Rovers v Kidderminster

[Sparky]

After such a poor display yesterday rovers have a quick opportunity to put things right at PP.

The last two games have not only resulted in losses but the manner of both games has caused alarm bells to sound. Still early days of course but another defeat could see pressure mount on GB and a very negative atmosphere.

Our opponents haven't had a great start to the season but neither had Boreham or Alty.

Who knows whether GB will stick with Cole & Margetts but surely Holness will be dropped. Jenno too perhaps. Hopefully Mekki will be given another game and Jackson may feature. Would be nice if Maynard plays central too.

Prediction: scrappy nervy affair resulting in a score draw.

 

[White Squaddie]

Got to go 442 for this game and I agree Jeno should be dropped and Harris and Maynard to play in the middle. Holness should also miss out with Margetts and Manghan playing up top.

I just want to see the players putting a shift in and play with passion and fight and taking the game to Kiddy, particularly as we're at home.

I'm going for a 2-0 win.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

“I thought it was very disjointed for the first 20 minutes, we’ve gifted them two goals and then we’re always chasing,” he said. “But we’ve made a bold decision as a club in terms of changing the formation of it, we’re finding it hard as a team to break other teams down."

Interesting from Brabin: does this mean it's 352 from now on no matter what? I hope we can retain some flexibility as not all teams will sit in against us. Mind you, I'm not a fan of changing formations during games.

We'll see. Hopefully a bit more urgency from the off and a high tempo throughout tomorrow.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Interesting from Brabin: does this mean it's 352 from now on no matter what?

After what we witnessed on Saturday, I am not convinced by three at the back. The one positive this season was that the back four had been solid. If we do persist with 3-5-2 I would hope Holness is dropped for Ihiekwe or Hogan and Sutton plays as the most central defender.

On paper this is a perfect game for us to get going again, with Kiddy yet to win this season. However, as Sparky points out above, we have already lost to two struggling sides and predictions are difficult to make in this division.

It will be interesting to see what the gate is after recent displays. Kiddy will probably bring a couple of hundred, but despite it being a Bank Holiday I doubt we will see a bumper home turnout.

 

[Higgy]

I honestly think we should stick with four at the back, unless we can be sure the new system has been fully embedded. It is clear Iheikwe should have been the third centre back, alternatively I would prefer Matt Hill ahead of Holness - at least until he proves he is match fit....must be some way off currently.

If we are going with two wingers presumably Mekki and Jackson we would require them to put in good shifts in case the two in the middle (from Maynard, Harris and Jenno) got overrun. So either 5 across the middle for me, or continue to play Ridhalgh on a flank to make a midfield four less light weight. Ref forwards - Stockton and Blisset should be on the bench. Looks like Mangan and Margetts are ahead of Norwood in the fitness stake - although it would be great to have him pushing for a place. Hope we rest the slide PDQ before the gates begin to fall away.

0 - 0 for me.

 

[Ian]

Not particularly looking forward to this as I think we've been poor last few games, but I live in hope that we can deliver a better performance tomorrow. I think we should leave four at the back and concentrate on getting supply to the front two. If we have wingers, we need to use them. Go for width and let's see some quality balls in the box.

We'll probably have a decent amount of possession but can we break them down? Going to say a tight 1-0 with a hell of a lot of work still to do but at least stop the rot for now.

 

[Boz]

It was hard to understand the logic of the team selection v Altrincham. Kidderminster are similar to Halifax arriving at PP on a poor run of form. Given we struggled to beat the Shayman from a position of much better morale, I'm not confident at all. Start with Mangan and Margetts up from, play at least one wide player from the off and don't let Holness anywhere near the first team at this stage in his recovery.

Prediction: a crowd of ~4.5k will see a 2-2 draw.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I'd like us to go back to 4-4-2 and be positive today. Nathan Blissett really should play as we only have him for a few more games and he'd be keen to put one over on his old club. I'd partner him with Andy Mangan for his experience and the fact he's the only forward to score this season. I'd play both Mekki and Jackson to provide service to the strikers. I'd definitely play Maynard behind the front two and reluctantly leave Jennings in as the defensive midfielder, but bringing Harris on later if needed. Playing 4-4-2, I'd play Ihiekwe and Ridehalgh/Hill at full-back with Sutton and another in the middle. I'm sticking my neck out and predicting we turn it round and win 2-0.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Just when you think you have seen it all. I am shellshocked.

It was a much improved performance today and we thoroughly deserved to win the game. With the changes in personnel, the 3-5-2 worked well. Hogan was excellent at centre back and the front two of Blissett and Mangan were very good. Nathan held the ball up well and linked the play, doing what Cole should have been doing for the last month. Andy was his usual effervescent self and deserved his goal. Our attacking play was very inventive at times, particularly in the second half when the lively and impressive Jackson came on. Kiddy did have an attacking threat but did not deserve anything from the game and I thought we were heading for a routine win. Then the last ten minutes happened.

I think the tactical changes made by the manager in the closing stages were a major factor in us throwing the victory away and he has to look at himself tonight. When we switched to a back five and took Blissett off we had no attacking outlet and the defenders seemed unsure of their responsibilities. Despite the disruption of the substitutions, I still could not really see Kiddy scoring one, let alone twice, and what followed really was beyond belief.

The positive is the 3-5-2 worked and we played some good football today. But that disastrous ending is destructive to the confidence of players and supporters and raises serious questions about Brabin's judgement and the professionalism of this group.

This season is turning into a waking nightmare.

 

[Sparky]

SO FRUSTRATING!!

altho we weren't brilliant the game was petering out at 2-0. A dangerous scoreline though and I was surprised GB made the changes and went to
4-4-2.

No surprise they got an equaliser having got the first and it was almost comical at the end when Jackson hit the post and ridehalgh sliced wide.

Disappointing the defence can't cope with a bit of pressure but was it worth GB making the changes??!?

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Thanks for the report, RLC. I was following it on BBC Livetext and was confident at 2-0, as I thought we'd lost the habit of losing two-goal leads when GB was appointed. I agree with RLC's analysis. GB seems to be a manager who likes to continually change personnel and tactics, even when his teams have won. This is necessary sometimes to make his team less predictable, but to retreat into defence when you are winning at home to a relegation-threatened side without a win is bizarre. Up to the moment when Blissett was subbed, Kiddy were probably hoping to avoid leaking a couple more goals. Then GB invites them to attack. Even if we'd held out or snatched a late winner, GB has just told the defence he didn't think they could hold out with four players. Then when they can't even hold out with five ....???

I'm still upbeat about our chances. We did bounce back well for the first 80 minutes. Tinkerman has to admit his mistake and move on. We can't expect to get everything right, even with a team who know each other well. Give them a little more time.

 

[Ian]

Agree with most of that chaps, although I did think we started to retreat a little before the substitution, with the second half not quite matching the first. I thought we'd come out in the second and go for the killer third, but although we had some chances, it never came.

Usually comical stuff at the end which I've seen upteen times at Prenton Park. Will they ever learn? Threw two points away today, and we've a long haul ahead.

What makes it worse is that I thought Kidderminster were very average, they never looked close to scoring. Starting to worry about GB decision making.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Having had time to reflect, if we play as we did for eighty minutes today we will certainly be challenging for promotion. With the number of chances we created in the first twenty minutes of the second half we should have been out of sight before Kidderminster's first goal. It was undoubtedly our best performance of this season and with the 3-5-2 Brabin does seem to have found a formation that suits us when we play lesser opposition.

It is just a pity the game had such an imperfect ending.

 

[Sparky]

I'm not as confident as RLC that we'll be challenging for promotion. I thought we played ok today in terms of possession and had plenty of the ball, but still think we may struggle to create many clear chances in games.

The 3 home games prior to today have seen 2 goals scored and few clear chances created. Today one of the two although well taken by Mangan was a gift after a defensive error.

As for the defence I thought they did well up to a point but to crumble like they did is alarming against the now bottom side. Add to that we conceded 2 to both boreham and alty leaves me thinking we have plenty of work to do to be challenging. Already the likes of Wrexham, Cheltenham, Eastleigh, forest green etc are winning and scoring goals.

Early days I accept but let's see how we do against the better sides. Agree tho the
3-5-2 looked ok

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I'm not as confident as RLC that we'll be challenging for promotion.

It is difficult to know whether these stuttering performances will be repeated throughout the whole season, or if we are simply on a learning curve like Bristol Rovers last year (I think they had fewer points than us at this stage). Time will tell.

There were at least a few more positive signs today.

 

[Sparky]

Yes and GBs comments are generally positive so hopefully the players won't be too affected by the over the top booing at the end and can take it as a point after two defeats.

 

[Boz]

I'd had a difficult day outside of the match, but any hopes of a soothing Rovers win were futile.

I felt we played quite well first half, without never being totally dominant. Goals from Hogan and a cool finish from Mangan put us 2-0 up at the break, though the visitors might feel hard done to with the second, as they ought to have been awarded a corner just before. Mekki went off injured at half-time, replaced by Jackson, after a ropey opening 5 minutes of the half, Rovers settled down. There was some good play, Mangan denied by a decent save from their keeper, in one of the better moves.

Gradually we started sitting deeper. A rather puzzling substitution saw Blissett replaced by Ihiekwe with Jackson deployed more as a forward than winger. I didn't think Blissett was playing that badly, particularly when the ball was on the deck and generally agree with RLCs analysis of this as the turning point. It also seemed that Ridehalgh had picked up a knock, yet Brabin didn't replace with Matt Hill. This may have been costly, with Harriers' first goal coming from our left. The equaliser, underserved though it was, felt inevetable and Rovers even fluffed their lines after that, failing to grab a deserved winner.

Certainly there were some encouraging signs today, but the game was shaped by the subsitutions GB did or didn't make.

MoM Andy Mangan, great goal and hard-working all over the park.