• 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.

orient v rovers

Boz

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I think you’re probably right about our possible opponents playing experience. Last season Sutton had a good Cup run and Macc made the Trophy final, so arguably there is big match experience there. Of course some of our line-up will have gained experience from last year, which could help us.

I agree it’s unlikely we’ll win the league this year, though not impossible. I agree that finishing in the top three gives us a better chance of making the final, due to the home one off play-off game. However, hopeful is as optimistic as I can manage about our prospects of winning at Wembley.

Finally I haven’t noticed any great hysteria on here or at the games about dropping points and don’t get the impression the players are under great pressure atm.
 
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Finally I haven’t noticed any great hysteria on here or at the games about dropping points and don’t get the impression the players are under great pressure atm.
Hysteria was probably overstating it, but judging from the reaction on here yesterday a lot of people were frustrated with a point away at Orient, whereas those at the game knew how hard we had to work to earn it. We can't possibly win all of our remaining matches.

It is the defeats at Eastleigh, Maidenhead and Gateshead earlier in the season, and the draws at Torquay and Guiseley, that will probably cost us the title, not yesterday's result.
 

Sparky

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Makes u think about our poor start to the season when we had scored the least amount of goals in the division and Cook was unfairly dropped.

We could have easily been top of the league had we had just an average start to the season given our form in the last few months.

Given we need to be winning games I’d start Tollit next Saturday. There is an argument to play Gino on the other wing but suspect CJ will keep his place. I’d rather start with Ben, hopefully be winning and take him off with half an hour to go ready for Macc. Rather than need him to come in with half an our left against Bromley to try and help us
 

Boz

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I would agree with Sparky that our current situation owes a lot to failings in the early part of the season. For some areas, like the summer recruitment, others may be to blame, but the poor handling of Cook falls squarely at Micky's door.

I think we should beat Bromley, even without Ben Tollitt. The management team will be best equiped to know if Ben is now capable of lasting the full 90 minutes, but if he is not then I wouldn't start him. It's all very well to start with the intention of taking him off on 60 minutes, but suppose we pick up injuries, might not be able to carry that through.

Haven't seen enough of Ginnelly to know if playing him and BT is a good option. Given Norburn is off form at present, there is always the choice of moving Jennings into central midfield.
 
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When Tollitt is match fit, I would start with him on the right and Jennings on the left. Jennings seems to have licence to come in off the line whenever he wants and roamed all over the place yesterday, and was excellent. I quite like Ginnelly but he is not as good as either of those two.

I don't think playing Jennings in an orthodox midfield role would work; he has not got the attributes to play in a two-man midfield.
 

Ian

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There are still 39 points to play for and we are 4 off the top. I certainly wouldn't be writing us off yet. We are still playing well, not losing many and we have Tollitt biting at the bit. Should be quite a roller coaster!
 

drwhoman

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Just seen the highlights. Unlucky. An inch lower and Jennings would have given us a second goal. Their goal was scrappy, they had a bit of luck with the run of the ball. Would not blame the keeper.
 
M

Mal

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not sure it was poor handling of Cook.. In fact, probably the opposite. he is now playing well, contributing passes for others to score, and a lot fitter. none of us knows what was happening behind the scenes so conclusions about handling are pure speculation.
 
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I doubt either party is completely innocent in the Mellon-Cook affair. Don't forget Cook was dropped by Mellon last season when he was our top scorer and best player, so there was bound to be bad feeling between the two for that decision alone.

Mellon's man management is generally good but it was not in this instance.
 

Boz

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The players who have replaced Cook at various points; Alabi, Waring and McDonough managed a grand total of ZERO goals during their time on the pitch for Rovers this season.

It is quite clear that MM does have some issue with Cook, you only need to look back to his churlish response to the reporter's positive question about AC after the Woking game to see that. If Micky was a perfectionist, then we might have seen him dropping Norwood for poor finishing or McNulty for giving away penalties, but barely a peep of criticism about either of them, so don't get why he singles Cook out.

I don't buy Mal's suggestion that MMs handling of Cook has resulted in his improved form. Cook is the kind of player who needs to be loved rather than rejected. It seems that the manager has finally accepted Cook is his best option alongside Norwood and is getting repaid for that with a stream of goals and assists.
 
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The reasons behind Mellon dropping Cook last season, and sidelining him at the beginning of this, were cryptic at best and incomprehensible at worst.

Mellon criticised Cook's workrate, which might have been a minor disagreement to begin with but clearly escalated into something else. As Boz says, you can identify flaws in the performances of even the best players at this level, and Cook's goalscoring record was superb last season.

Mellon has been great for the club in so many ways, but if he had avoided the nonsense with Cook and played him at Torquay on the opening day, we could be winning the league comfortably now.
 

drwhoman

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As someone else has said, who really knows. Maybe Cook, at some stage, was acting in a way that MM struggled to love him. However, all history now. I suppose the acid test will be the relationship if we get promoted. Will Cook leave anyway? If not, then maybe they are back in harmony.
 
M

Mal

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The above opinions about Cook and Mellon are just that. No facts, just observations from a distance. The only ones who can clearly say what the problems were are Cook and Mellon. The fact remains that the team is now playing well.
 
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The above opinions about Cook and Mellon are just that. No facts, just observations from a distance. The only ones who can clearly say what the problems were are Cook and Mellon. The fact remains that the team is now playing well.
That applies to your own comments as well. All we can say with certainty is that cook was our best player and top scorer last season, was dropped, and our form at the start of this season suffered badly as a result.
 
M

Mal

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Yes, my comment, by definition referred to all comments including my own as they were in the stated 'above' comments....
 
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