VILLA 3 ROVERS O

[drwhoman]

Beaten by an older more experiened team that needed a win is how I interpreted the match reports. What did those that went think? Certainly, Ronnie sounded a bit disappointed and it look like Thompson will be dropped to the bench for Saturday. Also, there may be a need to find another loanee if Ash's injury is serious. A shame but the real business has to be Colchester on Saturday.

 

[tea for two]

i listened to the game on the radio and it sounded like they didn't do too bad but like you say older heads and the extra class of them been premiership went against Tranmere. i think we defo need another striker an older one too im not saying Jake Cassidy won't do the buisness but akpro needs an older head with him too.as for the defence if Ash taylor going to be out we would need cover for him but it is a striker we do need.Akpro will score goals.

oh well roll on saturday.\\/

 

[Boz]

Await comments from those attending.
It didn't look as though we defended particularly well, while JLAA didn't put away the good chance he had in the 1st half. Looking at the Villa line-up, they had a fair number of younger players themselves, more a question of class telling. Would have been nice to get a consolation goal though. Bell-Baggie earned a few free-kicks and 2 yellows against Villa players, when he came on...maybe he'll get a start this weekend.

A few injury concerns for the weekend; Ash, Wallace, Robbo. Ronnie on the o/s is talking about bringing in another defender dependent on Ash. Presume this means McChrystal is not match-fit yet. He's also still interested in another striker.

 

[drwhoman]

VILLA v ROVERS

Young Villa players maybe but how much did Darren Bent cost? 20m? How many times is that the whole cost of the Rovers team? Probably almost infinite as very few of the Rovers team cost anything! Chris Herd and Brett Holman are both Australian internationals. The latter is a pretty good player from what I have seen of him - surprised he came off the bench.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thiught we played very well last night, and the scoreline does not give a full reflection of the game. The turning point was probably Ash Taylor's injury: for the first twenty minutes of the second half we had Villa penned back for long periods and looking very edgy. Taylor had kept Bent quiet for the majority of the game, but within 60 seconds of him going off Villa broke away down our right hand side and scored the second, effectively ending the game. I don't think we ever recovered our defensive shape and discipline from that point onwards, and Villa had further chances to score thereafter.

There were many positives to take from the game, the biggest of which was the quality of the football from our midfield. We never resorted to route one tactics and Wallace and particularly Palmer, who was my man of the match, seemed to revel in coming up against higher quality opposition.

I would not really class Akpro's efforts as 'misses', more a question of good defending from Villa, who got blocks in on both occasions. Ultimately, the difference between the teams was that extra touch of class in the final third, whether from defenders or strikers, as epitomised by Bent's finish for the third goal.

Villa looked the more technically able of the sides as you would expect, but I thought they were mediocre until we became stretched in the last 15 minutes. The exception was Steven Ireland, who I thought was immense. I did not realise what a good player he is until seeing him in the flesh last night.

Had Taylor stayed on the pitch we would probably have still lost the game, but at 1-0 down early in the second half we were the better team, and with Ash playing 90 minutes I certainly don't think we would have conceded three.

Coming away from the game I felt proud of our efforts, and with the extra quality we have in the team this year I don't see why we can't have a very successful league season.

 

[bigmart]

I thought we were fairly disappointing against a young and by premier league standards was a fairly weak team. Our passing was off for most of the night and i feel we really missed a good chance to have a decent go at them. Maybe if we had got to half time level it could have been a different story.

Was a very good atmosphere in the away end with lots of singing making up for virtually no noise at all from the home support.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Ronnie on the o/s is talking about bringing in another defender dependent on Ash. Presume this means McChrystal is not match-fit yet.

I think McChrystal has been fit for a couple of weeks, but RM doesn't trust him enough to even be on the bench. Given his performances in the last six months, I am inclined to agree with him.

I think we do need to bring someone in if Ash is out for any length of time, as I am not convinced Kay is a long term option at centre back.

 

[Boz]

I think McChrystal has been fit for a couple of weeks, but RM doesn't trust him enough to even be on the bench. Given his performances in the last six months, I am inclined to agree with him.

I think we do need to bring someone in if Ash is out for any length of time, as I am not convinced Kay is a long term option at centre back.

You think McChrystal is that bad? For one reason or another, he didn't play much in the last 6 months. In the season he joined us, did enough for us to take up our option and there was reported interest if we hadn't. He didn't look at his best in the pre-season match I caught, but surely, if fit, a better option than an out of position full-back?

I agree with you about Kay. Danny Holmes used to play in central defence and did a decent job there when McChrystal was injured in the last game (v Scunny) and there were no central defenders on the bench. As a stop gap, I'm surprised RM doesn't play Kay @right-back with Danny in the centre.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think McChrystal looked poor at the tail end of last season, and carried that form on in the pre-season games I saw: in many of the games he played we conceded two or three. If fully fit he probably is a decent player, but unfortunately he hasn't been for several months now.

I think the relationship between Taylor and Gibson has been a big factor in our strong start and get the feeling our form might trail away if McChrystal became a regular again.

If Taylor is out for any length of time I would give priority to getting another centre back over bringing a striker in.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I think Mark Mc is a more than adequate 4th choice CB

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Fourth choice says it all though really. Would we want him in there in place of Taylor and Goodison for a run of games ?

 

[SonkORLY?]

We pay him a wage to cover in these situations, while I accept that RM didn't sign him, you need to have faith in your own players or you're completely wasting your resources

I think he'd be alright as emergency cover, every team has to deal with these things, nobody at this level is gonna sign 4 top class centre-halves and players are going to get injured at some point for everyone

 

[bigmart]

Weve brought centre half on loan from Wigan Roman Golobart on months loan.