Aside from a bright opening twenty minutes and a battling last fifteen, we were outplayed by a powerful , energetic Rotherham side, probably the best, most balanced team to come to Prenton Park this season. In the opening stages we played some decent football without really creating a clear chance, but as the half progressed Rotherham gradually clicked into gear and began to get a grip on the game. We did not help ourselves by giving the ball away sloppily and struggled to mount any concerted pressure.
Rotherham matched us with a 4-4-2 and Pringle on the left and their front two were a real handful all night. If two teams play the same formation, nine times out of ten the better team will control the game and win and unfortunately that is what happended tonight. We really needed an extra man in midfield, but I don't blame the manager for taking a positive approach as we have to try and win our home games. I would, however, have switched to a 4-5-1 and brought Koumas on at half time when the score was still one-nil.
Defensively I thought we actually did ok and the goals we were really the inevitable result of relentless Rotherham pressure rather than the back four playing poorly, although Arthurworry should have done better with the second goal. To say we are back to the drawing board is over the top - Rotherham had already beaten eight teams away from home this season - but we need to pick and choose our tactics better depending on the quality of the opposition.
Individually, I thought Cassidy struggled a bit and seemed to lose confidence as the game progressed; Lowe appeared to pick up a knock; Jennings worked hard and did ok; Kirby was not great; Horwood had another decent game; Robbo did actually give us more of an attacking threat when he came on; Koumas showed great quality in the closing stages. Rotherham had clearly done their homework on us as Kennedy was double-marked all game and struggled to find space.
The gate tonight was the lowest for a league game at Prenton Park for over 25 years, but the stayaways probably chose a good one to miss.
Results were not too bad for us tonight, but we have to try and get at least a couple of points from the next two games if we are to avoid being sucked into the bottom four again.