MATCHWATCH : AFC Wimbledon (h)

[Hound]

We played like strangers. Wimbledon played like a team. They deserved to win.

We're not just suffering because of not having a striker. We're also shipping two goals per game.

It's all so disconnected - no fluency, because they don't seem to know what the others are doing.

Don't know what happened to BBCRB, but they had three callers in a row who all knew what they were talking about and made good, insightful comments. Tim actually sounded a bit annoyed at having callers making good points he couldn't dismiss.

We're close to be a decent side, but with some glaring problems. Let's hope Hunt and his team can sort them out soon.

We do have strikers. Kelvin can do it, MoM obviously not shown a lot but that’s what he was brought in to be

It’s the fact we still play like it’s Sam Smith up top with Knibbs picking up the second ball. And we no longer have either

[Hound]

Honestly - it's the sort of performance I'm expecting right now. Fans massively underestimate the impact of wholesale squad changes. Replacing one player with a similar quality doesn't mean that you have the same strength team.

We're going to stumble through this month and next before picking up in October. If we're not out of the relegation zone by November then i'll start to get worried. Not before.

I’m not worried particularly. We’ve some quality in the side and at times we look really good

But every loss is making it less likely we’ll challenge this season and tbh Hunt doesn’t really seem to know what he’s trying to do to me. Chopping and changing every game, esp up front. That was a performance that will put him under a lot of pressure already

Yeah, maybe he doesn't. But what if this is a career where you need 4-5 years to learn the job?

Maybe it does - but he won’t be given that time to learn it

[Extended-Phenotype]

Got give em a bit of grace for being a new team, and Hunt still finding the right way to play them. Though obvious eyebrows raised at Garcia on the wing, Wing and Fraser the wrong way around and Doyle on the bench. Can kinda forgive playing Kelvin upfront when we currently lack options there, but yeah - we seriously need actual strikers to complete the puzzle; perhaps that’s all it will take, along with a bit of time and a bit of rejigging in the middle.

It’s early days, still time to find the missing pieces and when it clicks it clicks. But we really don’t want the pressure of many more defeats weighing heavily on such a new group. Unfortunately the slack many fans afforded to the Reading of last year based on our ownership and financial crisis isn’t there anymore and expectations will be higher, with excuses being fewer. I think Hunt will always be chasing approval due to his humble origins and lack of pedigree, so he really needs to get stuff like substitutions right - trying stuff that doesn’t work is tolerable. Not fixing it when you have the opportunity to do so isn’t going to win him a lot of support.

Not panicking yet! Disappointed but it’s only three games and I think there are enough signs that a decent team is in there somewhere! If Hunt reacts in the right way, has a bit of a rethink, and hopefully gets the striker he needs, I’m sure he can turn it around. If he preserves with this setup - hmm. Maybe my confidence will be shaken…

[Gunny Fishcake]

Those who go and actually watch the team and not from a keyboard , will know it's abundantly clear we are really struggling as a team. The confidence is all ready very low and looking at the body language today we're in for a very tough season . Take Wing out of the team and I really don't know how we'll cope .

Yes we've lost most of last seasons team , but we've still signed professional players and I'm afraid so far they don't look very good

With two very hard away games this week Hunt is going to come under severe pressure if we don't get anything , whether that's fair or not .

I'll be at Wycombe next Saturday and hope to see a massive improvement on todays very poor performance, it not the sword of Damocles will be hovering

[West F]

They can’t afford to sack him. So don’t worry about that. Someone gave him a three year deal. I think his answer to the question posed by James Earnshaw about his tactical decision in selection says it all really. The truth is that Noel was perfect for keeping Rueben’s team and tactics the same. Changing nothing because he couldn’t. What we see now is Noel’s tactical vision with his own players. I don’t know what that tactical vision is. I don’t know what sort of goals it is that we are trying to score. I understand that he needs to play Crawley guy, because he had to justify signing him. But he is not good enough to bench Elliot and Doyle, when we are home against a league two side, simply because he ‘ Thinks’ “it is going to be a second ball game”. If you can’t see and feel what is wrong with this mindset, I cannot help you.

[Hound]

Did notice Kelvin looked particularly animated and annoyed at times today including coming over to the bench a few times

My guess was irritation with the endless long balls up to him but could have been something less obvious

[West F]

Got give em a bit of grace for being a new team, and Hunt still finding the right way to play them. Though obvious eyebrows raised at Garcia on the wing, Wing and Fraser the wrong way around and Doyle on the bench. Can kinda forgive playing Kelvin upfront when we currently lack options there, but yeah - we seriously need actual strikers to complete the puzzle; perhaps that’s all it will take, along with a bit of time and a bit of rejigging in the middle.

It’s early days, still time to find the missing pieces and when it clicks it clicks. But we really don’t want the pressure of many more defeats weighing heavily on such a new group. Unfortunately the slack many fans afforded to the Reading of last year based on our ownership and financial crisis isn’t there anymore and expectations will be higher, with excuses being fewer. I think Hunt will always be chasing approval due to his humble origins and lack of pedigree, so he really needs to get stuff like substitutions right - trying stuff that doesn’t work is tolerable. Not fixing it when you have the opportunity to do so isn’t going to win him a lot of support.

Not panicking yet! Disappointed but it’s only three games and I think there are enough signs that a decent team is in there somewhere! If Hunt reacts in the right way, has a bit of a rethink, and hopefully gets the striker he needs, I’m sure he can turn it around. If he preserves with this setup - hmm. Maybe my confidence will be shaken…

If he preserves with this team and these tactics, it would be the most gash jam ever created. This game is remorseless. It will find you out eventually. Whether that is on the pitch or in the dugout. It will find you out.

[The Cap]

With all the dialogue around Hunty getting his P45, I honestly think that if it got to a point whereby he thought there was somebody else out there who could do a better job, he would more than likely stepped down anyway. He's clearly a man of integrity and has the club in his heart. Plus he would no doubt have had those convos with JJ and the owners, should that time ever arrive. Hopefully it won't.

[Esteban]

Notwithstanding all the points already made, it seems that after 2 seasons, we still haven't learned how to play League 1 type football yet. We always struggle against well drilled, physical, direct teams. We can't play that way and we don't know how to counteract it.

[Jackson Corner]

At the start of last season we had two of the best centre backs in the division. We had cox Knibbs Azezz. Compare that to there replacements. Free transfers and loans.

[windermereROYAL]

And the 8 second rule that keepers can keep hold of the ball worked very well today. Also the cheating toad that went down holding his face in the 92nd minute with nobody near him, why are the refs so damn useless in this league?

[Carlos]

I'm truly amazed that people can find positives in three defeats in a row, and zero goal threat (other than a 'wonderkid' missing an open goal). Regardless of the overhaul in the summer this is AFC Wimbledon. I met an AFC Wimbledon fan after their semi final win in the playoffs and he was living the dream just being in the playoffs. And yet some of you on here are able to justify three defeats in a row! We still have wing, savage, Garcia, Kelvin all from last season and we before the 84th minute we'd had 0 shots on target, that is simply not acceptable.

Hunt is out of his depth, to not play Elliot and Doyle was criminal and I can't for the life of me work out his tactics! Is long ball hoping something would fall for us? I still think he deserves a chance but coming out after the game saying we deserved thing makes me question his sanity. We need at least a draw on Tuesday, I really hope all you optimists are right but if not this time in a week we may well have five lost five and it'll then be interesting to see where the optimists are then.

[tmesis]

And the 8 second rule that keepers can keep hold of the ball worked very well today. Also the cheating toad that went down holding his face in the 92nd minute with nobody near him, why are the refs so damn useless in this league?

Him, and the physio timewasting too, refusing to leave the pitch. Even their players were having a go at him.

One of the strangest decisions was the lino giving a goal kick when a rolling ball stopped 3/4 over the line and didn't go any further.

Overall, just frustrating. We don't look a bad side until it gets to the box, then we just have no idea what to do. It could be something that will work itself out when the players have time to work out how each other play, because there's promise there, but the risk is morale will slump, the idiots who think booing the players will motivate them will be out in force, and it could be a horrible few months.

It reminds me a bit of the 1999/2000 season, where it took spending on quality to get us out of a rut.

[leon]

Got give em a bit of grace for being a new team, and Hunt still finding the right way to play them. Though obvious eyebrows raised at Garcia on the wing, Wing and Fraser the wrong way around and Doyle on the bench. Can kinda forgive playing Kelvin upfront when we currently lack options there, but yeah - we seriously need actual strikers to complete the puzzle; perhaps that’s all it will take, along with a bit of time and a bit of rejigging in the middle.

It’s early days, still time to find the missing pieces and when it clicks it clicks. But we really don’t want the pressure of many more defeats weighing heavily on such a new group. Unfortunately the slack many fans afforded to the Reading of last year based on our ownership and financial crisis isn’t there anymore and expectations will be higher, with excuses being fewer. I think Hunt will always be chasing approval due to his humble origins and lack of pedigree, so he really needs to get stuff like substitutions right - trying stuff that doesn’t work is tolerable. Not fixing it when you have the opportunity to do so isn’t going to win him a lot of support.

Not panicking yet! Disappointed but it’s only three games and I think there are enough signs that a decent team is in there somewhere! If Hunt reacts in the right way, has a bit of a rethink, and hopefully gets the striker he needs, I’m sure he can turn it around. If he preserves with this setup - hmm. Maybe my confidence will be shaken…

If he preserves with this team and these tactics, it would be the most gash jam ever created. This game is remorseless. It will find you out eventually. Whether that is on the pitch or in the dugout. It will find you out.

WTAF does any of this mean?

[bakerlou]

Got give em a bit of grace for being a new team, and Hunt still finding the right way to play them. Though obvious eyebrows raised at Garcia on the wing, Wing and Fraser the wrong way around and Doyle on the bench. Can kinda forgive playing Kelvin upfront when we currently lack options there, but yeah - we seriously need actual strikers to complete the puzzle; perhaps that’s all it will take, along with a bit of time and a bit of rejigging in the middle.

It’s early days, still time to find the missing pieces and when it clicks it clicks. But we really don’t want the pressure of many more defeats weighing heavily on such a new group. Unfortunately the slack many fans afforded to the Reading of last year based on our ownership and financial crisis isn’t there anymore and expectations will be higher, with excuses being fewer. I think Hunt will always be chasing approval due to his humble origins and lack of pedigree, so he really needs to get stuff like substitutions right - trying stuff that doesn’t work is tolerable. Not fixing it when you have the opportunity to do so isn’t going to win him a lot of support.

Not panicking yet! Disappointed but it’s only three games and I think there are enough signs that a decent team is in there somewhere! If Hunt reacts in the right way, has a bit of a rethink, and hopefully gets the striker he needs, I’m sure he can turn it around. If he preserves with this setup - hmm. Maybe my confidence will be shaken…

If he preserves with this team and these tactics, it would be the most gash jam ever created. This game is remorseless. It will find you out eventually. Whether that is on the pitch or in the dugout. It will find you out.

WTAF does any of this mean?

I don't know what gash jam is exactly, but it sounds like it might be nice on toast

[West F]

Notwithstanding all the points already made, it seems that after 2 seasons, we still haven't learned how to play League 1 type football yet. We always struggle against well drilled, physical, direct teams. We can't play that way and we don't know how to counteract it.

It is very difficult to counteract. That is why they do it. We are a team who have a lot of our own academy products, and other top level academy products in it. They have been coached from a young age to play a technical possession based game against a team playing in a similar fashion. In this division, there are few league two outfits. They are drilled from necessity, to play a more direct style. They will sit in and be defensively organised and look to go front to back quickly. We are often higher up the pitch with space in behind for balls to be hit either up to a front player. Or a ball down the channels. They are percentage balls, or 50/50 fight balls. It can result in set plays, where their physicality can be a major issue.
In this division, with our more technical DNA. We have to play what are in essence, about 30 third round FA cup ties a season.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

With all the dialogue around Hunty getting his P45, I honestly think that if it got to a point whereby he thought there was somebody else out there who could do a better job, he would more than likely stepped down anyway. He's clearly a man of integrity and has the club in his heart. Plus he would no doubt have had those convos with JJ and the owners, should that time ever arrive. Hopefully it won't.

You really believe this?

[Royal_jimmy]

Booing always helps new team of youngsters improve. Top work.

It's senior football and we're losing at home to relegation favourites. Get used to the pressure.

I wasn't there but I can't say I blame anyone for booing. We've looked flat all season and clearly well short of our best. The players and manager are due some criticism for the start even if we are a couple of players short.

[72 bus]

With all the dialogue around Hunty getting his P45, I honestly think that if it got to a point whereby he thought there was somebody else out there who could do a better job, he would more than likely stepped down anyway. He's clearly a man of integrity and has the club in his heart. Plus he would no doubt have had those convos with JJ and the owners, should that time ever arrive. Hopefully it won't.

With a three year contract to be paid up, nice bloke with the club in his heart but he's not that daft.

[The Cap]

With all the dialogue around Hunty getting his P45, I honestly think that if it got to a point whereby he thought there was somebody else out there who could do a better job, he would more than likely stepped down anyway. He's clearly a man of integrity and has the club in his heart. Plus he would no doubt have had those convos with JJ and the owners, should that time ever arrive. Hopefully it won't.

You really believe this?

Yes I do and particularly if it was for the betterment of the club. Although, as I concluded, hopefully that time will never arrive.