• 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.

Rovers 0 - Blades 1

Ian

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Toothless. Great in defence but we had nothing to trouble them. Did their keeper even make a save?


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WildRover

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playoffs it is then....provided we beat pompey on Monday as theres still a lot of tems with games in hand who can catch us. Worst case scenario it was 1 point dropped, the game was a nailed on 0-0, expect for the cock up by our side, so its not like we have dropped all 3
 
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Toothless. Great in defence but we had nothing to trouble them. Did their keeper even make a save?


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Spot on really.

There was no lack of effort, it is just disappointing that we did not get their back four turned and troubled at any stage in the game. The service to the front players and in particular the wide players was not good enough, with too many long balls hoofed downfield which were meat and drink to their very good centre halves.

I thought they had the upper hand in the centre of midfield all game, where I think Palmer was poor today (don't know what the sponsors were on about). Zoum and Bell Baggie were well marshalled, and we did not have the creativity in midfield to compensate. Sidibe did well but Akpro was poor once again.

As Ian says, we did look strong defensively in open play, with the new left back looking half decent.

To be honest, when you see the individuals in their side we have done well to even stay in contention with them all season.

I think we need three points at Portsmouth now.
 
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I thought it was a very tired performance - Power and Palmer in particular. I didn't know that Stevie Wonder was on the Tranmere Trust as they gave Palmer man of the match.

Their goal was an awful error from Taylor who couldn't get his feet straight and ended up slicing it off his left foot, I also think OFW should have made some kind of shout to leave it as he had it covered - there's a complete lack of communication between OFW and the back 4 (this is often exposed at set pieces and that shot that hit the bar late on where Gibson and OFW nearly took each other out).

I thought the new left back was solid enough and Gibson played well, but the rest were pretty poor. We need to start winning 2nd balls and playing the ball through midfield rather than endlessly launching it forward if we are to reach the play offs. I think it's between us and Yeovil for 6th, although Walsall and Leyton Orient are lurking.

Player Ratings:

OFW: 6 - Made some decent saves, but didn't communicate enough with his defence, distribution was poor as usual.

Holmes: 4 - Looks overweight, very sluggish performance, his passing was non existent.

Taylor: 3 - Stupid mistake for the goal, Gibson had to cover him so many times, his passing was embarrassing - i've never seen a footballer so uncomfortable with the ball. He needs to learn that he can't play 30/40/50 yards ball like Pirlo and just needs to play simple, short passess.

Gibson: 8 - Bit shaky to start with, but played well and made plenty of good interceptions, distribution wasn't great but at least seemed to have a rough idea of where he was playing the ball.

McGintey: 7 - Solid and comfortable on the ball, bit quiet in the 2nd half but didn't do much wrong.

Bell-Baggie: 2 - Looked completely out of his depth, bullied off the ball, his only trick seemed to be to try and chip the ball over the full back. Didn't produce one cross.

Palmer: 4 - Non-existent in the first half, made some impact in the 2nd half but didn't do enough for me.

Power: 5 - Again, did nothing the first half but found his feet a bit in the 2nd, like Palmer failed to show for the ball out of defence.

Zoom: 5 - Made some good runs, but didn't look fit and is cleary out of position. Much more effective going forward from deep.

JLAA: 1 - Did nothing, forgot he was playing.

Sidibe: 6 - Won plenty of hoofs but lacked any support when he had the ball or flicked anything on, painfully slow to watch him "run".


On a side note: When I click on general chat, or the other main tabs on the homepage I get the error message "404 not found", has been like that for a few days.
 

Ian

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It makes you wonder how they've conceded more than 3 goals in some games, like you say their defence looked solid, but we probably didn't help with aimless high balls easily soaked up by their back two.

It was really disappointing that we didn't see any link up with Zoom, Sidibe and JLAA like we did in the previous game. Being the home side, we really should have been at them more. Passing was poor. Set pieces were also a let down.

Felt sorry for Ash who worked really hard today, but I think due to our lack of invention in the final third, I would have been very happy with a point.

It's certainly a battle for a play off place now. Results weren't too bad today and we stay in 6th.
 

Ian

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On a side note: When I click on general chat, or the other main tabs on the homepage I get the error message "404 not found", has been like that for a few days.
Sorry about that. Working on a fix ASAP.
 
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I am not sure Ash can really be blamed for the goal. The ball came at him quickly and he had to try and clear it; there was no chance to bring it down with 'two or three touches' as Ronnie has harshly suggested. He could have tried blocking the ball rather than taking a swing at it, but that runs the risk of the ball falling at the feet of an opponent.

Kitson and Forte were a real handful and I thought out back four dealt pretty well with them today. We were very poor with the ball today, but ok without it.
 

Higgy

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I think Power and Palmer do their best and have much potential,but i think they can get overloaded in the middle. Given the form of Zoum coulld he have played in a middle three and use pace to break from the middle rather than out wide with just one up front. Would need JLA or combo of Black/McGinty to cover wide left.:?:

before today I would have been surprised if we made the play-offs and talk of automatic spot very optimistic. Outsiders for play-offs now - unless Ronnie comes up with some new magic - eg Robbo if fit.
 

Boz

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I would agree with the general tone of the comments posted. It was a game where the visitors, despite the quality of Kitson and Forte, didn't look that much more threatening than us in the final third, but had a real grip of the midfield.

If we're awarding ratings then I would say Ronnie is only worthy of a 3 for his crass remarks putting all the blame on Ash Taylor and a failure to try and change things up front, where we did have options worth trying. It was clear Sidibe, for all his effort and clearer that JLAA were never going to score.

MoM for me was Gibson, although McGinty, one case of jumping in too early aside, made a promising start.
 
M

Mal

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2013 W6 D1 L10

If we stay in playoffs, and it is amazing with the above record that we still have a chance, then Robbo will be crucial to progress. Maybe this is our year though, just down to lady luck based on the above stats.
 

Boz

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It's quite surprising we're still in with a chance on the year's form. While Robbo's return will be welcome, I'd be wary of expecting too much from him. His own form had dipped after the dazzling start.
 

WildRover

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It's quite surprising we're still in with a chance on the year's form.

Totally agree, how we can possibly still be there is a miracle, but then again, with no one team breaking away this year, I think every team that goes up will struggle not to come straight back down, especially us, for the obvious financial reasons, but I cannot see the likes of donny of even sheff utd staying there, without a radical overhaul of playing staff anyway...
 
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Our defeat at Leyton Orient less than two months ago was only our seventh of this season and we still topped the division after that game. We have now lost thirteen, which just goes to show how bad our slump has been in recent weeks.
 

Ian

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While Robbo's return will be welcome, I'd be wary of expecting too much from him. His own form had dipped after the dazzling start.
That's true but as a collective our form dipped. We could say the same about Palmer, JLAA etc .. I think it's unfair to single out players. More importantly, he's a player you definitely want in your team and can make the difference.

I think every team that goes up will struggle not to come straight back down
Very true.
 
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