Tranmere 1-1 Accrington Stanley (3-5 Pens)

[SonkORLY?]

Whoever the manager is they should be cut some slack given the low budget and the amount of injuries in very specific areas. The only way you could judge Les is when he has something like a full fit squad. Even witout the injuries all the signings were last min.com so cut some slack for bedding in and then lo and behold we have the injuries...cut a bit more slack. Hyperthetically the only way you can measure Les' performance against a potential other appointment is when he a has a fit squad. Granted any replacement will have the same budget and I would cut them some slack accordingly. What normally happens if all the panic merchants get their way, the manager gets the boot just as players are returning to fitness and a new guy comes in does well on the back of it. Early days - I think we will be ok, even though I would prefer more balance. No probs standing there arms folded as I have seen enough bluff merchants at "higher levels" standing in technical areas making all kinds of signs etc who turned out to be total duffers.

It is his fault that the signings were last minute panic buys.

Besides, many of our qualms with Les go beyond current form; the imbalance of the squad he has created, the persistence with a poorly designed 4-3-3 system, the overall apparent lack of footballing pedigree and knowledge, the delusional post-match press conferences...

 

[Mal]

I propose we change the site name to WhingeReview

 

[SonkORLY?]

Got much to cheer about, Mal?

Just telling it how it is.

 

[Mal]

Well, yes. We are still in League 1 when we could have been in League 2 with even less prospects than now. We have most of the first team out of action so things should improve as the players return. We are still in existence and have not had to go into administration. We are in a better position than in the early 80s. We have young players who are likely to improve. We aren't bottom. We have players still willing to join Tranmere for what is in essence a relative pittance - a Man City coach driver probably earns more a week. The stats for the Accrington game showed we had more shots on/off target than the previous 2 or 3 games combined. Let's face it , any team suffering as many injuries would have struggled. And I never believed we would do any better than around 18th this season and that is still achievable.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Well said Mal. Saved me typing a posting.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I am going to buck the trend on here by saying we actually deserved to win on Tuesday night. We had the better of the game in terms of possession and created enough chances to have won in normal time (McGurk in the first half, Morrow's sharp effort which was well saved ten minutes from time). We are absolutely ravaged by injuries at the moment, and half the players available had never been introduced to one another: on that basis it was a decent peformance.

For those looking for positives, Showunmi looks a decent finisher and has scored three in three, Morrow looked sharp when he came on and could be a find, and Grandison was strong at the back.

I can't understand people claiming the performances have been poorer than at the same stage last season. We haven't been good, but there has been no sign of gutless capitulations like Leeds away and Charlton at home last season.

This season is going to be a struggle, but what did anyone really expect in all honesty ? We have got a chairman that is slowly running us into the grond and until that situation changes we are not going to be able to do any more than keep our heads above water.

Calling for Les to go after only four league matches is barmy, not because of his association with and love for the club, but because becoming a serial sacker of managers just guarantees instability and failure (just look at the likes of QPR and Peterborough last season).

 

[The Bootle Rover]

Broad shoulders

I'm sure Les would happily stand up and take the flack, he's big enough and ugly enough, if it deflects or prevents it affecting the teams performance.

Les is I'm sure well aware that the buck stops with him, whether you judge that to be unfair or not.

But we really have to lay off the team.

If things go tits up then Les will be out without any need for an "I Told You So"
By the same token of course if things turn out to be a success [and by success I merely mean avoiding relegation] then Les is fully entitled to give the doubters both barrels. But I think he's too much of a gent to do that.

Lets wait until around 11 games have gone by in the league before Les is subject to stick, and wait an awful lot longer before getting on any of the players backs please.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Mal, we've won 1 game out of 7. It was in a cup we've since been knocked out of.

People have paid decent money to watch us play at home 4 times and we've lost all 4, scoring 3, conceding 9. Feel free to disregard our reasoned lack of praise for current form as "whinging" and continue to revel in the fact that we have players injured and we weren't relegated last season, but please accept that some of us expect more from the club than mere existence.

 

[Boz]

Mal, we've won 1 game out of 7. It was in a cup we've since been knocked out of.

People have paid decent money to watch us play at home 4 times and we've lost all 4, scoring 3, conceding 9. Feel free to disregard our reasoned lack of praise for current form as "whinging" and continue to revel in the fact that we have players injured and we weren't relegated last season, but please accept that some of us expect more from the club than mere existence.

At least that blows out of the water the suggestion that you're PJ in disguise, given that seems to be the limitation of Mr Johnson's ambition.

Regardless of your views of Les and the quality of the football on offer, which are understandable, I don't understand your apparent assertion that the absence of a number of first team players through injury is irrelevant. I share the view of Mal, Rockfords Love Child and others that things would be better, if the likes of Ash, Broomes, Mahon and Joss were available for selection. Rather than talking about revelling in the injury crisis, you must have a low opinion of the absentees, if you feel that their absence can be ignored and makes no difference to our current plight?

 

[Sparky]

Far be it for me to sit on the fence but i can see both sides of the argument.

Boz/others is right that it is unfair to judge Les properly without his strongest side out - and we are far away from that at the moment. Added to that we still have 42 league games left to play this season. 126 points to play for!

What I think Les hasnt got right is this 4-3-3 formation at home and playing central front men out of position and getting rid of wingers. He has to accept that he has signed plenty of attacking players recently (McGurk, Brown, Adkins, Morrow, Enoch) and we just havent created much. Also the manner of some performances has been worrying - Bournemouth as an example plus 70mins against Daggers. Yes these new players will need time to fit into 4-3-3 but in this day and age, can we afford to wait ?

So whilst some, including myself, should lay off things for a bit...I think the tactics Les has deployed and some of his signings have I think been called into question and some criticism is justified IMO, albeit still early days

 

[SonkORLY?]

At least that blows out of the water the suggestion that you're PJ in disguise, given that seems to be the limitation of Mr Johnson's ambition.

Regardless of your views of Les and the quality of the football on offer, which are understandable, I don't understand your apparent assertion that the absence of a number of first team players through injury is irrelevant. I share the view of Mal, Rockfords Love Child and others that things would be better, if the likes of Ash, Broomes, Mahon and Joss were available for selection. Rather than talking about revelling in the injury crisis, you must have a low opinion of the absentees, if you feel that their absence can be ignored and makes no difference to our current plight?

I don't think it can be ignored but I think it has been overstated. Those bemoaning the injury to Labadie seem to forget that he's started in 6 of our 7 ill-fated games this season. Ash has been a big loss and Broomes would walk into our current back 4 (which says something given the criticism he faced last season), but from what I've seen, injuries to Mclaren, Wood and Nielsen look to be blessings in disguise.

How far from full-strength were we when shown up by Oldham on the opening day of the season? Not very, imo...

 

[Mal]

I still think some realism needs to be taken on board. The team has had no time to gel, and yes we could complain about this and that as to why pre-season didn't go to plan. We are where we are. Now we have to get behind the team and help motivate. Easy to be an armchair critic but I feel we should see where the team is in another 10 games or so before raising concerns.

 

[Mal]

\\/

 

[SonkORLY?]

What's that? I still stand by every point I made :-s