Carlisle v Rovers

[Boz]

A difficult game to play off the back of both the on-field debacle at Peterborough and two Rovers players being implicated in the cash-for-cards police investigation. It's hard to tell what impact the latter will have on the dressing room, Sodje has made minimal impact, but Goodison's standing behind the scenes is hard to gauge.

Ronnie's post-match comments suggested that he won't look to change the 442 just alter the defence. Hopefully he'll have been able to reflect a little more and look at playing a more defensive midfielder, if we are to persist with that formation. Ash Taylor's return instead of Edwards should bolster the back four, Otsemobor could replace Holmes.

Prediction; Brunton Park's not been a bad hunting ground for Rovers in recent years. This one feels like a draw.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Difficult one to call. Last weekend's problems could easily have put a downer on the squad, but Ronnie is a good motivator and this team has a habit of bouncing back. It's pretty important we get back on track as soon as possible.

Carlisle are no Peterborough, so with a couple of changes in personnel and not having to face Assombalonga, we could get a point and I would not be surprised if we win by the odd goal.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I don't necessarily believe we need a defensive midfielder against teams in the bottom half, even away from home, and with Taylor back in the side I would be happy to see us play 4-4-2 on Saturday. However, the Atkinson situation continues to irk me a little: his contribution at Peterborough was negligible and if Ronnie wants to have young legs alongside Wallace in midfield I would rather he played Max Power and developed one of our own youngsters, rather than another club's. I am still not convinced that a Wallace / Koumas pairing can not work. Certainly, I think the 'Atkinson must play' situation has to be addressed in the New Year.

As for the off the field devlopments this week, who know how they have affected morale ? The tentative comments coming out of the club today suggest that players, management and officials are still pretty shellshocked. We just have to hope that the return of strong characters like Wallace and Robinson can help the squad through this difficult period.

Carlisle have been in reasonable form since Kavanagh took over and knocked Brentford out of the cup last week, but I still think this is a game we should be looking to win, one of four crucial games coming up against bottom-half teams.

 

[bigmart]

we did in there last season. Its hard to say what this weeks events have had an effect on the players but I will be disappointed if we lose this game, Im going for a 2 1 win to us.

 

[Ian]

It's been a pretty disastrous few weeks with the Wolves / Peterborough results and the ongoing investigations especially after our mini revival, so we really need to win this one to get the momentum back. It's certainly winnable but the team have to put in a real good team performance.

Showings like the last two games, we'll come away with nothing.

 

[Boz]

Carlisle managed to beat Brentford last week, something we couldn't achieve. They managed this without 3 loanees, who were refused permission to play by their parent clubs, so potentially they're going to be stronger this match. David Amoo seems to have done better for the Cumbrians than he ever managed on Wirral. I think we can win this, but it is by no means a given.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Carlisle managed to beat Brentford last week, something we couldn't achieve. They managed this without 3 loanees, who were refused permission to play by their parent clubs, so potentially they're going to be stronger this match. David Amoo seems to have done better for the Cumbrians than he ever managed on Wirral. I think we can win this, but it is by no means a given.

Yes, it was quite a shock. But remember that Brentford had just lost their manager to Wigan. Cup ties often don't reflect league performances and we'll be stronger too with the return of Ash.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

For the second week in a row, a result worse than anyone feared. In many ways, it's our worst result for a while. Losing to Wolves and Posh was no disgrace, but we need to get out of our rut ASAP. Only a late equaliser at Vale Park stopped us dropping back into the bottom four. One shot on target is not good enough.

 

[bigmart]

Why does Ronnie insist on playing 4-4-2 away from home, that's 11 goal conceded in the last 3 away games n to be beaten so easily today is very worrying. We need Ronnie t sort things out quickly or we are going o be in big trouble.

 

[Ian]

Yeah, worryingly it looks like we are sliding down again after I thought we might have turned the corner a little. What's the situation with Wallace?

 

[Sparky]

Wallace tweaked his groin and they didn't want to risk him.

Really disappointing result. I thought 4-4-2 was a bit too positive being away to a side who although one place above us have been in good form.

Apparently 2 of their goals were top quality but from ronnies remarks, it sounds like defensively we were awful. He has clearly singled out the defence again although what support they had from the midfield remains to be seen.

Have to beat gillingham next Friday.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We did not play 4-4-2 today - it was 4-5-1 from what I could see - and our defensive problems did not result from the formation, more team selection and a collective sloppiness that has crept back into our game, perhaps linked to recent off the field events.

In the first half we played very well - with the ball - getting behind their back four on a number of occasions and having several presentable chances. We were unlucky not to score with Koumas and Peterson heavily involved. Defensively, however we were poor. Otsemebor is decent on the ball and linked up well with Lowe, but he was awful defensively and given the lack of protection he got from Peterson I was very surprised Holmes did not start the game. Most of Carlisle's attacks came down our right hand side and we could have conceded more than one in the first half. That said, on the balance of play in the first period we matched them and were unlucky not to go in level at half time.

At the start of the second half we conceded a really poor goal from a corner and for the next 15 minutes the players' heads seemed to go completely. We lost all semblance of discipline, failed to track and tackle - as a team, not merely the back four - and conceded a third and fourth. With the game effectively settled, in the final 15 minutes we seemed to regain some composure and played some decent stuff again.

Carlisle are an average side and with the first half performance we put in, there is no way the game should have finished in another thrashing. The players showed a complete lack of professionalism once the second was conceded and I have to believe that the disruption off the field is havong a negative effect on confidence and morale. Last week we were outplayed by a superior team but that certainly was not the case today. We had good possession for the majority of the game, controlling midfield for decent spells and created chances throughout - whoever said above we had one shot on target is wrong - but defensively became a shambles once the second goal was conceded. Added to which, the decision to drop Holmes for Otsemobor gave us some self-inflicted problems down the right hand side.

The side we had out today should be well capable of getting a result against an average Carlisle team, which makes the outcome all the more concerning.

 

[bigmart]

We have two defensive midfielders in the squad neither of who are playing at the moment, it almost feels e are back t square on which as a very worrying situation.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We have two defensive midfielders in the squad neither of who are playing at the moment, it almost feels e are back t square on which as a very worrying situation.

I don't think the absence of a defensive midfielder was the problem. Most of Carlisle's attacks came from out wide not down the middle and they did not really get us through the centre (until the game was already lost anyway). We did not play with a defensive midfielder at Coventry or in the last couple of home games and there were no major defensive issues in those matches.

After the second goal went in yesterday and at Peterborough, 7 or 8 players looked like they did not want to be on the pitch and that is the real concern. If the players are not prepared to work and do the basics withouth the ball that they are paid for then we are in serious trouble.

 

[bigmart]

looks like from Ronnies comments that some of the loan players are going to be sent back their clubs an will bring more in. With 6 loan and 2 on short term deals all up soon its going to be an interesting time and possibly crucial to our survival hopes.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

As I have said before, my frustration with a lot of the loan signings is that we are obliged to play the players regardless of form. This is clearly the case with Otsemobor, as there is no way he should be starting ahead of Holmes; yesterday, he was dreadful defensively. If we need cover at right back, I don't understand why we could not wait until January to bring someone in on more favourable terms. Atkinson has also been awful in the last two games, yet appears to be the first name on the team sheet.

Hateley provides decent cover at right back and is also the midfielder most suited to the holding role, and of the out of contract midfielders he is the one I would have signed up first. However, there seems to be some disciplinary issue involving him which we have not been told about, as he has clearly been frozen out of the picture completely.

 

[bigmart]

RLC, would agree wit your comments although im not sure there is a disciplinary issue with regards Hateley think he just doesn't rate him at the moment

 

[Boz]

It's been suggested elsewhere that Ronnie has fallen out with Hateley and Danny Holmes. No idea how much credence you can give this, but it seems very North Korea that Hateley has been never mentioned in any press conferences. He's not injured and in the games he did play for us, he seemed a competent midfielder and a passable right-back...though not as good as Holmes. Otsemobor was a totally unnecessary loan looking at the squad we had, but does lend some backing to the idea that there are issues between Ronnie and Danny.

It is worrying that the manager seems to put most of the blame for this latest debacle on the defence again. I'm not inspired by the idea of lots of ins and outs on the loan front come January and would hope we can hang onto Ridehalgh, McNulty and Petersson come January. It was a game we really needed to take something from, although Carlisle have some decent loanees in, notably Lawrence who got two of their goals, and were never going to be a walkover.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I'm not inspired by the idea of lots of ins and outs on the loan front come January and would hope we can hang onto Ridehalgh, McNulty and Petersson come January.

I agree. Of those three, only McNulty was poor yesterday and I would still bargain that he is better than the majority of centre halves we will be capable of bringing in. We have already re-shaped the back four once this season, moving out Foster and Horwood, and I don't think further upheaval is necessarily going to help us. My major priority would be to restore Holmes to the back four and bring Kirby back into the side (I believe he was rested due to his tender age yesterday, which is understandable, but did not help as it meant both defence and midfield were tinkered with).

The centre backs were dreadful yesterday, but as I have said above, there is a collective problem in the team at the moment regarding our inability to respond to setbacks. When we conceded the second yesterday we should have dug in and seen the game out at 2-0, instead of which we capitulated. Whether the 5-0 at Peterborough has badly damaged confidence or the off the filed matters have unsettled the squad I don't know, but we have to get back the battling mentality of the previous six weeks. Hopefully Wallace will be available for Friday, as the absence of a midfielder who can tackle and his general influence as a leader was certainly an issue yesterday.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Whether the 5-0 at Peterborough has badly damaged confidence or the off the field matters have unsettled the squad I don't know, but we have to get back the battling mentality of the previous six weeks.

I think a few things might have affected them, some of which we clearly aren't fully aware of, but the late withdrawal of Wallace will not have helped. Also, we were a bit unlucky coming up against Tom Lawrence on his debut. You don't see quality like that up front very often in League One and we have see it twice in eight days.