Rovers will want to bounce back after the somewhat disappointing defeat to Crewe Alex in the Checkatrade trophy on Tues night. Rovers were cruising at 3-1 and ended up losing 4-3 albeit with a weakened squad on the night.
Meanwhile Colchester’s checkatrade run also came to an abrupt end when they were beaten at home 2-0 to Southampton U21’s although have been fairing much better in the league. Currently sitting in 4th position, they started the campaign with a draw against Notts County and a win against Port Vale. Their most notable win to date coming against Crew Alex with an impressive 6-0 win with Dickenson grabbing a brace after just 26 minutes!
Micky Mellon has a few selection headaches ahead of the game. Adam Buxton made his comeback from a lengthy injury putting in a solid performance on Tues night although probably needs a few more games for fitness. Bakayogo is back from his short injury layoff and was another good performer on Tues night.
Jay Harris is chomping at the bit after serving his 3-match suspension for the sending off against Swindon and looked fired up and hungry against Crewe scoring a great goal in the process. Upfront, Paul Mullin is pushing closer to a start after taking his goal well and Cole Stockton grabbed his first goal of the season which will boost his confidence ahead of the game.
14 comments on “Rovers v Colchester”
Firstly, Ian I’m glad to hear that! I’ve been everywhere but here lately, lol! Secondly RLC, I wish MM would take a few minutes out each week to read your posts because you pretty much summarise the majority of thoughts, at least mine anyway! I’m hoping that both MM’s comments about growing into the division & Nors’ regarding ironing out the little mistakes as we did last year to become a consistently winning team prove to be true. At least until Nors leaves, then maybe returns as Micky’s managerial successor one day? What odds?
Thanks for the news about WordPress Ian. I thought I was going mad (or madder than usual!).
I’ve also had the difficulty with wordpress, able to access this site ok on my mobile, but not using the lap-top, so share other’s frustration.
Interesting post from RLC. I’d not seen the same Johnny Smith that you praised in previous games. This match because Rovers were kicking TOWARDS the Kop in the first half, I could appreciate all the positives you’d raised. He was probably the best player that half, with Stockton a close second. The lack of stamina with Johnny is an issue though, faded from the picture at h/t. I agree that on current form DMH is lucky to be on the bench ahead of Tollitt, but would say the same about George rather than Wharton/Pilling…
To be clear, I really like Smith. He is one of our best players and I love watching him play. However, Connor is also a really good player but must be getting frustrated in his current role. Micky’s attitude is probably, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. We are holding our own and not losing games, so there is not really any incentive for him to tinker at the moment.
I hadn’t appreciated how good Smith can be until seeing the full throttle first half showing in this game. Jennings is difficult, he’a not being deployed to maximum effect, yet still came close to getting a winner and mopped up after a great save from Davies.
Excellent summary by RLC. I have a lot of sympathy for Jennings. He is arguably our most complete player but is struggling to play out of position. It was really noticeable on Saturday that a number of times he was forced onto his left foot to cross or keep momentum in a passage of play. I’m not sure how we address this without changing formation as RLC suggests. However, that would mean that we potentially have a whole flock of right wingers on the bench assuming that Caprice would play right wing back. It is a bit of a conundrum for sure.
Smith seems like a confidence player to me. If we are doing well in a game and it’s flowing, he generally plays well. If the chips are down and we need players to really dig in, Smith goes missing. He reminds me a bit of Mekki too in that he seems to fade as the game goes on.
We are doing ok, but not keen on the 4-4-2 Big reliance on Nors for goals and possibilities we can get over-run in midfield. Can still fit Jennings in new system as previously mentioned, although Gilmour doesn’t give the ball away either and would do equally for me – and I think L.Cole is a clever player with pace – would be hard to pick up. As it stands the opposition centre backs don’t have to go looking for Norwood’s current partner.
Davies
McCulloch, Mc Nulty, Monthe
Caprice, Banks, Harris, Gilmour/Jennings, Zoum
L. Cole – or (Smith/Tollit) – behind Nors
Norwood
Maybe Buxton at the back and McCulloch in midfield in place of Harris? BTW WordPress looks good Ian!
If we went three at the back, Ellis is also an option, not sure if McCulloch has played as a defender? Jennings is also capable of playing in the hole behind Norwood. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of Cole as an impact sub, as he can make things happen and give the opposition something to think about.
Yeah, I like Cole, would be nice to see him used a bit more. Regarding Jennings, I think he’s struggling out wide now. We need to get him in the middle somehow.
Did anyone else think our crossing was poor on Saturday? There were plenty of opportunities to get the ball into the box and we couldn’t get it past the first man at times.
Ian, agree re crosses. There was Zoum’s for the Norwood offside goal and Nors for Jennings which were decent balls into the box. Caprice was a culprit, got into good positions for crossing but the final ball was often lacking.
[QUOTE=”Ian, post: 49458, member: 1″]Smith seems like a confidence player to me. If we are doing well in a game and it’s flowing, he generally plays well. If the chips are down and we need players to really dig in, Smith goes missing. He reminds me a bit of Mekki too in that he seems to fade as the game goes on.[/QUOTE]
I generally agree, although Smith is a much better player than Mekki.
I was gonna make the Mekki comparison a couple of weeks ago in terms of stamina but decided against it as there is a different skill factor between the two.