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Rovers v Glovers

Boz

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Next up at PP the side from Yeovil, who started the season brightly, but have been on a slump for a while and are just outside the relegation places.

Don't recognise many names in their squad and get the impression that both their owners and manager are not popular with the fan base.

Not heard whether McNulty is back in contention. I'm expecting the visitors to set up negatively and try for a point. Does MM stick with the winning formation from Boxing Day or opt for something else?

Prediction: Think the attendance will be below par,. with not many travelling from Somerset, somewhere in the lower end of 5k. Narrow Rovers win, but with most play-off/promotion rivals having fairly easy games, it may not take us up the table.
 
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I'm taking the easy options and predicting a Rovers win with an unchanged side (subject to injuries). The gate is likely to be well below par as it's the second home game in a week and fans have already had to fork out for their Spurs ticket.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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Forest Green have a tricky local derby away at Cheltenham, who are in good form, and could drop points. However, it is important that we keep in touch with the top seven irrespective of other results.

I think we will stick with the 532 formation. In the reverse fixture Yeovil looked an average side and have gone backwards since then, albeit their away record is actually reasonably good and they have had some eye-catching results away from home this season. The Glovers seem to be in a complete mess on and off the pitch at the moment, with real supporter disenchantment.

Prediction: Rovers victory in front of a crowd of about 5,500, with no more than 100 visiting supporters. This is a ridiculous fixture to stage on the weekend between Christmas and New Year, in all honesty.
 
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This is a ridiculous fixture to stage on the weekend between Christmas and New Year, in all honesty.
Absolutely. It's totally stupid to schedule this journey so close to the other festive games. For once, Rovers are benefitting this year from the league fixture scheduling and cup draw.
 
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aldo
oh well as long as we win i dont care . same team same score hope cole bags another . 4400 already sold so be good if we can get 5500 to 6k
 
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Unchanged team, other than Macca replacing Monthe, who must be injured.
 

Boz

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Yeovil seem to have a number of tall lads in their squad. While Monthe isn’t the best in the air, his physical strength makes it difficult for opponents. Hope he’s back soon, might be missed today.
 

Ian

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Pretty awful 1st half. Let’s get someone creative on.
 

Boz

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Not playing well. Early effort from Norwood wide, a volley from Stockton the only time we’ve tested the keeper. Yeovil have looked like they might connect with a few long cross balls into the box. Defensively, we don’t look as assured as usual and the wing-backs haven’t dropped back to make themselves available. Agree with Ian need to change things.
 

Sparky

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Really poor. Kind of sums up our performances in recent results. Some half chances created but Yeovil will be disappointed not to be in front having 2 good chances =
 
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Sounds a poor match but with both sides missing chances. The only silver lining is that everyone above us except Lincoln also dropped points. We are now down to 9th, but still nicely placed.
 
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Frustrating. A drab affair, but we created the better chances throughout and had enough opportunities to win the game. Nors in particular had two or three decent efforts but is not quite at his best at the moment.

However, the football was far from great to watch and I think the 532 formation is wrong against a struggling side at home. We had too many defensive players in areas of the pitch where we did not need them, and were too deep and pedestrian in our build up play for most of the game. We did eventually switch to 442, but far too late, with twenty minutes to go, by which time we had become really bogged down and the game was very disjointed.

I can understand Micky starting with that system after the Morecambe win, but I thought he should have made changes much earlier. The only really creative player we had on the pitch today was Jennings, and against a poor Yeovil side who had come for a point, we needed to be more adventurous and proactive. Hopefully, Smith and Cole will be involved again in future home games and we can return to more positive tactics, certainly against bottom half sides.

In the players' defence, there were some real signs of tiredness towards the end, and the points dropped by a lot of our rivals suggest that a lot of squads are being stretched at the moment.

Not the end of the world, and victory at Macclesfield would put us right back in the mix. We are certainly due a good New Years' Day performance.
 

Sparky

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The word dire sums that up. We had a few half chances,
Nors header near the end and Stockton just after half time but for the vast majority of the half their keeper was a spectator.

Stockton was again ineffective overall. He’ll get the odd goal but just isn’t good enough to be in a promotion winning team. Jennings wasn’t great and Nors wasn’t on top form.

Thought McCullough had a poor game and we missed creativity from banks. Agree with RLC it was too defensive against a poor Yeovil. Near the end we had some long throws into the box and they had twice as many people defending their box that we had attacking. 5-3-2 has worked ok but Johnny Smith is our most creative option and needs to be playing.

A real frustration ahead of a tricky tie on Tuesday.
 
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Funnily enough, I did not think the first half was much different to the first forty five minutes against Morecambe, but we were ruthless in that game and we were not today. Norwood had two chances early on which he would normally put away, certainly the second one.

The 532 system definitely is not right for home matches though, other than against the very top sides.
 

Sparky

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Looked like Micky was having a ding dong with someone in the paddock at some point.
 
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ian goodison
that was back to the brabin days, can understand 3-5-2 away but home to Yeovil beggars belief, the changes should have been made at h/t I would have brought Gilmore, mullin & cole on for Stockton, harris & Jennings and iwould have told davies to stop punting the ball up so as their 2 defenders couldn,t keep heading it back and constantly putting us under pressure
 
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Looked like Micky was having a ding dong with someone in the paddock at some point.
Sounded like Micky was within his rights. Received some abuse and told the individual to do something positive to support the team.
 

Boz

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Didn’t hear the fan’s remarks, only Micky’s retort. Did anyone hear what caused him to respond so forcefully.

Broadly agree with what’s been said, this formation unsuited to a side set up to mostly defend, like Yeovil. McNulty didn’t seem fully fit, Sutton’s distribution was poor and if Monthe remains absent and we persist with a back 3 would look at sticking Buxton on the left. Neither wing-back made themselves available to collect the ball from the keeper much. In central midfield, Harris and McCulloch didn’t move forward enough,though Jay did set up Norwood’s early chance. Thought Stockton had a reasonable game, would have liked to see us go to a back four and introduce Smith at that point. Maybe a game where Cole deployed centrally could have made an impact
 

drwhoman

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Sounds like poor tactics to me. A team coming for a point and Harris in
Midfield instead of Gilmour while Smith should have started. Monthe unfit I assume. I suspect MM wishes he could pick his team again!
 
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