Wimbledon manager gets ready for Sixfields battle
Manager Neal Ardley is fully focused on preparing his side for Saturday’s trip to Northampton Town in League Two, despite uncertainty over what type of mind-set the opposition will be in.
Chris Wilder’s team have lost their last four league games, including two defeats at home, leaving Neal to ponder the task ahead: “They’ve got a few injury problems, that’s been well documented, it’s hard to predict and one thought is maybe that they are low on confidence and it’s a good time to play them and another thought is that they are a wounded animal and they’ll come out scrapping for everything.”
“Whatever happens you’ve got to have a high-level of performance yourself to get anything, particularly from a game away from home,” added the Dons boss, whose side have drawn their last two home games.
“Within half an hour of the game on Saturday, you’ll have an idea. Sometimes it spurs them on and they could come out flying and other times you can see there is a lack of confidence. I’ve always tried to focus on our performance and I’ve always tried to make my team aware of the opposition and their strengths, but if our performance levels aren’t great you are never going to win a game in this league so we need to make sure they are as high as they can be,” Neal concluded.
Kaid Mohamed, twice formerly of AFC Wimbledon, is currently on-loan to Northampton from Port Vale. While they sit in eighteenth position in the table, the Dons are two points better off in thirteenth and just three points off the play-off places.
QPR midfielder Frankie Sutherland has been added to the squad on a month’s loan in time for the trip to Sixfields and it’s a signing that comes at a key time for Wimbledon.
Neal said: “There’s niggles, bumps and bruises. The load that these players have been through the last two to three months has been immense so we always plan to have a lighter week so that we can get their legs back ready and push on again next week and then we go on to the big cup games, but hopefully we’ll be as strong as we can be on Saturday.”
A five minute interview with Neal is now available to Dons Player subscribers, including his thoughts on Harry Pell’s loan move and the FA Cup draw away to York City.