TIME TO CALL IT A DAY ON MARTIN

To my mind Martin has one big problem in that he is too easily blocked out, especially on corners.
This season he has been out muscled and its led to goals, in my mind he isnt tough enough, he expects the ref to give him decisions and often the ref doesnt give them, then lo and behold he's picking the ball out of the net, I cant comment on our other keeper as I havent seen him play.

yeah because giving an inexperienced 20 year old who's played about 45 minutes of football all season, at the 'business end of the season' is going to do wonders for MK Dons. Especially when we barely know what Ian is like, and please God nobody judge him on pre season performances!

I agree on something Bill said, if you're gonna pinpoint something like David Martin's position and 'weaknesses' then how come players who are hopeless up top get fan favouritism and defended whenever they put on a horrific show themselves?

Whilst I admit David Martin has got a lot of 'edge of your seat' and 'FFS Martin!' moments in him, I still think he's a terrific goalkeeper, what some people don't think about it the amount of points he's saved us in the past! I can't tell you specific moments or whatever as I don't have an amazing memory when it comes to odd incidents in games, but I can name a good few games where he saved us valuable points:
Stevenage at home, Huddersfield at home, Notts County at home (And away) during a dodgey first half, Colchester away when they were 1-0 at home and dominating us, he made 2 key saves! And a good few more! Could even go back to last year when he had a dodgey season.

Goalkeepers are easy targets and I remember when we signed Stuart Searle and everyone was saying how they hoped Gueret stayed fit all season as he was terrible in the pre season he was signed in, and after his debut and following few appearences in the season everyone was banging on about how great a keeper he was and how it was likely Willy would leave in the summer and he should be number one, after 3 appearences!!

Yes Martin has made a few duff ups, but so has Lewington, MacKenzie (Who people like to think is a poor defender because of his stupid headbutting incidents), Jabo, Charlie, Balanta, Bowditch, Williams, Gleeson and a few more!

If you're judging his performance on Tuesday as an excuse to put this article up now then why not make 10 more articles about the other 10 players who were rubbish?

Rant. Over.

I am not a Martin fan but Robbo should have made more of an attempt to play McLoughlin throughout the season to keep him match ready as such.. The JPT is a prime example, play McLoughlin in this and cup rounds to keep him fresh and use as experience builders. Agree that we cant just bring him in now as he is not match experienced enough... It is always a delicate balancing act with keepers.

If you lok at the stats:

David Martin has played 47 games for MK Dons this season and has let in 48 goals.

Of the three strikers:

Bowditch has had 64 shots in 37 appearances (not including those he came on as sub) so has an average of less than 2 shots a game.

MacDonald has had 34 shots in 28 appearence so a little over 1 shot per game

Ibrehe has 48 shots in 27 games (but has come on as Sub for another 11) but agsin less than 2 shots a game.

So for the three main strikers, they have an average of only around 1.5 shots per game.

If you actual just compare the shots on target their average is just 0.85.

If MK Dons don't get promoted, I would be more inclined to blame the Strikers than the Goalie.

agree in some resepct about the strikers but look how many goals we have scored! not much different to the other top 4, the difference is ours are spread over 19 players.. Agree that if our strikers were more prolific then we would be in a far better position than we are now.. It has been a story of missed opportunities this year that has let us down. I firmly believe this is a great team at the moment, probably the best bunch for years and no real weak links. Its just a shame we have blipped for a 3rd time this season. We desperatly need to win from here on in...
COYD

so we are all agreed then - for next season we need a striker who can score and a goal keeper who insipres confidence (and stops goals) - for now we have what we have and on their day they are fantastic - lets hope the injuries clear up in time for the playoffs and that we get 3 points tomorrow, as I want a proper birthday present

Happy birthday for tomorrow Moocamp.

I was going for 2-2 but as it is your birthday, I will say 3-2 to the Dons

yep 21 again and oddly enough if we win its likely to be my birthday every match day until the end of the season, including any playoffs
COYD

There's one keeper I'd rather have than Martin and that's Tommy Lee who I've rated for a long time! But I think he's probably going to sign for a bigger club if any!

I still back Martin