Rovers v Stoke

[Boz]

Injury crisis continues and Ronnie has already indicated he'll be resting Goodi. I'd like to see Mooney in goal, Hateley in midfield and Stockton up front, but doubt we'll see any of this. Can't see beyond a comfy win for Stoke, while crowd-wise probably around 5k.

 

[bigmart]

they will rotate their squad we are stuck with virtually what we have, can only see an easy win for them 3 0 with crowd of about 4800

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I would like to see Hateley in the middle at some point, but given how weak we are in the full back positions at the moment I think he will start at right back. I would also like to see Mooney in goal, regardless of the strength of the opposition. I don't think the 4-3-3 formation is working for us at the moment and we are better suited to a 4-4-2, but can we afford to play with two in midfield against a Premier side ? Probably not.

Interesting comments from Ronnie in his interview today, stating that he would like to 'move a couple out permanently' to provide funds for new signings. He says he is happy with the centre backs and wants to keep Dugdale, so I would guess it is Horwood and Holmes he wants to move on; probably the right decision to be honest.

 

[frenchrover]

"Interesting comments from Ronnie in his interview today, stating that he would like to 'move a couple out permanently' to provide funds for new signings. He says he is happy with the centre backs and wants to keep Dugdale, so I would guess it is Horwood and Holmes he wants to move on; probably the right decision to be honest."

Given the public humiliation of Holmes by Moore following his sending off at Crewe he could well be one of those in Moore's thinking and given the dressing room "bust-up" after the Foster "fiasco" it could just as easily be Robinson he "wants to move on".

 

[Higgy]

I know a few extra are going tonight so hopefully we do ourselves credit. If we get the formatyion right and raise our game we could take it to extra time
Holmes has shown he can do a decent job at right back - so may be Rommie could employ some phscology and give hom a chance to reprove himself and give leave to stick Hatley in the middle. Agree with concensus to give Mooney a chance..........also don't think playing with winger type wide midfielders bodes well for brittle defence, although happy to give Thompson a chance as he is liable to weigh in with a goal, given we can only play with one up front. Rowe is all "right foot" anyway and may be outwide to make room for Hately he can give some extra cover. If we play too much of an offensive/lightweight team we could get blown away.
Gate 5,500 and 1-1 lose on pens.
Team
Mooney Holmes, Dugdale ,Taylor, Horwood Rowe, Power, Hately, Atkinson, Thompson Lowe

 

[WildRover]

3-0 kicking by Stoke, though this may depend on if they put their kids out or not (wouldnt blame them if the did!)

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Too much depressing doom and gloom from you lot. I think we might nick it. Not that it will help our league position.

 

[Boz]

Interesting comments from Ronnie in his interview today, stating that he would like to 'move a couple out permanently' to provide funds for new signings. He says he is happy with the centre backs and wants to keep Dugdale, so I would guess it is Horwood and Holmes he wants to move on; probably the right decision to be honest.

I find those remarks puzzling at best, alarming at worst. We have a wafer-thin squad, especially defensively. Ronnie made Horwood one of his main targets over the summer and must have been aware of the weaknesses in the defensive areas of his game. Holmes was given a 2 year contract by the manager last season, so why the change of heart in respect of both? Unsure about the manager's love-in with Dugdale which freezes out Ash Taylor.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I find those remarks puzzling at best, alarming at worst. We have a wafer-thin squad, especially defensively. Ronnie made Horwood one of his main targets over the summer and must have been aware of the weaknesses in the defensive areas of his game. Holmes was given a 2 year contract by the manager last season, so why the change of heart in respect of both? Unsure about the manager's love-in with Dugdale which freezes out Ash Taylor.

I don't find the comments puzzling to be honest. I am only guessing that it is the full backs RM is dissatisfied with, but there is no question they have struggled badly this season and have cost us a number of goals. No manager knows a player's real value until he has him in his team, and Ronnie talked throughout the summer about the lack of quality that was available to us, particularly in defensive areas; I think Horwood was simply the best that was available to us at the time. Danny Holmes' form has gone south this season and because of our wafer thin squad we don't have the luxury of being able to take him out of the side for a couple of months in the hope that he regains his composure.

If decent replacements are available (of whom Hateley may be one) it could be seen as strong and decisive management to take action now, rather than letting the situation drift until we are rooted in the bottom four.

 

[bigmart]

We should try Hateley as a defensive midfielder, we badly need somebody who can put a foot in midfield which will help the defense out.

If Horwood is moved on it will be another poor signing by Ronnie but I think it is Holmes he wants to get rid of. The balance of the squad is all wrong and that's down to the manager and he has been far too slow to recognise this.

 

[Boz]

During the summer we had McSweeney, who can play left/right-back and who got good reviews from Orient fans and a lad called Jackson who could play right-back or in the centre. Both looked capable, but weren't given deals...saving up for Sodje and Jeffers. Will Vaulks who was never given a chance by Ronnie has got a contract at Falkirk. The manager's judgement of defenders isn't his strong point imo.

The last game I saw; Brentford was where we were weakest at central defence and the keeper and the bulk of the mistakes came in those areas. Horwood and Holmes didn't have blinders by any stretch of the imagination, but were ok in comparison. There is a need for a more Parry-style defending from the front and as bigmart suggests the midfield is crying out for a defensive ball-winner.

I've seen the references elsewhere to Holmes and Moore having a fall-out. I suspect the reality is,because of the length of his contract, Danny Holmes will only move on when it's in his interest to do so.

 

[merseyside bossman]

Should Wallace be shipped out ??

1) By the time he comes back he would have been out for a year (drawing a huge wage)
2) Should he come back in good form -- he can leave on a free at the end of the season

I think he is awesome and I'm a massive fan, but he is only a great player when he is on the pitch.....

When not on the pitch he is a £3k per week supporter.


Anyone remember Ian Muir coming back from his big injury (caused by Eddie Bishop) he was never the same player.

 

[Higgy]

I hear what Boz says re centre of defence being weak link, although I think the whole defence is fragile and full back positions could be a route cause. In Horwood we have a full back who does look capable going forward with decent distribution, but cannot defend. Wingers are going past him with too much ease and even get time to get heads up and pick out a pass. At a different level of course, but there are other international full backs with the same attributes eg Glenn Johnson -and I guess Ronnie knew what he was getting when he sigend Horwood and maybe was going for a more offensive game plan, which for various reasons including injuries etc he cannot implement. So we end up having to defend more with defenders who are will struggle. Only solutions are, if we are to remain on the back foot alot during games is to move him out and look for basic solid defenders or set up a system to provide protection and ensure the players in front of the full backs do their bit.

It might be expedient, given the lack of funds and priorities elswhere in the team, to kiss and make up with Holmes and see if he can get remotivated - thus releasing Hately for the defensive midfield role.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

The last game I saw; Brentford was where we were weakest at central defence and the keeper and the bulk of the mistakes came in those areas. Horwood and Holmes didn't have blinders by any stretch of the imagination, but were ok in comparison. There is a need for a more Parry-style defending from the front and as bigmart suggests the midfield is crying out for a defensive ball-winner.

I don't actually agree that the centre backs were at fault against Brentford. Yes, there were individual erors (chiefly from Goody who certainly can defend) but these mistakes happen when your centre backs are being constantly bombarded. As I recall, Shaleum Logam skinned Horwood every time he went at him in that game and at least two of Brentford's goals came from a failure to stop crosses. Add in the central midfield wekaness and you have a centre back pairing who, however solid they may be, are going to be under way too much pressure.

I think the three centre backs we have now are all decent at this level and our defence frailities are chiefly the result of a failure to defend as a team, as you mention yourself, with a particular weakness in the full back areas and a lack of protection in the midfield holding role (and a keeper who is looking far from secure and communicates poorly with the rest of the back four).

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought we did well tonight. We kept a good defensive shape all game and in the second half arguably had the better chances and played the more incisive football, although they continued to dominate possession. Akpro's chance was our real opportunity, but I was pleased we were still well in the match in the 93rd minute, something I had not expected beforehand. Other than the goals I don't think Fonners had a save to make, which shows how well we worked as a unit. Their second goal was harsh and the scoreline does not really reflect the way the second 45 minutes had gone.

Rowe was my man of the match, but I thought Akpro, Hateley, Atkinson and the two centre halves in particular had good games. Holmes was better at left back than he has been at right back this season.

If we can take that work ethic and discipline into League One games we will be ok this season.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Agree with that assessment, only second time I've seen Rovers this season and on both occasions (Stevenage the other time) we looked solid and quite enterprising.

One exception I'd make is Horwood. Hopeless. To get the hook at half-time to be replaced by Danny Holmes shows what Ronnie thought of him. He's meek, can't tackle, never cuts out crosses (that's part of his day job) and positionally he's all over the show. Dugdale had a right go at him in the first half. Wouldn't be surprised of Ronnie tried to recruit a replacement.

I was a bit disappointed that Lowe played wide right (almost wing back at times) but at least Cole got a game and did what he could against two monsters.

Will be interesting to see if we can keep Dugdale as I thought he was really solid.

 

[Ian]

Enterprising? I must have been watching a different game. The only real chance we had was the Akpo one. Their keeper was a spectator. Of course their movement and passing was so much better, but I thought we sat back too much and only started to push forward in the last ten minutes. We were losing yet had ten men in our half for a lot of the game. In all honesty, they really didn't get out of 2nd gear and it was pretty easy for them after they got the goal. Had they been more aggressive, I think we'd have lost by a few. Lowe playing as a right back all game, ridiculous.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I could not disagree more Ian. We had two chances at 1-0 - for Akpro and Atkinson - where we could easily have equalised. They dominated possession yet created relatively few clear chances. We did really well to keep ourselves in the game as long as we did.

I think you have got to be realistic about the gulf in class between the two sides; one of their players probably earns in a nanosecond what our whole squad does in a season. They were always going to completely dominate the game and the tactic of playing five in the middle and hitting them on the break was spot on. If we had played 4-4-2 and pushed high up the pitch we would have lost 6-0. Do you really think we would be capable of outplaying them ?

The crucial thing for me was that we was that we worked and defended as a team and hopefully we will carry that on to Saturday.

 

[Ian]

If Stoke had turned it on, we would have got whacked no matter how we played. Stoke took it easy. I don't think anything was learnt from this game. The same weaknesses will be there on Saturday when it's back to the grind.

My issue was that this was a cup game, not a league one. Lose your out. We should have been more aggressive going forward. If Id have known they were going to stick 10-men behind the ball and play Lowe in defence I would have kept my £20.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

My issue was that this was a cup game, not a league one. Lose your out. We should have been more aggressive going forward. If Id have known they were going to stick 10-men behind the ball and play Lowe in defence I would have kept my £20.

If we had thrown men forward I think we would have been guaranteed a thrashing, which would have been terrible for confidence (we were a bit more adventurous in the second half). As it is, we came out of the game with some pride.

We did manage to defend properly and keep a decent shape, which we have not in 90% of the league games: that was a positive step IMO.