• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Yeovil 2-0 Tranmere

SonkORLY?

____________________
Member
Joined
8 Sep 2008
Messages
1,916
Player
Eddy Sonko
Awful.

1-0: Shuker cba picking up short-corner. Ball was knocked into the box, Bowditch for some reason gifted all the time and space in the world to pick out header.
2-0: I was at the other end of the pitch, but looked like Cresswell lunged in on some Yeovil striker just inside the box with stupid and unneccessary slide-tackle.

Both goals could have been prevented but Yeovil could have scored another goal or two were it not for a very impressive performance from Daniels in goal. He made a few great stops, and looked confident with crosses throughout. Seems to have a tendency to punch but is good at it.

Defence consisted of 4 teenagers, Logan the most experienced with 17 previous league appearences. Cresswell came 2nd in that list with 13, whilst neither of our center-halfs, Taylor or Gunning, had played a competitive professional league game between them before today. That considered, they did ok as a unit. Both full-backs tried to get forward as much as possible, though Logan did better than Cresswell who suffered from poor decision making on occasions (least of all the challenge that led to the penalty). Taylor had little to do and looked ok until deciding to spontaneously give the ball away straight to a Yeovil striker towards the end. Of the two, Gunning looked the more finished article, a solid center-half who may merit a loan-extension on the basis of todays performance IMO.

Midfield was a shambles. Mahon was anonymous for most of the game, looked like coming into it after half time before being subbed off after we went 2-0 down (why?!). Welsh literally may as well not have turned up. Mclaren was involved often and saw more of the ball than anyone on the pitch but did little with it other than knock simple passes sideways, and gave the ball away a large percentage of the time when trying anything more ambitious. Shuker was good, worked hard, always wanted the ball and ran at people when he got it...

Thomas-Moore, like Mahon, had a very quiet first half but came into it a bit more as the game went on after finding some joy drifting out to the left hand side. Curran was lively and came closest to scoring for us with a glancing header @ 1-0 down, which had their keeper rooted to the spot. Small margins but in fairness we didn't deserve it.

Whilst below-par individual performances didn't help our cause, my main concern is with the style in which we are playing and the way we are organised tactically. Barnes has Mclaren and Welsh sitting seriously deep, and at times Taylor and Gunning were barely passing the ball 10 yards ahead of themselves when seeking out one of our 2 central midfielders. 90% of the time the ball would be returned by them to the defence, before going accross the back 4 and then being given back to one of the central midfielders...and back again...the ball was just going forwards, backwards, sideways along the "back 6" for about 10 mins at the start till Shuker got bored and decided to drop deep into our own half in an attempt to try to fashion something for himself down the right. Mahon and Shukes being asked to tuck inside to allow both full-backs to bomb on seems to work sometimes but mostly end up in a mess. 90% of our posession was in our own half, and we buckled when we got into theirs. Once or twice we put together some lovely short passing sequences, but for the other 89 mins we were pretty depressing to watch.

Our interpretation of Barnes' philosophy seems to be posession for posessions sake, total football with a sideways twist. It's like a really, really bad version of the 4-2-2-2 Brazil play, for those who are familiar. I don't think we're good enough to make this system really work as JB intends. This, added to our lack of a goalscorer and a worrying tendency to allow concentration to lapse in key defensive areas really makes me think of last year's relegated West Brom team when I watch us. Pretty, pointless football...pretty pointless...


Daniels - 8​

Logan - 7
Taylor - 5
Gunning - 6
Cresswell - 5

Mclaren - 5
Welsh - 3

Shuker - 6
Mahon - 5

Curran - 6
Thomas-Moore - 5
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
Thanks for the comprehensive report, SonkORLY?, even though it makes depressing reading. We played a similar style in the Shrewsbury friendly, possession at the expense of creation. While we always expected problems with the defence's inexperience, it is a concern that the midfield played so poorly and there were so few chances created by Rovers. It will be interesting to see what Barnes' plan B is, if indeed he has one. I presume that Fraughn made little difference when he came on? Finally, how was O'Callaghan for the Glovers, never rated him during his short stint @PP.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
Thanks for the report. From what i could gather, yeovil had some decent chances, whereas we had maybe 1 or 2. Barnes seems intent on passing it around playing the possession game without any real effect.

im going to wait until goodison comes back before getting carried away. Hes our strongest defender and may be able to orgnise a seriously weak and inexperienced defence. That said, theres no excuse for our front men.
 

DWaltz

Member
Joined
27 Jul 2009
Messages
46
Barnes has Mclaren and Welsh sitting seriously deep, and at times Taylor and Gunning were barely passing the ball 10 yards ahead of themselves when seeking out one of our 2 central midfielders. 90% of the time the ball would be returned by them to the defence, before going accross the back 4 and then being given back to one of the central midfielders...and back again...the ball was just going forwards, backwards, sideways along the "back 6" for about 10 mins at the start till Shuker got bored and decided to drop deep into our own half in an attempt to try to fashion something for himself down the right. Mahon and Shukes being asked to tuck inside to allow both full-backs to bomb on

If you were at Liverpool game, this tactic worked well. We created loads of chances. If we didnt click in midfield yesterday then that is something we cannot really tactically be ready for. As someone who is doing there coaching badges at the minute, I for one have no problem with the team keeping the ball as long as they want. If we have the ball they cannot score.

Eventually we will create a chance in the game and if we put them away and were winning this tactic of keeping the ball works a treat. You cannot prepare for someone failing to mark a man at a corner everyone is given their man before the game and a penalty again you cannot defend against.

I am excited by prospect of us actually playing proper football, some matches it just wont click in midfield and attack like today but sounds like youthful defence did well. Goodison will replace Taylor on Tueday and we will look a lot better at the back and the midfield have looked good in pre-season so am sure tehy will improve. I do feel we need a centre half and a striker though. I wouldnt mind Broomes getting a run out on Tuesday either to be fair, hes fairly experienced.

There will be games when tactics dont click but i think more times than not us keeping the ball in a division full of hoof ball teams will see us play well the majority of the time. I think we will finish mid-table this season.

We are always crap on the first day and we are always crap at travelling away long distances.
 
Joined
3 Apr 2007
Messages
1,345
Player
Goodison
It sounds like we have gone from one extreme to the other. Now we pass too much rather then hoof it too much. Hopefully we can find a style of football in between those two extremes otherwise we will be the prettiest side ever to get relegated!
 
Joined
22 Sep 2005
Messages
1,401
Player
Johnny Morrissey
Agree with all of the above really. We gave away 2 silly goals by the looks of it on the new Football League show (i was quite impressed with the show actually btw). Passing on the deck is all well and good but there has to be a purpose to it. Get the ball forward and create chances, not just pass around the back 6 as SONKORLY refers to it as.

Think Welsh, from the excellent report SONKORLY has provided, really needs to step it up. Wasn't overly impressed with what I saw in pre-season so needs to show he is worth his place a lot more. As for the strikers, doesn't sound like we created a great deal for them to score from so bit hard to tell whether we will struggle in that department.

But the defence seriously needs sorting. We need to be organised and determined, none of which I've seen at all since Barnes has come in. Doesn't help with 2 18 year olds in the middle of it without a single game between them, and players who hadn't played together before.
 

SonkORLY?

____________________
Member
Joined
8 Sep 2008
Messages
1,916
Player
Eddy Sonko
As someone who is doing there coaching badges at the minute, I for one have no problem with the team keeping the ball as long as they want. If we have the ball they cannot score.

Cheers Sir Alex.

We had loads of the ball yesterday and managed to conceded twice - could have been more were it not for a good showing from Daniels. We keep the ball in our own half, we cannot score. Yeovil are a very weak side in this league and we failed to cause them any problems whatsoever. I appreciate that this 'system' will take time to click but I have issues with it from the outset. Some may admire Barnes' hard-headed view that "this is how we will play", but if things don't go well I can't see him adapting his "philosophy" and this apparent lack of plan B worries me.

Also once again appauled and quite stunned by his decision to single out Taylor for post-match criticism for a 3rd match in a row.

Has anyone ever been to Huish Park before? Highly recommended, very nice club, friendly atmosphere, nice town, good day out...

Boz, Fraughan had no effect. Gornell didn't really have time to make an impact either, won a few headers. Might be a better option than Curran alongside Thomas-Moore as those two are quite similar.
 
Joined
22 Sep 2005
Messages
1,401
Player
Johnny Morrissey
DWaltz, good luck with the coaching badges, a future Rovers boss in the making?!

I have to keep agreeing with SonkOrly, a lack of plan B is a big worry. Some times the opoosition just don't let you pass the ball around willy nilly which is what Rovers are seemingly trying to do these days. We don't seem to have that change of plan which could win us a game where we might not play well. I mean I'm all for attractive football and keeping it on the deck, but when we CAN do it. There's no prizes come May for the team who made the most passes on the deck, ultimately we want to see us being successful and sometimes a bit more physical approach is needed.

Be interesting to see the next few games pan out and what Rovers can come up with, cos we need some wins really to boost everybody's confidence as a lot of fans are already at the manager's back and the only way to stop that is by winning matches.
 
Joined
31 Jan 2006
Messages
25
Went to the game and i didn't think we played all that bad. Admittedly we had most of the possession but seriously lacked the cut and thrust in the final third and tended to sit way too deep at times.

It's not all doom and gloom. I think there are many positives.

To put it in simplistic terms Daniels saved us on numerous times and Logan is a good signing and did a good job overall, can't wait to see him after playing a few more games :)

The failings i picked on was it's all very well passing and switching play by passing to the flanks, for them to win it and the to get a cross in BUT to have absolutely no one challenging in the box is pointless. Every time we went forward we did the same thing. The Yeovil back four were loving it as they knew what was coming. We could have played for a full week and we still wouldn't have scored.

I counted at least 5 corners that went long in the first 30 minutes and ended up being wasted. We relied on the wide players way too much and it wasn't until the last minute when we actually took the ball in the their penalty area, which looked more promising than just consistantly throwing crosses in to no one.

As been mentioned before we need something to change up front and quickly. Yeovil were not brilliant, we made them look good and a stronger team will quickly give us a bigger kicking if we don't sort out our inadequacies up front. The defence will get better over the games and i honestly believe JB would have learnt alot from that game.

So to sum up :) The good points;

Daniels - excellent keeper
Logan - bossed his area really well.
Passing game has improved, so i don't miss the long ball punt every other kick.

Not so brilliant points;

Need a flipping big, mobile striker who will stick these crosses in the net.
Stop sitting way too deep or atleast until we can safely see the back four have an understanding.
Not mixing the play up a bit more. Too much down the flanks for no purpose at all.

I have seen us play worse and atleast the sun was shining :) got a very nice red head now.......Happy days :-D
 
Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
5,690
Player
Alan King, Barry Dyson
I was never optimistic about this game and so was not at all alarmed at the result. With lack of experience in the back four, I'm not surprised the midfield played deep to protect and support them. A heavier defeat would have destroyed morale. My hope is that the defence has grown a little in confidence after that game.

With so much change at the club and so little money to buy success, we really have to be patient. Once the first win comes, I hope we will have truned the corner.
 

DWaltz

Member
Joined
27 Jul 2009
Messages
46
No need for the smart arse "Sir Alex" comment. We didnt concede from keeping the ball though did we. A penalty and a header from a corner are both set pieces. Obviously we arent going to have the ball the entire 90 minutes but surely the more we do have it the better chances we have of winning a game. My point was Barnes has his style get use to it or to be honest you might stop being a fan and go away because your no use to anyone connected to the club being a negative moaner all day everyday its getting boring.

How do you know we havent got a plan B? If we lose the next 5 games, Barnes may well change his style but we have had 1 competitive game. But after 1 game if he changed his style some fans mentionoing no names would probably be saying "hes a weak manager he has no confidence in his style". Just give him a ****ing chance for god sake!!!! Sorry to rant but we seem to be the only club who have fans who just no matter what the club does are always negative, its done my head in for 15 years hence the rant. I feel like some people if we won the league would say "yeah but we should have won it by more points".

Yeovil are a crap team in this league you say, well they had 9 new signings in the squad and 8 starting against us so how you can judge that I have no idea. You can never judge teams in this league on last seasons performances because the turn around in players is enormous. Most teams basically have a whole new squad each season, same as happened to us this year so you really cant say yeovil are that bad. They also have a new boss in Skiverton who kept them up last year and has his first full year in charge so you have nothing to judge them on.

People tell me to have a reality check just because I want the team to have a little bit of confidence and feel like some people watching them are actually there to back them. I have got a reality check am not expecting us to get near the play offs this year, we finished what? 11th under Moore first season? I would happily take anywhere in top 12 this year, even 13th or 14th. Give Barnes a season to get his style across, see what he can do and give him a chance to build with some support from us. PLEASE.

Thanks SCooperSomersaults. Future Rovers manager who knows? I would love too, my aim is to go into professional coaching. Work for Everton (Booooo, I know!) at the minute as a community coach.
 

SonkORLY?

____________________
Member
Joined
8 Sep 2008
Messages
1,916
Player
Eddy Sonko
Thought bringing it up smacked of an "I have a coaching badge therefore my opinion is superior" attitude. Don't see why else you'd mention it, but I'm very sorry if I made you sad.

Also, trying to discourage long-standing fans to stop coming to games probably isn't something you should consider making a habit. I'm not being negative, I'm being realistic. I described what I saw and, no offence good sir, but you weren't there were you?

We did not directly concede from keeping the ball on Saturday (obviously :roll:) but it was quite obvious that we were pointlessly keeping posession in the wrong areas of the pitch and this caused problems moving the ball forwards with Mclaren and Welsh sitting so deep. Yeovil put us a lot more pressure than we did them so obviously, on the day, this "philosophy" (could Barnes be any more pretentious btw?!) was useless and didn't work. It hasn't worked pre-season. It is not working. I'm not saying it will not work, but the signs aren't good.

I don't believe Barnes has a "Plan B" because he's said all along that the team will play in a quite specific style, the same style he found success with as Jamaica manager and fell flat on his face with at Celtic (did he swap things round then? you bet he didn't). He does 17 interviews about it every day, have a look around.

Would also add that I am quite happy with my assesment of Yeovil - small squad, league 2 standard players, inexperienced manager, no money...ask any Yeovil fan (I have) and they would be very happy with a season of consolidation in this division...but if you don't like my assesment then the fact that they are priced as 2nd favourites to be relegated (after Stockport) should say enough. And they outplayed us, could have won 3/4-0 were it not for our lovely new keeper.

But pardon me for being a negative moaner...
 

DWaltz

Member
Joined
27 Jul 2009
Messages
46
I didnt bring it up in that way at all u moron. Read what i said my point was im a footy coach and I teach my teams the same philosphy of Barnes keep the ball. Nothing to do with i know more i never said that, learn to read. It has worked, it worked against Preston and it worked against Liverpool XI.

Your next comment about me not being there, again learn to read. I havent made one comment about the Yeovil performance. Simply talked about the philosphy Barnes wants to use in general.

What is a Plan B as such then? Hoof it forward to our tiny strikers? How would you have us play? Surely getting the ball down and getting it wide is how you should want us to play? Thats how we played under Kingy all them years ago?

I know 2 Yeovil fans who are quite optimistic for mid table this season. I just dont see how u can say there that bad when u have just watched them play and they should have beat us 4-0, they cannot be that bad. Inexperieced manager doesnt make a bad team. Bookmakers prices dont really mean anything as they are based on last years positions and Yeovil have a brand new squad. You cannot judge how good they are.

Celtic was 10 years ago and I doubt you followed them that closely while he was there so to comment on his performance there is stupid.

You are a negative moaner and I feel I can comment on you to leave the club alone because what is your point in being a fan? when this is all you come up with? What is your purpose of being involved at Tranmere Rovers?
 
Joined
22 Sep 2005
Messages
1,401
Player
Johnny Morrissey
Guys guys guys! Please.

We're all entitled to our own opinions. Some people are more pessimistic than others, doesn't make their opinions less valid. We're a forum to spark debate, it'd be very boring if we all agreed all the time. You each have your right to say what you feel, thats what we're here for, but no need to slag people off for having theres or name calling. Just good old banter and debate. That's where I'd like to think we're different from the cowsheds and rearguard who just used to absolutely slate when they disagreed. ALL opinions are valid.

I wasn't at the game and only basing my views on what I have seen on the beeb website and the tv etc. Sounds like we had a fair bit of possession without doing much with it, and they had the best chances with Daniels doing well at times. It's hard to form a concentre opinion on Barnes, his tactics and his team after one game. Let's see where we stand after 10 games, hopefully a better position than after the first.

Dwaltz, good luck with the coaching mate.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
I've just watched the highlights on Player (tranmere world) and there's wasn't one highlight from a blue shirt?!? Did we not have one decent chance?
 
Joined
22 Sep 2005
Messages
1,401
Player
Johnny Morrissey
Erm.... lol, think a couple of headers wide but that's only from what I've read in match reports.. those who went please??
 

SonkORLY?

____________________
Member
Joined
8 Sep 2008
Messages
1,916
Player
Eddy Sonko
Curran had one good chance with a header, otherwise, not a lot...looked close from where I was anyway, maybe it wasn't. For all our posession we created next to nothing, that was the problem really.
 
Joined
22 Sep 2005
Messages
1,401
Player
Johnny Morrissey
Yeah, if we create lots of chances then clearly our chances of scoring more often increase. Been a problem for a few seasons a lack of creativity and a "natural" goalscorer. Thought Alan Mahon and McLaren might help create but the natural scorer we're still lacking probably.
 

DWaltz

Member
Joined
27 Jul 2009
Messages
46
Apologies for snapping, I dont want this to turn personal and I dont mean to aim all my rants at Boz and Sonkorly, so I apologise to them. and I know everyone is entitled to their views even if there negative but I look at it like this. I want everyone to read it and then just think for a few minutes about it and am sure everyone will agree with me.

I didnt want Barnes in charge either, to be honest I still don't. I want Moore back and if not Moore then someone with more experience at this level don't get me wrong but what I realise is there is nothing that I can do about it and none of us can do about it.

I am unhappy with the slashing of the budget, I am unhappy with ongoings upstairs but I am trying to be positive because what else as a fan can I do?

We are all unhappy and sad about certain things, Barnes is in charge I don't agree with that but I agree with his philosphy that he is trying to get across, I think it can work. But Barnes is in charge wether I like it or not so just like my boss at work who I dont really like I have just got to go with the flow. Im not saying dont post on here "we were crap today" "we played useless" "so and so was awful". I dont mind with people saying I dont like so and so as a player in general, we should play this team etc. But i dont want people saying "we were crap today, were doomed forever, we are going down, barnes is useless" etc etc already becase there is no need for it yet. Take things one game at a time for now.

I am not saying dont be angry we lost to Yeovil and played crap. I am angry about that but onwards and upwards, why not? What some people have to remember is this:

When them 11 white shirts walk out tonight, there ARE boys out there. Wether we like whos playing, wether we agree with the formation/tactics, wether we agree with certain subs coming on etc. Those are our BOYS out there. A football match is like war, we are going into a battle and we have to throw bodies on the line, we have to fight, we have to scrap, it might be pretty it might not, some tactics might work, others won't. But the objective is to win the game.

When we were fighting against Germany in WW2, the people back home watching couldnt do much about the actual war. We are them people watching the game we cannot directly influence anything at the club on or off the pitch but what we can do is give the lads the backing they deserve. They might not always play amazing but I always remember Michael Jackson when he was here saying in an interview that if we lost he couldnt sleep that night and all the players were angry going home and their missus couldnt speak to any of them because they were moody. When Goodison had a few spats with players on the pitch etc its because they want to win. They might not always seem like there playing with their heart on their sleeves but whoever goes out there for tranmere rovers are fighting for us and for the club to win matches. Even if it doesnt seem like it. Even I sit at matches sometimes and go "they dont even look like they want to win" am sure we all do but were wrong. They do want to win.

When Tranmere are preparing to go out to the tunnel tonight and on Saturday or in every game. They will be fist pumping each other in the dressing room, shouting at each other come on rovers, come on boys, lets get up for this etc etc. We are a football club. Players, staff and fans and we need to fight together. We win together as a club we lose together as a club. So lets do what we can wether we agree with certain things is irrelevent, what we do all agree on is that we all love this football club whatever happens in the world or at the club that we will never change for most of us until the day we die. So come on Rovers!!!
 

SonkORLY?

____________________
Member
Joined
8 Sep 2008
Messages
1,916
Player
Eddy Sonko
Lol don't worry about it, I'm not offended and never was at any point. I don't disagree with what you say but think you might be mistaking me for someone who is constantly negative? A few people actually boo'd when the final whilste went on Saturday, fair enough if that's the people you're targetting, but don't mistake me for one of 'em...

I always remember Michael Jackson when he was here saying in an interview that if we lost he couldnt sleep that night

Took me a few reads to work out that you meant the footballer and not the recently deceased singer :lol:
 
Top