries in the first half were rubbish. They were always going to provide us with our best chances of scoring a goal, so I imagine the groans off the bench were just as loud as they were in the away end when he fluffed it. Aron Sasu continued to frustrate, although it's worth pointing out that playing up top on your own against four Premier League defenders was always going to be about as easy a gig as a fella having his first go at standup in front of three pissed up pool playing Scotsmen at the Edinburgh fringe. In fairness if you WERE that unfortunate aspiring comedian, you'd know that quietly reading out jokes was going to get you nowhere. In fact anything you did was likely to get you nowhere, so fuck it you might as well jump on the pool table, drop your kegs & get the old todger out. At least they'd have remembered you, perhaps Aron should have channelled a bit of that energy (in a football sense), last night.

My biggest criticism though (and l'll bet it drove the coaching staff mad) was that we were WAY too nice. I'm not advocating running around kicking people, in fairness we wouldn't be able to catch em anyway, but we didn't give away anywhere near enough fouls in the centre circle or when the ball went anywhere near Sasu.

In the centre circle, on second balls (after we've won a defensive header) the mindset should have been either we win it, our we foul their bloke when HE looks like winning it. Like I say I'm not talking Kung Fu kicks, I'm talking jumping into people, getting across them, handballing it by accident, that sort of shite. Then, when the ref gives the free kick (a note on him later) you can dispute it, debate it, delay it. All of this stuff helps to break the game up which was always going to be to our advantage. I'd have been saying to Sasu, I want you to commit AT LEAST three fouls in the first half. If the ball goes anywhere near you and youre not going to get it, throw yourself at their bloke who is. Grapple, hold, back in, jump in, whatever. I want three fouls MINIMUM per half though. He could try this next time he comes on, he's waaay too nice.

And the ref? Fuck me. I don't think he gave us a single 50/50 call all night. He penalised Jayden Stockley at the end for the clearest case of "six of one" I've ever seen. In order to win the game we'd have needed EVERYTHING to drop in our favour, the referee was one of a lot of things which didn't.

Anyways we move on. No doubt the players that were "carrying knocks" will recover by Sunday, and we really must try & get something against Wigan.

Kai Jennings. Is this the correct decision?

By & large over the recent years that I've followed them, I've been a bit of a happy clappy Wimbledon fan. Even though the football isn't always reminiscent of the Milan team of the 90's, I love everything about how we try & do stuff the right way. There's also something which appeals to my cussedness about ALWAYS being outgunned financially, ALWAYS being the underdog. I tend not to criticise the players and/or the manager too much, I fully get that the job ain't easy and that they are all trying their best. Such has been my "positivity" over the years that I've on one or two occasions been called a dickhead to my face for not seeing the "dark side". Online it's much heavier, my support for players such as Aron Sasu puts a target firmly on my back. The arrows aimed at it are mostly good humoured, but by no means all.

That's all good though, it goes with the territory & I think it's unlikely that I will become downbeat anytime soon.

But. But, but. I feel compelled to comment on the decision to allow Kai Jennings to go out on loan for the last year of his contract. I know nothing about the situation, but my guess is that Kai indicated that he wasn't prepared to sign a new contract with us. Because of that, we felt that we may as well let him bugger off a year early.

Here's my problem though, and I appreciate it's all about opinions. I think Kai is 100% a good enough MIDFIELDER to be getting lots of minutes for us, IN MIDFIELD. I think he is a kid of rare talent who given the opportunity could develop into a very decent footballer who we could possibly sell on.

I personally think it's madness to firstly play him at wing back (where even there he was decent) but then not give him a chance in midfield. I think this is a huge mistake on the part of the manager and director of football. Like I say I 100% GET that's it's all about opinions, but that's mine.

I

Some thoughts on a difficult opening day.

Getting Huddersfield away first game up was a bit of a double edged sword in many ways. For sure not ideal in terms of building momentum but at least I guess we get a trip to a team who will undoubtedly be up there "out of the way". It's worth briefly adding a bit of context to the defeat, the fella who scored Huddersfields first two goals cost one million euros. Of course that doesn't mean you are without hope, but it does obviously indicate the budgetry imbalance.

The reality in the game lets face it was that we were comfortably beaten. I used the word "comfortably" advisedly here. To my mind getting beat is inevitable from time to time in football, but getting beat "comfortably" should never be an option. By comfortably I mean the opposition could beat you 6-0 but they should never enjoy playing against you, it ought to always be the sort of game that they can't wait to finish. It should never be as it was yesterday, the opposition high fiving & having a day in the sun. No, we've got to be nastier than that, much uglier, a whole lot more niggly. If we DON'T make it like that, then more skilful, more trickier, more expensive players are going to put us to the sword every week, it's going to be a long season.

Anyway aside from that general observation, here's some of my thoughts.

Aron Sasu

It's inevitable that I mention him. My banging on all over social media yesterday that "If he plays, he WILL score" aged about as well as raw prawns in the sun. Obviously I deservedly took stick for that, any credibility that I do/did have (admittedly not much) is disappearing like bath water down a bucket sized plug hole.

My thoughts on his first half display yesterday were yes he didn't get any service, I'll give him that much. BUT, there were two instances where he had me throwing easy peel tangerines at the telly (My wife had moved the apples out of reach). Before I detail them, Aron should ask himself what Matty Stevens would have done. I've said before that if Matty had Sasu's pace & build he'd play in the Premier League. There are LOTS of things Aron Sasu can do that Matty Stevens can't, yet there are also lots of things the other way around & yesterday there were two perfect examples.

The first was when we worked it wide and it got fired across the six yard box, away from the keeper. The Huddersfield guy did well to clear it in fairness, Sasu was behind him ready to tap in. What would Matty Stevens have done? Well I can tell you right now there is not a chance on God's Earth that the fella would have been able to "comfortably" clear it as he did. Stevens would have been all over him like a Scousers shellsuit. He would have either scored or there would have been a resulting scramble, or we would be surrounding the ref for a penalty shout. I've played centre half, fuck me you are EXPECTING a fight once that ball comes in. Standing behind me & going "Aw Sheesh I nearly had that" is not what strikers do.

The second one was at the end of the first half. Channel ball gets knocked down the left, the defender is the favourite & does well, gets in front & down by the corner flag is looking to clear it. Now with my centre half's head on again, I am EXPECTING to get smashed into row B of the seating into the corner, the corner flag landing on my head & the ball hitting row L. That's what would have happened if I'm defending Matty Stevens, 100%. Fair enough too, I've been fighting him all game, only natural his eyes are gonna light up here. Sass? Stood back & let him clear. Fuck no. I've known lads in football who if they were playing for us would have gone through him like a dose of salts for that.

Must do better, a lot better. Must be harder, a lot harder.

James Tilley as the last man.

To my mind, Tills is by quite a distance our most likely scorer from outside the box. I guess we've asked the question, are we more likely to score with Isaac Ogundere in the box or Tilly outside it? I think we've come up with the wrong answer, particularly when you factor in the "With which one are we more likely to CONCEDE?".

I just think we've got this one wrong, we should bin it off. 

Olly Harrison

It's obvious that this kid can play, you haven't even got to see him on the ball to know that. You've only got to see his head movement when he's asking for the ball to see that he knows his onions, then when he does get it his two reverse passes through the lines like yesterday show you that he sees great pictures. He's the most naturally talented midfielder we've had since Maghoma I should think, but 18yo holding midfielders in mens football come with complications as their third goal yesterday demonstrated.

I'd very much like to see him given opportunities, but there are a couple of caveats if we're going to get the benefit of his loan season and see him near his best.

When he IS on the pitch, we are probably going to need to be less direct otherwise there's no point in playing him. He isn't athletic enough yet to be a Callum Maycock Duracell type, and he ALWAYS comes in short to build/start the play. He's really potentially going to be VERY good at that, but if like yesterday we aren't going to give him the ball & let him dictate, there's no point in playing him.

Second thing is he either has to learn very quickly, or at 18 he isn't yet ready to play as a 4 in L1. I'd still play Ally Smith in there, but this kid would be an excellent 6. To do THAT though he's gonna have to come out of the pocket/comfort zone and get up & down more. I like him though, smashing footballer.

Anyways I could go on (and do). No point in going through the areas of the goals where players could have done better, the lads themselves will know. I'd just like us a team to be a nastier than we were yesterday, that's a minimum.

Aron Sasu-Is this his time?

I said on Twitter that in my brief time supporting Wimbledon NOBODY has come close to polarizing opinion like this kid. It probably wasn't accurate now I think about it. The word polarize suggests a 50/50 split, the truth is we're a long way from that. The ratio of people who have given up on him to those who still believe is probably closer to 95:5 in all honesty, and that is even after four goals in pre season.

The good news for Aron & no doubt his family is that within those 5% of believers, there are some that are absolutely adamant that the kid is a performance or two, a goal deflected in off his arse or two from exploding onto the scene. I used to be there myself, but these days although I recognize that his potential is massive (and in all honesty if you can't even recognize THAT after his first goal on Saturday then I have no hope for you), in order to reach anywhere near it (that potential) he is going to need to rapidly improve certain aspects of his game. For sure the pace is startling, the heading that goes with that brutal athletic ability is improving and will continue so to do, but in other aspects he needs to find a new level.

Just to be clear here I'm definitely NOT giving up on the kid. I STILL think he can be a player who is a country mile too good for League One and is potentially a massive transfer move waiting to happen, but unless he learns & does it quickly he'll end up not making it.

And what does he need to learn? Well the principle thing is how to move around a football pitch & when to do it. Far too often when he plays I'm left feeling that I could still do a reasonable job of marking him myself (I'm 60 next month). And let's put that into context, if this kid knew when and where to run then there isn't a centre half in the lower leagues who could live with him and I wouldn't have got within ten yards of him when I was 20. He'd literally be impossible to play against if he knew what he was doing, but as it is if you asked the defender what he would want Aron to do in an ideal world (for the defender), that's exactly what he does.

Even for the goals on Saturday, let's start with the first one. Before he gets the ball, he looks like a relay runner waiting for the baton. His body shape is all wrong, he's kind of jogging in a straight line away from the passer while looking over his shoulder. Yes when the ball gets to him the rest is poetry, and like I say if you can't see the potential in THAT then I'm afraid you are clueless, sorry to be rude but there it is. I know people will say "Yes but he's played 159 times" or whatever it is, but the simple fact of the matter is that for 99% of footballers, they could play 1000 times and not be able to do THAT.

For the second it's a good header, not lacking in bravery to nick in front of the keeper & fair enough. Again though, it's a STRAIGHT LINE run which has a massively low percentage chance of success. 

The simple fact of the matter with Aron is that if we and he can get into situations during games of L1 football where he gets the opportunity to go full throttle, he will create absolute mayhem. To do that though needs a bit of clever movement to open the door for a pass. For example I NEVER see him back peddling three paces to duck out of the line of sight of the defender. In a perfect world the defender wants to be able to see the attacker AND the ball at the same time, in the same frame. Duck out & instantly it's less comfortable, he has to feel for you or worse still, take his eyes off the ball to check where you are. Good strikers know that when he does THAT, the moment he looks back at the ball is your trigger to explode across the line. It only needs a simple poke between the lines from a midfield player from there & a Sasu at full pelt won't be caught by anybody in L1.

Similarly I don't ever see him check in short THEN back peddle away when the ball doesn't come before exploding into the space he's created for the next pass. Essentially his movement should be about going through the gears BEFORE the ball gets there wherever possible. Check in and get it short on the half turn if it DOES come, then go, take someone on (at pace), get a shot off.

And in the box, I don't see him attacking areas like a wardrobe falling down a flight of stairs. Gambling that it will come near post. I don't see him going near post then checking back out to the penalty spot (again out of line of sight). Sheesh if he did any of this stuff repeatedly over 90 minutes, with his ability, pace & physical presence he'd be a ridiculous player.

I've no doubt the guys at the club work with him on this stuff (unlike the other stuff that he has naturally, you can actually LEARN this shit) so why doesn't he do it? 

I so hope he gets it soon. If he ever wants to bob in the Alex for a coke zero I'll explain it to him myself. Whatever though, it would be an absolute crime if a kid with his talent & potential didn't make it. Fucking hell imagine Omar Bugiel or Matty Stevens with Arons pace, power, size & technical ability. Bugiel & Stevens would under those circumstances have made it to the Premier League.

Come on Aron, you can do it too 👊

NEVER beaten!

There was something in the air. A few of us were convinced that we could go to Wigan and win, but if you asked any of us know it alls "HOW though?", "Why?" you were met with a blank stare. Our losing run had let's be honest gone from some "Sheesh we were a bit unlucky there" games and descended fully into "We didn't just get beat, we got absolutely battered" mode. Nearly all of our talismanic players were either unavailable or at the very best "Willing to give it a go" despite being obviously unfit, and while we couldn't seem to buy a goal we were conceding chances aplenty. Goals against were coming from all angles too. Set pieces, open play, caught on the break, cut open, you name it. But, there was something in the air.

Myles Hippolite (God how we've missed him) was kind of back despite looking about as fit as many of us in the stands, Patrick Bauer hobbled and creaked onto the pitch looking like he'd just literally walked off a budget flight from Australia, and Ryan Johnson was there, as he always is. There and ready to battle for the cause with every last drop of sweat.

The actual game was a funny one. Wigan had nothing to play for other than their managers assurances to his former club that they'd "Get it done", but they seemed momentarily nonplussed by our "You can HAVE the ball if you want, we don't want it" style. To tell the truth they weren't on their own. For a long time while Exeter led at Burton it looked as if we were pragmatising ourselves into the relegation zone, and our fans urged the players to "Show more urgency", "Get a fucking tackle in", all that stuff. I must confess I did too, we didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

Gradually the home team took control without massively worrying us. At the back though Ryan Johnson, Patrick Bauer and Isaac Ogundere were magnificent. The latter should have those two old pros on his "Christmas cards for life" list, what an education it has been for him playing with the old stalwarts. They survived on know-how, doggedness and determination alone. Ryan & Patrick looked about as fit as me, and at sixty this year and with a few pints inside me I still think I might have been faster than both of em. I said to a lad that I was worried because we couldn't KEEP making these last gasp blocks. Fortunately for everyone though I'm often wrong and was here.

Skivvers meanwhile got sent off for booting the ball into outer space when they were trying to take a quick throw in, and somehow we protected our goal and clung on. Our goalie seemingly hadn't been told that when he was kicking it was the green bit in the middle of the two stands, the grassy area that he was aiming for, but it didn't matter any, we reached half time at 0-0.

The second half began and continued in much the same way. Callum Maycock was by now with his Duracell batteries outlasting those around him, Myles Hippolite won a couple of free kicks when somebody breathed on him aggressively and Ali Smith in his praying mantis style got his foot in. Tills and Seds began to venture forward occasionally, while up top Junior and Leyton Stewart ran around a lot, trying to make it look like we WOULD try and score at some point if Wigan weren't careful. Young Stewart is the most obvious Scouse footballer you'll see, all snarl, nip and bite, maximising his pain in the arseness to defenders.

True to form (and in all honesty what choice do we have?) we made some subs around the hour mark. Aaron Sasu jogged onto the pitch with his "I've just won a competition" nonchalance, Zak Nelson (more on him later) joined him, and Junior Hackford. In truth none of the three could point at any particularly sparkling recent performances, but by virtue of the fact that they can run and aren't actually injured, they were the obvious introductions.

The game meandered on, Burton (bless em) equalised and our heroic defence (which the whole team participated in) kept Wigan at bay. It was around this point that I said to my mate Ju "All it takes is one moment of magic"......

Cometh the hour and a half, cometh the man and the ball bobbled into the Aron Sasu sphere just outside their box. Now I'm not sure who has taken more stick for this lads performances, him, Johnny ("Sasu must have something on him") or me for bigging him up so much. All of us though have suffered as this kid has too often looked like a lost puppy in a Wimbledon shirt. In truth this performance up until then had been no different. He'd half jogged, half ran around a bit, jumped in the vague direction of headers and generally not really gotten involved much.

Here though, out of nowhere, something clicked. The rumoured "best player on the training pitch" suddenly decided to show it. There was a little drag back, a dip of the shoulder and a swerve which magnetised three defenders to him before a deft little release to a sprinting Zak Nelson. He was fouled on the moment of release but thankfully the ref played on. Zak pinged it across the six yard box and the world held it's breath. Loitering with disinterest on the penalty spot was Antoine Hackford. Now this kid has been ridiculously labelled with the dreaded "He doesn't care" tag (along with Sasu) but here like a leapord exploding out of the long grass on the Serengeti he glided across the turf to smash in the near post winner.

The away end descended into magnificent "Limbs" until we nervously realised we had to survive five minutes injury time. That left an opportunity for the magnificent Ryan Johnson in classic Peter Kay "AVE IT!" style to smash the ball into the opposite corner. Meanwhile Sasu no doubt buoyed by his game changing contribution took the ball and in a passage of play which looked from a distance like four spiders having a punch up in a kebab shop, won us a corner. The ref blew up and it was mayhem.

Johnny gave it the Jürgen Klopp "YEAH, YEAH, YEEEAAAAHHH" to the fans and as he put both hand on his head, there were probably tears in his eyes. There certainly was in mine.

There was still time for Zak Nelson's Mum to make a big impression on a few lads on the train back "He's got a hot Mum, he's got a hot MuuuUUUUM, Zaki Nelson, he's got a hot Mum!" was the chant they were trying to get going in the Alex.

What a day though, what a team. One for the ages. Thankyou to the players and management team. ❤️

Ryan Johnson is totally wrong.

Let me make this clear before big Ryan comes round the Alex and volleys me over Elys roof, I love him. He's my favourite senior player at the club and he's been an absolute hero for us since the day he signed. Where he's totally wrong though is in his "I can't make excuses for that performance" interview (the one against Plymouth). What?

Look, a couple of quick points here. Firstly, big Ryan Johnson hasn't got to make excuses for ANYTHING in my book. He's playing while not fully fit and as always, he's giving 100% for the badge as a bear minimum. Second, if we WERE to look for "excuses" let's be honest here there's plenty of them. Half of our first choice eleven has been ripped out through injuries, those that are left standing are knackered and as luck would have it, we've just ran into three excellent teams in our last three home games. All three of those teams were going all out for the playoffs and all three have budgets which make ours look like chump change. Meanwhile we're playing with either untested, unproven and/or unfit players up top, while they're bringing the likes of Ali Al-Hamadi and Bim Pepple off the bench.

So don't tell me there are "No excuses", please don't. It's actually a monumental effort that we arrive where we are with two games to play, but we have plenty of excuses for being on a poor run right now, let's get that bit straight first.

The bit where folks who say "Forget the excuses FFS" are spot on, is that right now they don't matter much. We cannot change what has happened in the previous 44 matches or indeed why it happened, the only thing we can influence as a club is what happens in our next two. It obviously follows that we can't influence how Exeter, Orient etc get on, so no point wasting time worrying about it. What we DO know is that if we win our last two games we definitely stay up. Win one of them and we almost certainly do.

So let's have a look at that. First let's state an absolute cast-iron fact. If you'd have said to ANY Wimbledon fan pre season that we'd be outside the relegation zone with two games to play, it wouldn't have been your arms you would be worrying about. The simple truth is that any Wimbledon fan with a clue would have eaten you whole like a rainforest cannibal, never mind any of that "arm at the elbow" stuff. And that hasn't happened by accident either. It's the result of some heroic performances from the players and some deft coaching, the highpoint of which was obviously the pivot from attritional football to full on gung ho "Ossie Ardiles" mode. Had our players stayed fit in sufficient number, that switch would have seen us comfortably safe, but they didn't and we aren't.

So we arrive at this point. Two games to go, away at Wigan and at home to Huddersfield. The good news is that NEITHER have got anything to play for. We will arrive at both games significantly more motivated than our opponent, and in football that's a big thing. Second positive, I've a hunch that our best player (Marcus Browne) will play. He obviously makes a huge difference, and it's very likely that if he DOES feature he'll score a goal in at least one of the matches. The third bonus is us, the fans. Now I heard some boos after the Plymouth game, and I would absolutely URGE those folks to look at themselves in the mirror. Before any of us talk nonsense about the players "Not trying" or the manager not "Having a clue", how about asking ourselves how much of a difference we as fans are making. Are WE giving OUR all? Don't think it makes a difference to the players? Well you've never played football before then.

So we go to Wigan on Saturday, and I know we'll be travelling in big numbers. Whoever is fit enough to walk onto the pitch in a Wimbledon shirt needs to know that there'll be no groans for misplaced passes, no cries of anguish at skied shots. They need to know that the supporters are with them for every yard that they run, every tackle they make, every header that they win.

And make no mistakes. We've GOT PLENTY of excuses but if the whole club sticks together we won't need them. We WILL get a result, and we WILL stay up. COYD

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

I was a bit disappointed when I got back to the pub last night if I'm honest. Not with the football match (how could you be disappointed in that?) but with the reaction of some of our fans online. After a magnificent match which was full of excitement and incident, the fact that we had come out on the wrong side of a six goal thriller meant either that some players should never wear our shirt again, the manager is an idiot or a combination of the two.

Supposedly we are to ignore how excellent we were in the first half? We're supposed to discount the fact that we've completely turned our season around with these gung-ho tactics, and we have to ignore the obvious point that in Dom Ballard Orient are lucky enough to have a striker who is at the very least one of the best at the level and more probably too good for it?

I'm sorry this "Yeah but, ignore that bit" stuff doesn't really work for me. Playing like we are requires bravery. It can't happen if the manager isn't brave, the players need to be super brave to keep bombing forward, and the fans need to be brave too. Bravery in this context means accepting the fact that if your first obsession is no longer about defensive shape, sprinting to get back behind the ball and not over committing forward, you ARE going to concede more chances. Not only that, but when you run into a striker as good as Ballard is, you're likely going to concede more goals too. We got outscored yesterday, it'll happen sometimes, but give me THAT game over an hour and a half of arm wrestling and a 0-0 draw any day of the week. If you REALLY try to win, you have to be less afraid of losing. That's where we are, enjoy the ride.