Shrewsbury 2 Tranmere 1

[SCooperSomersaults]

Went to Shrewsbury today. New stadium so another one to tick off the list! A nice little stadium, good facilities etc but all these new grounds are so similar that there's no real character to them, so that's a bit disappointing, but hey ho.

On to the game. No Goodison - niggle which Les told me he isn't overly concerned with when we spoke last night. No Broomes, he's still injured. And no Terry Gornell, not missed by me but another injury worry we could well do without.

The defence is a major worry. Without Goodison, we're hopeless. The defending today was, at times, shambolic! Nick Wood looked ok first half, but not so good in the second. Same could be said for Tim Catholina. And the trialist at right back was hopeless. Not as bad as Zoom's brother, but almost. Max Blanchard I think it was, a French lad.

Gunnar Nielsen looks a good shot-stopper. Made three or four great saves. But came out for a couple of crosses that he got nowhere near. A good goalkeeping coach could sort that out, oh, yeah, he's left hasn't he?! God damn it.

We passed the ball very poorly. McLaren, was as ever, very poor and lacked movement. Welsh's passing wasn't as good as it normally is, Labadie hardly had a kick and worringly went off injured at half time after two or three strong challenges against him.

Enoch showed some good strength and ability in the early stages, then was very quiet after that. To be fair, the ball rarely ventured up towards the half way line in our possession but he has promise and is not another Michael Ricketts. Showed glimpses of great pace and strength but needs games to get up to speed by the looks.

Ian Thomas-Moore had a couple of efforts, one which hit the bar, but other than that did very little and looked very frustrated throughout. And young Dale Jennings hardly had a touch either so not a great chance to impress.

Jake Simpson came on again for his second appearance in 2 days. Again, barely touched the ball - when he did, he blasted the ball high into the Rovers fans behind the goal. Rush of blood, but must have been his first touch of the game too. It's really hard to judge if he's any good or not. At half time he hit a few nice shots, but during the games he's played, he's had no ball to play off at all.

All in all, we're so unprepared it seems for the new season, it's quite worrying. Lack of forwards, lack of movement in midfield, missing key defenders Broomes and Goody, no recognised right back, and we couldn't pass wind today. Hoping that Les can sort it all out in a week. Come on Rovers! [-o<

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Ps. Cracking free-kick by Aaron Cresswell. The picture above shows the ball travelling on it's way into the top corner. Honest. It was about the only free-kick we had in their half so that's the proof!

 

[Ian]

It's not been a wonderful pre-season apart from the Forest game but I wouldn't look too deeply into these. The big test comes next week. More annoying injuries picked up on ankles and knees but hopefully most of these niggly injuries should have gone by next week.

Most disappointed that with all the changes to the squad over the last few months, there's still a place for McLaren. Ahh well, roll on Sat.

 

[Boz]

Like SCoops I went partly to cross another ground off the list. The New Meadow, or whatever it's called at present, is a typical modern ground, with few distinguishing features. Probably most noteable is that there is a lot of space between the stands, much less compact than similar grounds of that ilk or even PP. However, it's a shame that they've gone from having one of the most striking grounds in the league to something so anonymous. Also wondered why the Shrews have abandoned their striking blue and amber stripe kits for drab blue shirts.

The game was pretty dismal for the couple of hundred visiting fans. Shrewsbury took a deserved lead in first half stoppage time, a tap in after a decent Nielsen save. Cresswell equalised from a free-kick during a rare bright spell from Tranmere, but the home side restored their advantage shortly, Rovers having ample chance to clear, but failing. It finished 2-1, a scoreline which probably flattered us.

Players;

Nielsen. Probably MoM. He made about 4 decent saves to keep the score respectable, though agree he needs to work on crosses.

Blanchard. Didn't make any major howlers, but showed little to merit being offered a deal.

Cresswell. Mixed bag.There was a suicidal back-pass early on and some wrong decisions, but a great free-kick.

McLaren. Did ok first half in a defensive role, but largely anonymous after the break.

Cathalina. As he was signed primarily as a right-back and we've not got anyone else there, surprised to see him in central defence. I didn't get the impression he was much of an organiser, but will reserve judgement.

Wood. Another non-organiser, though young enough to learn. Did ok.

Welsh. Not one of his better games.

Labadie. Started brightly, but got clattered midway through the half and replaced at half-time. Hopefully not another injured soul.

Showunmi. I felt there were a few occasions where he didn't make enough effort to get balls played in, which were winnable. Hopefully this is down to a lack of match-fitness rather than laziness. There were some good touches, but need to see more of him before determining where he fits in the Rovers strikers merit table.

ITM. Agree with SCoops, looked frustrated, but good link-up with Enoch for his shot that clipped the bar.

Jennings. Some nice touches when he got the ball, which wasn't often.

Subs. Fraughan didn't look comfy in a central-midfield role, much better out wide. Not enough time to judge Simpson, but perhaps he should have started ahead of Jennings to take a proper look. Benson and Zoum weren't on long enough to form a view.

Overall, I'm concerned because our injury depleted squad is very thin indeed. Les is talking about bringing another three players in, probably the least we need.

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

Ok so sounds like a disappointing game.

BUT on the plus side, i see from the pics we wore white shirts with blue shorts!! been a long time since we played in that combination and I do like it.

Gawd if that's the plus side.. we really could do with sorting out the back four or this season won't be starting much better than the last one!

 

[bigmart]

broomes will miss at least the first two weeks of the season goodison and gornell will be available next week though joss has an injury which would be another big blow.

We are in talks with a championship team about a midfielder, the sooner we can get a couple of more players in the better

 

[Higgy]

Went to Shrewsbury today. New stadium so another one to tick off the list! A nice little stadium, good facilities etc but all these new grounds are so similar that there's no real character to them, so that's a bit disappointing, but hey ho.

On to the game. No Goodison - niggle which Les told me he isn't overly concerned with when we spoke last night. No Broomes, he's still injured. And no Terry Gornell, not missed by me but another injury worry we could well do without.

The defence is a major worry. Without Goodison, we're hopeless. The defending today was, at times, shambolic! Nick Wood looked ok first half, but not so good in the second. Same could be said for Tim Catholina. And the trialist at right back was hopeless. Not as bad as Zoom's brother, but almost. Max Blanchard I think it was, a French lad.

Gunnar Nielsen looks a good shot-stopper. Made three or four great saves. But came out for a couple of crosses that he got nowhere near. A good goalkeeping coach could sort that out, oh, yeah, he's left hasn't he?! God damn it.

We passed the ball very poorly. McLaren, was as ever, very poor and lacked movement. Welsh's passing wasn't as good as it normally is, Labadie hardly had a kick and worringly went off injured at half time after two or three strong challenges against him.

Enoch showed some good strength and ability in the early stages, then was very quiet after that. To be fair, the ball rarely ventured up towards the half way line in our possession but he has promise and is not another Michael Ricketts. Showed glimpses of great pace and strength but needs games to get up to speed by the looks.

Ian Thomas-Moore had a couple of efforts, one which hit the bar, but other than that did very little and looked very frustrated throughout. And young Dale Jennings hardly had a touch either so not a great chance to impress.

Jake Simpson came on again for his second appearance in 2 days. Again, barely touched the ball - when he did, he blasted the ball high into the Rovers fans behind the goal. Rush of blood, but must have been his first touch of the game too. It's really hard to judge if he's any good or not. At half time he hit a few nice shots, but during the games he's played, he's had no ball to play off at all.

All in all, we're so unprepared it seems for the new season, it's quite worrying. Lack of forwards, lack of movement in midfield, missing key defenders Broomes and Goody, no recognised right back, and we couldn't pass wind today. Hoping that Les can sort it all out in a week. Come on Rovers! [-o<

It the current trialists are not up to it, as seems the case, we will have to rely on the youngsters or be prepared for some real last minute shopping. I note Carlisle have just released 3 trialists and Colchester have cancelled the contract of a French striker (Joel Clarke).......so there seems to be options still out there. If the French guy was on contract it must be a better bet than the rialists as he maust have been rated at sometime.

 

[Sparky]

I am trying not to get too concerned about things yet - as friendlys are difficult to judge.

But - considering in 5 days from now we'll be lining up aganist an Oldham team who have made a couple of decent signings (Feeney, Richie Jones etc), as Les was supposed to be putting out one of his stronger sides and treating it as a 'proper' game, this result and performance was disappointing.

Being optimistic, hopefully the next few days we'll sign a couple of decent players, on loan if necessary, and this Saturday will be completely different.

I'd be interested if there was any more on how Showumni did. Les seemed to think he had a great game (maybe trying to get his confidence up?!) but it will be interesting how he copes playing the lone striker in the 4-3-3 as he probably isnt used to it.

 

[Boz]

I'd be interested if there was any more on how Showumni did. Les seemed to think he had a great game (maybe trying to get his confidence up?!) but it will be interesting how he copes playing the lone striker in the 4-3-3 as he probably isnt used to it.

The reality is that Les isn't going to say his new signing was trash, even if it's true. It's only to be expected that the manager will try to build him up. He hasn't got the work-rate of a Bas or the goalscoring knack of the Chief and lacks match-fitness and familiarity with colleagues. We'll know better by the end of next month whether he'll make a decent contribution, but much too early to say now.

Meanwhile, Joss, Tim and McLaren all added to the injury list, with only the last likely to be fit enough for Oldham:cry:

 

[Ian]

I'll be gutted if Labadie doesn't make it in time for Saturday. McLaren, I'm not too bothered about.

 

[Higgy]

Labadie will be a big loss! When fit there does seem to be plenty of central midfielders and defence seems sorted in terms of numbers. We are apparently talking to a championship club about a midfielder...hope it is someone who can play wide. Did Connor sign?

Keep looking all over for news - talk about last minute dot com