Rovers v Sutton Utd

[Ian]

I thought we were basically bullied by Sutton all over the pitch, failing to win the 50:50 challenges that would then allow us to go and play our football. When we did have possession, our passing and movement was not good enough. Yes, we were not helped by the gamesmanship and time-wasting of the opposition and an inept referee, but we all know the score by now. If we can't deal with opponents like today's we won't be promoted.

Completely agree. The worst thing to have happened was for Sutton to score in the first half as the game was pretty much dead from this point. As soon as they scored (poor defending too) they started time wasting and as RLC says sportsmanship was non-existent from the visitors.

We've seen it all before, but we never learn. So we inevitably got sucked into the game and it became a niggly frustrating second half where we created very little. Our passing and movement went completely out the window and the individual performances were just not good enough.

I know it's early days so don't want to get too carried away, but there were some things that alarmed me today.

1. The lack of pace in defence was evident today as McEveley really struggled in the second half against their pace forwards.
2. Alabi looks so raw.
3. Dunn still fails to impress me.
4. We lacked fight & desire today.
5. Cook was too isolated and created very little all game.

I was surprised to see Sutton keep his place but understandable. Not sure McNulty would have made that much difference but certainly would have faired better against their physical approach.

I think we are missing Norwoods pace and constant chasing of the ball as we are too static without him.

 

[Boz]

We lacked wingers, but we had Jennings, Norburn and Hughes all on the pitch today, none of whom played well.

Did anyone play well today though? Think Hughes got sponsors MoM today, so guess he can't have done that badly though sponsors nominations are always hit and miss.

When we knew Tollit was going to be unavailable, I think Micky should have looked to recruit some width. Dunn is as much a striker as a wide-player. With Cook, Norwood, Mangan and Waring already on the books, would the money spent on another forward, Alabi, have been better being diverted elsewhere?

 

[Ian]

Did anyone play well today though?

Not really. I thought Hughes was poor all game. I would say Ridehalgh had a decent first half and was giving more effort than most but then also got sucked into the second half shenanigans.

 

[Boz]

I was surprised to see Sutton keep his place but understandable. Not sure McNulty would have made that much difference but certainly would have faired better against their physical approach.

It sounded like Sutton got McEveley out of jail at least once, when Jay's lack of pace had caused a problem. There's an argument for reverting to a McNulty-Sutton pairing in central defence though neither is a left-footer.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Did anyone play well today though?

No. I was not singling them out, just emphasising that we had creative players on the pitch and they did not perform.

We already have three wingers available - Dunn (there is no way he is primarily a striker), Rokka and Dawson - and it is for Mellon to decide when and where to use them. There is no doubt we needed width today against a team that swamped midfield. But the same formation we used today worked perfectly well on Tuesday night, and the majority of games we have won under Mellon were not with a 442 formation. So we should be wary of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Thinking about it, we badly missed Norwood today as we needed someone to run in behind their defence. They were big lumps who won the physical battles, but we did not get them turned all afternoon. Alabi should have been stretching them, but did not.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

There's an argument for reverting to a McNulty-Sutton pairing in central defence though neither is a left-footer.

I would definitely start with those two on Tuesday.

 

[Ian]

The big problem today was that we got sucked into their style of play which never works well for us. We were unable to play the ball around like we did on Tues night and as a result ended up creating very little.

 

[Ian]

It sounded like Sutton got McEveley out of jail at least once,

McEveley was poor today. His near own goal towards the end of the game summed up his afternoon.

 

[Sparky]

Boz is right about the wingers. Do we need 4 recognised strikers plus CJ? The answer is no. RLC has a point but Rokka sounds very raw and MM clearly doesn't want Dawson, despite his ability. Like Ian says Dunn still hasn't impressed enough IMO.

Also agree with Ian that a defence including Buxton, Big Mac & Jay to me will struggle against better Pacey teams. Sutton are no mugs and recruited well in the summer, signing 3 of dovers team from last season.

The bullying aspect isn't a surprise. Hughes isn't one for a battle, Norburn doesn't look the type and whilst Harris will battle, he is a bit small so at times we will get outmuscled. We don't have a hard man in the middle of the park.

I agree with Ian that there are other concerns, including the formation which leaves cook isolated. He is a great target man so we should play to his strengths with wingers. Where does CJ fit into things? Yes we have lost a real quality player in Tollit but Micky does seem stubborn about certain things

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Boz is right about the wingers. Do we need 4 recognised strikers plus CJ? The answer is no. RLC has a point but Rokka sounds very raw and MM clearly doesn't want Dawson, despite his ability. Like Ian says Dunn still hasn't impressed enough IMO.

Also agree with Ian that a defence including Buxton, Big Mac & Jay to me will struggle against better Pacey teams. Sutton are no mugs and recruited well in the summer, signing 3 of dovers team from last season.

The bullying aspect isn't a surprise. Hughes isn't one for a battle, Norburn doesn't look the type and whilst Harris will battle, he is a bit small so at times we will get outmuscled. We don't have a hard man in the middle of the park.

I agree with Ian that there are other concerns, including the formation which leaves cook isolated. He is a great target man so we should play to his strengths with wingers. Where does CJ fit into things? Yes we have lost a real quality player in Tollit but Micky does seem stubborn about certain things

You make some fair points, but the strength of the team is arguably the midfield quarter of Jennings, Norburn, Hughes and Harris. So if you start with wingers you have to leave two of them out, thus perhaps weakening the team overall, and certainly changing the style of play. The passing and movement was excellent on Tuesday with the same formation. Nobody was questioning the tactics after that game. Different games present different problems.

In addition, for about half of last season we played with a diamond / 4312 formation and our win ratio was excellent. So did that system not work ?

For me, it is about having a Plan B and different ways of playing against different opposition. With Dunn, Tollitt, Rokka and Kirby in the squad we still have width when we need it.

 

[Sparky]

Whilst I wasn't at today or Tuesday, I get the impression comparing the games isn't quite right as with their signings, Sutton are a much stronger side than Woking. In 3 games they have beaten us and orient.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Whilst I wasn't at today or Tuesday, I get the impression comparing the games isn't quite right as with their signings, Sutton are a much stronger side than Woking. In 3 games they have beaten us and orient.

But we beat numerous similar sides last season with formations that were not 442. I think we only used a 442 for a couple of weeks when both Tollitt and Dunn were fit. MM hardly used that formation when we got 95 points, so he was hardly likely to change his philosophy over the summer. He wants to play through the middle and to do that you need a strong midfield.

Against the really good sides like Dagenham and Aldershot we will almost certainly need to play three in midfield. If we start with a 442 they will just pass through us.

 

[Ian]

Yeah, I don't think we need to start making wholesale changes. Like RLC says we looked good on Tues night.

Today we got muscled of the ball and had no plan B. MM was always telling us last season that each game will ask different questions. MM did make changes today although I think he needs something more than being able to bring Mangan and Alabi into play with the latter looking like a poor signing from what I've seen so far.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I agree Ian. It is not just about formations. Whatever formation you play, you have got to match the opposition physically and show composure on the ball, and we did neither of those things today.

 

[Mal]

Bad day at the office. Sutton played the bullying tactics to perfection. MM is going to have to come up witha way of handling this sort of tactic. Sutton will not be theonly team to play like that. Still, the first 25 minutes or so were positive. I didnt enjoy the head tennis in latter part of the game. Need to be persistent with the passing game. Aldershot look to have hit ground running.

 

[Ian]

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Three games gone and we are in the bottom half of the league . Our worst start to the season for a while. I never thought our opening fixtures were easy and I expected Sutton would cause us trouble. As Micky said, we have to find ways to counter these tactics. I remain confident. Most teams are worse than Sutton and we won't play as badly very often.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Sutton were almost a carbon copy of the Dover teams of the last couple of seasons. Very physical, direct and cynical but with enough decent players to cause problems. Lafayette, Bailey and Wright were all good for them today.

 

[Boz]

In the same way as it was important not to go overboard after the win over a weak Woking side, who lost again today, there is no need to get too alarmed about losing this one. However, as Mal says, it is important for the side and Micky as manager to develop a strategy for dealing with sides who play like this. RLC mentions Dover and Eastleigh are another who spring to mind, we are certainly going to come across opponents who adopt Sutton's approach and must be able to deal with it.

I do feel we lack wide options at present. Tollit and Kirby missing for a while yet, while whatever Dunn is, he is not a winger. Rokka would appear to be unfit and probably wouldn't merit more than a spot on the bench when that is sorted and Dawson remains out of favour. There were balls going into the box in this game from the full-backs, although from Dave Higgins' remarks, Ridehalgh in particular was crossing too early. While Dunn wasn't wonderful, it sounded like we played a lot worse when he went off.

Guiseley up next are likely to try and regain some pride after their hammering at Aldershot. That is also likely to involve stifling tacticsand breaking up the play, let's hope we can cope better than against Sutton.

 

[Ian]

Annoyingly, and this is what we face in this league, Sutton had decided from the second they scored their goal to waste time, frustrate us and completely break down the game. The second half was rubbish quite frankly. They got three points so I suppose you could say job well done. We do need to find an answer to it.

Ridehalgh got quite a few crosses over in the first half but most of the time he doesn't look where he's putting it, and yes he was whipping them in quite early. If he'd look up before whipping in a cross I'm sure we'd get more goals from them.