The Lounge

[Windlesham Don]

Wow! I can’t believe it – it looks like 4-3-3 with just Appiah in place of the ill Pigott different from my wish.

If we lose 5-0 then it is all my fault!

COYD!!!

[Singapore Don]

Resignation. No not Neal’s. Mine, to the ongoing woes and ineptitude scarring our Dons world. It’s really sad, but I’ve slightly given up on the hope now. We all know it only kills you, and enough is enough. I didn’t go to Blackpool, thank goodness, so can’t comment beyond saying that from the stats and radio commentary we demonstrated again that we are simply not very good, as a team or individuals. We can’t score, and don’t have anyone who looks like scoring in any sort of regular basis. We lack quality and ability up front. And as has been said before we have no leaders. No characters, motivators, no one to shout and cajole and encourage and lead by example to get us out of this deep malaise . On this score, we really are missing the likes of Fuller, Taylor, Charles, Akinfenwa. We are rudderless on the field as much as we are poorly directed off the field. Sorry times indeed. But I’ll still be in Bristol on Tuesday night, dutifully still the Dons fan, resigned to not a lot and therefore no hopes to be dashed. Expectation levels are now zero. Is this rock bottom?

[Singapore Don]

PS The other big downer from yesterday is that Plan B failed. Windy’s and many of ours calls for team changes including dropping Trotter failed to deliver. It was same old, same old. Is there a Plan C?!

[Windlesham Don]

Having changed the line up and found no more heart, nor desire than has been shown all season, I believe that two poor results this week, at Bristol and at home to Luton, will see the manager depart.

The same comments can be made for yesterday as for many matches this season. Once again we gave away an appalling goal after 6 minutes, and from there confident was shot. McDonnell is a Conference standard keeper in my opinion, but at the moment the choice is him or an error prone loanee with his confidence shot – some choice!

Up front we had 16 shots and 7 on target, but the Blackpool keeper didn’t have to stretch himself – we desperately need some goals, but shooting straight at the keeper is not going to get that done. Sadly, Appiah seems to be the chief culprit in this regard.

We are utter cannon fodder for an F A Cup minnow in the 1st round draw tomorrow, so our only chance may be to be drawn away to a minnow and pick up some TV money, along with a humiliating defeat.

We need cash for the January window, as the squad as it stands is only heading one way…

PS – An interesting stat about the relative luck of the teams down the bottom – Gillingham (who we beat so the must be bad) played at Doncaster yesterday, Donny had 32 shots and Gillingham had 3. The result, a 3-3 draw, including a 30 yard volley for the Gills from one Barry Fuller! How’s your luck?!

[Windlesham Don]

Best of luck to Singapore and all the other travelling supporters tonight. I hope your faith is finally repaid by the squad and management and we can bring back something to give us some hope ahead of Saturday’s visit of Luton…

Obviously, I trust that we will also have some scouts at the Corinthian Casuals v Haringey Borough fixture to have a look at our FA Cup opponents!

COYDs!!

[onyadon]

Think it’s now a matter of when not if Neal Ardley is replaced as manager after yet another horrible yet predictable result to fellow relegation rivals Bristol Rovers. There were reports of a tearful Ardley after the match, heightening speculation that he was about to quit, but a subsequent interview on BBC London didn’t back that up. Basically, it was another template defeat: conceding a soft goal off a corner, chasing the game while missing countless chances. How many times has that been the case this season? So it’s five straight defeats for the first time since Nov 2011 to Jan 2012 and it’s just six wins in their last 28 league games.The Dons are the lowest scorers in L1 with just 10 goals in 15 games. Despite the ritual talking up of the team’s preparations before each game — Simon Bassey was the latest one prior to the Rovers games — Wimbledon continue on their own downward trajectory. The Dons are now 22nd with 11 points (four points less than this stage last season). Ardley appears to have run out of ideas to rouse his team out of their apparent terminal slump. When a manager continues to bemoan his team’s miserable luck with no obvious likelihood of a turnaround, it is simply better to call time. The Dons have 31 games left to save their season. It doesn’t appear Ardley is that man to trigger a revival. The home game against high-flying Luton Town may be his last game or barring that the following week’s home game against Shrewsbury Town might be the opportunity to give Ardley a respectful and dignified farewell by the supporters given his six years with the club. I think it is more likely that more defeats will force Ardley’s hand to resign rather than the club terminating his services. The clean break will enable a chance for a caretaker (Mark Robinson or Alan Reeves) to allow the club to headhunt an experienced full-time manager to assess the available talent, shop around in the January transfer window in a bid to save the Dons season. There are just too many players not performing to the requisite standard under Ardley at this stage. It could be that the current squad is just not good enough to stay in L1. I will not be trashing what Ardley has done for Wimbledon, but it’s not plainly working and it is time to bite the bullet and head in a new direction.

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