What a performance, even the pi**heads in hospitality realised it & rightfully voted him MOM. The best single match performance by a Millers player in years, magnificent.
Steady on Brad. He played well and I am happy to say so but it wasn't 'magnificent' by a long stretch. He looks a better player in the back four than in midfield. I remember Ronnie Moore (who knows him from Tranmere) saying that Vaulks wanted to be a centre half and thought that was his own best position. I wonder whether he has the physicality to play centre back against forwards who have size and strength, but maybe that could be his long term position. Good job today though and a great strike for the goal.
I've been critical of Vaulks as a midfield player as I just don't think he has the attributes to move the ball quickly and accurately enough to make a positive impact. But, I take my hat off to him today. Without a doubt, that was the best display by a CB all season. What he lacked in stature, he made up for in athleticism against some fairly hefty MKD forwards. He has the knack of being able to leap high and hang in the air and he won far more headers than he should have done for someone his size. His sweeping up at the back was good too and as for his goal, superb. I would stick with the same back four for the next game. I know MKD were not up to much but our back line looked relatively comfortable all afternoon. More free kick positioning practise for Rodak though - their freekick looked relatively tame but our keeper got nowhere near it!
Vaulks is a wonderful player, he gives everything every game, he will play anywhere to get a shirt and he always tries to use the ball in a positive way to open up teams. Sometimes the pass doesnt come off, he makes mistakes but mostly the front players are too static and don't run into the space. Still think playing midfielders in defensive positions is a flawed strategy, we got away with that today.
I'd like to see Vaulks up against someone who's going to bully the hell out of him. Soon as I heard Warney had actually gone with Vaulks at the back I said to the gang we'll be talking about one of 2 things after the game, what an absolute masterstroke or that Warney has lost his mind, glad to say it was the former.
You will not see a better goal from a centre half all season long, we know he has that in his locker. The big test was the 2nd half, and boy did he step up to the mark.
I've slated Vaulks on here, where its warranted - but today he was absolute class and the best player position for position on the park.
Not getting carried away as he needs better and different opposition - also as smiler said, I'm not exactly convinced he's built for it. Will need more than 1 MOM centre half performance to convince everybody, but I hope today continues.
We totally deserved to win against a non entity of a football club, I won't get fined for this - as MK really are a waste of 1 of the 92 representatives
Best performance I've seen from a central defender since Morgs and Arnie's day , but credit to rest of back four they all played well ,at last Semi showing promise .
Anyone tell me why Frecks got booked?.
I wonder if Emmanuel is a cert to stay if Moore goes back to Ipswich? I am not sure too many were too bothered one way or another a few weeks ago but it matters now because he seems to have found his feet and looks to be an asset.
I am all for players who have their critics proving their worth.
I still don't see Vaulks as a first pick midfielder. Frecks coming into midfield and firing has improved it. But no doubt Vaulks has done well in this good run. If you wanted to be critical you could say that he let Taylor get across him for Plymouth's goal and dove in to give away the free kick that MKDons scored from, but obviously he has scored a couple of great goals and his versatility and ability and willingness to do a job anywhere for the team is a real asset. Good on him.
I haven't been a fan of Anthony Forde, but in fairness I thought he had one of his better games yesterday.
This lad was brought in as a Skirmisher in a defensive unit that was never given chance to establish. His all round defensive / no nonsense defensive abilities were perfect protection within a defensive "park the bus" defence we needed to survive in the championship at that time. His attacking flair wasn't the priority as young Izzy and Taylor were the attacking threat then - with Ward at the point.
The sad thing is his ability to outshine all Warne's defence and his best mate Wood in a defensive role shows how poor they are as he's just filling in that role - Warne's men are touted as the future of our defence.
We need to get lucky in January and find another Captain Morgan.