AFC Wimbledon match thread

[The Doctor]

What we need is an ‘organiser’ at the back. I expect Canavan will keep his place in the team and things will improve.

 

[David Fisher]

After that game I’ve came to a conclusion, Mike Cooper isn’t ready for league one football and are defence are still defending like they did when they was in league one last time. Need a leader in defence and a goalkeeper who can position himself correctly, 6 goals in two games is not acceptable at this level, we will be struggling this season if we are playing like this at the back

100% agree he's not ready for this league, not getting Palmer back is biting us on the arse!

Disagree, last week all fans said he looked the finished article was man of the match. At Orient he also played well and made some vital stops. Yes today a couple of goals could be attributed to him but this is the learning curve he is on as a young keeper playing week in week out. We all need to calm down and not look at one game and make knee-jerk decisions. A young keeper who came through the ranks needs fan support and patience this season.

In the last two weeks for Argyle we seem to be jumping from one extreme view of a player to another extreme view. Cooper has gone from 5m pound keeper to zero, Nouble in the space of even this afternoon went from villain to hero! Conor Grant was an outcast two weeks ago and now is Man of the Match. Aimson was lauded last week and now makes an error and is now awful. I think we all need to let the season settle down for 10-15 games and then judge and enjoy the ride and lots of goals!

Well said. Early days and too soon to drop players. However most fans have concerns about our defence because it is not a new problem. Who is our defensive coach?

Fred Karno?

 

[Devongreenowl]

Wootton keeps on making mistakes?

He has made two in succession.

Was Wootton ever an issue last season?

Yes.

 

[cheshiregreen]

What we need is an ‘organiser’ at the back. I expect Canavan will keep his place in the team and things will improve.

I agree.

To be honest, more than the personnel it's the organisation and leadership we need I feel. Leadership across the park really, but, it is more noticeably lacking in our defensive areas.

Canavan will, to a degree, bring some more organisation, and some physical presence to us but, we need others to step up and act as leaders elsewhere without wearing the armband.

 

[WoodsyGreen]

We should be careful of hailing Canavan as the answer to our defensive issues. Yes he seemed to shore up the backline when he came on, and yes he scored, but Wimbledon were 4-2 up when he came on and sitting back on their lead.

That said, it'll be a big surprise if he isn't in the team on Saturday. Wootton, as I've been saying almost since we signed him, needs to be put out to pasture.

 

[Koala Green]

We have conceded 7 goals in the last 5 days and it seems that a lot of supporters appear to be questioning our young keeper.

I suggest that, if we analyse those goals, none can be directly attributable to mistakes by Mike Cooper.

Certainly, most can be blamed on defensive mistakes and Mike is part of our defence but, when analysing the mistakes, I am sure that Wootton, Aimson and Watts would accept blame for at least 3 of the goals conceded and 3 of the others were caused by forwards or midfielders trying, not very successfully, to help out in defence.

As far as the direct free kick is concerned, a wall is set up to block one side of the goal leaving the keeper to control the the other side. It was an excellent well directed free kick but only one defender in the block jumped to try to divert the free kick.

Many Premier League keepers would not have stopped that shot.

I think this is a good point about analysing what led up to or contributed to the goals. Defending is all about defending as a team and everyone knowing their role in the tr Looking at the extended highlights again now. Worth looking at the following:

Cooper Goal - Nouble was criticised for his first half performance but his strength holding off 3 players and shot won the Corner that Cooper scored from. No big Frank, no corner, no goal.

Wimbledon 1-1 - Free Kick needlessly given away by sliding tackle by Mayor in a dangerous area. Wotton, Watts and Nouble all get each others way and its poor defending.

Grant goal - Watching this again, the approach play was simply superb Mayor, Cooper and Macleod played it perfectly from deep. Grant ran 40 yards, Edwards overlapped Nouble ran into middle..real team goal.

Wimbledon 2-2- Another poor goal. Initially Cooper was beaten too easily for the first cross, then Edwards allowed the cross tom come in and then Aimson allowed the striker to beat him at the near post. Very poor defending from 3 players there.

3-2 Wimbledon - As mentioned bad challenge from Grant but prior tot hat Edwards allowed a dangerous cross fizz across the area and then Cooper should have cleared it too.

4-2 Wimbledon - Aimson just had a brain fade and you cannot legislate for that.

4-3 - Mayor wins the corner and a lovely assist from Macleod

4-4 - Another superb team goal, I recommend you watch it back. Watts to Cooper lovely dink into Nouble who holds if off puts in reverse pass to Moore across the face of goal, Cooper recycles to Grant who produces a superb cross for Telford.

What I did notice is actually how poor the Wimbledon (Birmingham loan ) keeper was. I agree Cooper could have positioned the wall and himself better and improved his near post coverage for the second, but he did ok. However from looking at the goals you can see how Cooper was instrumental in the build up for at least 3 goals but his poor defending contributed to two of their goals. Aimson and Edwards also did not cover themselves in glory. Nouble was also key in two goals we scored (Grant and Telford) but with Watts and Wotton messed up on their first.

It looks to me like lots of small individual errors are contributing to the goals. The positive from this is that it is early in the season, it is far easier to work on fixing defending than trying to become more creative to score goals. We have goals coming from all over the pitch. A bit of defence drill work over the next few weeks should help improve the team defending as whole

 

[Devongreenowl]

Just watched the goals back again and Cooper doesn’t cover himself in glory for at least two of them, including the free kick. The scorer does pick his spot well, but not before Cooper takes up a position far to close to the opposite post. He should have been about a yard further to his right and he also seems to Plant his feet just as the player strikes the ball. Not sure of the wall placement either, which is Cooper's responsibility but to be fair, it’s hard to tell with the Sky footage I’ve seen.

Clearly the back three haven’t played well as a unit and maybe we won’t see Wootton in there for a while now, although by all reports the Newcastle lad isn’t pulling up trees. For me, Wootton looked dodgy for much of last season, so I never expected much from him a league higher.

Ryan Lowe has to sort it out because we are clearly conceding too many goals, but to be fair this back three are still bedding in as Aimson barely figured last season. Watts seems to be struggling according to some too. Obviously we conceded within minutes of Canavan coming on, so it’s hard to argue that he shored things up either. Huge plus points for the way they kept battling and I don’t think many of us would have predicted a draw after we went 4-2 down, but we almost nicked a winner at the death. Think it’ll be a nail biting ride this season!

 

[Devongreenowl]

We should be careful of hailing Canavan as the answer to our defensive issues. Yes he seemed to shore up the backline when he came on, and yes he scored, but Wimbledon were 4-2 up when he came on and sitting back on their lead.

That said, it'll be a big surprise if he isn't in the team on Saturday. Wootton, as I've been saying almost since we signed him, needs to be put out to pasture.

I think you’ll find they were 3-2 up when he came on and they scored 3 minutes later unless I’m mistaken Woodsy.

 

[cheshiregreen]

We should be careful of hailing Canavan as the answer to our defensive issues. Yes he seemed to shore up the backline when he came on, and yes he scored, but Wimbledon were 4-2 up when he came on and sitting back on their lead.

That said, it'll be a big surprise if he isn't in the team on Saturday. Wootton, as I've been saying almost since we signed him, needs to be put out to pasture.

I think you’ll find they were 3-2 up when he came on and they scored 3 minutes later unless I’m mistaken Woodsy.

Not sure on timings, but, NC was on for their 4th. Watched extended highlights back, was sure that Hardie chance came at 2-1 not at 2-2 but there was a lot going on.

Area not discussed so much is our front pairing. Personally, at the time, thought RL got it wrong by leaving Nouble on and not Hardie, but Frank suddenly became influential. Well done gaffer. Not sure Nouble and Hardie is our best partnership.

Will Hardie be starting on bench more than in starting eleven like last season?

 

[Devongreenowl]

How long is Jeph out for??

 

[PL2 3DQ]

It's interesting that five of Hardie's seven goals last season came as a substitute.
His overall Argyle record is five goals from nine substitute appearances and two goals when starting eight games.
Five of his goals have been scored from the 75th minute onwards, four were scored in the last five minutes plus injury time in games.

So perhaps he's better used as a late sub when opposition defences are tiring but that seems a waste of a signing.

 

[Quintrell Green]

How long is Jeph out for??

Good question. I would have expected some indication from questions at last Thursday's press conference.

 

[GreenThing]

It's interesting that five of Hardie's seven goals last season came as a substitute.
His overall Argyle record is five goals from nine substitute appearances and two goals when starting eight games.
Five of his goals have been scored from the 75th minute onwards, four were scored in the last five minutes plus injury time in games.

So perhaps he's better used as a late sub when opposition defences are tiring but that seems a waste of a signing.

Not necessarily a waste of a signing. If Hardie has to be fresh off the bench to do damage against a tiring defence and he scores 20 goals a season without a start, job done.

 

[Lobster]

We have conceded 7 goals in the last 5 days and it seems that a lot of supporters appear to be questioning our young keeper.

I suggest that, if we analyse those goals, none can be directly attributable to mistakes by Mike Cooper.

Certainly, most can be blamed on defensive mistakes and Mike is part of our defence but, when analysing the mistakes, I am sure that Wootton, Aimson and Watts would accept blame for at least 3 of the goals conceded and 3 of the others were caused by forwards or midfielders trying, not very successfully, to help out in defence.

As far as the direct free kick is concerned, a wall is set up to block one side of the goal leaving the keeper to control the the other side. It was an excellent well directed free kick but only one defender in the block jumped to try to divert the free kick.

Many Premier League keepers would not have stopped that shot.

I think this is a good point about analysing what led up to or contributed to the goals. Defending is all about defending as a team and everyone knowing their role in the tr Looking at the extended highlights again now. Worth looking at the following:

Cooper Goal - Nouble was criticised for his first half performance but his strength holding off 3 players and shot won the Corner that Cooper scored from. No big Frank, no corner, no goal.

Wimbledon 1-1 - Free Kick needlessly given away by sliding tackle by Mayor in a dangerous area. Wotton, Watts and Nouble all get each others way and its poor defending.

Grant goal - Watching this again, the approach play was simply superb Mayor, Cooper and Macleod played it perfectly from deep. Grant ran 40 yards, Edwards overlapped Nouble ran into middle..real team goal.

Wimbledon 2-2- Another poor goal. Initially Cooper was beaten too easily for the first cross, then Edwards allowed the cross tom come in and then Aimson allowed the striker to beat him at the near post. Very poor defending from 3 players there.

3-2 Wimbledon - As mentioned bad challenge from Grant but prior tot hat Edwards allowed a dangerous cross fizz across the area and then Cooper should have cleared it too.

4-2 Wimbledon - Aimson just had a brain fade and you cannot legislate for that.

4-3 - Mayor wins the corner and a lovely assist from Macleod

4-4 - Another superb team goal, I recommend you watch it back. Watts to Cooper lovely dink into Nouble who holds if off puts in reverse pass to Moore across the face of goal, Cooper recycles to Grant who produces a superb cross for Telford.

What I did notice is actually how poor the Wimbledon (Birmingham loan ) keeper was. I agree Cooper could have positioned the wall and himself better and improved his near post coverage for the second, but he did ok. However from looking at the goals you can see how Cooper was instrumental in the build up for at least 3 goals but his poor defending contributed to two of their goals. Aimson and Edwards also did not cover themselves in glory. Nouble was also key in two goals we scored (Grant and Telford) but with Watts and Wotton messed up on their first.

It looks to me like lots of small individual errors are contributing to the goals. The positive from this is that it is early in the season, it is far easier to work on fixing defending than trying to become more creative to score goals. We have goals coming from all over the pitch. A bit of defence drill work over the next few weeks should help improve the team defending as whole

Good, balanced post. It was not a good performance, but there were a number of small contributing reasons and there's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Nouble was the scapegoat on here during the match, but he was instrumental in two of our goals.

Cooper is either the messiah or a very naughty boy - he wasn't as good as all the hype against Blackpool, and he wasn't as bad as all the criticism yesterday.

Moore has looked back up to speed this week and I think will come back in.

Will be interesting to see what Lowe does with Wootton/Canavan. Wootton wasn't awful yesterday, but I've always preferred Canavan in that role, and hopefully he gets the nod from now on.

 

[WoodsyGreen]

We should be careful of hailing Canavan as the answer to our defensive issues. Yes he seemed to shore up the backline when he came on, and yes he scored, but Wimbledon were 4-2 up when he came on and sitting back on their lead.

That said, it'll be a big surprise if he isn't in the team on Saturday. Wootton, as I've been saying almost since we signed him, needs to be put out to pasture.

I think you’ll find they were 3-2 up when he came on and they scored 3 minutes later unless I’m mistaken Woodsy.

Yep, right you are.

I think my basic point still holds, though, that Wimbledon sat back after their fourth, giving our Keystone Cops less to do.