Pre-Match Thread AFC Wimbledon v Southend United

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Difficult Team selection at the Wombles. This game wont be easy
Bit different on the board from last week re Wordsworth. No calls for him not too not be in the team.
Again difficult Solid defending of White or attacking of Jason away from home stick with White.
I also dont like the idea of no sub keeper on the bench

I would go

T Smith
White Thompson Ferdinand Coker
Atkinson Wordsworth Leonard Mc Laughlin
Ranger Cox

Subs YouthKeeper. Inniss. Demitrou. Timlin. Robinson. Fortune. Amos.
Unlucky for McGlashan and O'Neil not even making to bench, we have been lucky with injury's and a good squad.

Or Mooney, Hines, Nouble or Bridge on the bench either. Wow.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

No brainer for me. Demi in for JW.

Cox should start for a number of reasons, including that he bagged two goals against them at RH, so they know they'll have to keep an eye on him, thus opening up space for Wordy and Macca to exploit.

good point, if they put two men on Cox to mark him out of the game that creates loads of space up front. Ranger first half then Fortune 2nd and throw in Robinson near the end and their defense will be all over the shop.

 

[AndyT]

Agreed. We also pulled them around a bit on Boxing Day with Cox, Fortune, Macca and Wordy pegging them back for long periods.

 

[rigsby]

Wordsworth worked hard on Saturday and was back to something near his best, so why would anyone call for him to be dropped?

So why haven't all those people admitted their mistake last week ? Plenty of opinions about team selection but not many saying Woody keeping his place, against all our advice, was the correct decision.

 

[Richard Hearn]

If we don't have a reserve goalkeeper and Ted does get injured or sent off does anyone know who might have to "pull on the jersey" like in the good old days?

 

[RHB]

So, the starting line up I would like to see in a 4 4 2 formation:

Smith

​

Demetriou Thompson Ferdinand Coker

​

Atkinson Wordsworth Leonard McLaughlin

​

Cox Ranger
​

If we are really serious about the play-offs then lets go on the attack in every game and use our forwards to drive home the point.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Wish I was going now but tickets are rarer than rocking horse ****

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Wish I was going now but tickets are rarer than rocking horse ****

.....home end!

 

[David Icke]

As long as Amos dosent play I'm happy.

 

[mfurok]

As long as Brown doesn't eff about with the formation again and doesn't give someone else their SUFC debut then we should be OK.

 

[LBBlue]

As long as Brown doesn't eff about with the formation again and doesn't give someone else their SUFC debut then we should be OK.

What about the elephant in the room though - where does it fit in ?

 

[LBBlue]

Major headache for Brown will be right back, with White having done so well but Demetriou having been key when he came on on Saturday. White could go into the middle but with Thompson on the bench that seems crazy too.

Easy
Keep White in and play Demetriou instead of Atkinson. Gives a solid back four and a bit of flair on the right hand side - and the element of surprise.

 

[RHB]

What about the elephant in the room though - where does it fit in ?

Far too cryptic for me, care to simplify for us thickys?

 

[Ricky Otto]

Goalkeeping question;

Is Oxley likely to play again this season?

On Saturday we had Ted and no sub GK on the bench. Risky business - especially against Wimbledon's big lads.

I was wondering if Ted did get injured would we be able to sign an emergency loanee? I'm sure I've heard somebody on here say that in the case of 2 goalkeepers being injured you are given special dispensation to sign somebody outside of the window?

 

[rigsby]

Easy
Keep White in and play Demetriou instead of Atkinson. Gives a solid back four and a bit of flair on the right hand side - and the element of surprise.

Atkinson works well with Demi and we are away from home, so still need to keep things tight first half. Demi looks better when he has more space in front of him, which he gets at RB but would be marked much tighter at RM.

That run and shot that Demi had when it was 2-1 on Saturday really lifted the crowd, almost as much as a goal. As soon as Demi got the ball, Will set off on a wide run which was so convincing that he took 2 Walsall players with him. That created all the space fro Demi to cut in and shoot.

 

[secondalibi]

I watch all season and I like Atkinson and what he does for the team, and the effort he puts in, but, he isn't and never will be a right sided midfielder. We have a natural left sided player in McLaughlin, but it always feels like Atkinson is our only option on that the right side rather than being the best fit. I still think Robinson could do a good job on the right late in games with his pace. Some might argue he could start there, it would certainly give the opposition something to think about.

 

[AndyT]

I don't get the issues of Demi at right-back.

We are 6th with him playing there all season and he has contributed to plenty of chances and some goals, as well, going forward, plus there's hardly any goals we concede down our right. More come from the other side, but there's no mention of dropping Coker.

Both full-backs are fine. JW is good cover for Demi and Tims for Coker.

If it ain't broke!

 

[LBBlue]

Far too cryptic for me, care to simplify for us thickys?

Sorry - bit of a one to one question ! Maybe MFUROK will enlighten me as well as he knows there is one!

 

[danburyshrimper]

I watch all season and I like Atkinson and what he does for the team, and the effort he puts in, but, he isn't and never will be a right sided midfielder. We have a natural left sided player in McLaughlin, but it always feels like Atkinson is our only option on that the right side rather than being the best fit. I still think Robinson could do a good job on the right late in games with his pace. Some might argue he could start there, it would certainly give the opposition something to think about.

Sorry mate i couldnt disagree more. RM is Will's best position , he's played there the vast majority of his career + almost never lets you down. He does give us balance , in that the full back can feel confident of overlapping ( if it breaks down , Atkinson will cover ) ... whereas if McGlashan is wide right the full back does not venture forward at all. He puts a decent cross in + his energy is 2nd to none. I do agree however that sometimes he could drive into the box more on his surging runs.

Throbinson is definitely not a winger , he needs to play down the middle where he has produced some great performances recently. Shove him out on the wing and you get very little out of him, and hes not good defensively.

If you want a winger to come off the bench and change a game against a stubborn defence then Zavon Hines is your man .... He takes the full backs on + runs at them with pace and trickery. No where near fit enough to start a game but essential IMHO to be on the bench for 15 mins or so if needed.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Atkinson works well with Demi and we are away from home, so still need to keep things tight first half. Demi looks better when he has more space in front of him, which he gets at RB but would be marked much tighter at RM.

That run and shot that Demi had when it was 2-1 on Saturday really lifted the crowd, almost as much as a goal. As soon as Demi got the ball, Will set off on a wide run which was so convincing that he took 2 Walsall players with him. That created all the space fro Demi to cut in and shoot.

I noticed that. I've been critical of Demi recently and thought White was brilliant at Coventry and decent enough on Saturday. But when Demi came on he looked well up for it, I thought he changed the game and was different class.