Rovers 0 Franchise1

[Rockford's Love Child]

After being outplayed for the first half an hour, I thought we were actually the better side in the second half tonight and deserved a draw. We were exposed tactically in the first half and completely overrun in midfield, but credit to Ronnie for changing things at half time, bringing on Harrison to mark Chadwick who was a lot quieter after half time.

I know the BBC stats say they had five million efforts on goal, but the only gilt edged chance was Lowe's from Taylor's mistake; Chadwick's shot was fairly comfortably saved by Fonners, and most of their other efforts were from distance. Not disputing the fact that they were by far the best team we have played this season, however.

With only one up front we did not create a great deal in the second half, but I still felt we were edging the game and could not actually see us losing at that stage. I did not have a clear view of the goal, but it appears to have been a bit of a calamity, possibly a mistake by Fonners.

I thought there were a lot of good individual displays, notably Cassidy who I thought was our MOM, Palmer, Gibson and Holmes. They have spent a fortune on their squad but I still thought we went toe to toe with them for decent spells of the game, which has to be a positive.

 

[merseysidebossman]

The team in general put a shift in,

Cassidy ran his heart out. my MOM

But I must say again, Jervis looked willing but gave us nothing

McGurk.... too many mistakes and shyed away when it looked a bit physical. In the first half they had a fair few through ins ,deep in our half and not once bit he pick his man up.
Sold Zoooom down the river a few times

 

[DIW]

I hate losing, but losing to a club who should not exist is very nauseating.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Echo all the opening remarks really. Don't feel to despondent. Scums looked like a really slick team and like Ronnie said, if we finish one point behind them, we'll not be far off promotion. They did a number on us tonight, despite our best efforts.

Can't believe some of the clowns booing at the end.

Wallsall at home on Tuesday is the perfect chance for a pick-me-up.

Still top of the league.

 

[Ian]

I'm disappointed. I thought we were too negative and gave them too much space to play. We didn't put them under any considerable pressure and played too deep.

Writing was on the wall when we started the second half with 1 up front. I hate that, although Cass put it a great shift.

As the home team, we should have been more positive and at least tested their keeper more than once.

If Dons were any good at shooting, they could have had two or three.

We had a slightly better second half but nothing to shout about. The first half was all Dons.

Great crowd however.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought we were too negative and gave them too much space to play.

Writing was on the wall when we started the second half with 1 up front. I hate that, although Cass put it a great shift.

I thoght we should have actually started with five in the middle, although I understand why Ronnie did not want to. Possibly could have played Robbo in the hole in the same role as Chadwick. MK are a good side who play completely differently to most teams at this level; endlessly knocking the ball around the middle of the pitch and dragging you all over the place. Against the top sides maybe we do need to adapt our 4-4-2 ?

In the second half I thought we countered them with the change in formation, and they looked far more ordinary.

 

[tea for two]

it was not a good performance we did play too deep and we were lucky in the first half the game wasent over.Ash Taylor was poor and we did give the ball away too much and gave them too much respect letting them pass the ball round and we gave them too much possession.i dont understand why Cole Stockton was left out after playing well on tuesday.we do miss akpro in attack.it was a good crowd.anyway lets hope we play a lot better on tuesday against walsall.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Against the top sides maybe we do need to adapt our 4-4-2 ?

No, we are a top side.

I thought tonight was quite pathetic and we played a very regressive brand of football. MK pressed early on and we rolled over, played dead.

We shouldn't have needed an extra man to cope with Chadwick.

Mcgurk and Jervis are not good enough and we shouldn't persist with either, injuries or otherwise.

Taylor struggled but understandably so given that he was blatantly unfit.

To his credit, Cassidy - to a somewhat pointless end - worked very hard.

 

[amplesou]

No, we are a top side.

I thought tonight was quite pathetic and we played a very regressive brand of football. MK pressed early on and we rolled over, played dead.

We shouldn't have needed an extra man to cope with Chadwick.

Mcgurk and Jervis are not good enough and we shouldn't persist with either, injuries or otherwise.

Taylor struggled but understandably so given that he was blatantly unfit.

To his credit, Cassidy - to a somewhat pointless end - worked very hard.

Agree...first half we where so poor ...did.nt move the ball fast enough

expected a half time rollicking by RM not a negative chess move..

been poor at PP since brentford .....!

1-1 brentford 3-2 yeovil 1-2 doncaster 1-1 preston and 0-1 wemb ..been a masive struggle for the lads @PP

Thank you to Sky ...for not having to go there and watch this ..

Well done to the fans who keep the faith and keep the torch lit ,so brightly for this special football club.. as i once did..for me its too much..

even on telly...](*,)

 

[Gray]

I did not have a clear view of the goal, but it appears to have been a bit of a calamity, possibly a mistake by Fonners.

I had a clear view... I was watching on telly! Not a mistake from Fonners, he dealt with a difficult ball into the box, defenders weren't quick enough mopping up.

 

[DIW]

Just didn't turn up really and couldn't get hold of the ball. Fair play to Franchise they were good in possession and hunted in packs to close us down.
Another poor display at home from McGurk and Jervis rightly taken off at half time.
Shame really as our worst performance of the season comes at home in front of 10000 and the sky cameras.
The booing at the end from a few idiots was pathetic.

 

[Mal]

Let us pt this into perspective. Sheffield play Stevenage, so we could still be 4 points clear if they draw or 2 if either wins, with bonus of being 5 clear of one of them if there is a win. A win against Walsall wil get us back on track. And we are averaging two points a game. What more could we ask?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Let us pt this into perspective. Sheffield play Stevenage, so we could still be 4 points clear if they draw or 2 if either wins, with bonus of being 5 clear of one of them if there is a win. A win against Walsall wil get us back on track. And we are averaging two points a game. What more could we ask?

Agree entirely. MK did to us last night what we did away at Notts County and Crawley. There will be ebbs and flows in the season. We will win some games against our rivals and lose others.

It makes me laugh to read comments on other sites about Ronnie's tactical ineptitude last night, in a season where we have lost 3 out of 18.

 

[Boz]

I wasn't able to getaway from work in time for this one, so only going on brief highlights and what's been written. A disappointing showing, as often seems to happen in front of a big crowd(I got that wrong) or the cameras.

I can understand Harrison's introduction at h/t given Rovers were being over-run in midfield, Mancini does similar at Man City. However, he usually brings on a striker once things have steadied. Given Cassidy was left isolated and there didn't appear to be much support from midfield, perhaps Stockton, in light of his good Braintree showing, should have been introduced earlier? It seems Ronnie had mentally settled for the draw, which was understandable, but meant there was no time when Franchise took the lead late on.

We're still top, but must now consolidate with a win over a struggling Walsall side.

 

[bigmart]

Boz, we were over run in midfield in the first half there 3 totally outplayed are 2 and chadwick had far too much time on the ball, it was the right decision to put on the extra midfielder. Stockton starting would not have made a scrap of difference.

As disappointing as it is to lose we have to accept we lost to a much better team who withe a goalscorer up front will win the league imo.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Boz, we were over run in midfield in the first half there 3 totally outplayed are 2 and chadwick had far too much time on the ball, it was the right decision to put on the extra midfielder. Stockton starting would not have made a scrap of difference.

As disappointing as it is to lose we have to accept we lost to a much better team who withe a goalscorer up front will win the league imo.

Basically agree with this. Sometimes you just have to take your hat off to the opposition; I have not seen a team at PP pass the ball the way they did in the first half for a long, long time. I don't think there was any lack of effort from our players, we were just outplayed; using McGurk and Jervis (who admittedly was really poor again) as the standard scapegoats won't wash.

As Ronnie said in his post match interview, our advantage over MK is our greater goalthreat, and we just have to hope we continue to finish off the poorer teams in the division to stay in contention.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Nobody is 'scapegoating' Mcgurk and Jervis, that doesn't mean that they weren't useless. Nobody is denying that MK played very well, the point of complaint is that we didn't. Our response to their performance was constantly negative; they're keeping possession well so we'll sit off, they're closing us down so we'll hoof it up to Cassidy, they're causing us problems in midfield so we'll take a striker off for Danny Harrison (at home!) without any adjustments further forward to compensate.

Shock horror we created nothing and lost. If we'd pressed, been more economical with the ball, forced them into their own half, commited men forward and lost 1-0 I wouldn't have minded. But we were limp and apologetic for 90 mins, played like an away team, acceptant of a 0-0 with no Plan B.

Let us pt this into perspective. Sheffield play Stevenage, so we could still be 4 points clear if they draw or 2 if either wins, with bonus of being 5 clear of one of them if there is a win. A win against Walsall wil get us back on track. And we are averaging two points a game. What more could we ask?

None of this has anything to do with last nights performance though.

It makes me laugh to read comments on other sites about Ronnie's tactical ineptitude last night, in a season where we have lost 3 out of 18.

Yep - everyone gets it wrong sometimes though and last night was one of those occasions.

 

[Mal]

Yes it does. In a backhanded way. Most teams that have been promoted as runners up have lost 6 to 14 games in a season. It should be expected that there will be bum games every so often. The doom and gloom merchants were out 5 games ago, then we win 3 away games on the bounce. Last night's game looked like a bunch of tired players, in wet, slippy conditions, some carrying injuries. People can pontificate as much as they like about individuals , it won't stop the real world carrying on. I fully expect at least another 6 games like Friday's. It is life. Just like we will have less capable players on our budget than Sheffield United. Personally, I think we will end up in the playoffs, especially if we lose Cassidy et al.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Nobody's being a doom and gloom merchant though, last night in isolation was bad and this is a thread about that game. While accepting that poor performances are part of a season, you can't simply write them off and say "oh well we've got 6 of those left and we can still win the league, no worries."

Every performance like that is indicative of something that we need to improve on in future which is worthy of debate IMO. It's not good enough to start using tiredness and pitch conditions as an excuse for losing vs a team who have played the same amount of games this season and who are playing on the same pitch as you.

 

[roverstillidie]

Having brought Harrison on I don't understand why they didnt bring Stockton on for McGurk after 10/15 minutes when it was clear we had stablised the game and play a kind of narrow diamond with Robinson playing attack midfield and go more direct.