• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

rovers v swindle town

Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
5,690
Player
Alan King, Barry Dyson
At the risk of a cliche, this is a reality check. It's the sort of home game you need to win to have a chance of promotion. Are we any stronger than before the transfer window? I'll leave you all to judge, but I do think we need couple more decent players before I can have any confidence. We are too inconsistent.

On the positive side, even Lincoln did not achieve back to back promotions and we are already as good as safe from relegation.
 
Last edited:

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
We had a bright spell after half time with Norwood’s goal and a couple of good chances to equalise, but in the last 15 minutes or so Swindle more likely to add a third.
 
Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
5,690
Player
Alan King, Barry Dyson
This is only the second time in three and a half seasons that a club has got a league double over us, the other team was Lincoln two years ago.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
A very poor performance, as bad a display as we have produced all season.

The first half was abysmal. The 532 formation does not work at home and I hope that is the last we see of the system at Prenton Park. We were too deep, with too many players in areas of the pitch where they were not affecting play, and we invited Swindon on to us. The same happened against Morecambe and Yeovil a few weeks ago, but the difference today was that Swindon had the quality to punish us. Irrespective of the tactics, I thought the attitude of the players collectively and individually was unacceptable in the first period: no energy, no pressure on the ball, lazy and sloppy passing. As has been mentioned, Woolery caused Caprice and Ellis all sorts of problems down our right hand side, and if Ellis was not fit he should not have started.

The second half was a bit better, after the change to 442. However, aside from the pressure of the first fifteen minutes, we created very little, with Swindon making defensive substitutions which nullified us.

Individually, I thought Jennings did ok when he came on, and Caprice at least gave us energy and width on the right hand side. Perkins again showed he is a good player, showing good energy and reasonable quality on the ball. Miller was very disappointing; he made one good surging run which should have resulted in a penalty, but did not hold the ball up as we needed him to and was quite sloppy. Nobody else comes out with credit, and Banks in particular was completely anonymous today aside from the assist for Norwood's goal.

We are still only two points off the play offs, but in reality I don't think we have the consistency to mount a promotion challenge.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Are we any stronger than before the transfer window? I'll leave you all to judge,
I think we are stronger, but you can't overhaul a whole squad in the January transfer window. We need more quality and depth in a number of areas and that is a long term project.
 
Joined
16 Dec 2018
Messages
101
Player
Norwood
My word, that was grin viewing (apart from the spell after half time).
Not sure why we still only had one striker on when we were losing, was Mullins injured?
Collectively sloppy and lacking energy.
I felt embarrassed a few times for McNulty, as he was so off the pace, but to be fair, no one shone.
Buxton and Caprice at least had a go, and Perkins was lovely early on.
Agree that it's a reality check, and we should be happy in the position we are in.
Weird game though, and not sure why MM persisted in humping aimless long balls to Nors and Miller, when they got nothing out the Swindon back four.
 
Joined
18 May 2012
Messages
769
Player
ian goodison
that was a nightmare 3/5/2 or 5/3/2/ doesn,t suit us at home the players don,t look comfortable, has micky hit a wall? when miller went off why no mullin? perkins is no better than harris on this showing to end up with 3 full backs was bizarre. monthe was reliable how we can go from last week to this showing is a puzzle, said a week ago we only need brabin back in the dug out that,s how bad it was.,
 
Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
5,690
Player
Alan King, Barry Dyson
I think we are stronger, but you can't overhaul a whole squad in the January transfer window. We need more quality and depth in a number of areas and that is a long term project.
True, but it enough just to sign two new players both over 30 and one on a six-month deal? Maybe our owners are resigned to L2 next season, which may not be the worst strategy from a financial point of view.
 
Joined
16 Dec 2018
Messages
101
Player
Norwood
Agreed Perkins has the workrate of Harris, but maybe controls his area better. Having said that, he disappeared in the second half a bit.
I must only see Ollie Banks when he has a bad game.....how someone so lauded can persistently fail to pass a ball 10ft is beyond me.
 

Sparky

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2009
Messages
7,531
Player
Chris Greenacre
I thought Banks was poor overall. He wasn’t playing well before his injury. I didn’t think much of Perkins or McCullough today either
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
True, but it enough just to sign two new players both over 30 and one on a six-month deal? Maybe our owners are resigned to L2 next season, which may not be the worst strategy from a financial point of view.
No, it is not enough, but that is what I am saying. It is difficult to sign good players in January and squad building is a long term process.

I think the owners do want to go up this season, but so do about a dozen other owners.
 

bigmart

bigmart
Member
Joined
29 Jul 2009
Messages
7,108
Player
Ian Muir
We were woeful today and deservedly lost. I don't like us playing 3 centre halves at home and think MM is persisting with it due to the lack of mobility from McNulty who was one of several players who were awful today.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
how we can go from last week to this showing is a puzzle,
Like RLC says it’s inconsistency and we’ll remain outside the top six until this is addressed.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
I actually thought we were decent in the second half. We passed it well, had a lot of possession and looked much better than the first half. Unfortunately the first half was so poor we couldn’t recover from 2-0 down and that lost us the game.

I thought Swindon were a much better team than when we played them away. Quite tricky and fast and caused our defenders a lot of problems with Monthe probably coming out the best of the bunch.
 

Cowshed Kid

Member
Joined
5 Dec 2015
Messages
882
Player
Bobby Hutchinson
Yes, after the high of last week, a bit of a reality check.
But take a deep breath and look where the Ebbsfleets, Boreham Woods and Suttons are this season. Teams that were considered our equals last season in footballing terms.
That puts present day reality into perspective.
It's our first season back and the team is far more deserving of that status than the one that took us down.
Heaven forbid a few reversals should herald the start of Mickey bashing.
Having said that....we stunk first half. Their keeper was virtually redundant. So much so that when he had the ball he didn't want to let go of it and got booked!
If we'd come out of the blocks at kick off the way we did second half we'd likely have got a result.
In life generally my cup is half empty. After three years in the bin I look at it as half full!
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
I thought Swindon were a much better team than when we played them away. Quite tricky and fast and caused our defenders a lot of problems with Monthe probably coming out the best of the bunch.
Woolery and Anderson did not play in August and caused us a lot of problems with their pace and movement. In the first half they exploited the space between the wide centre backs and the wing backs. In the second half Macca really struggled with them at times when he got isolated.

Woolery caused several of the same defenders problems in the play off final a couple of years ago, when he was a Forest Green player.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
Very disappointing. The first half combined a struggle to get forward, with defensive frailties. While Caprice/Ellis could have done more to prevent the cross that lead to Swindon's first goal, Richards got between McNulty and Monthe to convert, while the second was a poor throw out from Davies to McCulloch, who was immediately closed down and a weak ball easily intercepted.

Defensively, I didn't think Ellis was worse than his fellow central-defenders, but as others have noted McNulty was well below par today. Caprice as a winger didn't really work either, he has a reluctance to take players on and kept passing back to Buxton rather than trying to go past the opponent. Midfield was sat too deep and there wasn't enough forward movement.

It was hard to judge Miller, who went off injured after half an hour. In that time, he'd been fairly quiet, but had our first effort on goal after 25 minutes when he broke into the penalty box before shooting wide. Doesn't come deep to collect the ball as much as a Stockton/Mullin might, as there was precious little created for him before the injury.

I'd need to see more of Perkins too before assessing his value. In this game, he worked hard, but can't recall any incisive passes or potential game-changers today.
 
Top