Tuesday, 11 February 2025

My match report: AFC Wimbledon v Crewe Alexandra.


Yes we were brilliant and completely dominated the game. Yes the referee helped us a bit with the sending off (they wouldn't have scored anyway once we went 1-0 up though),  yes Marcus Browne is too good for the level. Yes Joe Lewis is the best centre half in the league, yes Jake Reeves is the maestro, but I aren't going to talk about ANY of that.

No, in this match report I'm going to talk about one thing and one thing only.

So here it is. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Aaron Sasu. Seriously, what the actual f*** was that? A kid who is 100% (in my eyes) a centre forward gets bunged on at right wing back with 20 minutes to go and turns in the kind of jaw dropping display which absolutely warms the cockles of everyone who was lucky enough to see it. For months he's been like a shy young kid, totally unaware that he's got magic in the old football boots. He's mooched around, laid it off when he could have sprinted, half heartedly gone into challenges for fear of hurting someone, not tried stuff for fear of letting his mates down. He's played it safe, kept it simple, desperately wanting to fit in and be accepted by the big lads. He's laughed at their jokes in training, done as he's told, anything to become truly one of the boys.

Little has he known that all along he's destined to leave those big lads, those experienced pros behind at some point in the very near future. He's been oblivious to the obvious fact that far from them "accepting" him, far from him "belonging" in League Two, his ultimate destiny is much higher. Those teammates who have nurtured him so superbly, the coaching staff who have worked so expertly on him have no doubt known for some time what they are dealing with here. In the future, this kid will feature on their "best players I ever played with/worked with" lists when they are down the pub, he's that good.

And tonight he showed it. There's many an AFC Wimbledon fan who has called me idiot because of my belief in this kid over the last few months. That's OK though, they laughed at me when I said that Ali Al Hamadi was too good for the level before he scored too. They were wrong then (not about me, about HIM) and they were wrong about this kid too.

There has always been something. Even when as a gangly teenager he was all arms and legs with little substance, you could see it. There was something in the way he glided accross the turf, something about the way he had an awareness of the football. You had to really look, but it was there. Tonight though the talent was obvious. Like a Piccadilly circus neon sign, even for those who only take a passing interest it was unmissable.

This kid was superb, after tonight I think that even HE realizes it. That's always the breakout moment. Enjoy him while you can Dons, he is going to be an absolute monster.

Oh and while we're on the subject of people laughing at me. I told you a month ago we had a shot at winning the league title this season. We do, we are the best team in League Two right now and will take some stopping. COYD.

1 comment:

  1. Yes Mick, this was an excellent all round performance. Marcus Browne is different quality too. Then Sasu took over where Neufville started and, having seen that their defence wasn’t ‘quite’ as quick, he massacred them. Finally FOYO came on and got a shot away in a few seconds. The future’s bright, the future’s yellow and blue!

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