Daggers v Rovers

[Sparky]

If Carden has any realistic chance of getting the managers job then a result at Dagenham on Saturday will do his chances no harm at all. Beating an average Woking side perhaps wasn't too much of a surprise, even with our poor form leading up to it, but Saturdays long trip will be a real test of both the players abilities but also how Carden is from a tactical perspective.

BT Sport will be hoping the daggers will continue their goal scoring form with a goal difference of plus 14 and 27 points from 36 available which sees them at the top of the table, led by the experienced John Still. Our last performance on the TV could not have been worse so lets hope for an improvement.

No one I recognise in their side but their top scorer with 10 already Oliver Hawkins has been grabbing the headlines understandably.

I may be wrong but I assume Carden may go with a 4-5-1 with Nors back in a wide role on the left. Tollit on the right with Jenno, Hughes and Maynard in the middle. Cook up top on his own and the usual defence with the dodgy at times Ridehalgh on the left and Sutton keeping his place on the right. One option could have been 5 at the back with Sutton in a middle 3 with Big Mac/Ihikwe and Vaughan in as a wing back, but the quality of delivery from Richie last Saturday means he should stay wide.

Prediction: rovers unable to keep out a potent Daggers attack. 2-0 to the home side.

 

[Boz]

Oddly enough, this is the kind of game the Brabin of last season would have probably ground out a result from.
Though not the one who picked the side that lost at Aldershot.

If we play the same line-up and formation as Woking, we get thumped. I think Hughes is still banned, so if we adopt Sparky's formation then either Duggan or Kirby, if fit, would have to stand in there. Neither Tollitt or Almond were wholly convincing last time and think Carden might opt for the latter' greater experience. Cook needs to be up front and I'm thinking 433 may work better here.

Dagenham are looking a bit like Cheltenham from last season, getting into the groove after an inconsistent start. While it isn't beyond Rovers to get something from this one, I share Sparky's view on the likely outcome.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I did think we should switch to 4-5-1 for this game but now I am not so sure, and not just because of the players that are unavailable. Dagenham play a 4-4-2 with two pacy wingers so it probably makes sense to match them up out wide; switching to 4-5-1 will leave the fullbacks exposed. Last week we were outnumbered in midfield as Woking played with wing backs, but that won't be the case tomorrow. Either way, I would agree that we can't start with both Almond and Pollit who will be far too lightweight defensively, but if Kirby is available he can fill one of the wide positions and will work hard defensively.

This game has come at completely the wrong time for us, which is a pity as we really need to take something to keep our hopes of the title alive. It seems ridiculous to say that at this stage of the season, but if we lose I can't see us making up a seven point gap on a John Still side given the uncertainty over the new manager. I get a feeling we will score in this game and just hope we do enough defensively to get a result.

 

[bigmart]

By the sounds of what Carden is saying on the os we ware going to attack them and play 4-4-2 fancy we will get at least a point from this im going for 2 2 draw

 

[Ian]

If that's the case it could be quite an open game. Might come down to who are the better finishers ?

 

[Boz]

If we mirror Dagenham's 442, especially with Jennings' lack of stamina in a 2-man central midfield, then I fear the outcome and it would look like Carden has learned nothing from what went wrong in the second half v Woking.

 

[Sparky]

Sticking with 4-4-2 could be very risky indeed and Carden whilst wanting to impress the fans by playing in an attacking way, must surely realise we can't be gung ho in this sort of match or we could get turned over.

Boz is right in that this is the sort of game we won under GB with a solid defensive display and ability to nick a goal on the counter. Many of last seasons away performances worked this way with Nors ploughing a long furrow up top. Cook will have to do the same but to keep Nors in the team he'll have to play wide but get forward as much as he can.

 

[Mal]

Crikey, after reading so many posts about how boring Tranmere have been, people advocating being risk-averse. Carden has only been in charge for one home game. We have no idea how he will set up the team in the away game as yet, even if people 'can read into his comments'. After Sutton, I would rather see a Tranmere team go for it and lose 1-0 than play like they did that day with a defensive mindset.

Borehamwood won at Dagenham...

 

[Sparky]

Mal - I think any boring performances people have complained about over the last year have been at home. Losing a third of our home games last season was pretty bad. I doubt many of the SWA would complain about a 'boring' away performance at Daggers and coming away with a point or even a win. I don't think we especially played with a defensive mind-set at Sutton - we were just poor all round.

It's at home people want entertainment and the overall performances over the last year or so at PP haven't been - hence the drop in attendances already.

Back to team news, Elliot Osborne joins on a months loan from Fleetwood. Sounds like an attacking midfielder who only joined Fleet in the summer after a great couple of seasons with Nantwich Town, including 22 goals last season.

 

[Mal]

Hopefully we won't hear about "time to gel"!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Playing 442 is not by definition going 'hung ho' if the wide midfielders are aware of their defensive duties. As I said previously, playing three in midfield tomorrow could leave us exposed in the wide areas and might be more dangerous. In any case, with cook and norwood up front I am not convinced we would lose an open game against Dagenham.

 

[Boz]

RLC, having indicated in your comments on the Woking thread the difficulties Jennings S was experiencing in a 2 man central midfield, are you in favour of dropping him if Carden persists with 442? If Kirby is fit, he would do more tracking back as one of the wide players.

I would be unimpressed if Osborne went ahead of Mitch Duggan in the pecking order, after last weekend. As many of his goals were penalties, perhaps he can take over from Norwood for spot-kicks...

I agree with Sparky,getting results away is more important than pretty football, great if we can do both. Daggers will build a significant lead by winning this game, reducing any prospect of top spot still further.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

RLC, having indicated in your comments on the Woking thread the difficulties Jennings S was experiencing in a 2 man central midfield, are you in favour of dropping him if Carden persists with 442?

Nice try, but you obviously did not read my previous posts. Woking play with three in midfield, hence we were outnumbered in that position last Saturday. As a result, Jennings struggled. By contrast, Dagenham play with two in the middle: I don't know who their midfielders are, but the experienced and talented pair of Jennings and Maynard should be able to cope fine against them, as they would against any midfield pairing at this level.

I don't have a fixed view on which formation we should play on Saturday but, given the midfielders we have missing, I don't think playing 4-5-1 is necessarily the best way of getting a result. A lot of teams have played with width to exploit us recently and Dagenham will do the same. At Aldershot we played 4-5-1 but were all over the place defensively because they doubled up on our fullbacks; at York, Ridehalgh was left one-on-one most of the game and got skinned; even at Southport the same thing happened and Hughes had a hard time up against Almond at left back.

All of those recent matches demonstrated Brabin's tactical inadequacies, and just because we ground out a lot of results away from home last season does not mean they are no other ways of getting results in away matches. Sometimes being slightly bolder works, as Braintree and Cheltenahm demonstrated at Prenton Park last season.

And I did not say anything about playing 'pretty football'.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I would be unimpressed if Osborne went ahead of Mitch Duggan in the pecking order, after last weekend.

I agree. In light of BBTC's comments about Stockton on another thread, it is incredible the way the club seems to go out of its way to avoid developing its own players these days.

 

[Ian]

Osborne will be straight in but I do agree we need to be giving our own players a chance. I thought we may have survived without bringing emergency loans in this season but alas..

 

[Boz]

Nice try, but you obviously did not read my previous posts. Woking play with three in midfield, hence we were outnumbered in that position last Saturday. As a result, Jennings struggled. By contrast, Dagenham play with two in the middle: I don't know who their midfielders are, but the experienced and talented pair of Jennings and Maynard should be able to cope fine against them, as they would against any midfield pairing at this level.

I don't have a fixed view on which formation we should play on Saturday but, given the midfielders we have missing, I don't think playing 4-5-1 is necessarily the best way of getting a result. A lot of teams have played with width to exploit us recently and Dagenham will do the same. At Aldershot we played 4-5-1 but were all over the place defensively because they doubled up on our fullbacks; at York, Ridehalgh was left one-on-one most of the game and got skinned; even at Southport the same thing happened and Hughes had a hard time up against Almond at left back.

All of those recent matches demonstrated Brabin's tactical inadequacies, and just because we ground out a lot of results away from home last season does not mean they are no other ways of getting results in away matches. Sometimes being slightly bolder works, as Braintree and Cheltenahm demonstrated at Prenton Park last season.

And I did not say anything about playing 'pretty football'.

You said on the Woking thread Jennings has not got the legs to play in a two-man midfield these days and there was a lack of protection for the back four.
It was a fair point, which I agreed with. No specific reference to the formation, though it's correct Woking deployed 3 central midfielders in a 352 and I follow that Dagenham will only deploy 2. Maynard didn't struggle in a 2 man midfield, but became more influential in an attacking sense when we switched to 3. My own view is that Jennings shouldn't be an automatic choice in central midfield on recent performance, though atm we're running out of options, but it's risky playing him in a central midfield pair.

The winger up against Ridehalgh at York is one of the better players seen this season, Liam did a far better job when he came on than Hughes against Almond. Kirby, if available, could offer protection on one side of a midfield four, but Stephenson/Almond/Tollitt don't offer similar for the other side. Suppose could try Vaughan as right-sided midfielder, but it feels a bit desperate.

Sometimes being bolder works, but not always...ask Woking after last week's game! Given how pivotal this game could be to the rest of our season, grinding out a result would suit me fine.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I agree completely with Ian. However, if Steve Jennings gets a booking tomorrow, we will then be left with Duggan as the only available midfielder for Tuesday night's game. So, I suppose the club had to bring in another body in the short term.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

You said on the Woking thread Jennings has not got the legs to play in a two-man midfield these days and there was a lack of protection for the back four.

If I did not make it clear that Jennings was struggling against a three-man midfield then fair enough, but that is what I meant. I agree that Jennings has been rubbish in recent weeks, but tomorrow we have to play him. I was not sure whether your earlier comment about dropping him was serious or sarcastic.

If I was making the decision, I would probably play 4-4-2 with Kirby as one of the wide men. I don't think we have the players available at the moment to play 4-3-3.

 

[Boz]

I agree that Jennings has been rubbish in recent weeks, but tomorrow we have to play him. I was not sure whether your earlier comment about dropping him was serious or sarcastic.

It was a genuine question. I agree that resources dictate there is no option than to play him, like you say.

As we needed a midfield loan, it is disappointing that we were unable to bring in someone more experienced than Osborne, promising though he may prove.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Boz and RLC, I enjoy reading your posts but even better I love to watch you both arguing your point. Ian, this is a quality fan site.