solihull v rovers again

[Ian]

Why on earth would you start with 532 in this kind of game against this opposition?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Mellon was probably trying to bed the system in before Saturday but we should not be using dmh as a wing back against crap teams. It asks a lot of Clark on the other side as well.

 

[drwhoman]

One to forget I think. Saturday is much more important. It might be argued that MM should have done a Klopp and rotated! Was fog an issue? I remember a game at New Brighton many years ago, mid week and foggy, about the same gate as Solihull. the players drifted in and out of the mist. However, I did see the opposition centre forward clearly punching the ball into the net and the NB keeper was booked for arguing about it!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Dagenham's first eleven lost to Hereford yesterday, Aldershot's were thrashed 4-0 at Thurrock on Saturday. The better sides are not interested in this competition and tonight's result probably means nothing in the bigger scheme of things.

However, our away form and the reversion to 532 does concern me.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I wonder if our game at Woking will be switched to the free Trophy Saturday now ?

 

[drwhoman]

Good to be out of it. You wonder if last season would have ended up differently if we had not had the two leg Macclesfield semi final. I think we were already suffering from key injuries at that point? Does this thought have any validity?

 

[Boz]

Apparently, the Hereford side that beat Dagenham was not their regular starting xi, whereas the Daggers, like Rovers, only made one change. I don’t see the point of playing our near strongest line-up in Trophy games, if they don’t go out to win. Wonder if the reversion to 532 is in part to protect McNulty. It didn’t sound like either he or Sutton had the best of games last night, though aside from Norwood, nobody seemed close to their best. Plus juggling the defence may be required if Buxton’s absent.

Think we were playing 2 games a week towards the end of last season because of the Trophy run to the semis. Kirby also broke a leg v Barrow, but most of the injuries to players happened in league games, so unsure you could pin our play-off failure on the Trophy.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Jennings and clarke were our best players last night. McNulty and sutton were very poor, among others.

 

[Mal]

I personally think McNulty should be replaced or rotated with gumbs just to see who fares better over a next 8 games or so.

 

[Ian]

I think its fair to say McNulty would be the best bet over 8 games. There was little interest in that game last night. From the players and the supporters as 215 pretty much sums it up.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I personally think McNulty should be replaced or rotated with gumbs just to see who fares better over a next 8 games or so.

With respect, I think this is nonsense.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

If ever there was a case to play our second string it was last night. Clearly the players were not up to it. The reserves might have been. Despite this, we had two bookings and a serious injury. And we may have lost momentum. The last time we lost a cup tie we dropped five points from the following two games. We can't afford history to repeat itself. MM made the wrong call unfortunately.

 

[drwhoman]

Thanks Bob re last season. Mind you it was probably two games we could have done without. Hopefully this shambles will disappear into history if we get a decent result at the weekend.

 

[drwhoman]

Sorry Boz. Poor proof reading!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Think we were playing 2 games a week towards the end of last season because of the Trophy run to the semis. Kirby also broke a leg v Barrow, but most of the injuries to players happened in league games, so unsure you could pin our play-off failure on the Trophy.

I don't think you can at all. If anything, the Trophy helped to build momentum and confidence and helped our league form after Christmas. Stockton in particular was boosted by his performance against Barrow.

Injuries simply caught up with us at Wembley.

 

[Boz]

I've not got the stomach for another McNulty/Gumbs debate. Mellon's poor handling of Evan continued, why was kamikaze McEveley on the bench ahead of him for this tie?

Sadly Wirral Radio offline last night, so I had to rely on the podcast featuring former forum member Paul Harper and you didn't get as much detail as with the commentary. It did seem there was too much mucking about at the back, with the nadir being a hospital ball back-pass from Sutton, which Pilling did well to be alert to. Don't know what RLC felt about Luke's performance last night, the podcast was quite positive, but others have been less so.

What BBTC says about poor results after a Cup defeat concerns me. The Gateshead performance was disappointing, if we're similarly half-hearted on Saturday, Sutton will make us pay.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I took exception to Mal's suggestion, but I agree that Gumbs should have been on the bench ahead of Calamity Jay. Mellon seems to have reservations about Gumbs, but on the positive side he has pushed Clarke, Duggan and Pilling forward.

I thought there was too much messing about at the back in the first half yesterday. I think we should play out from the back - you have to if you want to be a footballing side - but not when we are being actively pressed by the opposition on a bobbly pitch, as was the case yesterday. Pilling was quite poor in the first half and did not mix his distribution up enough, but he was not helped by the back five sitting on top of him and giving him few options. He improved after half time and made a good save after Sutton's mistake.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

If ever there was a case to play our second string it was last night. Clearly the players were not up to it. The reserves might have been. Despite this, we had two bookings and a serious injury. And we may have lost momentum. The last time we lost a cup tie we dropped five points from the following two games. We can't afford history to repeat itself. MM made the wrong call unfortunately.

A genuine reserve / youth team would have been out of their depth last night against a Solihull side that has improved under Yates. If we had lost the game 5-0 it would not have been great for their development.

If the first team had not played they would have gone a fortnight without a game ahead of our biggest match of the season, which would probably have resulted in a loss of match sharpness. As it happens, they at least got a workout for ninety minutes. Mellon also had the opportunity to look at the 532 in the first half, which he will have learnt from. So I don't think it is cut and dried that the manager made the wrong decision.

 

[Boz]

I don't think any of us predicted the assured performance of a side comprising mostly youngsters at Maidstone last season. While I agree, a purely youth side would have struggled, would reckon a mix of youngsters and recovering/out of favour experienced pros would have done no worse that the side last night.

It will be interesting to see if the half-hearted showing from too many in this game results in a few line-up changes v Sutton, but the impression given by MM in the post-match interview was that wouldn't happen. We've played 532 enough times, for the manager to have a good idea of the pros and cons of that formation using our current squad.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We had only used clarke and dmh together as wing backs once before last night. As it happens, I don't like that system with our current squad. In the last few games we have seen some of the early season failings creeping in. Personally, I would have made three or four changes last night - just putting the other side of the argument. In terms of Saturday, last night should not have a bearing on team selection. If it did, you could make a case for dropping nine or ten players.