Rovers 2 Carlisle 1

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

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

For most of the game as per most this season there was absolutely no noise from the Kop at all mate. Apart from the occasional half arsed chorus of SWA. You cant seriously say you thought the atmosphere was good? AS for Les I take what he says with a pinch of salt, in his press conference he labelled Cathalina's first half performance like a holocaust, not the best comparison.
Simple fact is what support there is is to disperssed around the ground, should close the kop and move back to the cowsheds. Give away fans the Borough Road. Having everyone in the lower Kop does not help accoustics and you may well be singing your little heart out but noone can hear you. If you wanted to hear an atmosphere the support at Rochdale was fantastic.
To be honest the ground is far to big, perhaps we should rope in a wealthy investor and build something in partnership with the Wirral Waters project? We can but dream.

 

[Ian]

A ground like Rochdale's would be ideal for us now.

 

[Sparky]

Would comment on the following:

Curran - didnt understand the abuse he got. Wasnt a great goalscorer but I remember one game last season when Les had just got the job. We won and I had never seen a rovers player work as hard as Craig did - in a position he didnt like playing wide in a front 3. Always gave 100% and unless i was a diehard Tranmere fan, i would probably leave if a club came in offering more money

As for the attendance, after losing 4 in a row I didnt expect many. The weather and being just after XMas wont have helped. Lets face it, we cant expect much more then 4000 a game these days.

I didnt think there was much atmosphere - infact there was more at the JPT semi coz the Hudds fans were in the JK stand.

A cracking game tho - I too was surprised ITM didnt take the 2nd pen as his record is generally good and plenty of players do it if they have missed their first. Lets just hope we dont get anymore !! or if we do, let Goodi take it with his left foot !

 

[roverstillidie]

I thought we were the better team after the first 30 minutes and Goodison's goal was sublime. We looked much better going forward when we got Jennings on the ball, the 2nd goal came about from this.

Carlise were clearly fearful of Jennings as they kept cynically hacking him down whenever he got the ball, I think that could be a good experience for Dale as he needs to learn to take a few kicks.

Man of the Match for me was Goodison despite his error for their goal as he scored an excellent goal himself and made his usual important interceptions. He also gave Curran a warm welcome at the start! I also thought Welsh was excellent in midfield and Showunmi lead the line very well.

I thought Collister put in a pretty good performance but as he's a very young player, he's simply not consistent enough to be relied upon as 1st choice goalkeeper at the moment. Hopefully we can bring in an expereinced goalkeeper which could allow Collister to go out on loan and learn how to be consistent every week.

Finally a quick mention to the ref who I thought had a very good game and generally got everything right. The only mistake I can recall is booking Cathalina for a good tackle - although his repeated fouling in the first half meant it was partly his fault.

Did anybody else notice that Carlise looked much more dangerous once they took Curran off (if only his scoring ability matched his work rate!)...

 

[The Bootle Rover]

Against Carlisle Collister did well, well enough to keep his place. And the more games he gets the better - how else is he to get experience? We must depend upon our own resources as much as possible and only fill gaps when absolutely required. Producing a settled team will gather better understanding and more points.

I much prefer Cresswell to Bakayoko but I am starting to notice that Cresswell cramps space for Jennings often only passing to him as a last resort when its too late. Bakayoko at least realises that Jennings is the one player all the opposition worries about and plays him early. Time for a change?

Moore remains the biggest dissappointment, lazy half arsed challenges contrast with when he used to work like a trojan for the team. If he wants out then so be it.
Keep playing the kids Les and we'll be alright.

 

[Rob]

Moore remains the biggest dissappointment, lazy half arsed challenges contrast with when he used to work like a trojan for the team. .

Its still annoying me the fact that he bottled taking a penalty a couple of weeks ago, hit a terrible one against Rochdale, missed one on Saturday and then bottled taking the second one to make up for it.

WTF has happened to him

Looking forward to the game on Saturday though, Walsall are the only team i've seen all season who like to hoof the ball even more than us.

 

[roverstillidie]

I much prefer Cresswell to Bakayoko but I am starting to notice that Cresswell cramps space for Jennings often only passing to him as a last resort when its too late. Bakayoko at least realises that Jennings is the one player all the opposition worries about and plays him early. Time for a change?

I think Creswell is some what overrated. Yes he can deliever a decent set piece and is strong in the challenge, but his positional sense is poor and he is nowhere near as mobile as Zoom. I think Bakayogo is there better full back but Les isn't playing him due to their falling out.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Its still annoying me the fact that he bottled taking a penalty a couple of weeks ago, hit a terrible one against Rochdale, missed one on Saturday and then bottled taking the second one to make up for it.

WTF has happened to him

Remember ITM did score the winner against Carlisle - and looked very excited about it. But I hope Les sorts him out. If he moves him out in the transfer window, I think we'll find him difficult to replace. Apart from Enoch perhaps, when was the last time we signed a decent striker?

 

[roverstillidie]

Apart from Enoch perhaps, when was the last time we signed a decent striker?

When Little signed Greenacre.

 

[Ian]

I think Creswell is some what overrated. Yes he can deliever a decent set piece and is strong in the challenge, but his positional sense is poor and he is nowhere near as mobile as Zoom. I think Bakayogo is there better full back but Les isn't playing him due to their falling out.

Completely agree with that. However Zoom hasn't done himself any favours as when he was given a chance, he got himself sent off!

Regarding ITM, not sure where his mental state is, and whether he does want to be here, but he does get us the goals. If he goes, we'll struggle up front.

 

[bigmart]

If you look at the way he celebrated his goals against rochdale & carlisle to me this shows he does want to be here

 

[roverstillidie]

I think ITM is just frustrated, the constant signing of loan players which means he isn't playing in a settled team and the continous speculation over his future must start to wear you down after a while. He's not the player he was last season, but he's still getting goals on a fairly regular basis. I expect him to leave in the summer though as I suspect his relationship with PJ is beyond repair.

If ITM left in this tranfer window, we would have to bring someone in or that would be 10 goals and probably a few assists gone. I can't see the likes of McGurk, Akins or Morrow been able to replace him.