• 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.

Marine 2 Rovers 1

Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,873
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
A game which began promisingly, but became rather frustrating. All of the players that impressed me in midweek performed pretty well again in the first half; Laird and Koumas ran the show in midfield, the centre halves looked pretty solid and Cole worked hard. We created numerous chances and should not have gone in one down.

However, when we made changes in the second half and ended up with a team of trialists and youth players, the game became a complete mess. Both full backs we played today and the trialist centre half were varying shades of awful, and we were defensively very poor when Holness and Ihiekwe went off.

The squad is too thin at the moment and we seriously lack depth in the defensive areas and out wide, in particular. We need to bin off the trialists and sign two or three experienced players with the money we have received from Everton and the Cresswell deal. If we don't, we will have to pray that our first choice back four can play all 46 games of the season.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,020
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
I would agree 100%. First XI not too bad but if you start losing these players through injuries/suspensions which we will over the season, we are in trouble. Maybe they are going to sit tight and use emergency loan players. I'd rather strengthen now.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,854
Player
Iain Hume
I missed the first 15 minutes and the early goal that we conceded. For the rest of the game, I'd say RLCs asessment is a little on the positive. I thought Ihiekwe was steady in central defence, but Holness seemed to be carrying excess baggage and seemed out of position at times. Koumas was good, but too deep, leaving Stockton isolated. There was a lack of onfield leadership and very little width or pace to our attacks. Odejayi looked dire when he came on and looks to be an error of judgement if he's one of our top earners as reported. None of the youngsters/trialists impressed, excepting one long Ash Taylor style crossfield pass from Boland.

Rob Edwards has hopefully learned that the squad as it is currently constituted isn't good enough and to apply some of his undoubted verbal skills in Mr Butler's direction.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,873
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
I agree that Stockton was too isolated at times; he seems most comfortable playing alongside Richards and I think they should be the front pairing, although it was perfectly sensible to experiment with Koumas 'in the hole' and he generally played the role very well. I thought Holness's positioning was fine and his performance was solid.

There was plenty of leadership when Koumas / Gill / Laird etc were on the pitch, less so when the experienced players went off. I agree that Odejayi is unimpressive and the lack of width could be an issue; our only natural wide player is Baggie, who still flatters to deceive.

I think convincing Mr Johnson rather than Mr Butler might be the problem.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,854
Player
Iain Hume
I agree that Stockton was too isolated at times; he seems most comfortable playing alongside Richards and I think they should be the front pairing, although it was perfectly sensible to experiment with Koumas 'in the hole' and he generally played the role very well. I thought Holness's positioning was fine and his performance was solid.

There was plenty of leadership when Koumas / Gill / Laird etc were on the pitch, less so when the experienced players went off. I agree that Odejayi is unimpressive and the lack of width could be an issue; our only natural wide player is Baggie, who still flatters to deceive.

I think convincing Mr Johnson rather than Mr Butler might be the problem.

If I was marking Koumas out of 10 for this game, he'd get around 7. While he had a decent game, he was playing more like a 451 than 4411. This did leave Stockton in a position where he didn't have options and there were times yesterday where he was taking shots, but if Jason or another player had been closer, the ball might have been worked into a more dangerous position.

Solid is an apt way of describing Holness' appearance:) While he did ok the perception was that he'd enjoyed his time off more than most. also quite small for a central defender dead on 6', though he coped with the aerial stuff. My point on positioning was that he tended to dash out and do a lot of mopping up in midfield, though that may not have happened if we'd got an obvious defensive midfielder in place.

Agree that PJ holds the purse-strings but assume Butler acts as a conduit rather than Rob approaching him directly.
 
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