• 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 V Blues

Colin K

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May be a little premature (no surprise to my wife) but I thought I would get the ball rolling with this one. This weekend see's Rovers come up against a Southend side who we haven't lost to at home in a league meeting since 1995. This game is in different circumstances though and I wouldn't be surprised to see Southend close to the top end of the table come end of season. They seem to be picking up points against the teams at the lower end of the table, but a loss in the FA Cup to local boys Chester gives me a glimmer of hope.

With Nando back to Chesterfield, it will be interesting if Micky can bring someone in to go straight into the team, or if we will have to rely on what we already have. If the latter is the case, I would go with the following based around a 3-4-2-1 / 5-2-2-1 (sorry I have been playing football manager 2015 a little too much) with Max and Bags playing right and left supporting Johnson:

Brezovan
Ihiekwe, Holness, Thompson
Holmes, Jennings, Rowe, Ridehalgh
Power, Bell-Baggie
Johnson

Prediction: Crowd of around around 4.7k, where the game will be an action packed draw. 1-1
 

Boz

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I'm always a little wary of building hopes on a team's lack of recent success at Prenton Park, Colin; historically, Exeter hadn't travelled well to the Wirral but they're probably the best L2 side to visit to date and won fairly comfortably for example. Southend are a hard side to fathom, haven't really kicked on after making the play-offs last season, but have an experienced manager in perma-tanned Phil Brown.

There are a few fitness and selection issues to resolve for Rovers, but I'm expecting a 352 formation again. In particular;
  • Brezovan or Fon Williams? I thought Peter's domination of the area was good, but could he have done more to stop the Luton goal? Suspect that our keeping coach will ensure OFW gets the nod.
  • If Thompson's hamstring rules him out do we stick with Gumbs in the back three, or move Donacien(himself not certain to play after a knock at Luton) to the back 3 and bring Holmes in on the right? Latter option most likely.
  • Laird will almost certainly start and as he's got something to prove against a former club where the fans rated him more than the manager, that makes sense.
  • If Madjo's international clearance comes through, can see him starting alongside Johnson. Otherwise playing a Baggie or Koumas in the hole may be an option, possibly Richards if he's over the injury.
I won't get to this one, in fact unless make the JPT, my next Rovers game won't be for a month. We really need to win either this or the next home game with Portsmouth and follow it up with at least a point at Dagenham.

Prediction: A fairly poor crowd of around 4.3k with ~150 from Essex to see a hard-fought draw.
 

Ian

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This weekend see's Rovers come up against a Southend side who we haven't lost to at home in a league meeting since 1995
Thanks Colin, you've done it now. :D

Vital we win this game as we haven't had a win in the league since we beat Morecambe 2-1 on 30th August. Ohh dear :eek:
Expect to see Madjo lining up alongside Johnson and I'd keep Brezovan between the sticks as he's just as good a shot stopper.
 

Colin K

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I'm always a little wary of building hopes on a team's lack of recent success at Prenton Park, Colin; historically, Exeter hadn't travelled well to the Wirral but they're probably the best L2 side to visit to date and won fairly comfortably for example. Southend are a hard side to fathom, haven't really kicked on after making the play-offs last season, but have an experienced manager in perma-tanned Phil Brown.

That's why I put "This game is in different circumstances though and I wouldn't be surprised to see Southend close to the top end of the table come end of season". I think this game will be a struggle, although on evidence of the Luton game we will be competitive at least.

I just hope we can push on under Micky and build on the two wins in the cup. Albeit nice to still be in them, I would swap those two wins for 6 points in the league!
 
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If we play as well tomorrow as we did at Bury and Luton we will win the game. The performances have been too strong under Micky for us to go much longer without winning a league game.
 
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If we play as well tomorrow as we did at Bury and Luton we will win the game. The performances have been too strong under Micky for us to go much longer without winning a league game.
I was going to post something similar but you beat me to it. I'm confident about today's game, but I just hope that if we lose it, the fans will keep faith and the players will stay strong. Until we get into winning ways, every match is played under pressure.
 

Brightonian

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I feel really confident that we will in this one - there again I always feel optimistic.

As long as the boys start with a good tempo and take care with that final ball we should have enough to take the three points, if we can maintain recent form. Surely we are due to score first in a league game and if we do will go onto to win. Sadly I will miss the game due to a family event but will be taking sneaky peeps at my mobile for updates throughout.

The crowd can play a big part in lifting the team and I hope all get right behind the team and will not moan when a pass is misplaced which is inevitable until we get a more settled team.

As has been suggested I agree that we should probably keep with Brezovan. We looked very solid at Luton with all the set plays which had not been the case all season. Peter seems a calm confident keeper who commands the box well and I am sure this greatly helps the central defence.
 

Colin K

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I hate to comment during a game but at 2-0 I feel like I have to! Why so many changes after we have been performing at a decent level under Micky so far? Playing all three loan signings and disrupting what he has built on so far in charge was a silly move...I hope they prove me wrong and turn it around!
 
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Ian

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I couldn't agree more Colin. Micky has to make some changes at half time. It's so disjointed at the moment. These loan fellas don't look great either. We are getting outmuscled and outplayed all over the pitch.
 

Colin K

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I have to say I am really quite upset. To throw away what Micky had built in the games so far was a shocking decision, four changes unforgivable! I could understand if we had been getting pumped every week and needed to freshen it up, however we have been competing and making strides. Today feels like we have just jumped back to square one.

My belief was the loan signing were for "cover" until January. Bar replacing the injured Thompson, there was no need to change anything. I really had belief we could take something from this game...
 
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I completely agree with Colin's comments. Today's performance was as clueless and disjointed as anything we have produced all season, and resulted almost entirely in my view from the changes to formation and personnel that we made. Switching to 5-2-3 made no sense given how well the 5-3-2 has been working for us, and left us completely overrun in midfield by a strong Southend side. As in Edwards' reign Stockton - who was actually the only outfield player to have a decent game - was left horribly isolated, with the two loanees either side of him failing to impress at all. Most inexplicable to me was the decision to play the youngster loanee as the central of the three centre halves. He struggled terribly for the majority of the game and surely it would have been more sensible to simply bring Holmes back in at right back and play Donacien in the middle ?

Defensively we were shambolic and there was no shape or structure to out play at all. As Colin comments, today felt like ten steps backwards after the steady improvement of recent weeks. Survival looks an uphill struggle from this point.
 
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Very disappointed, but not shocked. Southend are not near the top for nothing. They are a confident, settled side. We are certainly not settled, so I was surprised to see so many changes. We had to make two, but to bring in three new players who only joined the club a couple of days ago was always going to be risky. I can only think that Micky is not happy with the current squad and is taking the long view that he needs to try more systems and players before settling on a team. Meanwhile, we are getting cut further adrift. As I said earlier in this thread, we have no choice but to trust and support Micky and the team. There is still a long way to go.
 

Ian

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Extremely disappointed with today's showing. Too many changes and a system that didn't work against a hard working, physical side.

The three new loanees were below standard, maybe because the two wide men were so isolated. Defence were a shambles all game and gave away two poor goals.

More worryingly though is that we are now six points adrift and have only mustered five points since the start of September! We just cannot win a game.

It will either be us or Hartlepool at the bottom come Xmas. Some magic will have to be performed in the Jan transfer window.
 
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Boz

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I thought we might be in trouble on seeing the starting xi. While I can understand the logic of wanting to play 3 up front at home, to blood all the young loanees, in particular Aimson at the heart of central defence, seemed a very risky approach, especially given they were recruited so late. No explanation from the manager as to why he chose the team he did in the post-match remarks either. I hope that there are no 'must play' or 'pay if you don't play' arrangements involved. It was also a concern that Koumas aside, there was no potential game-changer on the bench. Baggie or Richards should have featured ahead of Kirby

I presume Johnson's absence means he's on his way back to Cardiff. While he never looked like a prolific scorer, he held the ball up well and showed enough to have been worth hanging onto. Surprised Madjo didn't feature, some issue with international clearance, maybe?

The other results with wins for Dagenham, Mansfield and York create that 6-point gap Ian mentions. We desperately need a win in the league, but our next two opponents both had comfortable wins today. It's looking very depressing atm.
 

bigmart

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We were so outplayed it was a 2 1 hammering with only Brezovan keeping us in the game. Today hit home for me that Adams isn't going to be able to save us, the 5-2-3 system was clearly not working in the 1st half and he did nothing too change things around.

We are certain to go down again im afraid
 

Ian

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After we got one back from a nicely taken Max penalty there was plenty of time left to rescue the game. What's sad to see if the lack of fight and desire. Southend were on the ball and aggressive with it. They got away with a lot with a soft ref so why not do the same? Stockton for example. Getting pushed and pulled all game. He needs to start pushing and pulling back. They are too soft. This league isn't full of skilful players. You've got to get in there and fight for the points, be aggressive.. I do think Stockton was hopelessly lost on his own for this reason and I think in this situation when you need to be more physical Adejayi should have been introduced earlier as he won more when he came on than Stockton did for the whole game. But it was too late by then. Changes should have been made earlier.

Boz, I think Micky mentioned the fact that he's used experienced players and they haven't been doing the job so I think he gave the youngsters a turn. Not that I'm saying it was the right thing to do, but I think that's why we saw so many changes and players who haven't been given the chance yet.

We need a consistent side that will battle for every point. Looks like were going down then.. :mad:
 
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I hope that there are no 'must play' or 'pay if you don't play' arrangements involved' .

I too hope this is not the case, as the team selection was just bizarre really, and not in keeping with Adams' approach so far. I also agree about Johnson, who had genuine quality and always impressed me. On today's evidence he is streets ahead of his replacements.

I agree with Mart that it was the most one-sided 2-1 victory you are ever likely to see and we should really have taken a hammering. However, the 'we are all doomed' comment is over the top. Today was the first occasion Micky got things horribly wrong and I doubt he will make the same mistakes again, as his predecessor tended to. A lot will depend on how well he does in the January transfer window.
 

bigmart

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RLC, by January we are likely to be well adrift and in a hopeless position and I cant really see us making many cash signings so don't think its going to make much difference
 

Gray

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This is a dreadful result. With Micky having had time to settle in and coming off the back of a couple of good cup results and performances this felt like a game we had to win in order to turn the corner this season. I wasn't at the game but my Dad was and he said the performance was 'disgusting'.

Where do we go from here?
 

Ian

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This isn't so much a reaction to the performance because we can and will play better but we cannot seem to win a game even when we play well. What is alarming is that we are six points adrift already and we've only managed to pick up five points in three months. That's dreadful. I know that's under the old regime and I do have a lot of faith in the new one, but we need to start picking up points now. We simply have to win our next home game.
 
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