Crewe 2-1 Tranmere

[Ian]

Really annoyed and disappointed about today's performance. Sadly, we had slipped back into our old ways trying to defend a slim 1-0 lead. It wasn't necessary and it seemed everyone could see it was the wrong thing to do apart from the manager.

The game was a disappointment. It was a scrappy affair, and even though Crewe are fighting down there, Tranmere's performance on the day wasn't up to scratch. Maybe a little fortunate to go into the break at 1-0 up, but it's not something to complain about.

Sadly, the second half very quickly turned into a shambles. Instead of continuing to push forward to get a match winning second goal, they decided to start hoofing the ball forward losing possesion at almost every opportunity. There was no football played on the ground. Were where the passes? The movement?

The utterly useless Sonko was erm... utterly useless once again, missed a chance Harry Redknapp's wife could have scored and it all went pear-shaped after that point.

We won our last two home games by attacking the opposition. Why did we not do this today? I'm convinced we would have scored another had we played similar to the first half. It's quite ridiculous.

Their first goal happened because I think it was Edds that was dallying on the ball, lost possession and they scored. There was no need at all for it. Same happened when Goodison went off. His excellent tackle blocked the shot but it was all because Shotton was pissing about with the ball instead of getting it clear.

Tranmere deserved to lose today and it was all down to that second half. It's not good enough when your pushing to get into the top six. Our usual poor away form will let us down again.

Lastly, what a farce that ground is. I stood outside for 40 minutes queueing up to get a ticket. It was bloody cold! :cold:

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Fortunately I bought tickets (I say fortunately but after watching it I'm not so sure lol) at Prenton, cos the queue was enormous, one lady selling tickets to over 1000 people who all turn up at roughly the same time, ridiculous. Must have made more sense to pay at the gate or to simply have more than 1 person selling tickets!

Onto the game and Tranmere were very poor. The good work of the last few weeks seemingly went out of the window and they reverted to hoof ball, aimless passes, headers in the air and gave the ball away countless times, it was awful. The same pass and move and attacking style we had seen in the last couple of weeks was nowhere to be seen.

Hoping Goodison will be ok. It looked serious when he went off, like Ian said, having to make a goal saving superb tackle due to an error by a team mate faffing about with the ball and not clearing lines. As soon as he went off the defence collapsed and Edds reverted to his "before the last 2 games" style of looking hopeless and clueless on the ball.

Gutted the boys perfromed as they did. 1500 people supported them to the tilt, but the performance left little to be cheered. Don't think we'll make the play offs, another season in this division is too hard to even think about. If Lorraine and Ronnie want to boost attendences, then we need to play good football on a regular basis, not just 1 game good, 2 games poor or whatever. And really we need to get out of this league, or I can see Tranmere Rovers becoming poorer and poorer financially and struggling on the pitch as a consequence. What makes it frustrating is that we see the great showing vs Carlisle and Stockport, then they come up against a side who are bottom and are a really poor side, we perform like that and give away a lead. We know they can be so much better. grrrrr

 

[Chris]

Went to the game today hoping we could continue our good attacking football of the past week, how wrong I was. Very disappointing that the players let down the 1500 or so SWA who made the trip and created a great atmosphere.

Agree with Ian we were lucky to be 1-0 up at half time, but Crewe were so poor in central midfield and defence that had we continued to attack we would definitely have got the second goal. Second half we reverted back to the old tactic of defending a one goal lead and let the opposition come at us. Can’t remember us having too many shots on target in the 2nd half (if any), and I think most people would have scored the chance sonko had, what a shocking miss! He really is a useless player, off the pace for large parts of the game, unable to take defenders on and hopeless at defending. Would much rather see barnett on the right and cresswell on the left wing.

Our plan to gallantly defend a lead at the leagues bottom club fell apart when Goodison went off injured, we just cant seem to keep any defensive discipline when he is out of the side. Was also disappointing to see Coyne get lobbed again for their second goal, twice in a week now!

 

[SonkORLY?]

I wasn't there but the comments are interesting.

From the commentary, it sounded very much like we rode our luck in the first half and were very lucky to score a goal with, what, our only shot on target? which was from 25 yards. Apparently their disallowed goal should have stood, and it sounded like we were under pretty heavy pressure for most of the first half bar a 10 minute spell where we seemed to keep the ball a bit better.

Second half on the other hand sounded like a thoroughly more scrappy affair, which should have suited us more than them, given we were holding a 1-0 lead. The curse of Goodison struck once again and as he wandered off injured, so too did our concentration at the back.

That said, it didn't sound like we really deserved anything from the game. The commentator was almost embarassed when we scored as it didn't sound like we'd done anything to deserve it. Fair play to Crewe because they sounded really fired up for it, but it's frustrating because, clearly, if we had matched their desire for a result, we had the quality of players on the pitch to see them off.

I really thought this would be the game our away form turned round - more fool me I guess.

Would much rather see barnett on the right and cresswell on the left wing.

I was initially skeptical but now I think there's a strong case to be made for this argument, at least whilst Shukes is playing behind Moore.

Also Coyne has looked poor this season and is clearly lacking in confidence. Whilst he isn't a poor keeper - he has played at higher than this level - he does seem to struggle with crosses and set pieces, clearly because of his height (rather, lack of) and as such perhaps he isn't particulaly well suited to this league. He's a good shot stopper but at 35, and with no real talent showing up in the youth sides, we really need to start looking for a replacement at some stage. Perhaps we can borrow John Ruddy when Crewe are finished with him - he's certainly tall enough to take a cross, **** me.

 

[Ian]

Ronnie's come out and basically blamed the defence for falling apart saying they become a completely different side when Goodison is out the side. Whilst this is true, what he failed to mention was that it was going wrong well before Goodison got injured. Because they sat back and allowed Crewe to attack them, the defence was under more pressure than it should have been. Why couldnt anyone keep the ball? Instead it was hoofed forward in panic. Why? It's so frustrating to watch when you can see the game unfolding. I knew Crewe would score a goal in that second half. Everyone could see it.

Ronnie has to work on this problem otherwise it will be his downfall. There's no point accepting the defence is naive when Goodison is in the side. How many times has this happened? For too often, and it's Ronnie's job to sort it out. Goodison wont be with us forever, and it looks like he could be out for a few weeks. This will be a real test if it's true.

He also needs to work on his side becoming a consistant one. Two home wins and it gets the supporters buzzing again, then we lose and everyone's chin hits the floor. How many times has this happened? The only consistant thing we are good at is inconsistancy!

 

[jim]

It was all going wrong, even with Goodison on the pitch. To his credit, he was doing his nut at the defence quite regularly. Sonko wasn't in the game at all, what would have been wrong with taking him off for Baz and moving Shukes on to the wing? We played it in the middle too much and didn't make adequate use of the wide boys anyway.
Our downfall was failing to win any headers and failing to complete any passes. We had no imagination, no spirit, nothing at all going for us.
At the end of the day it's no use Ronnie blaming it on the defence and losing Goodison but it's Ronnies job and nobody elses to sort that problem out. Personally, I'm sick of his pathetic excuses when things go wrong. ](*,)
It was a shameful performance yesterday. I would have been disappointed with a draw, I am ABSOLUTELY GUTTED with a loss against a crap side like Crewe (no disrespect meant).
I'll single a few players out, Taylor was getting skinned on the left, Kay did nothing but score and Sonko was clueless. I'm not saying the rest were much better but to me, those 3 were awful yesterday.
Positives? Ok, Charlie and Shotton showed a few glimpses of what they were capable of and Jennings wasn't terrible. Coyne's getting some stick on here lately but he pulled some good stops out of the bag yesterday.
Good to see Zola come on, he looked lively, got a good round of applause from the Rovers fans and, I'm sure, had a hand in both their goals.
In general, great support from the travelling Rovers fans but what a shame there was some boo boys there. I won't open up that discussion again though but it can't do their confidence any good.
Crap ground, I saw the queue outside for tickets - glad I already had mine! Gutted they don't even sell burgers, I was looking forward to a double cheeseburger.
MOTM - the meat and potato pie I got from their refreshments stand.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Terrible result, our away 'form' is a joke. But let's calm down. We've been playing well recently, I reckon we were due a bad 'un.

Let's move on. Having lost away to the bottom club yesterday, guess what? we play the bottom club away on Tuesday night.

A win there and at home to Orient and the damage done yesterday might not seem so bad.