Tranmere v Walsall - 3-3

[Rob]

Where to start?

Strongest 11 that we could field today and for the first half we played decently with the exception of the stupid goal that we conceded.

Walsall could barely string two passes together for most of the game and we were easily on top. 3-1 up and someone somewhere decides to issue the "lets stop attacking and play hoofball order" which effectively sent us spiralling into a disorganised mess.

Unfortunate injury to Goodison being replaced by someone who didnt appear to know he had even come on coupled with two absolutely ridiculous substitutions removing the only two people who ever look likely to score a goal and what do we have? two ridiculous late goals conceded.

Warner - solid with the exception of one dodgy pass early on

Goodison - excellent as usual

Taylor - very good, nice to see him back and should be CB every game

Cresswell - scored an excellent free kick but so what? it doesnt make up for the fact he cant defend, doesnt pass the ball to Jennings and frequently smashes the ball to nobody

Kay - very good debut

Elford - very good, lots of effort again and cant fault the lad

Jennings - same as Elford

Welsh - generally quite good although still has a tendency to make wild passes

Ladabie - good, controlled midfield well

Enoch - hit and miss, was a bit lazy at times and should have put more pressure on their awful goalkeeper, should have scored but was obsessed with trying fancy pants stuff, obviously been practising too much on Fifa and not on the real pitch

ITM - very lazy all game although substituting him is completely pointless as hes one of the only players who will finish in front of goal

Subs -

McCrystal didnt look like he knew he'd come on

McGurk is just downright useless

Akins - Looked like he'd been told to come on and smash it to nobody

Very dissapointed with the result which has undone all of the work from Monday.

Complacent play at 3-1 up, terrible tactical substitutions and a general lack of fight cost us today.

Once again as i've said before, Parry out.

 

[DIW]

Absolutely furious with that. Walsall are one of the worst sides I've seen this season and we were well in control only to chuck it away.

Why the hell did we sign McCrystal and let Wooton go back? And taking Jenno off just after they went to 3-2 when it was obvious they were going to push on and leave some gaps.

If we go down by 1 point this season this is the game we will look back on where we right royally screwed up.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Warner - solid with the exception of one dodgy pass early on

Goodison - excellent as usual

Taylor - very good, nice to see him back and should be CB every game

Cresswell - scored an excellent free kick but so what? it doesnt make up for the fact he cant defend, doesnt pass the ball to Jennings and frequently smashes the ball to nobody

Kay - very good debut

Elford - very good, lots of effort again and cant fault the lad

Jennings - same as Elford

Welsh - generally quite good although still has a tendency to make wild passes

Ladabie - good, controlled midfield well

Enoch - hit and miss, was a bit lazy at times and should have put more pressure on their awful goalkeeper, should have scored but was obsessed with trying fancy pants stuff, obviously been practising too much on Fifa and not on the real pitch

ITM - very lazy all game although substituting him is completely pointless as hes one of the only players who will finish in front of goal

sounds like we played well then. pretty much everyone was good, very good or excellent. your assesment of cresswell is generally unfair imo.

gutted i missed the game.

 

[Rob]

Yes, we played well for a large part of the game where we kept the ball on the floor, passed and moved nicely and played a football team should do.

Someone somewhere however decided that it would be a good idea to change tactics when we were on top and it costs us big time.

No excusing the last 20 minutes today.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Can't disagree with most of what has been written.

For 75 minutes we were excellent, dominating a woeful Walsall side, and playing some excellent football. There were some very god individual performances, notably from Labadie, Kay, Taylor and Lateef.

Then we decided to throw all that good work away, and much of the blame has to be laid at the door of the manager unfortunately.

With Goodison off the pitch, the substitutions were daft as we needed Moore and Jennings on the pitch to a) still pose an attacking threat to Walsall and b) have hardworking players on the pitch who were prepared to do the defensive donkey work in the last period of the game: instead we had Akins and McGurk, who barely broke sweat.

I notice that Les has stated that the result was entirely the players fault, but I don't think he can get away with that comment. At 3-2 and with us hanging on, the formation could even have been changed to 4-3-3 to provide more protection to the inexperienced centre backs, instead of which we carried on with an open game but inadequate players in several positions.

The draw felt like a 4-0 defeat at the final whistle, and leaves us in an unhealthy position with an extremely tough run of matches coming up.

 

[The Bootle Rover]

Les could be right, could'n't he?

Yes, quite afew players played well. And so they should against the poorest team we've seen so far.
Yes, we should have taken more of the chances that went begging. And put Walsall in a hopeless position so they lost heart.

But what happens; Goodison gets a knock, soldiers on for a while, the game settles down and its looking good for us. Les takes Goodison off, no doubt thinking of the future. The next thing is that the remaining players [professional footballers each and everyone of them] absolutely s--t themselves because "Nanny Goodison" who looks after them all the time is off the pitch and they capitulate to a crap team and turn into a complete bunch of novices wearing wellies. I hope they are thoroughly ashamed of the last part of the match.

What on earth will happen when Goodison is finished!!!!!!! Non-league football? Or will we have to have himstuffed and stuck on the pitch to help them keep their nerve?

Time for some backbone from these players. You simply cant blame Les for their spineless attitude.

 

[bigmart]

I thought the first half was poor from both teams, most of our passes went astray and we had the usual tactic of hoofing the ball upfield quickly, we didnt deserve to be leading at the break.

The 2nd half for a fair while was a lot better we played some good football on the floor passed it around well and really should have killed odd a truly awful team but then got deeper and deeper towards the end.

The players have to take a share of the reponsibility but les has to as well with his decisions to take of dale & itm.

Such a disapponting result against a team who are certain to be relegated

 

[Boz]

Rovers were poor in the first half, probably "our" first effort to trouble their keeper was the own goal equaliser and we were very lucky to be ahead at the break. Second half we started much brighter, a number of chances and Lateef put us 3-1 up, a bit contentious as a Walsall player had been lieing injured. However, we started defending deeper and deeper, didn't close our opponents down and ended up conceding two late goals, the last of which none of FOUR Rovers players managed to cut out the original threat on the halfway line. Walsall were not that bad in attack, but brittle at the back.
My take on the players;

Warner. I'm unconvinced. Bad mistake in first half with misplaced pass to Cresswell, thought he could have done more to prevent the 2nd goal. His kicking lacked distance or height, but throws out well. One good save late on.

Cresswell. Great free-kick for the goal. Distribution poor however, a lot of aimless long balls to nobody in particular.

Goodison. Usual steady performance, really missed when he went off concussed.

Taylor. Did ok, would like to see him carry the ball out of defence when there's time.

Kay. Solid debut, one great tackle, but like Darville doesn't cross the halfway line much.

Jennings. I don't think he was at his best today, picked the wrong option too often. Allowances should be made as he's still a young lad, did ok.

Welsh. Would have liked to see more leadership from our captain today. Steady performance, but a few passes went astray

Labadie. One of our better players during the 1st half and the purple patch after half-time, but then seemed to go missing.

Alliyu. MoM for me, took his goal well and showed better judgement than Dale today in when and how to take on a man. I'd like to keep for the rest of the season.

ITM. Don't think the way we played with ball in the air suited Ian and the game passed him by for long periods.

Showumni. Patchy performance today, missed a great chance just after half-time.

Subs. I think it's unfair to slate McChrystal, for his performance when coming on. The other option would have been Wood, who hasn't inspired confidence previously. Shame we couldn't keep Wootton on loan, it was clear from the programme that we tried. Where was Broomes? Akins and McGurk contributed little when they came on, personally felt that Les should have looked at reinforcing midfield, maybe going 4-3-3.

Have to admit I'm feeling apprehensive after this game, with tough fixtures coming up, though Wednesday's cup exploits put our visit to Hillsborough off. 3 points would have set us up nicely, as Rockford's Love Child says, instead it feels like a defeat.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought we were the better side in posession in the first half as well, without creating a great deal. It is noticeable that we are playing a lot more football with Labadie back in the side.

Having cooled down a bit, clearly the senior players should have shown better leadership in the closing stages, and encouraged the whole team to move twenty yards up the pitch. I am not one of the 'Les out' brigade, and the performance in the second half shows that he has brought some decent players to the club (including Kay and Warner) but his tactical naivety costs us at times.

There was clearly a gulf in class between ourselves and Walsall, and it is incredibly frustrating that instead of being eleven points clear of them as we should be, we are now dragged right back into the relegation battle.

 

[NeverBeatDaveHiggins]

You can't blame Les for Goodi getting injured. We lack leaders on the pitch, and we just didn't have enough about us when Walsall decided they'd have a go.

Subbing ITM I have no problem with, he'd had a very poor game by his standards. Akins who came on was shocking though, mis-placed each and every one of the five or so passes he tried, giving the ball away like that is unforgivable.

We fell apart because Goodison went off, and the midfield then failed to protect the defence. Yes possibly a change of personnel or formation would have helped, but the main problem was that both Labadie and Welsh had run themselves into the ground and stopped dominating.

Hopefully their fitness will improve now that the cold snap is over and they get regular games.

Final word for Joe Collister, I know Warner didn't do much wrong with the 3 goals we conceded,... but even so... Gulasci punched into his own net, Neilsen cost us 2 games by dropping the ball at the feet of forwards, and in comes yet another new keeper. Feel for Joe, who after all IS our player!

 

[SonkORLY?]

Where was Broomes?

Suspended having been sent off at Rochdale.

Thanks for the report.

 

[roverstillidie]

Apparently Broomes has handed in a transfer request which was why he wasn't in the squad. The official website said he wasn't suspended.

 

[Boz]

I've seen mention of the Broomes transfer request on another site, but find it hard to believe. He was lucky to get a deal with us last season(with nobody else interested) and one of the first to sign a new contract over the summer. He's been out injured for a couple of months and manages to get himself sent off for a rugby tackle in his comeback game. Who's likely to want to pay money for him? Also, given we were depleted defensively, transfer request or not, you'd have thought he'd have been at least on the bench if fit.

Tend to agree with NBDH re Joe Collister. Gulasci, despite two howlers probably earned us more points than he cost us over his stay, but Warner on first impressions seems to fit into the Nielsen category.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I've seen mention of the Broomes transfer request on another site, but find it hard to believe. He was lucky to get a deal with us last season(with nobody else interested) and one of the first to sign a new contract over the summer. He's been out injured for a couple of months and manages to get himself sent off for a rugby tackle in his comeback game. Who's likely to want to pay money for him?

+1

Why isn't he suspended? Has there been a game since Rochdale that I'm forgetting about?

 

[Sparky]

Sonkorly - the Carlisle game I think Broomes missed last Monday for the one game ban. I was expecting him to be back alongside Goodi against Walsall and cant believe he has requested a transfer if its true. He was basically 1st choice alongside Goodi I always thought - unless something else has gone on. It must have....

As for Saturday, I couldnt fault Warner but conceding 3 at home on your debut is never good. Kay did well. I just felt like most that at 3-1 we thought the game was won coz Walsall were so poor. Dont think i have seen a worse team this season and most other teams will beat them comfortably.

Both the players and Les must share the blame. Les' subs were stupid as we dont have the back up players on the bench to replace quality with quality. Even if ITM/Dale only had one leg each they would arguably be better than some of our subs plus seeing them 2 go off probably gave Walsall a lift as they knew with only Enoch left (who tried that bloody stupid Messi style chip when one on one with their keeper), we werent going to score again, so they went for it. If there had been another 5 mins we probably would have lost the game. Although Les seems to know this:

Parry was forced into changes through injuries and admitted it probably cost his side victory, he added: "I do not like making substitutions and possibly too I will learn from this."

A draw against Carlisle and beating Walsall wouldnt have been that bad and we would have the same points tally but the worse thing is the affect on confidence etc coming into a tough few weeks. The reaction of the crowd was the worse I have seen for a while.

 

[Ian]

I don't think I've been that annoyed at the end of a game for quite some time, well not since Barnes was in charge.

What a complete shambles. Chucked away 2 valuable points and Les really has to learn from this.

Blaming the collapse coinciding with Goodison going off is just a smokescreen to the real serious issue here.

We were cruising at 3-1 up in the second half, we finally got the ball down and were passing it well, pressing them into their half and looking hungry for goals. Showunmi really should have made it 3-1 early on in the second and would have made amends for the bland first half were we did little for 30 mins.

I'm also not a member of the get Parry out brigade, but really I don't know who else to blame for the team then deciding to drop back and defend for the remaining 25 minutes. It's was so obvious as well. With 25 mins to go, you could see the change. All this happened before Goodison got injured, so this has nothing to do with Goodison.

We had everyone in our half. Not one man up front. What the hell is going on? If they had a corner, all XI would be in our half, not a single man up front. So then when we do finally win the ball, we hoof it upfield to no-one. Brilliant.

Also, regarding the players, ITM was rubbish, he did nothing. Kay was a solid performer at right back. It was a baptism of fire for McChrystal who came on at the wrong time when we were well and truly under the cosh and Warner, well, he kicks it and throws well. I'm sure he'll be fine between the sticks.

So this month, we now have MK Dons (a), Saints (h) and Swindle (a). Wow, certainly not a time to be chucking away 2 points.

 

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

I will start with the positives, I thought the young lad Kay looked a solid dependable player, I also thought Lateef looked a handful and took his goal well. The keeper looked a little rusty but am sure will improve with more games, it was also good to see Ash back. As far as the football goes I thought there were periods in the second half were we moved the ball around well and caused Walsall some real headaches. The key for me during this period was we kept possession and forced Walsall to work hard chasing shadows. 80 mins gone and I was a happy Bunny and was already thinking of the cold beers chilling in the fridge 3-1 up with Walsall out on their arses.

Now the negatives. The first half was dire and if am honest we were lucky to not go in at half time behind. We couldnt string 2 passes together and resorted to booting the ball in to space down the flanks for Jenno and Lateef to chase. It all looked a little nervy to me like the players knew that this was a game they were expected to win and knew that anything less than all 3 points would ultimately be unacceptable in many supporters eyes.
Cruising at 3-1 and it becomes obvious Goody has a problem, needless to say a sub is made, everyone around me was thinking Wood would replace him but no, Les had other plans he decided to unleash his latest discovery McChrystal. I actually felt sorry for the lad, he was not ready to play any part in the game and resembled a rabbit trapped in the headlights. However we all felt that with the outlets we had in midfield and up front we would stumble on to the end of the game and pick up a much needed 3 points. Then it all starts to go horribly wrong Les attempts to play tactician and takes off probably our two most dangerous players and replaces them with lads who lets be honest wouldnt look out of place playing at Shafts on a sunday morning. The team implodes as we defend with 11 men deeper and deeper allowing Walsall to pile the pressure on. It got to the point were we were just kicking it anywhere with no outlets left on the pitch the ball just kept on coming back. (This is the bit that really upset me) I looked over to Les hoping to see him guiding the troops and rallying them. Instead Les had his hands in his pockets and was gazing at the floor seemingly unsure what to do next.

If the game would have lasted a little longer than it did I am confident we would be disecting a defeat. Les HAD to make the Goodison sub, however I question why he decided to throw McChrystal on when he is obviously not ready. I didnt get the Moore or Jenno sub at all thought it was unecessary and made the team even more disjointed. It would be interesting to find out why Les decided to do this. Suddenly switching to a ridiculous defensive stance when your opponents are on the ropes just beggars belief. It invited pressure and allowed Walsall to grow in confidence.

I am at the point now were I dont know what to expect anymore, I go into every game expecting the worse and am pleasently surprised when things dont go as bad as I feared. I have said on numerous occasions that I worry although Les is doing his best is his best actually good enough. In the last 5 games we have managed 4 points. To me that is a real worry, we seem to be in a bit of a slump and have some tough games on the horizon. I honestly believe that we have a decent first 11 and they should be doing better than they currently are. Les seems to have gone in the opposite direction to say Ronnie Moore and has gone for quantity over quality, which is worrying, especially if what quality we have decides to do one in the transfer window. I believe that Les should stand aside now, he did a great job keeping us up last year and has been a tremendous servant to the club. However in 2 of our last 3 games poor decision making and lack of concentration has cost us points at the death. If form continues in this way will go down and I dont want to even consider what hardships that will bring. Go now Les you claim to love the club the reaction of the supporters on saturday said it all. Most managers would struggle to work with what you have been given and that is all the more reason to hand the reigns over to someone who knows what is required to work in this situation.

 

[Ian]

The first half was dire and if am honest we were lucky to not go in at half time behind.

The first half wasn't great and there were bound to be boos at the half time whistle, but 2 goals in five minutes saw them getting clapped into the dressing room instead. We were fortunate to be winning at half time, Walsall weren't too bad in he first half and actually sprayed it around quite well. I was the usual dire 20-30 minute warm up and we finally woke up when they scored.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Lots of opinions, but I'd just like to add a couple of points.

1. Atkins came closer to scoring in 14 mins on the pitch than ITM did in 82. Don't think Moore looked interested, hardly chased back at all and was too slow to close them down, so it seems to me bringing Atkins on wasn't that big a surprise.

2. Taking Jenno off. Well the lad had run himself to a standstill and had hardly touched the ball in 10 minutes. Bringing another midfielder on seemed logical to me at the time.

3. Goodison going off. The turning point, no doubt about it. Did I read someone just there suggested Wood should have come on....? Have a word.

Let's face it the players and the crowd thought this game was won with 15 to go. I actually saw Les going mental at the players trying to get them to raise their game after about 75 mins. I don't blame him for this, I blame a. the misfortune of Goodison's injury, b. the players lack of composure and not doing the basics and c. Wallsall got the luckiest of breaks with the second goal.

God knows what's going on with Broomes.

Anyway, let's take the positives and move on. The games coming up aren't impossible.

 

[Sparky]

I still think taking off ITM and Dale, despite them not having their best games, sent a message to Walsall that we were settling for 3-1. Maybe Les will learn from this but I can imagine their dugout, knowing they our main goal threats had been taken off, thought "Tranmere wont be pushing on now, they have taken off their most dangerous players, lets go for it as the chances of being caught on the counter by the rovers subs are minimal".

Through Les' actions we invited them to have a go at us. And paid the price.

But as people have said, lets move onto MK Dons who we are capable of beating but you do wonder about confidence after Saturday. If MK Dons score early, god help us.