00:00Looking forward to the game. Another tough game. Stronger position. I think they've actually had a really good start to the season unbeaten.
00:10A little bit like MK, they don't give up many chances, so defensively really strong, albeit they have conceded a few goals but they have not conceded loads.
00:21But in actual fact their XG against is really low, so they don't give you many chances, so defensively really strong.
00:29And of course attacking wise they're averaging two goals a game, so they've got goals in their team, they've got two strong wide players.
00:38They've got a willing centre forward who's a strong runner and is willing to work hard and press for the team.
00:47And they've got, you know, experienced players in the middle of the pitch and good players in the middle of the pitch as well.
00:52It's going to be a tough game. Like I say, they're in a good moment at the moment based on the fact that they've had a really good positive start to the season.
01:00So it's always tough to play against a team who are confident, but certainly after Tuesday night's performance we're confident too, so we're looking forward to the game.
01:09Yeah, as much as we wanted to win on Tuesday night, the performance was much improved.
01:13It must give the players a great deal of confidence and I can imagine the feeling in the training ground today was a good one.
01:17Yeah, it felt great today in the training ground. You could tell the atmosphere was just different this morning than it has been.
01:25And it just goes to show what a good performance can do and even though we didn't win the game, but the players know, you know, the players know.
01:34And I think I've always been a manager that goes after the performance. Performance is a key and that will, if we get that right, we'll win games.
01:43And I think the players know that. And we were good. We were good Tuesday night and probably deserve maybe to win that game.
01:52And yeah, listen, we can only use that as a vehicle to move us forward now and to gain confidence from because, you know, before a ball was kicked, everyone backs MK Dons to probably win the division by Easter.
02:08You know, you know, and, you know, with the recruitment they've done and the players they've currently got as well, they will definitely be in and around it.
02:19And the fact that we, you know, played in the manner that we played in the game, I think that we can we can be really encouraged by.
02:28Yeah, it was a real tireless game as we spoke about both sides going at it. Both managers described it as that as well.
02:33Must have had an impact on the players. I'm not sure what the running stats were like, but I can imagine they were fairly high.
02:38Have the players sort of come through it? And, you know, is there going to be sort of any ones that we need to look at ahead of the weekend?
02:43Yeah, they've come through it fine. You know, we had three different groups today in training. Some kind of had modified training.
02:50Some did the full session. Some kind of did a recovery session.
02:53So it's important that we get that detail right. And that means that we'll get more out of them come the next Saturday or the next game.
03:02So it's important that we get that right. We feel we've done that.
03:06We've got obviously another training session to get through tomorrow to put in the coaching detail about how we want to attack this game on Saturday.
03:14And then we look forward to the game at the weekend.
03:16Yeah, it seems that we're slowly reducing the numbers in the medical room, which is obviously good news.
03:20Is there anyone that's sort of likely to come back at the weekend? Have we sort of gained anyone?
03:23Well, you're saying reduce the numbers. We've actually added one. So Jay Williams is going to add to that list now.
03:31Is there anybody coming back? Harry Forster is a potential, maybe, for the weekend.
03:40And I think that's about it for now.
03:41So, yeah, we've just been a little bit unlucky with the numbers in the treatment room at the moment.
03:48So, yeah, we probably are a little bit light at the moment.
03:53Yeah. And obviously we spoke about the atmosphere on Tuesday night, especially the second half.
03:58You know, fans had finally seen some football that they felt they could get behind.
04:02How much of an impact can that have on Saturday?
04:05Because we're going to need that from minute one, not just obviously the second half.
04:07I thought, I think you're right. I think, well, I think you're wrong in one aspect.
04:11I think you're wrong in the fact that the supporters can finally see something.
04:14I actually think that we've done all right in all the games apart from Grimsby.
04:18So I'll probably disagree with that comment.
04:20However, the fans were really good Tuesday night.
04:22I thought it was a really good atmosphere in the stadium.
04:26You know, I thought in both sets of fans, to be fair, but our lot were brilliant.
04:29You know, they were singing all the way through.
04:31They really got behind the lads.
04:32And when I walked out, they were brilliant as well.
04:34And we give them something to sing about, like you say, for sure.
04:38I do think that we've performed probably, and to add to it all, we've had some tough games, right?
04:43We've had Grimsby away.
04:44We did perform in that game.
04:45I'll be the first to admit it.
04:46We were terrible in that game.
04:49Newport at home, I thought we deserved to win that game, had we have taken our chances.
04:55Crew away, again, probably deserved a point out of that.
04:59In reflection, we probably should be looking at five points on the board at the moment, in my opinion.
05:04We've not, we've got one.
05:06And we wipe our mouth, move on and get on to the next one.
05:09I think that, I think the fans have been amazing.
05:14It's an even cruel way when we lose the game 1-0, we're coming off the pitch.
05:18They're, you know, they're singing, singing the, you know, the songs and they're clapping the players.
05:23And rightly so, because I think that they can see that the players are having a right go.
05:28And even in the closing stages of the crew game, we had a right go.
05:32And I felt that we probably deserved something from that game.
05:35But certainly Tuesday night, it was a brilliant, brilliant atmosphere.
05:37Great game to be involved in, actually.
05:39Mark.
05:40Brilliant.
05:40I wanted to start off with Addy.
05:42I know you praised him on Tuesday night.
05:45I was there, I think it was East Grinstead, in a pre-season friendly when he was on trial.
05:49And I spoke to him about him after and he said, this kid's going to be special.
05:52How do you assess how far he's come since when you first signed him?
05:57And what kind of player has he developed into for you?
06:00Yeah, I think he's grown as a player, definitely.
06:03And as a person, I think that he's become a better professional.
06:07I think he does his work better than he used to.
06:10I think he lives better.
06:13And I think we're starting to see a player with, who's capable of churning out performances time and time again.
06:22Now, I don't think we had that.
06:24Certainly, certainly when he first come in and probably spells of last season as well, where maybe there was a bit of inconsistency within his performances.
06:33One minute he'd be, you know, he'd be tip top and the next minute he'd be a little bit loose with his play.
06:39So I think in the games that he's played this season, I think that we've seen somebody who's churned out kind of good performance after good performance.
06:50And he seems to have that little bit of continuity about his performances.
06:56So, yeah, I think he's grown up.
06:58I think he's a better pro than he probably was when he first came in.
07:01He's learned how to be a good professional.
07:03And I think we're seeing the fruits of that now.
07:05He's potentially been our, or arguably been our best player.
07:11He caused the full-back, I think the full-back come off.
07:15I don't know if he'd come off with an injury or with an headache.
07:17But he certainly caused him an headache with twisted him up a few times and put some brilliant balls into the box.
07:24And he's so quick, so powerful.
07:27And, you know, he doesn't really need to do anything with his feet skill-wise.
07:34He just needs to push the ball past them because they're not catching him.
07:37And you saw that on Tuesday night.
07:39And, yeah, I think he's been amazing.
07:40I think he's had a great start to the season.
07:43Cool.
07:43And this is a comment I saw on Facebook.
07:46Never mind possession, formation, pivots, etc.
07:49Just give it to Dixon.
07:50Every time he got the ball, it felt like something would happen.
07:52How impressed are you how quickly he settled in to this side?
07:55That's my team talk.
07:58Yeah.
07:59He's been great.
08:00He's been great.
08:02He's so kind of like naive in loads of ways, but in a good way, if that makes sense.
08:10You know, he's innocent with the way he plays.
08:12I think it's almost like he's playing in a park with his mates.
08:16It feels like he's free.
08:17And he's certainly playing that way.
08:18There's a couple of really great moments of the night, wasn't there?
08:21You know, where he drove us up the pitch.
08:24And I remember one action where he pirouetted in the middle of the pitch
08:28and got away from Liam Kelly.
08:29And Liam Kelly brought him down, I think it was just before Dion's free kick.
08:32Right.
08:32He had a good shot.
08:35He should have probably potentially scored in the second half
08:37when he played the ball wide to Harry McCurdy
08:40and then followed his run on.
08:41Harry pulled it back.
08:43Their defender did well, actually, in the action.
08:45But I think he should have scored.
08:46And looking back at it now, I think he's disappointed that he didn't.
08:50But he's going to create goals and he's going to score goals.
08:52You can see that.
08:53But I love working with him.
08:54He's always got a smile on his face.
08:55He's a great kid.
08:58And, yeah, he looks like he's just enjoying his football.
09:01He's playing with freedom, like I say.
09:02And, yeah, long may that continue.
09:05Cool.
09:06So I read this morning on one of our sister titles,
09:09the Northampton Chronicle, Kevin Nolan, manager of Northampton, obviously,
09:13is planning to hold talks with EFL refereeing chief Mike Jones this week
09:17over dodgy decisions in the first few weeks of the season.
09:22What has your view been of the refereeing so far?
09:26Like I said in past interviews, I'm not allowed to,
09:30or we're not allowed to say too much in the press that's negative towards them.
09:34We've been told not to.
09:36However, I have been asked this two or three times now.
09:39So I feel I've got to give you something.
09:42The tough thing for me is that I've just done a report for Tuesday night's referee
09:48and there was something like 22 decisions that I question.
09:57The problem I've got with that is that my job is tough enough as it is.
10:01And when I watch the game back, I should be watching the game back to improve my team,
10:08not to improve the referees.
10:09And I feel as if I'm doing a lot of work because of what I would see as poor refereeing.
10:19Maybe I'll get into trouble for even saying that.
10:21I don't know.
10:22But I'm doing a lot of work.
10:23A lot of my day on Wednesday was taken up by watching the game back.
10:29I'm trying to learn about my team, but I'm also clipping decisions
10:35and then putting notes together.
10:37Then coming in kind of after training to sit with the secretary for an hour
10:42to go through the referees report and to put that together
10:45and to go through every single decision that I did think was right.
10:51So for me, there's a lot of work being done for me
10:55through the fact that their performance isn't very good.
11:00I don't think that's fair.
11:03And I feel that I want to watch my game back to watch my players
11:08and not to watch a lot of poor decisions in my opinion.
11:12But I just think that it's not in a good place.
11:17It's really not in a good place.
11:18And I can understand why that's happening.
11:21I speak to Mike Jones by text nearly every Sunday and every Wednesday.
11:27And I'm putting reports in every week.
11:30And we should be getting to the point where we're not putting reports in every week.
11:34And it feels as if we have to because I'm unhappy with what I've seen.
11:40I think every fan in the stadium on Tuesday night
11:46is probably frustrated by what they were seeing.
11:48But, you know, I think it is in a mess, yeah.
11:53Yeah.
11:53And you said on Monday that there might be a new signing by Saturday.
11:57Is that looking promising?
11:58Yeah, it is.
12:00It is looking promising.
12:02I think, if the truth be known, he may even be in a couple of rooms behind me now,
12:09even in a medical, so I'm hopeful.
12:11Can you give us any indication on position?
12:14Lord, you don't want to.
12:17Yeah, I can.
12:17I can.
12:18He can play as a midfield player.
12:21And he can play as a centre-back.
12:23So kind of like cover for a lot of position.
12:26I'm not saying we've signed him as a cover.
12:28No.
12:28It's not the case, but I'm saying he can play in a number of positions.
12:32Brilliant.
12:32Thanks, Scott.
12:33Cheers.
Comments