• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

League Two Iron v Rovers

Match result

  • Scunthorpe

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Draw

    Votes: 4 44.4%
  • Tranmere

    Votes: 4 44.4%

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .
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aldo
well I have not been to a home game in over 2 seasons thanks to the Virus and work as I have said to my Wife if in the next few games things don,t improve do I want to waste hard-earned money watching crap,I love and miss so much being at the ground but don,t wanna watch rubish
 

Ian

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What was also concerning today was the amount of chances Scunthorpe had. A combination of good saves from Murphy and some poor finishing kept the scoreline down.
 

Boz

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But that's the problem Boz. This is our best team but we simply do not have the quality up front. Defence and midfield looks fine but you can see where the problem is. McManaman looks the brightest out of our forward options so I'm hoping he can unlock something.
But was it really our best team, Ian? Ryan Watson scored more league goals last season in L1 than our quartet of 'strikers' have managed in their entire careers at this level. I gather he was given about ten minutes after Glatzel came off in a more forward position, but then hooked for Mani, while Feeney was left on for the full 90 despite sounding pretty ineffective. Rotation only appears to apply to the U30s it seems.

Is it too early to start getting concerned about dropping out of the FL again? Losing to a side who hadn't won in ages can't be glossed over. It is clear that the current squad and the way they are being deployed are not as good as I'd thought.
 

Sparky

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This is why Micky knows we need more than just a striker. Feeney is 34 and far past his best yet he’s playing every minute and taking all the set pieces.
 
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A very disappointing performance.

The game followed the familiar recent pattern, with Rovers dominating the ball but the opposition looking more threatening on the counter attack, but the problems were more severe this time. In addition to the striker issue, I think there is a major confidence problem now after a number of poor results, with wide players and midfielders reluctant to play the 'risky' pass, dwelling in possession too long, and opting for the 'safe' ball, generally out wide to Cogley for him to knock the ball into an eighteen yard box occupied by Nevitt and three or four defenders.

I am not convinced the majority of the players are as inadequate as some people are suggesting above, but we are in the kind of rut we were in the early part of the 2017-8 season and we need some kind of spark, probably new bodies in the squad, to get us out of it.

The absence of a recognised striker is still the core of the issue for me. No professional team can function properly if it does not have a centre forward that understands which runs to make, where to position himself in the box, and how to occupy the centre halves. Nevitt is the only forward we have who comes close to that description, and he is very raw and naive. He held the ball up well a few times today but, as Sparky mentions above, his movement in the box sometimes is not cute enough and he makes himself too easy to mark. That said, the service to him was not good enough, particularly from Feeney: Elliott has said he likes through balls slid down the side of defenders, but I did not see any attempt to play those kind of passes today.

Of the other forwards, Glatzell was lightweight and completely ineffective today and we know Mani's limitations. Nevitt needs someone more experienced alongside him to help him.

One other observation from today is that it really is time that Feeney was dropped. He is ok at holding the ball in the middle third of the pitch, but never offers a final ball and his set pieces are awful. Watson was probably the best of the outfield players and did seem to have more licence to get forward, as he had a few decent efforts on goal. However, I think he should be occupying Feeney's number ten position, with Merrie - who did well when he came on and looks a natural footballer - alongside Spearing in the centre of midfield. Elsewhere, I thought Cogley had a decent game and NKP was solid, while Murphy kept us in the game with two or three decent saves.
 
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I should also add that, while it might be a statement of the obvious, the early penalty was the key turning point in the game. We had started quite brightly, but the early goal allowed Scunthorpe to sit behind the ball and frustrate us for the entire ninety minutes, and in our current state we were not going to create much against those tactics.
 

Ian

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But was it really our best team, Ian? Ryan Watson scored more league goals last season in L1 than our quartet of 'strikers' have managed in their entire careers at this level. I gather he was given about ten minutes after Glatzel came off in a more forward position, but then hooked for Mani, while Feeney was left on for the full 90 despite sounding pretty ineffective. Rotation only appears to apply to the U30s it seems.

Is it too early to start getting concerned about dropping out of the FL again? Losing to a side who hadn't won in ages can't be glossed over. It is clear that the current squad and the way they are being deployed are not as good as I'd thought.
With a few tweaks here and there maybe but I don't think it would really make much difference over the course of the season. We need experienced forwards who will get us goals. I thought some of the play was OK today in terms of possession, spraying it around, we got plenty of crosses in too (something Micky touhced on post match) but we have no experience at all up front and the strikers look lost. Micky talks about hunger and desire but these guys are still learning. They are still quite raw IMO and to thrust them into these games is unfair.

Look at Vaughan who used to battle for everything and attack balls in the box. This is what we need. The midfielders will weigh in with a few goals as most midfielders do you have to be looking at the strikers to get you the majority of goals.

It is certainly too early to talk about relegation after a handful of games but I would be very surprised if this continues for much longer.
 

Ian

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I should also add that, while it might be a statement of the obvious, the early penalty was the key turning point in the game. We had started quite brightly, but the early goal allowed Scunthorpe to sit behind the ball and frustrate us for the entire ninety minutes, and in our current state we were not going to create much against those tactics.
This is the big danger, when we go one behind, the game is almost over as we cannot recover. That penalty came after 2 1/2 minutes of football. There was plenty of time to get back into the game and we couldn't muster a single shot on target.

Thanks for the report anyway RLC. I too thought Merrie looked good when he came on.
 
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I have to say, that it was a good job, I had a couple of the local dishwater to dull my senses. And once again I think that I'm going to games for the occasion rather than the football. We had a laugh as usual, but it was no laughing matter to see what was going on on the pitch. For all the possession, we had little or nothing in their half. I'm not gonna single anyone out, but our attacking options were very limited. We had no purpose to get an early ball into dangerous areas. This group of players are not gelling together. I would say that about half of them are out of their depth, they are playing nice but no punch. Not a lot of fight, not a lot of savvy, and no pace.
It was said by one of us, they seemed scared to do anything different, to make a run, a killer pass, a decent cross, a decent set piece.
If we keep playing like this, it's gonna take more than a couple of points to put up with it.
Last season is haunting us, and the feel I get from our support is very similar to when we had a double relegation to the VNL.
The core of our support, know about football, that is their fix. This is not good enough for what we bring to the club.
We were beaten by a very poor team. They are one of the favourites to be relegated.
And we couldn't manage to get a shot on target.
Someone should be apologising to the SWA.
And do something about it.
The spin from the board is sounding rather thin now.
 

Boz

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Thanks for the reports RLC and KH.

RLC seems to be sharing my view of Watson in a more advanced role, it's hard to understand why Micky is so reluctant to go down that route, can't be anything worse than what we're doing now.

Ian mentions experienced goal-scoring forwards needed. Agreed, but they're a precious commodity and I'm not hopeful the next few days will bring us much comfort in that regard, though hope I'm wrong. Next up v Dave Challinor's Pools, with a penny-pinching chairman and the later start to team-building because of the play-offs, it's a surprise that they've started so well.
 
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Irrespective of the poor display, I have just seen the penalty decision again and it was absolutely ridiculous.
 

Boz

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Irrespective of the poor display, I have just seen the penalty decision again and it was absolutely ridiculous.
It felt like the referee guessed. It looked like the ball hit Macmanaman around the chest and his arms were in a normal position.
 

Boz

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ADD, how much have you seen of him? He had a poor game at Oldham but had been out for most of pre-season, while one season at Crawley aside, he doesn't seem to have accrued much game time.
 
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