• 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.

Magpies v Rovers

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The biggest game of the season so far for Rovers and a match that could prove pivotal to the campaign. Victory would leave us in a reasonable-ish mid-table position; defeat to rock bottom County would result in another bout of soul searching among supporters and could be disastrous for confidence.

Selection wise, of the injured players only Koumas seems to have any chance of playing. Robbo looked sharp when he came on last week and we would really benefit from his experience in a game of this nature, but unfortunately he seems set to miss out. At the back, I would like to see Ash Taylor partner Goody.

County's woes seem to have stemmed from the loss of their entire midfield from last season (Bishop, Hughes and Judge) and Joss Labadie is now regularly starting for them.

I was going to give this one a miss, but given the signficance of the game I will be attending. We really have to win this one.
 

Boz

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I'm not confident about this one, although if we play like the middle 3rd of the Brentford game, we should be ok. Ronnie's talk about getting in a defensive midfielder doesn't seem to have borne fruit yet, so it is good that the visitors are depleted in the midfield area. Labadie can be a handful on his day. I agree with RLC about an Ash-Goodi pairing at the back.
 

Ian

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I think we'll be defensively solid today and come away with a draw.
 

WildRover

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2-0, at least we arent in the relegation zone.......yet
 
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Awful performance today. It is difficult to know where to begin in discussing our failings after a display like that.

The first half an hour was desperately poor. We sat too deep, did not press the opposition and basically allowed the poorest team in the division to knock the ball round at will, build confidence and then, inevitably, take the lead. Without the ball, our midfield was non-exisistent - no physical presence, no-one capable of putting in a challenge and Notts able to get straight at our back four with two or three simple passes - and when we did get possession we either knocked it long or gave it away sloppily. In the last 15 minutes of the first half we rallied a bit and had a decent spell shortly after the substitutions in the second half, but for the most part we were second best to a poor side that had picked up one point from their previous seven games. The thing that most concerned me today was the way, even at 1-0 down with 45-60 minutes of the game left, we allowed the game to drift for long spells and seemed to lack the quality or belief to get back into it.

Defensively, both goals were shocking. If the new right back has been brought in to shore us up at the back I think we will be disappointed as he was largely responsible for the first goal, failing to stop the cross, and was basically skinned by their number 7 every time he went at him in the first half. The second was even more calamitous, Fonners throwing the ball directly to their striker (I think it is now time for Mooney to be given an opportunity). We did manage to block his progress and half-cleared the ball, only for Horwood to be beaten far too easily to set up an easy finish. Both centre backs actually did ok individually today (one horrible error from Goody aside) but neither full back can defend and when you add that to the problems in midfield you are in big trouble.

We looked like genuine relegation fodder today: the match reminded me of a lot of games from our relegation season in 2001, with the side looking bereft of confidence and ideas and unable to get a grip of the game at any stage, even against the poorest of opposition.

I think we have to acknowledge the fact we are in a relegation scrap and adjust accordingly, as with too many more performances like this we are only heading in one direction.
 

Boz

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I feel that Ronnie is running out of time, given the grim report of events from Meadow Lane by RLC above. Hateley, our new right-back is also capable of playing as a defensive midfielder, where he played for Motherwell, so why wasn't he deployed there, where he was much more needed? Another bad game for OFW means I'd agree Mooney merits a run out.
 
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I am a Ronnie fan and I don't believe a change in manager would benefit us at all at the moment, for a whole whost of reasons. But I think there has been a tendency to just bumble along and hope things turn round this season and we now have to knuckle down and start getting some points on the board: if necessary play 4-5-1, certainly away from home, and grind out a few 0-0 draws and 1-0 wins, as we did at Oldham. But I don't think we can continue as we are for much longer.

In fairness, Hateley looked decent going forward and he does have a good pedigree, but he did not convince me defensively today. I think our biggest problem at the moment is our complete lack of experience in midfield, so Hateley may be able to help us if he moves into the middle; even if he is not the greatest defensively, he is probably better in the holding role than anybody else we have on the books.
 
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Boz

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It is hard to see where the next win is coming from, with a difficult run of fixtures ahead. I do find Ronnie's thinking a little hard to follow at times; Dugdale only with us a month select ahead of Ash Taylor, who was our best defender(not saying much I know) prior to Goodi's return. Hateley only here until January and while Danny Holmes hasn't been in decent from, the need was greater in midfield which sounds like Hateley's favoured position anyway. It's not the ideal way to develop and build confidence in the pair who are on permanent contracts.
 
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It is hard to see where the next win is coming from, with a difficult run of fixtures ahead.

Port Vale at home next week is must win now really, but then I said the same about today's game. I think we could do without the distraction of the Stoke game at the moment and I really have not got any appetite for that match.

I think there is always a danger when a team that was put together to, theoretically, challenge for promotion, unexpectedly finds itself in a relegation battle. Obviously, everybody's expectations were raised by our performance in the first half of last season, but the fact remains that we have one of the most cheaply assembled squads in the division and survival is the priority this season, as in every season.

Although it pains me to admit it, under Les Parry there was at least an acknowledgement at the start of every season that 50 points and survival was the target and his teams were set up with that aim in mind: while completely lacking in subtlety and flair, they were generally disciplined, organised and committed and these are the qualities that we are completely lacking at the moment. I think we just have to get back to basics in demanding discipline and application from the players and having a decent shape as a team, and until we do this we are going to have real problems.
 

Boz

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RLC, I agree about the Port Vale being a must win game or at the very least a mustn't lose one. Less so about the Stoke match, which so long as we don't get hammered and avoid injuries can be beneficial as there is no expectation of a win. A chance to play Hateley in midfield, maybe give Goodi a rest if Dugdale's available and I'd also like to see Cole and Jason Mooney starting.

On expectations, mine were certainly dampened by the miserable second half of last season. I thought Lowe and Foster( :( ) were good signings, that we needed more defensive cover and hadn't appreciated the lack of a defensive midfielder. My expectations were mid-table, certainly a bit over what our budget alone would suggest...but if you went solely on budget then Yeovil wouldn't have gone up.

I also accept what's said about Les Parry's sides and it concerns me that a manager of Ronnie's experience has been unable to address the lack of organisation and discipline when the players cross the white line.
 

Ian

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I think with his current squad, it's game over this season. They have no confidence and some of them just aren't that good. What's more galling is the lack of fight. At least give it a go. Like RLC says, there was time to get back into that game.

If we are avoid relegation, a change in squad is needed. I don't think Ronnie's had the best luck with injuries and loan signings this season. The squad is ultra thin and there really is no room for poor players.

OFW has also been is poor form this season and should be dropped.
 

bigmart

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Ian, its not down to luck with injuries and loan signings its been down to signing wrong players. Sodje is a waste of a wage hes got a very poor fitness record, clearly Foster was not fit. We went into the season with 4 strikers another one turned us down & a loan striker/wide man didn't turn up yet we had 5 defenders including 1 who is 40 and also nobody in midfield who can tackle that too me is very poor planning.
 
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We went into the season with 4 strikers another one turned us down & a loan striker/wide man didn't turn up yet we had 5 defenders including 1 who is 40 and also nobody in midfield who can tackle that too me is very poor planning.

There is more than a grain of truth in this, although I think it is sensible to have 4 strikers. Stranger to me was the decision to go for Jeffers and Djumo rather than bring in at least one more defender / defensive minded midfield player.

However, the bottom line is that a squad of 19 players just is not big enough to cope with injuries and loss of form. We have had relegation battles in three of the last four seasons and Ronnie is now grappling with the same problem as Barnes and Parry. Last season we were found wanting because of a lack of attacking options; this season we have defensive weaknesses. Added to which, with the paltry wages we are offering, a number of our first-choice players are either inexperienced kids or players considered surplus to requirements by other League One / Two sides.
 

bigmart

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what we are paying Lowe and too a lesser extent Sodje is not paltry.
 

Ian

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Ok Sodje, I agree, seems like a waste. However we have good players in the team who are suffering. Lowe being my case for a defence. He's a good player who can score goals, but he won't do it in this team. He simply doesn't get the service and plays most of his game outside the box.

Ronnie's been extremely unlucky with Wallace, arguably our best player and a player we are desperately missing in midfield.

I think we have 3 areas of weakness in defence. 2 full backs who really aren't that good and a dodgy keeper.

I do believe our forwards aren't that bad (JLAA, Stockton, Lowe) but the team has to build from the back. Tighten up the defence, control the midfield and the forwards will get chances.

What to do with no money?
 

bigmart

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sadly I doubt we will ever see Wallace in a rovers shirt again though I hope im wrong. Lowe im really not convinced with, I think his time is up and hes our top earner. JLAA looks sharp at times but wont ever score many goals, Stockton will be a good player but in our squad its asking a lot of him.

I live in hope but really think we will struggle to stay up this season, too many poor & too many injury prone players a badly balanced squad and a manager who seems unable to change things round.
 
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what we are paying Lowe and too a lesser extent Sodje is not paltry.

Those two individuals may be reasonably paid but our overall budget is tiny and that is reflected in the size and strength of the overall squad.

I agree with Ian about Lowe. I can't actually think of a single chance that has been created for him in open play this season. His goal against Crawley was an opportunist effort, his other goal a penalty against Oldham. Provide him with opportunities and he will score. Our failure to supply him with chances, either from out wide or midfield, is just one of our many failings this season.

You can question Sodje's quality, although we have not really seen enough of him to make a definitive judgement, but we needed a third experienced striker and Ronnie was right to sign one in my view. It is easy to say now that Stockton is progressing, but he struggled last season and our lack of options up front was one of the major reasons we slid down the table from February onwards.
 

bigmart

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The Brentford game he had couple of chances but was too slow, one in the 2nd half he appealed for a penalty but it wasn't a foul and another he was way off target, he goes off Cole comes on puts himself about more and scores. In a couple of games to0 me he has hardly looked interested once we concede, I don't think he will get many goals at all.
 
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In a couple of games to0 me he has hardly looked interested once we concede,

I think his work rate is generally excellent and he is the only one of the three up front who chases and harasses defenders. I noticed on Saturday that when he was pressurising Notts County's back four, Thompson and Akpro stood on and watched, hands on hips.
 
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