League Two Stockport (2) v Rovers (0)

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

Everything is fine!








Always in the .....!
Depth varies!

 

[Boz]

It all sounds incredibly grim. Any slivers of hope or are we doomed by October?

 

[roverstillidie]

Having watched it back, Saunders should be sacked for gross misconduct, knew exactly what he was doing. Inexcusable in any circumstances. Another absolutely appalling recruitment decision, but I’m sure he had ‘good stats’.

Davies looks like he needs to retire based on the 2nd goal, can barely run - reminds me of Stephen Foster. Very unlike Tranmere to give 2 year deals to crocked players…

If there’s ever a team that needs a manager to come in and let a bomb off under them it’s this lot. It’s the only way I can see us staying up.

However I can’t see Palios admitting he’s got it wrong with Adkins, Danns and Parkinson - a manager whose heyday was a decade ago, combined with two lightweights. To be fair to Danns he may well go on and have a good career, but I imagine this situation is a bit of an eye opener!

The only positive is we’re not bottom…yet.

 

[overthewater]

I was not at the game so maybe someone can enlighten me? According to the BBC Sport site, Hawkes was not brought on until the 86th minute and Morris came on after 90 minutes, along with James Norris.

Can anyone tell me the point of making such substitutions so late in the game? What sort of mindset is at work here - 'Oh no we're 2-0 down and there are only a few minutes left to play. Oh I know, we'll try a new left-back!' FFS give me strength

 

[Sparky]

Dear me where to start. yes we were playing top of the league but poor goals to concede and it should have been more against a wasteful Stockport side.

Obviously we didn’t want to concede early but after 4 minutes we did. Sarcevic with time and space in the middle played a thru ball that split the defence and its 1-0. I feared the worst but we dug in and and got to half time only 1-0. However like Crewe we had a man sent off early and once they got the second it was game over.
Saunders was an idiot. On a yellow already he went flying in right in front of their fans, a stupid tackle and with rovers fans signing you’re not fit to weat the shirt to him, he had home fans shouting at him too.
Their second goal was comical with Sarcevic running from the half way line to slot home.

Stockport hit the post and bar and were wasteful with their chances. We created some chances with their keeper twice saving from Apter and Dennis had one disallowed for offside but it was another sorry story. A few points:

- Saunders shouldn’t start again for a long time.
- Pike did ok but not comfortable on his left side and always checking back.
- Apter was very good and must start on a regular basis
- Good to see Norris back but felt for Dennis who once again ran his socks off but hardly gets any service.
- SWA mixed at the end when the players came over. Some like me with reluctant applause but others very vocal.
- Good to see a bunch of tranmere lads dressed up as Mario and Luigi. Our defending was more like the chuckle brothers
- Walker once again can’t complete a full match.
- First half it didn’t work in midfield with Jennings behind Dennis and Lewis/Walker too deep meaning big spaces in the centre of the pitch .
- We started with a 4-2-3-1 but it once again meant Dennis looked a fish out of water on his own

We were always going lose today so let’s move on. The problem is we’re getting cut adrift at the bottom. Is Nigel the answer? His points per game must be similar to Dawes but how long do we persevere with him? The worry from Palios last night is it’ll be a while before anything changes. He’ll write this off as it was against top of the table.

 

[Sparky]

I was not at the game so maybe someone can enlighten me? According to the BBC Sport site, Hawkes was not brought on until the 86th minute and Morris came on after 90 minutes, along with James Norris.

Can anyone tell me the point of making such substitutions so late in the game? What sort of mindset is at work here - 'Oh no we're 2-0 down and there are only a few minutes left to play. Oh I know, we'll try a new left-back!' FFS give me strength

Spot on. At 2-0 down we should have gone for it a bit and made changes. What is the point of making subs so late? It’s almost an insult to the players coming on.

 

[Ian]

I see Nigel was bemoaning our luck again. Another week gone, zero points earned. How long do we continue this for?

 

[Sparky]

It all sounds incredibly grim. Any slivers of hope or are we doomed by October?

Apter showed he can start a game and do well. I think with him and if we can get hawkes back in form and Norris back then we could be better going forward. Although I’d still like to see a Norris and Dennis front two.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I was not at the game so maybe someone can enlighten me? According to the BBC Sport site, Hawkes was not brought on until the 86th minute and Morris came on after 90 minutes, along with James Norris.

Can anyone tell me the point of making such substitutions so late in the game? What sort of mindset is at work here - 'Oh no we're 2-0 down and there are only a few minutes left to play. Oh I know, we'll try a new left-back!' FFS give me strength

I’m baffled too. I’d like Nigel to explain why. Only if they were injured or totally knackered would it make sense. Usually very late subs are made by a team hanging onto a one-goal lead and wanting to disrupt the flow of the game or pack the defence. Clearly not the case here!

 

[Am on mobile]

Yes and we look like Adkins is staying whrn thety sayvwe are looking at eho is available and some decent managers have been taken from others we are deluded if we think this bunch arr good enough

 

[Am on mobile]

Sorry lads had a beer or 5 a rare night off

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

- Saunders shouldn’t start again for a long time.

Agree completely. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour from him today, and it is not as if he is actually any good.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

The defeat was predictable but it was the manner of it that was so depressing.

It was horrendous defending for the first Stockport goal, but we actually defended OK for the majority of the first half, while offering no attacking threat whatsoever. We had a reasonable shape but we could not retain possession and had no quality on the ball, and I thought we really missed Hendry and Morris in midfield. However, we had restricted Stockport to relatively few chances and were still in the game.

Then comes the moronic challenge from Saunders. He had already picked up a stupid booking and went flying in with a high boot which was inevitably going to result in a red card. Any chance of getting something from the game went in that moment. We would probably have lost the game anyway, but at least we could have put up some kind of resistance with eleven men. However, after the sending off Stockport began to cut us open at will and should have scored more than just the one additional goal. Yes, at two nil down we had a bit more attacking threat and Apter had a couple of chances, but it is easy to play when the game is already lost and the pressure is off.

I thought the only positive on a grim afternoon was the reappearance of Norris, who looked strong and led the line well. However, there are too many problems elsewhere for him to be some kind of silver bullet.

I am in two minds about Apter. He looked sharp for twenty minutes at the end, but offered very little in the first half when there was still jeopardy in the game and we could not retain the ball without Hendry and Morris.

Adkins has been in charge for ten games now and we seem to be sliding rapidly backwards again. In terms of character, spirit and confidence, I thought we looked as poor today as we have all season and I am not sure Adkins can turn this round, whatever the chairman claims. He just does not seem to have had any real impact on the players.

 

[Sparky]

.

 

[Sparky]

To make us even more of a laughing stock that photo is doing the rounds on social media as our tactics were wheeled through the Stockport car park with photos taken

 

[Ian]

And they did none of that on the pitch.

 

[roverstillidie]

.

Talk about information overload… everything on there apart from score a goal.

If that’s the approach then let’s just forfeit the season and concentrate on building the fan park.

 

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

.

If I know footballers, that is sensory overload!

Win the ball, pass the ball, score a goal!
Defend!

What more do you want?

 

[Ian]

It's really grating on me every week we get told to stick together. We have to keep going, learn the lessons and go again next week blah blah. What lessons have they learnt over the past few weeks as I can't see any improvement at all? They feed us this BS every week. Quite simply, this team is doomed if we keep on doing the same thing every week. Adkins is not the answer either. I think for me, the only faint hope is we get Norris back up to speed and get some kind of partnership with Dennis who are proven goalscorers not like the joker Saunders.

 

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

It's really grating on me every week we get told to stick together. We have to keep going, learn the lessons and go again next week blah blah. What lessons have they learnt over the past few weeks as I can't see any improvement at all? They feed us this BS every week. Quite simply, this team is doomed if we keep on doing the same thing every week. Adkins is not the answer either. I think for me, the only faint hope is we get Norris back up to speed and get some kind of partnership with Dennis who are proven goalscorers not like the joker Saunders.

Everything is fine!
And despite some mistakes, we are in this together!
Where there is faith.............!