Rovers 1 Monkey Hangers 1

[DIW]

In summary.

Very boring game. Had the feel of a meaningless end of season game without the warm sunshine.
McGurk was terrible but then again no-one, or no incident stood out, apart from the bizarre actions of the ref in the second half.

Totally forgettable (apart from the red card incident).

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

For seventy minutes I thought we were comfortably the better side and looked set to deservedly win the game, until a couple of mad minutes at the back changed everything. While we weren't great, we were at least professional whereas Hartlepool didn't look interested.

McGurk was indeed very poor, but I think the paring of him and Cassidy didn't work as neither of them are comfortable with their back to goal, and the ball kept bouncing off them. Also, the final ball was pretty poor at times, particularly from wide areas.

Elsewhere, I thought Taylor, Zoum, Wallace, Welsh and Robinson played well, and Akins did ok again.

Goody's mistake which led to the sending off will provide further ammunition to those who think he is becoming unreliable, but I still think he deserves another year.

Fon's dismissal gives us a bit of a headache for next season as he will now miss the opening game. Will our number two keeper play in that match or will we be forced to make a temporary signing ? Andy Coughlin also has a big couple of weeks ahead of him.

 

[Rob]

Fon's dismissal gives us a bit of a headache for next season as he will now miss the opening game. .

Its a 1 game ban only IIRC

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Yes, you do recall correctly, it is only a one game ban. A three game ban is for violent conduct.

 

[SonkORLY?]

No idea how Goody got MOTM, God love him.

McGurk didn't look at all like a striker today. Positionally inept, and at times disinterested, which is unforgivable given that he is playing for a contract.

Noticed Wallace dropping deep to carry the ball from the back 4 on a number of occasions. Despite it being a major part of his job description, Cpt. Welsh remains clueless in this regard.

 

[tea for two]

there has to be a bit of a clear out and for Ronnie to bring in some new faces.
looking at the positives the last month or so the results have been good and it has been great having Ronnie back at Tranmere.lets hope we get off to a good start next season and win a few of the early matches and not play catch up.

i think it would have been a better idea to make the last 2 home games 5 pounds to get in as there is nothing to play for then for players to prove themselves for next season.

 

[darrens8761]

i have missed the last 2 home games so cant really comment on performances but i have to agree with the above post about ronnie having a clear out in the summer.

who is out of contract? akins, mgurk, raven, holmes, welsh, devanney, robbo, tiryaki, enoch, coughlin, kay, weir, joss, mccrystal, power,

i said a few weeks back ronnie should release the lot but ive changedn my mind a bit.

maybe keep robbo, welsh, holmes, joss and for me rest can go.

was nice to see coughlin make his debut, hopefully he can show what he can do next week. good luck to him, however i feel if we were fighting for anything we would have brought a keeper in.

so we are now safe and can relax, look forwards to next season with excitment.

 

[DIW]

maybe keep robbo, welsh, holmes, joss and for me rest can go.

Excellent idea. Ronnie will only need to find 15 new players then in the summer. :roll:

 

[WildRover]

Power's a kid, who is currently injured, so wont be able to show more this season, Id easily keep him, not gonna get better than devaney at our money levels, id also keep coughlin, raven, and considering his turnaround, Akins another year too.

But still means we need strikers, as if we get rid of mcgurk, enoch, chicken then other than akins we are buggered....And I doubt Wolves will give us Cassidy for the season...

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Although there was nothing to play for, the most depressing thing for me is we reverted to hoof ball much of the time. The energy levels shown in earlier games wasn't there. fair enough, we're safe, but do we really have to suffer that tactic of the keeper hoofing it up the wing to Lucas? I thought that had gone with Les.

I know I'm being a touch harsh but if those were players playing for new contracts, I'm the King of Spain.

Roll on next season.

 

[Sparky]

Yeah I have long been an advocate of McGurk having a run in the side up front and although Saturday was only one game, he did himself no good with his performance, he was poor throughout. His only hope maybe as a left winger as Ronnie felt he did well at Walsall but his injury record won't help.

Zoom was solid if not spectacular. Cassidy is still raw and far from the finished article. Least we didn't lose I suppose but overall it was a poor game.

 

[drwhoman]

MONKEY HANGERS

I think Ronnie will be very careful about who he ditches. He needs to find guys who are better willing to play for Rovers level money. That will not be easy. When you look around the Division there a lot of teams in a not dissimilar position to us financially. It comes down to the scouting team and Ronnie' contacts. Basically we need players who can offer us something that has not been identified by others with more money. Not easy.

On a completely different point - why are Hartlepool called the Monkey Hangers or am I being thick?

 

[WildRover]

During the Napoleonic wars, a French ship of the type chasse marée was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey, wearing a French uniform (allegedly)-(presumably to provide amusement for those on board the ship). On finding the monkey, some locals decided to hold an impromptu trial on the beach; since the monkey was unable to answer their questions, and many locals were unaware of what a Frenchman may look like, they concluded that the monkey was in fact a French spy. Just to make sure, the animal was thus sentenced to death and hanged from the mast of a fishing boat on the Headland

 

[SonkORLY?]

not gonna get better than devaney at our money levels

yeah because he's never fit

he's not that good anyway

get rid

 

[Boz]

I thought this was a disappointing game both in terms of how we approached it tactically and how the players performed on the park. At the end of the day, it actually felt like a point gained; was the foul leading to the sending off actually inside the area? In the event the woodwork saved us, but 50/50 possession and the visitors having more goal attempts tell their own story.

I felt for both their goal and the sending-off that our midfield had let Pools advance without much opposition, then there was suicidal defending. The visitors came out for the 2nd half more purposefully and perhaps there should have been a tactical change by Ronnie earlier rather than the one forced by necessity. Cassidy wasn't given any quality ball/crosses, yet the Stevenage game showed that he could bury them. If Devaney had been introduced, perhaps Jake could have become involved more. I wasn't convinced that removing our main striker after OFW walked was a good idea either.

Given RM pre-match remarks, I was expecting a little more experimentation. The changes we got were Zoum for Buchanan, presumably weighing up if another left-back needed should Buchanan leave and McGurk starting. It seemed that McGurk/Robinson appeared to alternate who was on the wide-left and in the middle behind the striker in the first half. A Swans-supporting mate who came with me to the game, perhaps jinxed McGurk by identifying him along with Robinson as one of our better players in the early stages of the game. Robbo too seemed to tire after the break.

MoM Lucas Akins. Beat his man on occasion and didn't make life easy for their defenders, while did his share of tracking-back when we were a man short.

 

[drwhoman]

MONKEY HANGERS

Thanks for the explanation about Monkey Hangers WildRover. Poor old monkey! Mind you we have had a few monkeys playing for us over the years who an unkind person might say deserved that treatment!!

 

[Ian]

Typical end of season shannanigans really. Although we were definately the better side, and stepped it up a bit in the second half. Although disappointed that some players couldn't step up a gear playing for their contracts. I have also been patient with McGurk but his time is running out.

I thought Ronnie wanted to give the young guns a chance too? If he wants to chuck them into the side to see how they cope, why weren't any of them playing or at least on the bench. Having Weir and Devaney on the bench is pointless at this stage. We all know what they bring to the side.

Will we ever see Tiryaki again?

Goodison made some mistakes, but I really don't think he could be arsed. He must be dreaming of his holidays. Forgivable, as he's always there in times of need.

 

[amplesou]

Typical end of season shannanigans really. Although we were definately the better side, and stepped it up a bit in the second half. Although disappointed that some players couldn't step up a gear playing for their contracts. I have also been patient with McGurk but his time is running out.

I thought Ronnie wanted to give the young guns a chance too? If he wants to chuck them into the side to see how they cope, why weren't any of them playing or at least on the bench. Having Weir and Devaney on the bench is pointless at this stage. We all know what they bring to the side.

Will we ever see Tiryaki again?

Goodison made some mistakes, but I really don't think he could be arsed. He must be dreaming of his holidays. Forgivable, as he's always there in times of need.

Goddison made mistakes probally because he has,nt got his contract yet more like....?=;