League Two Swindle v rovers

[Sparky]

No complaints from turnbull for a high dangerous challenge on the edge of the box

 

[Ian]

FT: 1-1. Decent point on the road in the end.

 

[Boz]

Hard to assess without the commentary but sounded like the referee giving most decisions their way and seemed to be playing until Swindle got a winner. In that context glad of a point

 

[Sparky]

Full time 1–1. A decent point on the road and one that we deserved. Once again I thought the front two were disappointing.

 

[Sparky]

The front two are just too similar sometimes. If playing two up you want them to complement eachother e.g Malkin and Aldo, Muir and Steel, Cookie and Nors.

Do opposition defenders fear them? Sadly not. Defenders don’t like playing against anyone with pace, or say an aggressive target man who is strong in the air. Sadly our front two are neither. Arguably down to not great service at times but we’re certainly not getting the best out of them

 

[Boz]

Any idea when Mumbongo is due back? He doesn’t seem to get mentioned at all in the interviews, whereas we know Jolley is out until May.

It’s interesting that Doohan, who some would have dropped, after last weekend probably earned Rovers the point with that late save.

 

[bigmart]

Any idea when Mumbongo is due back? He doesn’t seem to get mentioned at all in the interviews, whereas we know Jolley is out until May.

It’s interesting that Doohan, who some would have dropped, after last weekend probably earned Rovers the point with that late save.

Mumbongo has been back running this week, think likely be new year before he's available

 

[Sparky]

Any idea when Mumbongo is due back? He doesn’t seem to get mentioned at all in the interviews, whereas we know Jolley is out until May.

It’s interesting that Doohan, who some would have dropped, after last weekend probably earned Rovers the point with that late save.

Yes Doohan can be pleased with his performance today.

Re mumbongo Micky just refers to ‘long term’ injured so my guess it’ll be 2023 before we see him. However I’m not sure he’ll have any sort of major impact even when fit. Same with glatzel who may likely (but unfortunately), break down again.

We badly need some new fresh strikers in. Even if it means we send Robinson back to Wigan or offload one of Hockenhull, Byrne or Jameson as we don’t really need them all

 

[Sparky]

Micky confirmed post match that mcalear out for a couple of weeks but Lewis missed the game as he’s just had a baby daughter (congratulations Paul).

Micky also couldn’t resist another little dig at fans moaning about lack of subs. A couple of times saying we don’t have loads of strikers or wide men. I’d have loved Derek Jones to have said is that because you spent all the money on so many central defenders and injury prone strikers but no chance!

A good point as I said above. Winless run extends to 6 games but no need to panic. Could do with winning at home next week v Wimbledon

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Micky also couldn’t resist another little dig at fans moaning about lack of subs. A couple of times saying we don’t have loads of strikers or wide men. I’d have loved Derek Jones to have said is that because you spent all the money on so many central defenders and injury prone strikers but no chance!

We spent the money on injury prone strikers because they were the ones we can afford. If you offered Mellon strikers with a good fitness record of similar quality he would have taken them - but they were clearly not available.

It is no wonder Mellon gets frustrated regarding the budget / squad situation. He is asked to perform a near miracle at times with the resources available to him, and is then criticised for wasting money that he never actually received in the first place.

 

[Sparky]

I’m not sure we’ll ever know how much glatzel and mumbongo cost and whether fitter strikers albeit perhaps not from premier league clubs like those two were available.

Regardless of those two I still think we budgeted too heavily for the 5-3-2 and have too many central defensive options meaning we can’t spend the money elsewhere.

It’s not a major criticism of micky at all and I’d be surprised if he could hear criticism from the 300 travelling fans if that is what he was referring to. but with turnbull, Davies, Jameson, Byrne. Robinson, Hockenhull and Simeu all on the books it does look a bit much.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought we were excellent today and deserved to win the game over the ninety minutes.

I thought the first half performance was arguably our best of the season considering the venue and the strength of the opposition. In the first thirty minutes we were completely dominant - it was almost a reverse of the recent games against Carlisle - and some of our passing and movement was superb. We were also excellent out of possession, setting traps for Swindon when they tried to play out from the back and winning the ball high up the pitch. Their equalising goal was so against the run of play it was almost comical.

The second half was far more even and end to end, with both sides creating chances, but again I thought we played well. We had a number of good openings on the counter attack where the final ball or finish was lacking, the best two falling to Hemmings, when Cogley's cross was played slightly behind him, and a four v two break where Nevitt found himself in the number ten position and had to simply slide in one of the three other players, but panicked and blazed the ball over the bar.

I thought everybody played well, but Simeu and Bristow in particular were superb, and Doohan had an excellent game: a worldy save from a free kick near the end and generally solid handling and distribution.

Finally, a word on the strikers. They are not offering anywhere near enough in the eighteen yard box, but they did not by any means play badly today and contributed to the team performance through their movement and link play.

 

[Sparky]

Unfortunately strikers are judged on goals and the front two just aren’t providing enough. Some of that is down to service of course but other times they have been wasteful.

I agree the performance was a big improvement on Carlisle which makes those games all the more frustrating. To be fair to Micky he did warn we would have these inconsistencies

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I’m not sure we’ll ever know how much glatzel and mumbongo cost and whether fitter strikers albeit perhaps not from premier league clubs like those two were available.

Regardless of those two I still think we budgeted too heavily for the 5-3-2 and have too many central defensive options meaning we can’t spend the money elsewhere.

It’s not a major criticism of micky at all and I’d be surprised if he could hear criticism from the 300 travelling fans if that is what he was referring to. but with turnbull, Davies, Jameson, Byrne. Robinson, Hockenhull and Simeu all on the books it does look a bit much.

However, if we budgeted for a 532 that will have been a decision made in conjunction with Vaughan and Palios.

I don't really accept that we have too many centre halves anyway. Jameson was released by Oldham and will be on poor money, Hockenhull is not ready for the first team yet, so it is only the other four that are taking a decent amount of money out of the budget, and Turnbull arrived very late in the window. Strikers are far more expensive than defenders so it is simplistic to argue that, for example, we get rid of Byrne and Jameson and we can afford to bring in two good quality strikers.

Don't forget, we were still chasing three or four forwards on deadline day, so Mellon clearly believed there was still money available to strengthen up front, even if those deals did not ultimately go through.

 

[Sparky]

Yes I’m sure Palios and Vaughan led the way for the change in policy and 5-3-2.

I agree strikers will cost more but in general terms I think the balance of the squad isn’t right. Then again we can’t moan too much. Defensively we are very good this season and it’s not easy to get it right at both ends. As last season showed.

 

[Ian]

The link play was good at times but they simply have to be doing better in the box. That Hemmings miss was a shocker really. As a senior figure and experienced front man, he should be eating up those chances. The play was much better than in recent games and we had a good first half for a change so hopefully we can build on this.

 

[Sparky]

Hemmings chance was slightly behind him which is why it sort of hit it with his heel. Not the easiest. I was more annoyed with Nevitt who could have played someone in and then sent the shot high into the stand.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think Turnbull received two yellows, so is only suspended for one game.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Just as a final comment, we have six centre halves in the squad and six strikers (Hemmings, Nevitt, Glatzel, Mumbongo, Jolley, Burton) if Burton is included as part of the first team squad.

So no great disparity in spending between the two areas, particularly given that forwards are by definition more expensive than defenders. The quality and injury record of the forwards can be debated, but the numbers are there.

 

[Ian]