• 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 Robins v Rovers

Match result

  • Robins

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Draw

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Rovers

    Votes: 2 66.7%

  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .
Robins v Rovers
Posted by Ian
Jonny-Rocks Stadium
Friday, April 2, 2021 - 03:00 PM
Until: Friday, April 2, 2021 - 05:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
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Sparky

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Wonder what Monthe would be like up front? May be more effective than Nugent! A sort of 'operation Ronnie Moore" approach.

Smacks of desperation although probably more effective than Nugent! Not sure it ever works - remember Goodi up there having a go!
 

drwhoman

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Smacks of desperation although probably more effective than Nugent! Not sure it ever works - remember Goodi up there having a go!
It is a shame that CBT has been frozen out. He would offer something different. I know it sounds very gloomy but the best we are going to get out of the fit squad is an odd goal here or there. There is simply no one who has enough quality in the final third to score regularly. I do not go with the Ferrier/Payne argument. They were not regular goalscorers either. There was clearly no one available in January of the right calibre who we were prepared to pay for. A shame as the auto play offs are looking a bit questionable unless one or two of the other challenging teams implodes which does not seem very likely but who knows!
 
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Payne was a semi-regular goalscorer, even at League One level last season. He offers more of a goal threat than Nugent. Equally importantly, he was a natural centre forward who would take up positions in the eighteen yard box and serve as a focal point for the team, something else Nugent fails to do (or any of Vaughan's other replacements when played out of position).
 

Sparky

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To be honest I thought Ferrier was decent at times. Can’t have been easy for him knowing he was never going to play regularly because of us only playing one recognised striker in Vaughan. A bit like Ray he was a FL trophy player and a sub every now and then. He was far from perfect but could clearly be better than what we currently have.
Given our lack of attacking threat CBT must have really burnt his bridges with Keith to not be in the squad
 

Ian

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Bit fruitless taking about players we no longer have though. What about the ones we do have? Surely we can do better than choosing Lewis up front every game?
 
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I was no fan of Ferrier, but agree he offers more than Nugent. However, it does seem that he had to go because of disciplinary issues.

In the case of CBT, I can only assume Hill believes the dressing room harmony will be upset if he is involved. It is possible that other senior squad members have the same view of him as Hill.
 
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Bit fruitless taking about players we no longer have though. What about the ones we do have? Surely we can do better than choosing Lewis up front every game?
Yes, indeed. It is up to Hill to get more from the players we have, and we do have a lot of creative talent in the squad.
 

Boz

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Wonder what Monthe would be like up front? May be more effective than Nugent! A sort of 'operation Ronnie Moore" approach.
I suggested Clarke/Ray as they seem to have an eye for goal, which Manny and Sid Nelson lack. It is all desperation though
 

bigmart

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I wonder why cbt was brought back for 2 games and now frozen out again
 

Sparky

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I wonder why cbt was brought back for 2 games and now frozen out again

My guess is he was given a second chance by starting in the game (Grimsby?), after his decent cameo at Wembley, and was harshly in my view taken off first, and didn’t react too well
 

Sparky

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Bit fruitless taking about players we no longer have though. What about the ones we do have? Surely we can do better than choosing Lewis up front every game?

Yes I agree Ian but what are the options? Apart from a well past it 36 year old and untested youngsters we don’t have a proper number 9. Lewis, Lloyd and Woolery can all play there but it’s square pegs in round holes - but I guess if that’s all we have then that’s all we have (Nugent should be playing walking football)
 

Ian

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Yes, that is all we have so we have to make the most of them. Like RLC says, there is quality there and it is up to the manager to make the most of them. Players with enough quality such as Woolery, Feeney, Lloyd, Morris we are not using effectively. They have been a shadow of themselves these last few weeks. Feeney's strength is his crosses so why the hell are we playing him alongside Spearing. He is sitting to deep. He's creative and we need him whipping in crosses from out wide. Woolery has pace to burn but cannot use it as he's playing with his back to goal in a role he is not comfortable with. If he persists with this team selection, we will struggle to score goals. He had a week to work on it and did nothing different. In fact, we regressed.
 
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We are difficult to watch at the moment and understandably fans are worried. Other sites have been calling for Keith’s sacking, which is ridiculous.

The plain fact is that we are struggling, but today you have to remember that we were playing arguably the best side in this league at the top of their form. No other opponents should be as difficult in the last eight matches. Another good thing is that none of the challenging teams below us (who all had “easier” opposition) managed to win. Cambridge and Cheltenham apart, all our rival fans must be worrying about their side’s form.

At the moment it looks like those two clubs plus Bolton are the likely top three. We have not convinced since Wembley and I wonder how much that game took out of the players mentally. Keith will have to start them playing more confidently again if we are to get automatic promotion, otherwise we should limp into the playoffs.

I actually enjoyed Keith’s post-match interview for his honesty and positivity. He is a very grounded person with a lot of managerial experience at this level. When he says he’ll sort the team out for Monday, I believe him. And if we win on Monday, we will have started to turn the corner.
 
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I think it is debatable whether Cheltenham are the best side in the division. They are very effective at what they do, but they don't have fantastic individual talent and have been in fairly patchy form themselves recently. I think the major frustration from today's performance is that it was fairly obvious what Cheltenham's strengths were - the long throws, a direct approach - but we seemed completely ill prepared to deal with them.

Cambridge will provide just as great a test on Monday, but for different reasons.

I still maintain that Bolton and ourselves have the most talented squads in the division, and that is borne out by the PPG record of the two sides since Jackson's dismissal. However, due to a variety of factors - the poor start under Jackson, Vaughan's injury and our failure to adapt in his absence - it seems likely that we will miss out on automatic promotion. However, a big performance and result on Monday and the return of Vaughan in the next couple of weeks, could swing things in our favour.
 

Boz

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I actually enjoyed Keith’s post-match interview for his honesty and positivity. He is a very grounded person with a lot of managerial experience at this level. When he says he’ll sort the team out for Monday, I believe him. And if we win on Monday, we will have started to turn the corner.
I didn't.

If we prepared well for Cheltenham, as Keith suggests post-match, then how does he account for why things went so horribly wrong when we got out on the pitch? If that is truly the case then KH needs to create some more space in his Siberia Gulag for Clarke, Ray and Murphy for disregarding the lessons learned in that preparation and contributing to such a defensive shambles.
 
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I didn't.

If we prepared well for Cheltenham, as Keith suggests post-match, then how does he account for why things went so horribly wrong when we got out on the pitch? If that is truly the case then KH needs to create some more space in his Siberia Gulag for Clarke, Ray and Murphy for disregarding the lessons learned in that preparation and contributing to such a defensive shambles.
It really looked like the players were told at five to three, 'Oh, by the way, Cheltenham have got a long throw.'

I could not see what we had done on the training ground to deal with that tactic.
 

Ian

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It was just a very poor defensive display all round. When you look at the first two goals, the defence did not react to the "2nd phase" as KH likes to call it. We had plenty of bodies in the box to make the clearance but they were all rooted to the spot. For whatever reason, the players did not approach that game with the right attitude. Cheltenham are fairly direct and not particularly exciting to watch but they wanted those three points a lot more than we did.
 
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