Rovers 1 Dirty Owls 2

[Rockford's Love Child]

A harsh, and very disappointing result in a game we should have taken at least a point from. Other than a fifteen minute spell at the start of the second half when we were heavily under the cosh, I thought we were the better side today, and certainly played the better football. Again we missed chances, but I think it is the stupid goals we are giving away that are costing us badly at the moment.

Despite the money that has been lavished on their squad, I was disappointed with Wednesday in possession, and thought their biggest threat came in the air from set plays. This proved to be the case for both goals, which were poor defensively, particularly the second. After a great start to the season, I think Fon Williams has started to struggle a bit, and any ball lumped into the six yard seems to cause confusion at present, whether due to Fon being hesitant coming off his line, or a lack of communication with the centre backs, I am not sure.

On the positive side, some of the football was very good, despite a congested midfield, and both Baxter and Robinson were outstanding. A turning point may have been Baxter's miss after a great flowing move early in the second half, although it will be interesting to see whether the disallowed goal in the first half was actually off side (another great move).

I thought Wednesday were a physical and pretty dirty side, as you might expect from a Megson team, which made defeat hard to swallow. At least the results around us went ok, and we are still only two points off the top six.

 

[bigmart]

I think overall they deserved the win, we were the better team in the first half without hitting top form,we needed to get to half time a goal up but couldnt.

The second half they were the better team the came out a different team and have to say created more chances played at a quicker pace and caused us no end of problems. I thought baxter and weir had decent games but robbo was slightly below par today.

We really need to beat a struggling Exeter next week to try to get the season back on track.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

It is noticeable that we have recently got into the bad habit of conceding in the last five minutes of the first half (Scunthorpe, Chesterfield and today), with those goals having a big impact on the outcome of the match. Just the sort of sloppiness that has crept into our game in the last few weeks.

I also think it is now time to reappraise the hoof out to the wing from goal kicks. I could understand us being hesitant playing the ball out from the back today given the potency of their strikeforce, but Fon Williams planted about a dozen balls on to the head of Robinson, who had no chance of winning any of them.

 

[Ian]

I don't think the result was that harsh. Both teams had their chances to win it and we didn't have enough quality in the second half. Although I was gutted Wednesday equalised so late in the first half with their only shot of the first 45. That was a major blow.

Wed came out all guns blazing and we did well to shut them out and although we had a few chances in the second half, I never felt like the front line was that effective today. Tirkayi struggling to get a grip on the game and like bigmart has mentioned, I thought Robinson was mostly ineffective today. He had quite a bit of the ball, but didn't produce all that much.

The substitutions didn't make any difference at all the game, and I wonder if Enoch would have made any difference to the game if he hadn't pulled up injured the day before, as he was due to start.

The goals were poor from our point of view. Terrible timing for the first one, and the second one just looked like poor defending and Fon Williams was nowhere when that ball came in.

Disappointing and it's been a horrid November but like RLC says, our position in the league is still fairly healthy. Always look on the bright side! 2 pts from the top six, but we really must up our performances and get a few wins under our belt in December.

 

[DIW]

I think overall they deserved the win,

Don't agree with that. We deserved a draw, although I would agree that either side could have nicked it and Wednesday did. For me this follows a bit of a pattern where we play well but don't get what we deserve. On the flip side, when we play poorly we frequently do get what we deserve. and it all goes back to the lack of a clinical edge.

Individually most players had a good game, Weir played well i thought, wanted to be on the ball a lot, Robbo and Baxter looked dangerous. Defensively, hmm we didn't look as tight as we have done and conceding right at the end of the first half was a gutter as they had offered nothing until that point. Fon Williams is looking a bit shaky as well right now - couldn't see what happened for the winner although I'm told FW missed a punch.

Very annoying really and November has been a bit of a disaster so far.

 

[Boz]

It sounds like an improvement on the Cheltenham debacle. However, aside from Cheltenham, none of the other sides we've failed to beat in the last 5 games were on a great run, so why should a struggling Tranmere have much hope of getting a win at Exeter?

 

[SonkORLY?]

A draw would have been fair on the balance of play but it was a close game and we can have no arguments about them nicking it imo. High paced game for this level and was surprised it didn't really slow down. I was pretty impressed with both sides.

Not sold on Robbo out wide, although having him anywhere on the pitch for set pieces is a bonus. Not really sure how his performance today could be described as 'outstanding'.

Fonners seems to be losing command of his area, but remains a good shot stopper. Not sure how much a collision with Robbo hampered his attempts during the build-up to their second goal. Weir MOTM for me, followed by Ash.

Ref was very poor.

 

[DIW]

I didn't think the ref was too poor although there were a couple of bizarre decisions in innocuous areas of the pitch. Can't really remember any terrible decisions that made a huge impact on the game. At least we weren't denied our usual stonewall home penalty.

I did object to the twat blowing the final whistle as we put the ball into their box though. What sort of tool does that?

 

[amplesou]

On a really poor run now..

maybe paying for all that prating about doing charity **** and growing mustachio,s etc

Nearly went yesterday but had to work instead,thank god...!

 

[tea for two]

i didnt goto the game.by all accounts.its Tranmere doing what they good at.they promise so much and let the fans down.they have to get the win at exeter and then they have 2 weeks off till its m.k dons at home.

going by reports of recent games Fon Williams seems to have lost confidence which happens with keepers.if it continues Tranmere may have to think of getting a better goalkeeper.:whistle:

over 6000 for a home game is better though that was down to a lot from Sheffield.

im going to watch my nephew play for Vauxhall Motors on saturday against Marine in the F.A. TROPHY. which should be a decent crowd with been a derby.

my nephew is playing right back at the moment for vauxhall though his prepared position is central midfield or just behind the striker.

maybe Dave Phillpotts could go and watch and see if he spots any good players.Leighton McGiven is top scorer with 13 so far this season.:whistle:

 

[DIW]

im going to watch my nephew play for Vauxhall Motors on saturday against Marine in the F.A. TROPHY. which should be a decent crowd with been a derby.

my nephew is playing right back at the moment for vauxhall though his prepared position is central midfield or just behind the striker.

Really - are you going mention him every week?

 

[SonkORLY?]

Weir's booking was a poor decision and there was an outrageous challenge first half which we didn't even get a free kick for. He also gave us one or two decisions that were blatently wrong, corners etc.

going by reports of recent games Fon Williams seems to have lost confidence which happens with keepers.if it continues Tranmere may have to think of getting a better goalkeeper

Yeah. I heard that Iker Casillas guy is pretty good - maybe we spend some of our neverending pot of money on him.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Yet another match which could have gone either way goes against us. If we could have won all the matches we scored first in, we would be in third place and only six points behind Charlton. That stat should make me rueful, but to be honest how many of us wouldn't have taken 8th place at this stage if it had been offered it at the start of the season? Barring a horrendous run, we should stay clear of the bottom four. With a bit more luck (injuries/penalties), we should gain in confidence and could yet go higher.

 

[Boz]

Yet another match which could have gone either way goes against us. If we could have won all the matches we scored first in, we would be in third place and only six points behind Charlton. That stat should make me rueful, but to be honest how many of us wouldn't have taken 8th place at this stage if it had been offered it at the start of the season? Barring a horrendous run, we should stay clear of the bottom four. With a bit more luck (injuries/penalties), we should gain in confidence and could yet go higher.

It's a question of psychology; if we'd started slowly, then improved to 8th I'd have been happy. However the reverse applies, expectations are raised with a good start, but at the moment we are in a slump and don't seem to be showing many signs of being able to arrest it.

On OFW, when we signed him, I read the Rochdale forums and none of them seemed devastated he'd moved on. Inability to command his box and not being vocal enough were the main criticisms. From the Rovers experience you can add failing to deal with crosses, don't know if the way we defend mean he's facing more here. The problem is, there is no alternative. Coughlin has no first team experience, it might have been an idea to blood him in the JPT, while we don't have the funds to recruit anyone else.

Tea for Two, Vauxhall don't seem to be doing that well this season and Rovers already have a number of promising youngsters; Power, Vaulks, Stockton for example who aren't getting much opportunity. For both reasons, it's unlikely we'll be recruiting, though I hope your nephew is able to progress in his football career.

 

[SonkORLY?]

OFW has been great this season overall

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Not sold on Robbo out wide, although having him anywhere on the pitch for set pieces is a bonus. Not really sure how his performance today could be described as 'outstanding'.

On a number of occasions his close control on the touchline when penned in by two or three Wednesday players was, in my unpopular opinion, outstanding. Ditto his ability to produce decent crosses when under pressure in very unpromising situations.

I thought the experiment with Baxter in the middle and Robbo out wide worked, other than for our dodgy spell at the start of the second half. In that period we were completely overrun in midfield and I was surprised Les did not sub one of the two and bring Labadie on to give us more solidity in the middle given how cautious he usually is. Against lesser opposition the combination could work well, although time is obviously running out where Jose is concerned.

I think Fon Williams' dip in form is significant because our early season success was built on the keeper and back four doing the simple things really well. At the moment we are doing some of the simple things rather poorly, and we are never going to be prolific enough to make up for those defensive shortcomings.

 

[Boz]

OFW has been great this season overall

Really?

I've not been away yet this season, but in the games I've seen at home, the ones where we've done well are because of the defence being solid. Can't recall any where I would have OFW as MoM contender or a string of fine saves has kept us in the game.

At this stage, I would rate him behind Warner and Gulasci from last season. A good shot stopper, but the goalkeeping coach needs to work with him on commanding his box, being more vocal and dealing with crosses. Owain is still young for a keeper, so hopefully can iron out some of those weaker aspects of his game.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Robbo is a great footballer but he has fitness issues. Akins is athletic but sometimes lacking in composure. Goodi is a fantastically experienced defender but can lack concentration and makes mistakes.

OFW remains a good shot stopper, but is not so confident commanding his area. I'm not sure why we expect him to be perfect when we are happy to accept that our outfield players aren't. We aren't going to sign the best keeper in League One. I think he's been really good for the most part, and he's young, and we have him tied to a 2 year contract. I really don't see what the problem is.

http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/tranmer...goalkeeper-owain-fon-williams-80491-29627459/ - 20th Oct

While a goalkeeper has nowhere to hide, I think the reaction from our fans to his dip in form has been very fickle.

 

[Sparky]

Agree with Sonko on OFW - with our resources he is the best we can afford and at this level, does a half decent job overall. I'd prefer Gulacsi or Warner but both were realistically never going to be proper full time signings as they are better than league one IMO.

As for the match, the lads at least deserved a draw. Apart from that spell just after half time, we were the better side without dominating totally.

I still think we have a major problem up top. Les said Enoch was going to start but was injured (again). Chicken did ok but is not the answer. Don't know what anyone thought but I felt Akins did well when playing thru the middle and maybe its time to give him a run up top allowing Devaney/Robbo/McGurk to play out wide ?

It summed it up really for me when I heard their front line compared with ours. Madine / OGrady who would both walk into our side, with Clinton Morrison and Ryan Lowe on the bench.

Lowe didnt do much but they were able to take off the injured Madine and bring on someone who has scored for fun over the last few seasons. We started with a former Havent/Waterlooville striker up top....

Just shows what a bit of investment (and 25k attendances can do).

However as has been said, 8th is still a good position although with MK Dons our next home game, we really need something from next week as the league is fairly tight in the middle

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I side with Sonko in the OFW argument. I think away from home he has been commanding in the eighteen yard box until the last couple of weeks, and produced match winning saves away at Orient to name one game. I would rate him more highly than Gulacsi and I hope his dip in form is temporary.