Rovers 0-1 Hartlepool

[SCooperSomersaults]

Oh dear, oh dear. A nice little run was ended with a truly abysmal display. We never got going at all, and only had 1 decent attempt on goal, that late on from Jennings' shot which the keeper parried.

It had 0-0 written all over it with 2 poor sides, but Gulacsi's poor punch into his own goal was the difference. It was going to be a mistake that would decide this game. A cold, Tuesday night, very few travelled down from the NE, I don't blame them. But they went home happy.

Really disappointed with the manner of the performance. Some players were filling in and should have been fighting to keep their place in the side. I'm thinking mainly about young Ryan Fraughan. I've been an admirer of his for a while, but he had his chance tonight and well and truly blew it. He was trying Hollywood balls all evening when a simple 10 yard pass was on, it was frustrating. Welsh and Labadie were really missed, as was Enoch.

All in all, back to earth with a bump. Mid table obscurity didn't last long! ](*,)

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Agreed that it was an awful performance, but if you take Broomes, Welsh, Labadie and Showunmi out of our side we don't have the players in reserve to cope. Our first eleven is good; many of the fringe players are poor.

The midfield was non-existent without the suspended players and we never really had a grip of the game, aside perhaps from the first ten minutes of the second half.

What is really frustrating is that I think our first choice eleven might well have tonked Hartlepool on recent form, but that is life I suppose.

I still believe we have the players that can keep us clear of trouble this season.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Bit harsh on Fraughany. Didn't think he was any worse than the others, better than Mendy surely. We had a 10 minute spell in the second half where the ball was being played quite well on the deck, and most of the time it was going through Ryan. Not saying he set the world alight, just wondering why he's being singled out.

Anyway, we had a very weak side out, inexperienced players who aren't used to playing together, against a poor but pressing Hartlepool team who, to their credit, never let us settle or get comfortable. Gulasci had a great game until that missed punch. Both fullbacks IMO played well. Jenno was great when he got on the ball. Everyone else worked hard but struggled.

I didn't expect anything more given our injury and suspension problems.

 

[Ian]

We clearly missed the injured/suspended players tonight. We had no punch up front and our midfield was weak. Mendy and Fraughan were just as bad as each other. Blanchard not great and Akins a waste of space. It wasn't a good performance at all and Hartlepool deserved their win. They had quite a few chances throughout.

 

[Boz]

We rode our luck in the last couple of games, it was bound to run out eventually. Very much one of those "more questions than answers" kind of games.

My feeling was that Les got the tactics wrong, Hartlepool were big lads, good in the air, but struggled when Akins and especially Jennings ran at them, so why wasn't the ball played mainly on the deck? Or if we were persisting in acting like Enoch was playing at least put Akins as the target man rather than ITM. Given Wood did ok when he came on, wouldn't it have been better to start with him and Goodi at the back, moving Max into midfield to provide some experience there? If Ash wasn't fit, why have him on the bench at all? Why was Goodison playing up front at the end, when all it managed to achieve was to get him another booking nearer to a 2 game ban?

This was a very frustrating evening. December's fixtures are tough and the other results didn't go for us either, so we may come to rue not getting anything out of this game.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Wood is ****, so I disagree with the suggestion that him starting would have made a difference. Also, given our midfield lacked composure on the ball, can't see how putting Blanchard in there would have helped matters given how poor he is technically.

Don't think it was our intention to play long/direct, rather that a number of contributing factors - primarily, hartlepool's pressing of the ball, but also the fact that none of our midfield 3 have played together before, with fraughan and the new lad far from match sharp - stacked up against us on the night.

6 wins in 9 games before tonight, let's not start saying that was "luck" because we narrowly lost one game with a bunch of kids playing.

 

[OneNightInGayParis]

Really disappointing but not entirely unexpected. Regarding the previous comments Fraughan was probably the pick of the midfield in that he made himself a lot more available for the ball. However, his use of it was a big let down - probably why he stood out as making more mistakes than anybody else on the park. Couldn't see the point of playing (perhaps even signing) the lad from West Brom since, as far as I am aware, he is entirely untried and it is asking a lot for anybody to sign and slot in on the same day. Agree with Boz that Blanchard would have been better in the middle where he would have offered a bit more bite and energy with Wood starting at centre back. After all, we did sign the lad (Wood) as a centre half - if Les doesn't think he is good enough to be even 4th choice what was the point? Providing Goodison is playing we can sometimes get away with a weaker performance alongside him.

On paper, midfield looked like it was the big concern and that was exactly how it panned out. Apart from the 10 minute spell when it suddenly dawned on us that it makes sense to keep on the deck when you have the Seven Dwarves in your team, we were ineffective and overrun. The service to the wider men was poor but ITM suffered the most and hardly managed a kick. To defend Fraughan a little, when he had the ball at feet Akins and Jennings tended to drop so deep that there was rarely an easy forward ball. I suspect that Les ahd asked these guys to hold back in support of the midfield - but there was a price to pay.

Not sure how you judge Gulacsi's performance! Kept us in the game a few times, and at least one save was world class, but then punches into his own net ...

Anyway, probably not worth getting too distressed at losing with such a weakened side. The effort needs to go into getting the wounded back onto the pitch for a week on Saturday. Much as I love the thought of a trip to Wembley, I wonder how Les will treat the JPT next Tuesday? I would be surprised if he is rushing anybody back from injury for the game and it could be an opportunity to give Goodi and Dale a rest.

 

[Ian]

Why was Goodison playing up front at the end, when all it managed to achieve was to get him another booking nearer to a 2 game ban?

It's Les' plan B. When we are losing and things are starting to get a little desperate, up goes Goodison.

We simply don't have the quality on the pitch when our main players are out. Long aimless balls all over the pitch. Playing ITM up front running after scraps all night.. :roll:

 

[amplesou]

went last night ,first time in ages
i thought all the players did well and worked hard
just thought maybe les did,nt get it right formation there

 

[Rob]

Gulasci - good until the goal

Cresswell - didnt go a great deal wrong, links up well with Jennings but needs to be more consistent in deciding what hes doing pasing wise

Blanchard - not too bad but this guy is not a centre back, almost caused an early goal due to poor back pass

Cathalina - just lol at that guy, perhaps he is another one of George Weah's distant relatives

Goodison - usual solid defensive self, wasnt impressed with his last 20 minutes as a striker and him not tracking back could have easily cost us a couple more goals

Mendy/Akins - garbage, two of the worst footballers I have ever seen in a Tranmere Shirt. I dont understand how someone who is huge (Mendy) can manage to never win a ball in the air, hes like a really really bad version of Gary Jones

Jennings - did nothing at all wrong, looked lively with the ball but didnt get much service

Fraughan - blew his chance, for someone who looks skilful and clearly can pass to be hoofing almost every ball in the air is worrying, did have some good link ups with Cresswell and Jennings at stages though and I wonder whether he is being told to hoof the ball rather than actually wanting to do it

ITM - no service, didnt do anything wrong to be honest

All in all one of the worst performances, we did look ok at certain points but Hartlepool were there for the taking as a team who to be honest were no better than our second string 11.

This tactic of goalkeeper hoofing the ball out of play or occasionally to Akins needs to stop, especially when 99% of the time he cant seem to get his head on the ball.

Infact the hoofball in general needs to stop, we do have players capable of passing the ball along the floor so I dont know why we arent doing it especially with ITM up front on his own.

Desperately need Welsh/Ladabie and to a lesser extent Showunmi back.

 

[Boz]

Wood is ****, so I disagree with the suggestion that him starting would have made a difference. Also, given our midfield lacked composure on the ball, can't see how putting Blanchard in there would have helped matters given how poor he is technically.

Don't think it was our intention to play long/direct, rather that a number of contributing factors - primarily, hartlepool's pressing of the ball, but also the fact that none of our midfield 3 have played together before, with fraughan and the new lad far from match sharp - stacked up against us on the night.

6 wins in 9 games before tonight, let's not start saying that was "luck" because we narrowly lost one game with a bunch of kids playing.

Wood did nothing wrong in his 30 minutes last night and as ONIGP points out Goodison is good at guiding a less experienced player. However I did wonder why Ash was on the bench if so unfit, as the option of him filling in in central defence when Max went to right-back wasn't considered.

Blanchard, Fraughan and Mendy played well together as a midfield trio when we beat Peterborough, so was worth trying out again. Whether it would have worked so well against a bigger midfield as Pools put out against us is open to debate. I didn't think Fraughan was that bad, just over-ambitious.

I said "we rode our luck in the last couple of games" Explicitly, 2 games is a couple and I was referring to Notts County, where we won despite losing the goal attempts tally 19-2 and Plymouth, where only some last-ditch defending and great shot-stopping kept them from equalising in a backs to the wall final 10 minutes. It seemed almost inevitable that we'd concede a streaky goal, like Gulasci punching into his own net.

With regard to Ian's point about Goodi up front as plan B, I wasn't at the Carlisle game but things apparently got better when Akins and ITM were switched so that Ian was on the right and Lucas up front. Why wasn't that tried last night? As a plan C, why not give Mackreth a go on the wing? Aside from Dale's effort, the closest we came to scoring was when Mantom put wide after a passing move and good cross from Akins, more of that might have proved fruitful.

 

[OneNightInGayParis]

With regard to Ian's point about Goodi up front as plan B, I wasn't at the Carlisle game but things apparently got better when Akins and ITM were switched so that Ian was on the right and Lucas up front. Why wasn't that tried last night? As a plan C, why not give Mackreth a go on the wing? Aside from Dale's effort, the closest we came to scoring was when Mantom put wide after a passing move and good cross from Akins, more of that might have proved fruitful.

I agree that playing ITM in the centre almost imposed a further change to the tactics we employed, on top of the already disrupted midfield. At least if Akins had played centrally it would have kept the balance of "big man in the centre" consistent. Akins may well have been a poor man's Enoch but the guy is very athletic and would have provided enough movement and presence to keep 'Pools defence on its guard. To be honest, even Goodi did that in the last 10 minutes although it was with limited success.

The only way we were ever going to score was either a blunder (a la Peter) or another Jennings wonder goal, except from even deeper.

I was hoping Mackreth would at least come off the bench last night. I have never seen him play (I don't think) but heard a lot about him last season. I assume that they brought him back from Burscough (where he has earned rave reviews) because of the injury/suspension crisis, although his loan may have just elapsed. The younger lads (Mackreth and Power) must have found the loan and immediate inclusion of Mantom quite demoralising. Selecting a lad who has played Icelandic Prem and one League Cup game over our own young talent hardly reflects an expansive youth policy.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Whoever we had played in midfield last night we would seriously have struggled, and I think we were caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of selection. Blanchard gives us a certain solidity in there, but is seriously limited on the ball and you would still have faced the problem of having a couple of kids running around in the other two positions. Whether Mackreth or the West Brom lad played seems pretty much irrelevant to me, as they are both inexperienced players who are not ready to be starting first team games yet.

I think we were also right not to play Wood, as his performances have been catastrophic in 50% of his previous appearances this season. Les may still see a talent in the player which can be developed, or may just think he made a bum signing, but either way he is not ready to be playing centre back in first team games in my view.

Akins may have made a better fist of playing the lone forwards role than Moore, but I think the difference between them would only have been marginal to be honest. Playing 4-4-2 was obviously an option, but that would have left a lightweight central midfield even more lightweight.

Having seven or eight players out we were always going to struggle and I am not sure what lessons can be drawn from the game other than that some of our second string players aren't up to it, which is hardly surprising given that we pay them buttons.

Get the absentees back and it is onwards and upwards again.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I didn't think Fraughan was that bad, just over-ambitious.

I thought Ryan did o.k. last night, but just wasn't ready for the responsibility of dictating the midfield against Hartlepool's greater experience. I still think he has a good future with Rovers, and has been outstanding in certain games in the last eighteen months (Norwich away last season, for example).

 

[The Bootle Rover]

Cant blame the kids

Mostly the kids did ok, hopefully learned a bit and will be better prepared next time called upon. And there will be a next time given our rising bookings tally and the fact that some of the seniors are carrying injuries week to week.

Hartlepool are very good at spoiling tactics, very rarely concede away from home and are adept at talking to the ref for what seemed like most of the game. I sincerely wish relegation upon them.

Not a lot to disagree with in the opinions expressed so far, perhaps the exception being, what can you expect from kids expressed by Sonko - well quite a bit actually, yes they made some mistakes but thats how you learn.
Ian Moore was a disappointment, I thought he made very little effort when his team needed him to show his experience and workrate. Anyone can play badly as long as they are trying and last night Moore simply wasnt.

Hopefully a free weekend will do the squad some good.