After a deeply depressing day at Stadium: mk, we reflect on how much can change in football within seven days in this weeks’ Midweek Review...
Just a week ago we were sailing happily through the opening waves of the season with both Cheltenham Town and Millwall put to the sword and a good tie at Bolton drawn out of the Carlin Cup hat. Just a week later and we’ve lost a derby, a defender and a hell of a lot of pride.
It wasn’t just the defeat at the Dons that was upsetting but the entire feel of the place. It’s like MK Dons have killed football and thrown it away so it can make way for a new corporate entertainment system. Stadium: mk had all the atmosphere of a theatre and they can’t have know what had hit them when some fans, i.e. the Cobblers 3,000 strong army, started making noise.
Of course that didn’t last for long as we put in one of our most soulless performances in recent years to match the general atmosphere of the stadium. The players quite simply didn’t turn up. Constantine was wandering about behind Bayo when he should have been in front of him, Gilligan was the only one actually trying to make some movement and Jason Crowe had one of his worst showings for a very long time.
Whether or not the goal was in or not doesn’t matter in the slightest- we didn’t deserve a thing out of the game. The right winger had sent in a few warning crosses and it was no surprise when he crossed for the goal. Just after that, our shape was changed and Jackman went to left-back. About ten minutes too late, Mr Gray.
Gray has promised changes for this Saturday’s home game with Millwall but it’s going to take some effort to erase the memories of the Dons defeat. I expect Coke and Osman to start while Larkin could get one of the forward roles.
Gabor Gyepes left Sixfields yesterday to join Championship side Cardiff and he goes with the club’s best wishes. Gyepes was outstanding at the end of last season and is certainly a Championship level player. We just have to hope that the release fee was substantial enough for Gray to be able to spend some money in the transfer window now.
The Cobblers will always fall to these sorts of things and we just cannot help it if we have a good player and a Championship side comes calling. Jason Crowe snubbed Plymouth of course but we don’t stand a chance when big money is offered to our better players. Northampton Town is simply not a big enough draw for anyone choosing between life in the Championship and with the Cobblers.
Mark Bunn is still undecided on his future and we can’t afford to let him stall for much longer. His value is going down all the time with under a year left on his contract and he could ridiculously walk away on a free transfer next summer. We simply cannot afford to let that happen and everything must be done to keep him under contract.
Millwall visit this weekend with the Cobblers shaken from this week’s events so it’s looking like a very tricky encounter. We could really have done with an away game this week to ease a little pressure off the players because should we start badly against the Lions the team could face a Dons backlash.
But looking more positively and we now must bolster the squad in the transfer window or look for loans because we still have a quality backbone of a starting eleven. We must no refocus and start turning the season back around the right way, the way it was going last week.
It’s never dull with the Cobblers at least and maybe next week we’ll have all forgotten the awful performance at Plastic Land. Maybe.
Up The Cobblers!
Danny
No comments:
Post a Comment