Accrington Stanley 0-0 Tranmere Rovers

[roverstillidie]

A dull, grim, uneventful match, both sides were very poor and neither deserved to win. Rovers spent the entire game hoofing the ball to Shuker who was been marked by someone twice his height, needless to say he didn't win many headers. The only real chances Rovers had was a Kay header which was tipped over the bar and a shot from Edds which was pathetic given the fact he was completely unmarked and only had the goalkeeper to beat from 10 yards out. Accringtons only chance came from a sloppy Jennings backpass which was chased down by a forward but the shot went straight at Coyne. Although Kay seemed to be intent on scoring an own goal with a series of loopy back passes and what looked like attempted lobs over Coyne!

The ball got hit out of the ground eleven times which sums the match up really!

The 4-5-1 system is abysmal to attack with, the midfielders just run into each other, Savage is isolated and there is nobody there to attack any crosses because the team is so slow going forward. To play 4-5-1 you need two goalscoring midfielders, we don't have one - use your brain Ronnie and change back to 4-4-2 before people start bringing books to matches! Hopefully we can actually keep the ball on the floor in the replay and win.

Ratings:
Coyne 6
Shotton 4
Kay 4
Chorley 6
Taylor 6
Shuker 5
Edds 4
Jennings 6
Barnett 5
Moore 4
Savage 6

Greenacre n/a (didnt have much of a chance to influence the game but did a good one - two with Shuker which Shuker nearly hit into the car park)

Man of the Match: No real contenders but I would choose Holmes as he was ordered out of the ground by Achterberg at half time to go and get the ball back which he bounced over the stand warming up (which involved clambering through the away end); which provided a bit of needed entertainment! None of the players on show stuck out though - they were all particulary average or worse.

 

[SonkORLY?]

interesting, thanks for the report. a draw isn't a particulaly bad result anyway.

the commentator on tranmereworld seemed to give the impression that we played ok and just couldn't manage to get a goal - their keeper getting MOM also suggests this may have been the case, at least to some degree? statistically we had a lot of shots on goal so i was actually pretty satisfied with the effectiveness of the attacking side of the 4-5-1 (with which we have amassed 3 away wins, 3 away draws and 1 loss to memory) although as ronnie said post-match, "we need to start burying our chances" - IMO as long as we're creating chances we're doing a lot of things right. We had 3 one on ones, they didn't really test us once. I'm not questioning your analysis of the game as I wasn't there, just pointing out some differences in opinion I've heard so far.

Considering edds has a decent goal record, his form in front of goal for us has been abysmal. it will be interesting to see what happens when goodison returns - kay back to center midfield? edds/barnett out?

lol @ achto bossing danny holmes about - excellent.

 

[Boz]

Will write more fully later. Agree with much of what RTID writes above. We had a purple patch in the last 15m of the 1st half, but mediocre for much of the 2nd. Think we had 7 goal attempts all game. Couldn't understand Ronnie's reluctance to use subs, I'd have liked to see Sonko on for starters.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Couldn't understand Ronnie's reluctance to use subs, I'd have liked to see Sonko on for starters.

:shock: we were that bad?


7 goal attempts isn't bad for an away side; many of them seemed to be decent chances too.

also, to play 4-5-1 you really don't need 2 goalscoring central midfielders; you need 2 defensively minded midfielders. but yeah,it helps if the wide players can chip in with goals; at least shuker has been doing that much - but ian moore has been useless in every respect.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Rovers were pretty poor in all fairness. A few decent chances in the first half with Edds completely wasting the best of them, through one on one with the keeper with all the time in the world, he took far too long and fired straight at the keeper. Other than that we had a few headers well saved but never created anything too clearcut.

Second half was dreadful. A Savage shot deflected over, a long range Shotton shot which went just over, but worst of all Shuker who ended a lovely little move with one of the worst shots you're likely to see, trying to bend it into the corner with just the keeper to beat, he fired it high wide and not very handsome over the terrace housing the Rovers fans. Terrible.

Ronnie's 4-5-1 is not something I like. Antony Kay is far better suited in midfield and nowhere near a good replacement for Goodi. Edds seems to be a Ronnie favourite and can't run. It was like he was moving in quicksand yesterday and imo after watching a few months, he isnt good enough for the midfield. And as big a fan I am of Ian Moore, he is completely lost out on the wing, Sonko is probably better suited but dare I say family preference???

All in all, a cold, wet, dull affair. Got them back at Prenton, with the winners to face Hornchurch (again!) or Posh (again!) - wouldnt fancy us in round 2 vs Posh :-s

 

[Tartantranmere64]

So it's Posh away if we can squeeze past yet another League 2 team (how many have we been drawn against in all competitions in the last couple of seasons?).

Actually, I was glad we were not drawn away to Curzon Ashton. I saw their game yesterday (professional reasons) and they made mincemeat of an Exeter team one point off the top in L2 and miles ahead of Accrington. With our 'strike' force misfiring at the moment, I am not even confident we could finish off a Unibond first division outfit. And the scoreline was very flattering to Exeter, they scored 2 in the last 7 minutes against 10 men.

Ah, the 'magic' of the FA Cup, eh?

 

[Boz]

This was my first game since the Millwall debacle and while things have improved defensively since then, I remain unconvinced with the 4-5-1 system and the players currently being used. Ian Moore may be able to do a rough imperonation of a right-winger, but a left-winger he ain't. If Sonko is totally out of favour then why not use one of Taylor/Cresswell as the wide left man? There was too much clutter in midfield and not enough support for the lone striker(mainly Savage, though he and Moore swapped position on occasion). Accrington weren't a great side, but they seemed far better at hanging onto the ball than Rovers. Kay doesn't ever seem to carry the ball out from the back now and the aimless hoofing, which he was the prime culprit does us no good.

Generally agree with RTID on ratings save the following;

Taylor 5 Radar didn't seem to be working, a lot of balls kicked into touch early on.
Shotton 5 Not at his best, but did some decent covering work when the central defenders out of position.
Jennings 5 Could see little difference between him and Barnett, save Charlie did set up one decent chance.
Edds 3 If he had converted all of the chances he's been presented with would be our top scorer this season. Aside from getting in position to miss time after time, what does he actually do for the team?
Savage 6.5 Bas was our best player on the park in terms of effort and had a couple of decentish chances. Wonderful back-heel to open things up too. Not a fan of the red hair though.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Not a fan of the red hair though.

=;

GTFO

Bas' hair is the focal point of our attack.

Also, left back playing left wing, do not want.

 

[Boz]

=;

GTFO

Bas' hair is the focal point of our attack.

Also, left back playing left wing, do not want.

Yeah, but can't recall Rovers ever playing in red. Wish he'd stuck to the blue. Can't see why a left-back playing left-wing is any worse than a striker playing in that position. Also believe Cresswell has played wide left for the reserves.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I will blindly support anything Bas does with his hair.

Also, as Ronnie keeps banging on about, the idea is that the 4-2-3-1 turns into a 4-3-3 when you're going forward...and given Bas' fairly poor scoring record, in theory, we need people around him who can chip in with goals. 4-2-3-1 systems often feature at least one conventional striker out wide tbh, but rarely a fullback...

I'd certainly give Sonko a go over Ian Moore tho...