Tranmere 0 Brazil 3

[Tartantranmere64]

We need to be hard to beat - unlike in our last three games. I'd pack 5 in midfield and ask them to support a lone striker when possible. We're being steamrollered through our midfield and we cannot afford to play 442 with two non-contributing wide players. Pack the midfield, park the bus, five nil-nil draws, maybe nick a 1-0 win somewhere - might not be enough to survive but if we set ourselves out last last night we'll end up with null points from our last five games and it's cheerio anyway. We just don't have the squad to go out and dominate and break teams down, so back to basics, play ugly, scrap, fight, get stuck in (not a single heavy challenge went in last night), hope for the best....

 

[Ian]

And what happened to that fat f*ck Robinson? A player with some ability,I haven't seen in a white shirt yet. I'm exceptionally frustrated right now. We all know there is a lack of quality in the squad, but that doesn't excuse the lack of fight. Like Les said, "there were no guts". That's just unacceptable.

 

[Sparky]

Ian - they said on Radio Merseyside that Robinson was injured with the injury that has kept him out of the Leeds team for a long time.

 

[OneNightInGayParis]

The physio page in last night's programme suggests Robinson may be fit enough to play some part against Exeter on Saturday.

 

[OneNightInGayParis]

Although last night was dismal, IMO the performance was no worse than Harthepool or a number of other recent home games (excepting Wolves/Soton/Norwich). The difference was that we were playing a team who wanted/needed to win rather than sink to our level and be happy enough to come away with a point. I think we have got to accept that last night showed the TRUE quality (lack of) in the team and that these players can only lift themselves as a group when they are big underdogs. The team work was worse than any individual performance last night - there was no movement and the incisive "out" ball was never played (fear factor?). There was no attacking threat from Bakayogo on the left with too much going down the right (where we are effectively a player short when Broomes plays left back).

I couldn't understand the substitutions at all. At 1-0 down with some tired legs in the early second half it was screaming out for a midfield ball player - we had 3 of them on the bench - but none appeared. I can only assume Curran went off due to his injury but he had looked full of running.

The form book will need to be well and truly torn up if we are to have any chance fom here ...

 

[SonkORLY?]

We need to be hard to beat - unlike in our last three games. I'd pack 5 in midfield and ask them to support a lone striker when possible. We're being steamrollered through our midfield and we cannot afford to play 442 with two non-contributing wide players. Pack the midfield, park the bus, five nil-nil draws, maybe nick a 1-0 win somewhere - might not be enough to survive but if we set ourselves out last last night we'll end up with null points from our last five games and it's cheerio anyway. We just don't have the squad to go out and dominate and break teams down, so back to basics, play ugly, scrap, fight, get stuck in (not a single heavy challenge went in last night), hope for the best....

Oh god, anything but this.

 

[Ian]

Les did say Curran and McCready went off as they were carrying injuries. It's a shame he didn't mention anything about bringing on some creative players such as Mahon or Ladabie instead of the old tired legs of Edds and Shuker. Also did Bain actually know what was going on last night? He seemed completely unable to follow the ball.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Oh god, anything but this.

Well I think it's just a little bit late in the season for us to expect Rovers to actually start spraying passes around, being creative and scoring a hat full of goals. I'm a bit like you, ambivalent whether we play in L1 or L2, just as long as I get a bit more entertainment for my money. However, I'd rather play in L1 and the only way we can achieve this is by scrapping our way to enough points to stay up.

This squad isn't good enough to do anything else! Unless you're seeing something there I can't?

 

[SonkORLY?]

Les' philosophy from the start has been to make us hard to beat. It's not working.

Sometimes, such as vs Norwich, yeah, cram the midfield, scrap, kick, Taylor, Edds, Welsh, whatever - fine. But vs Walsall we had time and space in midfield to pick out passes, there was no need whatsoever for Edds AND Welsh AND Taylor to be on the pitch - the likes of Mahon and Barnett would have had a field day. Though the style of football advocated by Les is directly opposite to that encouraged by Barnes, what both managers have in common is an infuriating unwillingness to divert from their "system" when doing so could mean the difference between 0 points or 3.

We tried to play too much football under Barnes, we're suffering by not playing enough under Les. I wouldn't mind, but we have some very good creative/attacking players in the squad. Last night was a very winnable game in which we should have been taking the initiative to the opposition, but this wasn't reflected in the team selection. The fact we're playing the same players and system in both games that we expect to win and games that we expect to lose indicates to me that Les isn't thinking enough about his team selection/tactics in relation to our targets on a game-by-game basis.

 

[roverstillidie]

I'm not going to add much more to what's already been said about the teams dire, pathetic, disorganised, hopeless inept performance apart from in the words of Mike Basset our only way out of this hole is to play 4-4 ****ing 2! Even then I highly doubt we will stay up.

We had 4 centre backs, 2 defensive midfielders, 3 centre forwards (2 supposedly playing as wide men) and a full back on the pitch last night as well as a goalkeeper suffering a nervous breakdown. No creativity. No Flair. Nothing.

Team he has to play:

Daniels

Edds McCready Goodison Bakayogo

Barnett Labadie Welsh Mahon

Thomas-Moore Curran/Savage/Bain

We have to go for it now rather than playing for draws. Our current style of play makes the football under Brian Little look as good as Barcelona!

Finally i'd like to dispel this myth about our budget been a good size for league 2. If we go down and PJ cuts again we will have the 2nd smallest budget in the Football League - that's what I heard from a board member.

 

[DixieDean]

with finances already stretched I could see administration and a points reduction a very real option.

PJ would never let the club go into administration as long as it still owes him money!

 

[DIW]

In as few words as possible.

Spineless, gutless, incompetent. That performance as someone else said was really back the to the Barnes days. I could go on but wouldn't say anything that hasn't already been said.

Couple of points to end on. Seriously considering whether i can aresd to turn up this Saturday, because to be honest if, like last night, the team can't be arsed to turn up why the hell should I bother

Then on the day after that shower of effortless *****, they put on sale tickets for Stockport away. Ha ha ha!!!!! I won't be buying a ticket for that one until I know there will be something to play for at it which I doubt.

What total bollox.









For the record - I will definitely be there on Saturday.

 

[bigmart]

I cannot see anyway we will stay up as we are awful as last night proved.

Just a thought but why dont we try to be a bit more positive from the start and try to get at teams like we did against norwich instead of just sitting back and hitting the ball long for savage only for it to came straight back again.

We should try 4-4-2 as a last throw of the dice and at least go down fighting not like the patchetic non effort that we are currently showing.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Les' philosophy from the start has been to make us hard to beat. It's not working.

It did work for three to four months (cf. victories over Southend, Brentford, Bristol Rovers etc.), and Les deserves credit for salvaging something from the season when the task had looked hopeless in October. However, I agree that opposition managers and teams have rumbled us now, and there simply isn't enough variation, or indeed ANY variation in our tactics.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We tried to play too much football under Barnes, we're suffering by not playing enough under Les.

Pretty much sums up the present state of play, although Les's overall record is still significantly superior to Barnes's.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I'm not going to add much more to what's already been said about the teams dire, pathetic, disorganised, hopeless inept performance apart from in the words of Mike Basset our only way out of this hole is to play 4-4 ****ing 2! Even then I highly doubt we will stay up.

We had 4 centre backs, 2 defensive midfielders, 3 centre forwards (2 supposedly playing as wide men) and a full back on the pitch last night as well as a goalkeeper suffering a nervous breakdown. No creativity. No Flair. Nothing.

Team he has to play:

Daniels

Edds McCready Goodison Bakayogo

Barnett Labadie Welsh Mahon

Thomas-Moore Curran/Savage/Bain

We have to go for it now rather than playing for draws. Our current style of play makes the football under Brian Little look as good as Barcelona!

Finally i'd like to dispel this myth about our budget been a good size for league 2. If we go down and PJ cuts again we will have the 2nd smallest budget in the Football League - that's what I heard from a board member.

We won't.

But +1 to team selection.

 

[Boz]

Having juggled my work commitments and called in a few favours to get to the game last night, I shouldn't have bothered. Didn't post when I got back in the early hours of the morning as it wouldn't have been diplomatic. Still fuming 24 hours after the event. While thinking we might have lost last night before the game, the manner of defeat not going down fighting was a disgrace.

If McCready was unfit, was wasn't Ash moved back into defence, freeing up space in midfield for someone more creative?

If Curran wasn't match fit, Bas was even less so. Bain didn't show anything last night to suggest he'd got a clue about where the net is.

We might as well play the reserves from now on in to give them some practice for next season, when all our 'stars' have left.

 

[The Bootle Rover]

I need more whisky

What a sad sad performance. We were utterly inept throughout to the point of embarrassment. There was not a saving grace to be found on the pitch in our team.
After honestly thinking we could win that game and give ourselves a fighting chance I can now only see relegation.

I hope it is taken as an opportunity to perhaps keep a few of the pros who normally try and put in a shift, clear out the remainder and turn to our younger players to take a chance.

 

[roverstillidie]

PJ would never let the club go into administration as long as it still owes him money!

It depends because PJ is getting on a bit and he might just want to wash his hands of the club and retire. Money begins to not matter as much at his age I suspect.