Maidenhead v Rovers

[Ian]

The team we have now and in essence the starting XI aren't that much different to the team we had last season when we had an excellent season, record number of points and got to Wembley. The bubble seems to have burst since Wembley. So what has really gone wrong? How can it go so wrong with pretty much the same players and manager?

I still believe the players have no confidence playing this 532. They don't look confident playing it, no-one is driving forward and getting into good positions. We cant score to save our lives.

If MM wants to keep his job or at least improve on the last 10 games, he has to try something different.
I can almost guarantee if he continues with this system, the next 10 games will be just like the last 10.

 

[tyke]

Hi I am a supporter of Rovers from a distance having relatives in the area who are diehard supporters. I rely for relatively sane comments and knowledge on this site. I hesitate to comment on the basis of just a few games a year --and only one this season so far at Guiseley-- but I thought I would.

Last season I saw the home game against Dagenham which seemed to me to produce the sort of stodgy performance we are seeing at the moment. I also saw the game at Guiseley in April where the team had the confidence to come back from behind and produced a very fluent 20 mins in which they won the game against a weak side. This season against Guiseley there was some huffing and puffing but nothing more than a half chance against a bottom six side.

What's the difference? I slightly take issue with Ian because the losses of Vaughan and Ihiekwe have reduced mobility and options for playing out from the back and maybe Stockton was more suited to the 5-3-2 set up than Cook is? Especially without Tollitt it is back to the stodge with no-one to really unlock the game. So teams can sit back, soak it up and aim to take it from there.

So, just to say three or four pieces of last year's jigsaw are missing and I think blend is important. Which names are first on the teamsheet? What pattern does Cook need in order to thrive? Find the right blend and confidence will return.

 

[Sparky]

tyke makes a good point here about Cook and Cole and who is more suited to 5-3-2. Naturally playing wing backs instead of wingers in a 4-4-2 means less aerial service from wide for a target man. Cook is much more suited to this. Although a big frame, Cole was better on the floor, with his back to goal and was a decent finisher. Cook is stronger in the air and in my view, more suited to a 4-4-2 formation with 2 proper wingers getting to the byeline and putting crosses on his head.

Vaughan is a big loss but even if he had signed a new contract, he still wouldn't be fit. Buxton is a good player but I've always thought that he's best as the right side centre half in a back 5. Vaughan was perfect for the wing back role really - quick and got up and down - I remember at Wrexham away last season when he scored the winner he was like a right winger.

Ihikwe is a loss but Sutton and Gumbs are decent whilst McEveley isn't bad.

Defensively I think we're ok - the problem is creating chances, and spurning the few that come along. That partly comes down to the system i.e. 5-3-2 isn't suiting Cook and also the personnel, I've always thought Hughes, Harris & Norburn as a trio aren't attacking enough. However CJ has looked a shadow of himself - largely down to a lack of confidence.

Other things like Mickeys signings e.g. Dawson, Wallace, Alabi, Rokka come into question, along with the persistent things like Hughes taking every corner which frustrate fans.

 

[tyke]

tyke makes a good point here about Cook and Cole and who is more suited to 5-3-2. Naturally playing wing backs instead of wingers in a 4-4-2 means less aerial service from wide for a target man. Cook is much more suited to this. Although a big frame, Cole was better on the floor, with his back to goal and was a decent finisher. Cook is stronger in the air and in my view, more suited to a 4-4-2 formation with 2 proper wingers getting to the byeline and putting crosses on his head.

Vaughan is a big loss but even if he had signed a new contract, he still wouldn't be fit. Buxton is a good player but I've always thought that he's best as the right side centre half in a back 5. Vaughan was perfect for the wing back role really - quick and got up and down - I remember at Wrexham away last season when he scored the winner he was like a right winger.

Ihikwe is a loss but Sutton and Gumbs are decent whilst McEveley isn't bad.
.

Re Vaughan, sure. IMHO he was the biggest single loss for Wembley.

Re McEveley maybe the question is whether he is good enough in the air to play CB in a 4-4-2. Hasn't he played most of his career at LB?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

If you cast your mind back a year ago when Mellon first took over, performances were actually very similar to how we are playing now. We were playing a narrow diamond formation and were pretty bogged down in midfield in the majority of games, winning by narrow margins even against poor opposition: remember the last minute winners against North Ferriby and York ? It was only later in the season when we briefly switched to 442, and later still 532, that we began to create more chances. Those tactical changes coincided with Stockton coming into the team, who as Sparky says, is more mobile than Cook and better suited to the wing back formation.

The difference between this period and ten or eleven months ago is confidence. Then we were putting in unspectacular performances but grinding out narrow victories, with Mellon still in his honeymoon period and good morale in the squad. Now our games are equally tight, but largely because of the lack of belief in the side we are on the end of narrow defeats.

The concern for me is that Mellon has put a squad together in the summer without much thought about the system we will play, or at least with our tactical options limited by bad signings. We have two natural wingers - Rokka and Dawson - who are nowhere near the first team and as a result we can't play with genuine width and go 442. Equally, we did not replace Vaughan with a natural wing back, and Cook lacks the mobility of Stockton, so the 532 formation does not function properly either. As a result, we started the season with the 451 system that got Brabin sacked, and that did not work either.

As a result, i really struggle to see what system would suit this group of players. We have decent individuals but not a balanced starting eleven, at least until Tollitt is back. And we can't expect too much of Tollitt, as his return is not going to be a panacea for our problems. It is unreasonable to expect a youngster recovering from serious injury to turn a failing team's fortunes on his own and it would be wrong to put too much pressure on him.

I get the impression that because we changed formation so many times last season due to injuries, yet still got results, Mellon has been complacent regarding the basic shape of the team, and we have started the season ill-prepared.

 

[Ian]

When did they start lacking confidence because I see no difference in our performances between the start of the season and now. Surely they weren't knocked of confidence after the early home defeat to Sutton Utd.

They must be a pretty frail bunch or as Norwood said a few games ago, maybe it's Wembley hangover.

 

[bigmart]

Poor recruitment has also been a problem for me, Brabin got some decent players in but was too negative and didn't know how to get the best out of them. Under MM only Norburn so far has looked decent the rest are either poor or had little or no chance.

I cant see anyway we can afford to change the manager unless he gets to the stage that he has had enough and decides to walk. A lot of the players need to have a good hard look at themselves too regardless of any falling out with the manager or not, the performances have simply not been good enough, we create very little and are so easy to play against at the moment

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

When Mellon had just arrived there was a buoyancy in the squad and the players had been lifted by a new manager arriving. However, the actual football we played in the first few months of last season was not much better than we are playing now. This season we don't have the 'new manager bounce' so the narrow formation, and lack of creativity, is being found out, that is what I am arguing.

In the second half of last season we were more fluid and scored more goals, but some of the key players in that team - Stockton, Vaughan, Ihiekwe - are no longer here and have been replaced with Alabi and Dunn. As a result, we can't use the tactics we did in that stronger period.

 

[Boz]

Things don't feel any better, having slept on it.

At the start of pre-season, MM was making a thing about relying on "natural width" rather than wing-backs. It seemed quite a forceful assertion, given Tollitt was never going to be fit for the start of the season, though maybe the optimistic expectation was that he'd have been back by now. Dunn is capable of playing out wide, Rokka was bought as one for the future, Dawson out of favour, so was there a plan to bring another wide player like the ex-Reading lad Owusu that we had on trial? A plan that was scuppered by a lack of funds or some other reason? No reason for Micky to make that remark if he wasn't planning on using wingers/wide players.

I'm unsure that we have the players suitable for playing as wing-backs. The bigger problem is on the right side, Buxton is a good right-back, but lacks the stamina to be consistently tracking back and forth along the touchline. Duggan might be capable of becoming one, but has struggled to do what's required in the role thus far. Rokka, who has played in that position and Solomon-Davies might be options, but with our current difficulties it's not ideal pitching a youngster into that mix. Things are better on the left, where Ridehalgh and Clarke can play left wing-back. However, the lack of pace at the back means Liam appears more conscious of his defensive duties, with nobody able to mop up Ihiekwe style.

My thought is that either we should try playing with "natural width" with those players available or accept that the wing-backs don't appear capable of delivering the quality of crosses needed and look to play in a different way; through the channels maybe.

 

[Ian]

My thought is that either we should try playing with "natural width" with those players available or accept that the wing-backs don't appear capable of delivering the quality of crosses needed and look to play in a different way; through the channels maybe.

I would agree with that.

 

[Sparky]

Going back to the confidence issue, what is a surprise is that we've not been able to build momentum after a decent result.

After the Woking win we lost to Sutton. After the last minute equaliser v BWood we beat a poor Solihull but then had a bad result. After a last minute winner v barrow on Saturday which surely would have done the trick, we then lose at Maidenhead.

Each time u think we're going to go on a run we hit the wall.

I agree though re Micky. I can't see him getting sacked but think he'll resign if things carry on. He keeps saying he's responsible and can only keep saying the same things for so long.

 

[frenchrover]

I think that despite the McNulty post-match comments after the Barrow match (which I believe were orchestrated from above to placate the fans) there are problems "behind the scenes" with rumours now circulating about the team not being paid in August. I also feel we should cut Micky some slack as he is Tranmere through and through and only wants the best for our club but is I think going through a personal crisis of his own.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

It does seem that Mellon has lost the dressing room and there are major issues behind the scenes. I lay much of the blame for our current predicament with the players, regardless of tactics.

However, I find it highly unlikely the players went unpaid in August. The PFA would have been involved for one thing, and it would have been all over the media.

 

[frenchrover]

I suspect you are right about the August pay, I was just reporting what I had read elsewhere on a fan site supposedly from a source within the club. Clearly the players must accept the main criticism for our current problems for once they cross that white line the ball is literally in their court and there are only limited options available to the manager.

 

[JKS]

Been reading for a while, without actually participating so here goes...

The problem, as I see it, is multi faceted.

We seem far too focused on zones around the pitch, rather than putting players under pressure. Whenever the opposition have the ball, you see players waving at others to get to their man rather than eradicating the pressure themselves, more often than not resulting in a simple run and pass for the opposition player unchallenged. The number of system changes we undertake game to game is embarrassing. We're very easy to play against, stop Hughes having time on the ball, stop Cook from winning the headers, play a pacey forward. Job done.

Another issue for me is the coaching staff. Mellon seems to do a lot of instructing from the sidelines as the manager, but I've also seen Nixon doing the same since he has been brought in. Why? What's the point? He's the goalkeeper coach and nothing more. He should be seated on the bench, and provide warm up / coaching to the goalkeepers at the club. To think he can bring in goalkeepers to coach at his will must undermine the goalkeepers on the books at the club. Why give him that much leeway? I think the club underestimated how big a loss sending Garnett to China was going to be. He's been here years and is a big personality, and seemed very popular around the club with players and staff.

Summmer recruitment and preparation was poor. Playing 3 or 4 friendlies isn't preparation enough and shows an overconfidence on our part. We needed a center back with pace to replace Ihekwe, we needed a target man to replace Stockton and provide competition for Cook, we needed a pacey right wing back to replace Vaughan. As someone stated earlier, we have a multitude of players who can play different systems, but we only have a few who can play the system we are currently using. Back to basics approach needs to apply to start putting some points on the board.

I think the inevitable has started to happen, fans are unhappy with the results and performances, which means the players have started to hide and ultimately the manager will get sacked. I don't see a lack of effort on the pitch, I don't see a lack of commitment from the manager, it just isn't working and something has to give.

Apologies that turned into a bit of a rant, but that's my take on what has been an extremely poor opening 10 games to the season. Both on and off the pitch.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Regarding Eric Nixon, I think it might have been another error bringing him into the set up. I have noticed pre-match that he just stands around with his hands on his hips chatting to the young keepers, whereas Turner was more professional and had them going through a set routine.

I know Eric was a great player and is a club legend, but he was a bit of a headcase, to be frank, and I am not sure he is the greatest influence in the dressing room.

 

[Sparky]

Agree with RLC about big Eric. He doesn't come across that professional when you see him in and around the ground.

Yes a legend as a player but u do wonder whether his recent career of washing cars and impersonating elvis has helped him.

 

[Boz]

While I'm not sure Nixon would have been my goalkeeping coach of choice, it was right to let Iain Turner leave, given he wanted to continue playing and was acting as a block to Pilling getting any bench time. While I don't think Big Eric's influence has been particularly positive, doubt that what he does or doesn't do on the bench has made a great deal of difference either way.

If we're economising, perhaps it's time to say goodbye to the sports science lot. There is a feeling that rather than their data being used to help players, it is utilised to run them down ie with Cook.

Another area where questions could be asked is the fitness of the players. While McNulty has significantly lost weight, too many seem to run out of steam before the end of games. Wonder what systems are in place to get the most out of the players. Noteably Adam Mekki, who often looked worn out playing for us, seems to be lasting the full 90 for Bromley.

Having seen the Maidenhead highlights, we only appeared to have 2 chances of any note and they were long distance from Norwood and Buxton. Generally felt AB has been one of our better players, but he switched off for their winner, leaving the scorer unchallenged. Wonder if his confidencehas been dented after being left out of the side when he was playing well.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

If we're economising, perhaps it's time to say goodbye to the sports science lot. There is a feeling that rather than their data being used to help players, it is utilised to run them down ie with Cook.

It probably merits a thread of its own, but I think our use of sports science and obsession with statistics is ridiculous at this level, and probably simply confuses the players a lot of the time. I would rather the manager and coaching staff simply watched the game and used their experience to interpret what they have seen.