Parklife!
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I’m not quite at those levels of despondency but I get what you mean. The constant melodrama, riddles and cliches, joylessness and seriousness of it all…but that’s modern football I guess. One game, 45 to go and all that.
We are an academy that exists to develop Kazakhstan football. Luckily, at the moment, we need to get a promotion or two to realise our owner’s dreams which is why he is willing to spend pocket change on getting us there. The big money goes on developing infrastructure but if the team ever genuinely flirts with relegation he’ll step in to avoid it. We are fine for now.
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@ewanhoosaami is still on board. A previously fairly regular contributor but currently silent. I sincerely hope all is well, mate.
Yes not quite the scintillating football that everyone thinks is Bloomfield . It just proves the point it doesn’t happen over night. They were a lucky three points by Luton too.
Just got back … yes it’s been a long day!
I knee jerk reacted to the team selection fearing we would get thumped. I’m actually now relatively content with what I saw. It was evident there was a plan and evident we are trying to develop a style. It’s just that there were far too many mistakes and arguably some players not suited to the style we want.
I thought we took the game to them early on and was pleased with what I saw. That made our terrible 5th to 15th minute period incredibly difficult to take. That period we were hopeless all over the park with Van Sas, Grimmer and Casey particular bad. It’s as if the players never met and Dodds has to take the blame for this. It’s all well and good saying it will take time for players to gel but really your likely eleven should play together in a friendly. That didn’t happen with Dodds playing two different elevens in the last two friendlies. Utterly appalling management.
After the 15th minute period we played well I thought. We could have got one back before the break and I thought second half was pretty much one way traffic. Incredible miss by Magnus and that was a certain penalty for handball. I take heart that we played like that having looked like we would lose it 5-0 with so much disgruntlement on and off the pitch.
Van Sas - bonkers debut. Two out of this world saves and an absolute howler. But his distribution was wonderful and that will be a huge asset.
Grimmer - arguably his worst game for Wycombe. He was all over the place in the first half. But maybe he would have not been quite as bad if fans weren’t on his back? I worry that Grimmer does not suit Dodds’ style and probably tried too hard.
The Danes - I have been their biggest critics but after the first 15 minutes they finally showed they can be assets for this club. I thought Anders really looked strong in the second half and brought the ball out well.
Jamie Mullins looks like being a class player. I also thought Leahy and Lowry looked OK in midfield although there was a lack of muscle in that part of the field.
Well done Dan Udoh, lively, a handful, great goal.
Bradley Fink looks like some player. Excited to see what he can do after that cameo.
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I’ll start this by saying I only watched the second half as I feel asleep before it started (I’m getting old and did a night shift before hand…) so I can’t really comment on the first half - other than to say how crushingly disappointed it was waking up to see us two down!
Second half felt like a preseason game. Some really nice passing interspersed with some awful ones - particularly coming out of defence. I think people have mentioned the players already that I think are chiefly responsible in my eyes for that, so won’t add to the pile on.
There’s a distinct style change compared to last season and if we have the players to pull it off, we could be witnessing some of the best attacking football we have seen. But we clearly need to cut out the individual errors.
I said I’ll give 10 games before giving any major critique of Dodds this season and I’m going to try and stick to that other than to say I do hold him responsible for it feeling like another preseason game. I don’t think he got his games strategy right in terms of personnel and team gelling before the season started and that came out today.
I also hate playing recently promoted teams on game day 1, at their place. I always feel everything is stacked against you mentally.
It was a shit result after a bad first half. It doesn’t have to define the rest of the season
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Plenty to take away from yesterday’s game, not going to get carried away with the 2nd half performance as I’d expect any team to come out and have a go 2-0 down. But we did create a few chances, but i think we got we deserved over the 90 minutes and that was nothing.
Be hard to write a player off after 1 game and in the same boat get carried away and say 1 or 2 are class. Definitely thinfs we can do better, one thing that did annoy me was early on at 2-0 down we were taking an age with our goal kicks. A little bit of urgency would of been nice.
I’m not worried we’ll struggle this season and i think we’ll finish comfortably above Bradford, but if we’re going to challenge for promotion then we’ve got to be better.
As for the kit, a Bradford fan mentioned it ealrier it was hard working out the numbers on the back of the tops, it made it harder for my daughter to work out who’s who.
Looking forward to the Stockport game next, we should know more after that game, excited to pick the kits up for the kids and see what changes they’ve made during the summer.
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Fully agree with everything you have said , as you say why the hell didn’t he play the team he thought would be out there day 1 in a friendly.
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That BBC interview is the best I’ve ever heard Mike Dodds speak I think. Addresses every issue head on and pulls no punches.
I think he’s dead right about needing a bit of “steel” about us as well. This might make me sound like a bit of a dinosaur but it does concern me a bit that if it comes on top a bit we don’t have an Evans, Cousins, Brown etc type that will like pile in and show teams we’re not going to be bullied. Fred was getting singled out for treatment by Bradford yesterday, could have done with someone getting into them to let them know we don’t stand for it.
He’s bang on about Jamie Mullins as well. I remain very excited indeed about how good a player he is going to be this season
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F.A.O All Bucks bedwetters: we have a rich and illustrious history of opening day defeats, we’ve got another 45 games left and a transfer deadline next month.
Onwards and upwards.
We were very, very lucky with our centre halfs last season, best combo since Jamie Bates and the late and lamented Paul MacCarthy.
Let’s see what happens this week.
Written while heavily sedated.
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With an extremely lucky own goal that is.
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Well yesterday did nothing to move the debate on. There was plenty of red meat for us MD doubters (the lack of any serious output from our controlled possession, the lack of fight, the doubts about so many of the recent(ish) acquisitions.
But equally there were occasional signs of incisive passing and players finding space and glimpses of the quality of the two Danish lads for example.
Probably I most agree with those who said it looked like a development squad team playing against a streetwise League 1 team and we are exactly the sort of team a GA team would have relished playing.
That’s who we are now and whilst I can be nostalgic for those days I now accept this is how my team will be playing. At least for the foreseeable future.
Overall 4/10
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Managed to watch yesterday in the end. Second half was much better but I still think there are some very obvious issues with the team which we all predicted without even needing to see a league game. I’m sure things will continue to get better, but I have my doubts about how we will end up. I left Wrexham very positive last season despite the loss. I knew we played really well and we’d have a good season. Yesterday and today upon reflecting, I do not feel confident.
Some of the passing moves yesterday were absolutely superb, particularly the one that created the chance for Magnus. I think I’m alone in being incredibly excited for this season. We’ve got some highly technical players and a manager who wants to play fast passing football. And there’s more to come - Fink, Junior, CBM, Henderson. Mikki, Casey and Anders know how to pick out a pass. Mullins will play at a higher level than League One, that’s obvious already.
The mistakes will iron themselves out.
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No you are not alone I too am excited to see how this season pans out. Generally the performance and pattern of play we saw yesterday was so far removed from what we have been watching since Christmas.
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Im guessing CBM has been signed as the holding type midfielder, though not sure we have a replacement.
I didnt feel the full backs pushed on as much as we need them to. Though in second half Allen was much further forward and that clearly improved performance, especially as Lowry could play inside more.
I still think we win the game without the GK mistake.
But, there is clearly a style trying to be implemented with incisive passing.
Hopefully CBM and Henderson aren’t out for long as they are in the team for Leahy and Magnus probably. Id start Junior over Fred. Fink over Udoh. Unsure if you play Lowry or Udoh though.
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Nope you are not alone . I struggle to see why more people are not optimistic after that 2nd half. Mullins is going to be excellent , I believe Fink will be too. We were without Boyde Mince and Henderson , Harvie is only just getting back into it . Lowry will grow and showed some real technical ability . Udoh scored a good goal and with a bit more luck we would have gotten something from that game . Clear penalty too. The issue at Wrexham was a slow start and rooky defence . Same yesterday . We troubled Bradford in that 2nd half and I feel just as optimistic after yesterday as some say they did after Wrexham. My biggest concerns are with Fred and Grimmer. I get he picked Fred as a senior player . I don’t think he deserves the starting place over Junior for any other reason . He was average again yesterday . Grimmer also seemed to struggle . I am sure we will be getting another couple in and maybe another striker when Kone goes . The future is bright as far as I am concerned and we played some lovely football at times yesterday .
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I don’t have any concerns over Fred. I expect Fred to start some games and come on in others. He’s always been that frustratingly inconsistent but with so many other options he is not going to play 90 minutes every week and can be used to exploit defences in smaller bursts.
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One other comment on yesterday: Dodds has made a big thing in his pre-season comments about changing the style and becoming more of an exciting team to watch. I saw that yesterday. It really didn’t look like a dreary Dodds circa February-May 2025 team. It was good to watch us going forward.
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