Rovers 2 Carlisle 1

[DIW]

Cracking afternoons entertainment to day and most importantly we got the three points.
Afternoon started well as I had a MILF sitting in front of me (not a common occurrence at Prenton Park) and the DJ was clearly in the mood for a classic rock fest.

First half was fairly average apart from the unusual sight of Ian Goodison letting fly to a shot that instead of flying miles over the bar, went hard and low into the net. Great goal and one we probably deserved. Before that, a blatant handball from Cathalina had resulted in Carlisle getting a penalty which was blasted into the Kop. Major let off.

Hal time gave us Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin and the Highway to Hell by AC/DC. Classic stuff.

The second half saw Rovers playing well and being the better side but missing two penalties is always asking for trouble and there was a kind of inevitability about their equaliser. At that point I had a horrible feeling that the whole afternoon was about to get even worse, but credit to Rovers they went for it again and there were major celebrations when ITM blasted the winner in a couple of minutes later.





Player by player
Collister - I've not been impressed with young Collister in goal but today he did well. Looked safe in his handling and kicking and 1 superb save at the start of the second half. He had no chance for their goal. Should be good for the lads confidence. Still think we need someone else on for the rest of the season.

Cathalina - did okay not spectacular, ridiculous handball for their open but there were suggestions of a push on him.

Goodison - what a legend!

Wooton - did well

Cresswell -defensively was good today. Was it a good idea to let himtake the second penalty? In fairness he went for power but I just had a feeling he would miss. Labadie clearly wanted it but Cresswell wasn't handing the ball over.

Jennings - he is now being very closely marked but as the game got stretched and a bit of space appeared he looked very dangerous and won alot of free kicks.

Welsh - battled well as usual.

Labadie - good player this lad, got better as the game went on. The midfield is so much better when he is in.

Leteef Ell...thingy - got better as the game went on, showed he can be pretty tricky and caused them problems.

Enoch - worked really hard today, needs the ball played into his feet more.

ITM - missed a pen, wasn't playing well and then pops up and smashes home the winner. Looked well pleased with himself as well. Who knows if he'll stay or not?

Should be a home banker on Saturday against Walsall so it will probably be three nil to them.

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

Agree with DIW's views on the players, just want to reinforce things as I saw them.

Collister did fantastic, he's our number one now and I'd rather have him than a Premier League Reserves League player. Cathalina played the best I've seen him play, made three headers and about two successful passes.. yes he failed on about twenty headers and also failed to pass to a white shirt a number of times, I was genuinely shocked when he made a good clearance, but he did manage to do that a few times. I still wouldn't pick him over Maximo but he wasn't a total waste of space today. Goodison and Wooton has in the games I've seen that pairing looked our most assured pair at the back, both did well today and contained the opposition well. Cresswell did very well today as well, some very good tackles at key times and got his head up to release players with some good passes too.

Welsh and Labadie played as well as they can, they had a good day today, playing hard but fair and the opposition simply had no answer to them other than to foul. Dominated the midfield, really pleased with them both. Eldford-Alliyu was anonymous in the first half but when the game opened up started to get his foot on the ball in crucial areas and helped keep us in the ascendency, so did well. Clearly a very young player who will come in and out of games, the only question would be in a more difficult situation or against better opponents if he would go missing.

Jennings double marked throughout and fouled mercilessly, the ref was decent enough and did usually give the foul, but not always the first offense. Moore drifted in and out, did have his penalty saved rather than missed it, and in the end popped up in the box when the ball pinged about and made NO mistakes about that finish. Showumni in the end was the player we had that Carlisle didn't. He was the difference between then two teams, his hustle and bustle and closing down, as well as physical presence really upset Carlisle's applecart, they couldn't cope with him, just as I'm sure we wouldn't be able to cope with a player of his stature and quality!!

Hugely entertaining game of football, worth every penny.

 

[drwhoman]

CARLILE

A good result even given the missed pens. I agree with the report writer that Labadie would have been the best option for the second one. Still a win is a win although results elsewhere did not help us improve the league position. On goalkeepers - will Brad Jones going off to play for Australia in the Asian Cup mean that Liverpool will not release Gulaci again? I suspect this will be the case unfortunately. On a different note and a completely useless piece of trivia - when was the last time (if ever!) that the first three teams in any league were all from the South Coast? Div One at present - Brighton,Soton and AFC B?!

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

The second half saw Rovers playing well and being the better side but missing two penalties is always asking for trouble and there was a kind of inevitability about their equaliser. Should be a home banker on Saturday against Walsall so it will probably be three nil to them.

Who would have believed that Rovers on current form could have missed two penalties, conceded a late equaliser and then gone on to win? You need team spirit and motivation to do that. We saw evidence of that against Rochdale, but today's performance had the added polish. If we genuinely have turned the corner, we should beat Walsall (any score will do). But if not, I can't see us ever stringing enough results together to reach mid-table.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Can't add much to what has already been said. A hugely eventful game and a crucial three points, particularly with five or six of the sides above us all winning.

For the first twenty minutes or so I thought we were awful, giving the ball away cheaply and failing to win the fifty-fifty challenges, but we gradually settled and brough ITM and Enoch into the game.

The second half performance was excellent, particularly the character we showed to respond to their equaliser and dominate the remainder if the game.

I remain convinced that Aliyee is a decent player, certainly much better on the right than Akins, and Jennings also had his best game for several weeks today. He put in a real team performance, showing real commitment as well as doing the fancy stuff we know he is capable of. He may have caused more damage if he hadn't been cynically hacked down every time he beat a Carlisle player.

Praise must also be given to Joe Collister after some of the criticism he has had recently; his save in the second half was a real match winner.

The only negative for me was the attendance, barely 5,000 for a Bank Holiday fixture with 1,000 away fans.

Roll on another six pointer against Walsall, which we must win if you look at our upcoming fixtures.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Collister made one great save, flapped at one cross, nothing else of note. Definitely not a long term option and need to get Gulasci in asap.

Exciting match, thought everyone did alright apart from Timmy. Aliyee is a weird one, doesn't have a footballing brain or an end product and is hilariously lightweight but very good at going past people and very fit. Probably good value given that bringing in these players costs very little. Welsh and Goody are playing well at the minute.

Was a bit sad to see Craig get a bad reception as he always gave 150% in a Rovers shirt.

4-4-2 doesn't accomodate Jenno as well as 4-3-3.

 

[DIW]

I agree with the comments about the reaction to Curran. One thing you could never say he was short of in a Rovers shirt was commitment and effort.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

According to the OS, Les is letting Grandison go back to Coventry but wants to keep hold of Wootton and Aliyee, which seems sensible.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Thought the lads played really well today. It was a scrap at times, but they were up for the fight and we were well worthy of gaining the 3 points imo.

Agree about Curran. He deserved a good reception. Dunno what people expect. If they were offered more money elsewhere, would they turn that down and go for a pay cut? Cos that was the offer on the table for him. He gave his all in a Rovers shirt, I will always remember him bursting onto the scene with a hat trick vs Brentford, and always liked his all action style. I applauded him off the pitch when he was subbed.

Joe Collister did well. Great save at the beginning of the second half to keep us in the lead, nothing he could do about their goal when it did come. He hasn't really done anything wrong when he has played. I suspect Les wants a bit more experience between the sticks but I'd be happy for Joe to continue if he carries on in that vein of form.

Gulasci is staying at Liverpool due to the Jones Asia Cup that was mentioned by someone else earlier on in this post. So that's a no-go. Les has a few other options and has said he should have someone in before Saturday, if only as able bck-up to Colly.

All in all, a happy new year at Prenton Park. 3 points & 3 penalties! I volunteer Steve Wilson (remember him?) to take our next one!:lol:

 

[Rob]

Generally positive today except for a few minor things:-

1) another stupid penalty given away
2) Cathalina is absolutely terrible
3) the physio left Cathalina on until he got "injured", on a yellow card for ages when it was obvious he was going to get sent off sooner or later
4) ITM bottled correcting his first penalty miss, should have stepped up and taken the second

Apart from that I was made up, sadly the atmosphere wasnt a patch on Rochdale though

Did anyone else notice just how much TRFC improved when ITM moved and stayed in the middle? they were 10 x better

Some deviant of 442 with Elford/Jennings on the sides seemed to be quite nice

 

[bigmart]

rob why do you keep referring to les as the physio like it or not hes our manager.

with regards gulacsi it seems unlikely he will return as he may be in liverpoools 25 man premier league squad.

 

[Ian]

At last, a win! A much needed win. Enjoyable game to watch with plenty of talking points. Three penalties in one game and all missed. Crazy.

The second half was more enjoyable as the game opened up and Rovers started to pass it around. First 25 mins, we couldn't win or keep the ball. Also Jennings was a spectator in the first half, didn't see him at all.

Mostly good performances all round. Collister had a good game, but didn't have a great deal to do. Wooton looks much more comfortable playing in the middle and he and Goodison played well. Cresswell had a solid game, and Cathalina, well, quite a few dodgy moments from him. But did put in an excellent tackle in the first half.

Labadie becoming more imposing as the game went on and Welsh worked tirelessly again.
Not sure what to think about Lateef. Blows hot and cold but can be tricky at times.

Moore was disappointing up until the goal and Showunmi had an excellent game causing problems for their defence and never giving up on chasing lost balls. Wanted him to score but it will come. He just needs better service.

Attendance was poor really. Especially considering the season ticket offer they had running for the game. Atmosphere livened up in the 2nd half but there were moments of silence throughout the game.

Roll on Sat

 

[Rob]

rob why do you keep referring to les as the physio like it or not hes our manager.

CBA explaining why, too long and this isnt the topics to do it in.

 

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

Good result and much needed. There were as many positives as negatives to me to day. First 20 minutes we were shocking couldnt really string 2 passes together. The Cat looked really bad during this period but he wasnt on his own. The goal I felt came against the run of play but did the trick and seemed to help us settle down.
It was good to see something other than the 433 being employed, however once again I have to say the amount of times we needlessly give the ball away is frustrating, the aimless chip forward into space for someone to chase puts us under more pressure than it does the opposition.
Great finish by Goody.
Really unacceptable to miss 2 spot kicks in the same game.
A simply dreadful atmosphere.

But what makes it really frustrating is again we 'get away with it' rather than dominating and 'deserving it'. We have players here at least in the starting 11 that are capable of playing better football than what we have seen for much of the campaign thus far this season. So you have to begin to ask the question why are they playing this way? To me it is very delibrate and can only come from the management team itself. Tactically we still dont look right, and with Walsall having sacked their manager today you have to be more than a little concerned about the game on the weekend. I believe Les is doing the best that his limited experience allows but is this good enough?

A major positive of course on the weekend was the 3 points and the fact we have climbed out of the bottom 4 (if only just). Lets see what Les manages to do this week in the transfer market although I have heard some rather disturbing rumours about who is leaving. This transfer window could very well decide the outcome of our season.

 

[DIW]

And the rumours you have heard are...

 

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

Put them on the players thread thought other people may like to join in8-[

 

[Rob]

A simply dreadful atmosphere..

Les Parry applauded the fans support and the support from the Kop even when they equalised.

Does anyone know what match he was actually watching?:-k

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

The kop had been quiet for most of the game, and could have been expected to stay that way when they equalised... but instead sang "superwhite army". When we scored they even sang "Tranmere, Tranmere, Tranmere" through, which has (sadly) become a rarity. And I certainly don't see any harm in Les trying to charm the fans back a bit by applauding our efforts. Only fair really if he expects us to applaud his!

 

[SonkORLY?]

Les Parry applauded the fans support and the support from the Kop even when they equalised.

Does anyone know what match he was actually watching?:-k

change the ****ing record mate

 

[Rob]

change the ****ing record mate

Suck my ****ing balls statto

You stick to playing Football Manager